Omaha - rules

The rules of Omaha are mainly the same as in Texas hold'em. Actually, Omaha once upon a time emerged from Texas hold'em. To avoid a lot of repeating of rules that are similar for both variations you will find the rules of Texas hold'em in the sidebar menu.

Distinctions from Texas hold'em

There are two fundamental differences between Omaha and Texas hold'em. In Omaha, every player is dealt four hole cards (instead of two) and two (not one, both or none) among these must be combined with the community cards.

This means that you cannot use four or all the cards on the table; you are strictly forced to use precisely three cards from the table together with two of your hole cards.

Limit and Pot limit

Omaha can be played as limit or pot limit. Both the structures will have the same arrangement as in hold'em. The No limit structure is also existing, but very rarely.

Omaha High and Omaha Hi/Lo

There are two main variants: Omaha High and Omaha Hi-Lo (also called Omaha eight-or-better). The first variant is most similar to hold'em: it's about getting the hand of the highest value. When it comes to Omaha Hi-Lo, the pot is split between the highest and the lowest hand. It's possible for one player to have both these hands simultaneously.

As mentioned before, Omaha Hi-Lo is also called eight-or-better. The reason is the special importance of the 8-card. To win with a low hand, no card can be higher than eight, is this aren't the case of neither player, the highest hand will win the whole pot.

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