Four-card Omaha gives you four private cards, but your final hand must use exactly two of them and exactly three community cards. That restriction matters more than the extra cards: you cannot carry a Hold’em reading of the board into an Omaha hand.
The basic deal
PokerStars’ Omaha rules describe five shared cards and four betting rounds: pre-flop, flop, turn and river. The flop brings three community cards; the turn and river add one each. At showdown, compare each remaining player’s best permitted five-card hand. Identical winning hands share the pot.
In Hold’em, a player can use zero, one or two private cards. Four-card Omaha requires two. There are six ways to choose a pair from four cards, not six separate hands that all count at once. More options do not guarantee a winning combination.
Omaha high-hand rankings
The traditional high-hand order applies to Omaha high and Hi-Lo’s high half. Select exactly two private and three board cards.
| Strongest to weakest | Five-card combination |
|---|---|
| Royal flush | A–K–Q–J–10, one suit |
| Straight flush | Five consecutive ranks, one suit |
| Four of a kind | Four cards of one rank |
| Full house | Three of one rank and two of another |
| Flush | Five cards of one suit |
| Straight | Five consecutive ranks |
| Three of a kind | Three cards of one rank |
| Two pair | Two separate pairs |
| One pair | Two cards of one rank |
| High card | None of those combinations |
Compare category, then ranks. Full houses compare trips then pair; two pair compares higher pair, lower pair, then kicker. Equal pairs or trips compare remaining kickers. Flushes and high-card hands compare ranks downwards. Suits never break ties.
Equal straights tie without kickers; A–2–3–4–5 is five-high. Identical winning ranks share the pot, including royal flushes. You cannot play all five board cards in Omaha.
A flush example that catches beginners
Suppose the board is K♥ Q♥ 8♥ 5♥ 2♣ and your private cards are A♥ J♣ 9♠ 4♦. You do not have a heart flush: only one private card is a heart. You must select two private cards and three board cards, rather than use the ace with four board hearts. This is a hypothetical rule example, not a betting recommendation.
What pot-limit means
Omaha is not a synonym for one betting structure. Pot-limit, no-limit and fixed-limit games have different limits. PokerStars’ PLO lesson explains the pot-limit calculation: when facing a bet, include the call before calculating the maximum additional raise. “Raise to” describes your total contribution; “raise by” describes the increase above the call.
For an original example, suppose the pot contains £30 before another player bets £10. There is now £40 in the middle. If you have contributed nothing this round, calling £10 makes it £50. A pot-sized raise adds £50 above that call: your total contribution is £60, not £50. This assumes sufficient chips, no other intervening action and no side-pot complication.
The maximum permitted raise is a ceiling, not advice to use it. Check the minimum raise, your remaining chips and the table’s actual rules. BCP’s pot-odds guide explains a different calculation: comparing a call with the amount already at stake. Neither calculation establishes that you should continue.
Starting Hands in Omaha
Look at how the four cards work together rather than treating a pair of aces as the whole hand. Connected ranks give you more straight combinations, and two cards of each of two suits give two possible flush suits. Neither feature guarantees that the board will help, and a made flush can still lose to a higher flush or a stronger category. Dave Roemer’s PLO teaching article discusses connected cards, overvalued pairs, position and redraws, which are useful questions to examine and not a list of hands that always profit.
A redraw is a chance to improve a made hand on a later card, so the best hand on the flop need not still be best on the river. A blocker is a card in your hand that removes one possible card from opponents’ holdings. In the heart example above, your A♥ stops another player holding that ace, but it does not give you a flush. If you are comparing Omaha with Hold’em, our Texas Hold’em rules guide sets out the two-card game.
Position in Pot-Limit Omaha, Including Fast-Fold Tables
Position describes your order of action in a hand. Acting later is an advantage because you see what the other players do before you decide, although you never see their cards. In Omaha it matters even more than in Hold’em, because with four hole cards the players’ hands often run close together, and the information from acting last can settle a close decision. Our guide to poker seat position explains how it works.
Fast-fold tables, such as PokerStars’ Zoom, are a format in which you move straight to a new table and a new hand as soon as you fold. You see many more hands, and so many more positions, in a session, which makes the cost of poor position easy to see. Position and fast-fold tables are a general explanation of PLO strategy here. Nothing in it is a promise of a winning strategy.
Omaha Hi-Lo: the qualifying low and split pot
Omaha Hi-Lo eight-or-better rules give half the pot to the best high and half to the qualifying low. A low needs five different ranks, each eight or lower. Aces count low; straights and flushes do not disqualify it. The strongest low is 5–4–3–2–A.
Each hand needs two private and three board cards. High and low can reuse private cards; you need not reserve separate pairs. Without three distinct board ranks of eight or lower, no low is possible.
Compare lows downwards: the lower rank at the first difference wins. Tied best lows share that half. No qualifying low means high takes the whole pot; winning both halves is a scoop.
For an original comparison, 8–6–5–3–A beats 8–7–4–2–A: after the eights, six beats seven. Paired five-card selections do not qualify.
These rules do not confirm current bet365 Hi-Lo availability. Check the full label: five-card Omaha changes private-card count; fixed-limit, no-limit and pot-limit specify betting structures.
Checking Omaha at bet365
The bet365 UK getting-started guide describes PLO and distinguishes four-card play from five-card variations. It also explains lobby filters and cash-game rake. That is not a live list of occupied tables, stakes or upcoming Omaha tournaments. Check the game description and applicable fees in the lobby before joining; this article makes no claim about a particular table being available now.
Learning the rules does not make poker profitable or prevent losses. You can check the card-selection and pot-size examples away from a real-money table. Do not increase stakes to test a rule, and do not treat a larger pot as a reason to chase a loss.
Omaha Poker FAQs
Is Omaha harder than Hold’em?
Omaha is more complex because you hold four cards and must pick the best two. Hands run closer together, so strong-looking hands are beaten more often. Many players find Hold’em easier to learn first.
What does pot-limit mean?
In pot-limit, the largest raise allowed is the size of the pot after you have called the current bet. It is a ceiling, not a recommendation.
Do you have to use two hole cards in Omaha?
Yes. Your final hand must use exactly two of your four hole cards and exactly three community cards. You cannot play the board or use more or fewer hole cards.
Where can I see how other poker games compare?
Our A-Z of poker explains common terms, and cash games vs tournaments compares the two main formats.
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