• How To Play Plo Poker
• How To Play Omaha
• How Do You Play Pot Limit Omaha Menu
• Pot Limit Omaha Betting Structure
• How To Play Pot Limit Omaha Hi Lo
• How Do You Play Pot Limit Omaha Steaks

How to Play a Flopped Two Pair in Pot-Limit Omaha; How to Play Sets in PLO. If you follow the playing style recommended in this article and avoid playing small pairs, you should not find yourself in many situations where you're up against a bigger set. If you were the pre-flop raiser, almost always bet out on the flop if you hit a set. Omaha High is often played with a pot limit betting structure, though other limits are possible - see betting limits for details. 'Pot Limit Omaha' is often abbreviated to PLO. The cards are shuffled and cut, the dealer 'burns' one card and then deals the cards one at a time face down until each player has four cards. If you want to play Pot-Limit poker (like, say, Pot-Limit Omaha) live, you should definitely learn them as you'll need to calculate your pot bets on the fly with a table of other players watching. If you play your Pot-Limit Omaha online, though, you'll get some help with the betting functions. How to Play Pot Limit Omaha Pot Limit Omaha is perhaps the second most-played format of poker in the world, trailing only No Limit Hold'em in terms of popularity. Proponents like the action and the strategic complexity that comes along with Pot Limit Omaha, but new players can sometimes get tripped up on the basic mechanics of the game. In Pot Limit Omaha (most popular form of Omaha Poker), the maximum a player can bet is the amount that is in the pot. For example, a $100 bet into a $100 pot.

Omaha poker is the 2nd most popular poker game, after texas holdem. It’s what many players go to after playing holdem. For most it’s to diversify their skill set, and for others it’s merely to keep from being bored.

I think omaha is the 2nd most popular game because on the surface omaha looks much harder to learn, especially when compared to holdem. Not to mention that holdem is the game most shown on TV.

However, omaha isn’t that hard of a game to learn, and even easier if you’ve already learned how to play holdem. I’ll show you exactly what I mean. Below you’ll find the rules, winning hands and better formats explained in detail.

An Example Hand of How to Play Omaha – Rules & Game Play

This is an example of how your typical hand of omaha plays out. Anything to do with omaha hi/lo will be explained during/after the ‘what hands win’ section.

The Blinds & Hole Cards

Omaha poker is a game played with blinds. There are two blinds that need to be posted, the small blind and the big blind. In a $2/$4 omaha game, $2 would be the small blind and $4 would be the big blind. The player that sits one seat to the left of the dealer button is the small blind, and the player to his left (2 seats to the left of the dealer button) is the big blind.

Once the blinds are posted each player is dealt 4 cards, one at a time, starting with the small blind. The cards are dealt around the table clockwise until each player has received their hole cards.

Preflop

Once all of the cards have been dealt, the first betting round will begin. The betting will start with the first player to the left of the big blind, also known as the player “under the gun” or “utg.” This player will have the option to fold, call or raise the big blind.

After the player under the gun has acted, the betting action will continue clockwise around the table until each player has had the opportunity to act. Each player will have the option to fold, call or raise depending on the action in front of them, as well as the betting format being used (explained more below).

Once all players have acted, the remaining players will then go to the flop.

Flop

The flop is 3 community cards (of 5) that players can use to make the best 5-card poker hand possible. Once the dealer deals 3 cards face up, another round of betting will start.

Unlike preflop where the betting action starting with the player to the left of the big blind, action on the flop and all subsequent rounds will begin with the player closest to the left of the dealer button.

This player will have the option to check (pass) or bet. Once this player has acted, then each remaining player afterward (moving clockwise around the table) will have the option to check, fold, call or bet depending on the action in front of them.

If there are two or more players after each player has had the opportunity to act, then they will go to the turn.

Turn

The turn is the 4th community card that each player can use to make their 5-card poker hand. The betting round will be identical to the flop.

River

The river is the 5th and final community card that players can use. The betting round will play exactly the same as the flop and turn.

Now, if all but one player folds, then that player will be the winner and be awarded the chips. However, if there are two or more players still in the hand after the betting round, then there will be a showdown. A showdown is where one or more players show their hand to determine the winner.

If there was no betting on the river, then the player closest to the left of the dealer button will need to show their hand. However, if someone did bet on the river, then that player will need to show their hand. Working clockwise around the table, each remaining player can muck (not show their hand) and lose, or show their hand if it’s the best.

The player with the best hand will win. Players must use no more/less then 2 of their hole cards and 2 community cards to make their hand.

After the chips are awarded, the dealer button moves one seat to the left, blinds are reposted, the cards are reshuffled and dealt and a new hand can then get started.

What Hands Win in Omaha

Omaha (hi) uses the traditional hand ranking chart to determine the best hand. From the best hand to worst:

• Royal Flush
• Straight Flush
• 4 of a Kind
• Full House
• Flush
• Straight
• 3 of a Kind
• 2 Pair
• 1 Pair
• High Card

Pots are split when there are ties, and suits are not used for breaking ties.

Omaha Hi/Lo

One variation of omaha is omaha hi/lo, or omaha 8 or better. In this variation 2 different hands can win at showdown — a ‘hi’ hand that uses the traditional hand ranking chart explained above, and a ‘lo’ hand, which is 5 cards that are 8 or lower.

For example, if two players go to showdown and one shows a flush and the other shows a 7-4-3-2-A, then the pot will be split amongst them. It is possible for pots to be split amongst multiple players in the case of ties (players will receive quarter pots instead of halves).

The best lo hand that can be made is a wheel, or A-2-3-4-5. Players will lo hands that also make hi hands (like a wheel or flush) can also win both the lo and hi pot, also known as scooping the pot.

To determine the best lo hand, simply count from the top card down. For example, a A-2-3-4-8 is a worse hand than A-3-4-5-7. If the highest cards are the same, then you look at the second highest, then the third and so on.

All the other rules (above) will apply.

Omaha Poker Betting

How To Play Plo Poker

Omaha is usually played in one of two different betting formats — pot limit and no limit. Here is how the betting would work in either game (using $2/$4 as examples):

How To Play Omaha

• The small blind is $2 and the big blind is $4. These must be posted before the cards are dealt.
• All bets must be a minimum of the big blind, or the current bet. For example, if no one bet, the smallest raise is to $8. However, if someone else already bet/raise, then the minimum raise is 2x their amount.
• In a no limit omaha game, any player at any time can move all of their chips into the middle — go “all in.”
• In a pot limit game the biggest raise can not be any bigger than the size of the current pot. For example, if the pot had $10 in it, then the next raise cannot be any bigger than $10. However, if someone bet $10 making the pot $20, then the next player could raise as much as $20. Players can continue raising until someone folds, calls to see the next community card or until one player is all in.

How Do You Play Pot Limit Omaha Menu

And that’s all there is to playing omaha poker.

It used to be the case that a lot of new players started out at limit poker, as the decisions that need to be made are definitely simpler. This guide will introduce you to Limit Omaha – If you are already at this level and would like to read more strategy then feel free to advance to our Fixed Limit Omaha strategy guide. Limit poker eliminates the need to calculate bet sizes, as they are already determined by the rules of the game.

For instance, in $1/$2 fixed limit, the blinds are always the smaller number for the big blind, and half that for the small blind. So in this case the blinds would be $0.50/$1. In the pre-flop round, players would have the option of calling the big blind, or limping, or putting in a raise.

Raises are always double the bet size, and in the case of pre-flop action the bet is the big blind. So a raise here would be for $2. Should other players choose to re-raise, they would be for $4, $6, and $8. Should the action get to this stage, no more raises are permitted and players can either call the $8 or fold.

On the flop, the prescribed bet size is $2, and once again raises are made in increments of $2, with the raises once again capped at $8. On the turn and river, everything doubles, so we have an opening bet size of $4, with three raises permitted with a cap now of $16.

So this is all pretty standard for limit poker, and is the same format as is used for Texas Hold’em. As opposed to Pot Limit Omaha, the other popular format that you see, players don’t have to decide how much they will bet, which ranges from the minimum size bet up to the size of the pot.

So it’s easy to see how things are made simpler with Limit Omaha, although there are a lot of players who may never even have played limit poker before, due to the huge popularity of big bet poker over the last few years, and in particular, the No Limit format, where players can bet up to their whole stacks at any time.

Pot Limit Omaha Betting Structure

Limit Poker Tends To Be Even Looser

In limit poker is that there tends to be more people in pots, due to the general lesser cost of playing on. Since you often have to pay a smaller amount of money relative to the size of the pot in order to stay in hands, in limit poker it’s actually correct to fold less.

However, with this said, limit poker is said to be more of a mathematical game than pot limit and no limit. Since the opportunity to make money with hands is less, it’s even more important to be accurate with your odds calculations.

This is particularly important in Fixed Limit Omaha, as given the fact that everyone has four hole cards instead of the two that you get with Hold’em, there are a lot more opportunities for draws, and in fact, the winning hand most often is one that hit draws later in the hand. So having a good idea of your odds is definitely an advantage.

However, Fixed Limit Omaha Tends To Have Less Skilled Players

If you find this complexity intimidating, you do need to realize that Fixed Limit Omaha is going to generally attract the worst Omaha players out there, and therefore, all you really need is to develop a good feel about what you are doing to get a good edge on them.

As is the case generally with Omaha these days, too many players play too loose, and therefore, you can get a step on them simply by playing tighter than they do. Having said this though, playing fairly loose is required in Omaha, and especially in Fixed Limit Omaha. If you fold too much, you will be throwing away a lot of hands that had the proper odds to call, especially since the cost of calling tends to be so much lower than you would see in Pot Limit.

To give you a simple example of this, imagine that you are in a hand with another player. If you are playing pot limit, and your opponent leads out with a pot sized bet, then you are going to need a lot better hand to call then if the bet was only a quarter of the pot or less, as we often would see in fixed limit.

Fixed Limit Also Ensures Your Risk Exposure Is Minimized

Since it is correct to call so often in fixed limit, and newer players definitely tend to be on the loose side, this also makes your natural tendencies fit the game more. What I mean here is that if you tend to call a little too much in general, not only will you be making less mistakes in Limit Omaha, the amount of money that these mistakes will cost you will tend to be less as well.

Fixed limit poker also has less variance than pot or no limit, meaning that the swings in your bankroll will be less. This is particularly important for those new to the game or perhaps new to poker in general, where players haven’t built their skills enough yet to be profitable long term.

So if your expectations at the present time are to be losing money, you want to keep your losses small enough that you can handle them. While you may be able to make another deposit when you bust out, you don’t want to be doing any more of this than you have to, unless you have a lot of money that you can lose while you’re learning and don’t really mind putting in deposit after deposit.

While proper bankroll management in this situation does require that you limit the size of the stakes that you play, you can also limit your losses more effectively by sticking to formats where you can lose less money at period. So given that this is the case with Limit Omaha, if you can get in on games at a similar or even a little higher stake then what you could be playing at pot limit, it definitely can make sense to play the fixed limit version while you look to get better at the game in general.

The Differences Between Omaha And Hold’em

Omaha and Hold’em are actually pretty similar games, at least on the face of things. The blinds are posted, players get dealt their down cards, and then there are four rounds of betting: pre-flop, on the flop, on the turn, and on the river.

The difference though with Omaha is that you get dealt four down cards instead of two, and you need to use exactly two of your hole cards and exactly three cards from the board to make your five card hand.

What this means though is that you can make a lot bigger hands in Omaha than you can at Hold’em, and it also takes a lot bigger hand generally to win pots in Omaha. The reason isn’t just having twice as many hole cards to use, it’s also the fact that there tends to be more players in the pot in Omaha.

More players mean that you need a better hand to win, more cards mean that you need a better hand to win, and when you put the two together, well we really are talking some big hands here that you generally need.

How To Play Pot Limit Omaha Hi Lo

In Hold’em, made hands generally win a lot of pots, and while players do draw out on you to beat you, you definitely see this a lot more in Omaha. So Omaha really is a game of drawing, and not only do you need to pay attention to the odds, as you always do when you look to draw, you also have to pay close attention to the chances that you will actually win the pot when you hit your draw.

Even In Limit Omaha, You Need To Pay Close Attention To Reverse Implied Odds

If you’ve played any amount of Hold’em, you will be familiar with situations where you were drawing to a big hand, hit it, got your stack in with it, and lost to an even bigger hand. This happens a fair bit in Hold’em, but is much more likely to happen in Omaha.

The good thing about playing Fixed Limit Omaha is that when this happens, the amount of money that you lose is almost always less, especially since you have two or more players with big hands that they are willing to get their money in with. Where your stack would often be going all in in Pot Limit Omaha in these situations, given the fixed betting structure of fixed limit, you will almost always be getting away a lot cheaper with these mistakes.

At the same time, depending on how many players are involved, fixed limit poker gives you more opportunity to limit your risk even further. If there are only two players in the hand when things get hot and heavy, for instance, then if you choose not to raise, not a lot of money will be going in relatively speaking.

It Really Pays To be Careful In Omaha Though, Even With Fixed Limits

On the other hand, you can still spend a fair bit of money if you both are looking to cap every street, in other words, putting in the maximum amount of raises. So you may have a hand like a king high flush, where an ace high would be the nuts, and you may be unsure if your opponent has it versus a lower flush that you beat. So your hand may be too good to throw away, but at the same time you may want to limit your risk with a hand like this by slowing down.

The time to start thinking about these things though isn’t after you made the hand, it’s before you make it. So this is where the reverse implied odds concept comes in. Implied odds are what you make when you hit it and win, and reverse implied odds are what you lose when you hit it and show it down. So what you really want to be thinking about here is the net amount of money you win when you hit, and use that as your gauge to whether or not it’s worth chasing.

As a general rule, if your chances of winning aren’t that high, it’s probably not worth pursuing. As you become better at figuring out when it’s time to fold good draws, this will definitely give you an edge against your opponents.

So While The Mistakes Are Less Costly In Limit, There’s A Time You Want Them To Cost More

How Do You Play Pot Limit Omaha Steaks

As you get your sea legs more, and get better at Omaha in general, it will make sense to look to move over to the much more popular version of Omaha, which is pot limit. While you initially wanted to limit your mistakes, to look to manage your losses better, once you know more about what you are doing, and become better than your opponents, there will come a time when it makes sense to look to leverage this advantage in skill more.

If players will lose more money per mistake, and they make more mistakes than you do, it only stands to reason that you will do better playing a format where they will lose more to you than you lose to them. Pot Limit Omaha definitely allows for this a lot more.

However, the time you may be looking to spend at Fixed Limit Omaha can be time very well spent, and is a great option for those who are looking to become proficient enough at the game of Omaha but have not acquired the necessary skills yet.

So if this is the case for you, check out our links to the very best in Fixed Limit Omaha the internet has to offer.