Omaha Poker Rules
Omaha shares many rules with Texas Hold’em, with a few important differences.
To begin the game, each player in Omaha is dealt 4 cards face-down, instead of 2 as in Hold’em. Players use their four face down cards and the five community cards that are eventually dealt in the middle to form their best poker hand possible.
That said, the way you form your best hand is another key difference between Omaha and Hold’em emerges. In Hold’em, you use any combination of your two face down cards and the five community cards to make your best hand. You can use one card from your hand and four from the board, two from your hand and three from the board, or play the five cards on the board.
In Omaha, though, you must use both of your hole cards when forming your best five card hand. You don’t have the option of using just one. So if you hold the AhKd face-down and the board is 10h 9h 3h 2h Qs, in Omaha you only have an Ace high hand, and not a flush, since you must use both of your hold cards. In Hold’em, you have an Ace high flush with hearts, as you can use only one of your hole cards if you so choose, but that isn’t the case in Omaha.
Omaha is also slightly different in that it’s commonly played as a high/low split game (called Omaha HiLo or Omaha/8), in which the highest hand and the lowest hand split the pot. More pokerroom.com/poker/poker-school/rules.html');" href="http://www.pokerroom.com/poker/poker-school/rules.html" target="_blank">poker rules information can be found at PokerRoom.com
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Is it possible to use all four cards you are dealt face down and use only one card from the board to make your best poker hand, or does it always have to be only two of the cards you use face down????
No, you can only use the two cards in your hand that give you the best hand… you must use 2 and only 2 cards from your hand… not 1, not 3, and not 4… just 2.
Hope that helps!
if you have 3 aces on in the middle and the person has a ace and another card and lays both down do they have the four of a kind. in instance three aces in the middle and the guy lays down an ace and a six and says thats using both does he get the four of a kind
I am new to Omaha. I have fallen big time. I lost a hand where I had two pair – q’s (flop) and tens (my own) someone beat me with 3 queens. They obviously had 1 in their 4. If we have to use 2 cards how is it possible they won using only 1 of their cards?
Suzanne, they made a hand with their one queen and an irrelevant card, plus the two queens in the flop and another irrelevant card. Just because only one of the cards in their hand counted, doesn’t mean it wasn’t “used”.
In the instants that 3 of a kind is in the flop and 2 people have the turn card…and no match on the river…who wins..is the hand…is the best hand the three of a kind with the high card?
ed: yes, your player got 4-of-a-Kind. 3 aces on the board, plus the 4th ace in his hand, plus his Six was a junk card to round out his hand. Therefore he played 5 cards total: 3 from the board, 2 from the hand.
low kash: Assuming nobody holds the 4th match to the 3 cards on the board, or a pocket pair (for a full house), or a flush, or a straight, then yes the best hand is the 3-of-a-Kind on the board with the highest card IN THE HAND (high “kicker”). The turn card is irrelevant in this scenario, even though your players had a match on the turn (remember they MUST use 2 cards from the hand and 3 from the board, period). Likewise, the river card is irrelevant in this scenario for the same reason.
If both players tied on their kickers, then you’d compare their next highest card. It’s rare, but it happens.
when playing a low/high split game, how exactly are the low hands decided?
we recently ran into an argument when two people declared low and one held A, 2, 4, 6, 8 and the other held 2, 3, 4, 5, 7. The first said he had won because he held the ace, but the other said that he won because he had the lowest high card.
Shane,
In Omaha, you MUST use two cards in your hand and three on the board. Two cards must always be used from your hand.
Ed,
Yes, the player has four of a kind.
Suzanne,
The had to use two cards, but since there was two queens on the board and they had a queen, they won with three queens. They just didn’t declare what their other card was. Cards speak in most games.
Low Kash,
In this case, it depends on what the two cards in their hand that they play are. They both have three of a kind. The fact they match the turn card is irrelevant since they must use the best three on the board, which is three of a kind. If the two best cards in your hand is K-10 and your opponents best cards are Q-J, you would win.
Herman,
You determine the low starting with the highest low card an working back. The person with A-2-4-6-8 has an eight low and the other player with 7-5-4-3-2 has a seven low. Seven is lower than eight, so the seven low gets half the pot.
board shows A A 2 3
one player has A 5 6 9 10
other K K Q Q
who wins and why
? is could the first player use his ace with a high card
John,
I think you have the board and your players hand backwards. Your player should be having four cards in his hand. The board is likely A 5 6 9 10 and your opponent holding AA23 and the other KKQQ. In that case, the opponent with AA23 is the winner with trip aces and the nut low with 2-3.
For sake of argument, lets say the board is AA23 and the player had A569 and the other KKQQ. The player with A569 would win with trip aces and a A-2-3-5-6 low. You MUST play 2 cards in your hand and three on the board. No way around this.