OmahaPoker.com

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 poker rules information can be found at PokerRoom.com

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