• Omaha is played with four hole cards instead of two
• Each Omaha player must use exactly two hole cards (out of four) and exactly three community cards (out of five) to make up his or her best five-card-hand.

These two unique Omaha poker rules change the game completely. On the other hand, the game is still close enough to Texas Hold ‘em so players can still enjoy the game's familiar poker betting rules and that good ‘ol community feel.

• Chips collected from all previous betting rounds (The ‘starting pot’). These are the chips you will find at the center of the table.
• All previous action in the current betting round (the ‘trail’). These are the chips found next to each player who is currently participating in the round.
• The amount required for a ‘call’ from the player making the raise.

For instance, in a $10/$20 pot-limit game, the small blind bet is $10 and the big blind bet is $20. The player that is first to act may:

• Fold.
• Call (match) the big blind of $20, which is the minimum bet.
• Make a minimum raise. The minimum raise is equal to the previous bet. In our case, the previous bet was $20, so the minimum raise would be $40.
• ‘Declare pot’, or raise by the maximum amount allowed under Pot Limit Omaha rules. Read below to find out how the maximum bet is calculated.
• Raise by any amount between the minimum and maximum raise.

Declaring Pot – How to Calculate the Maximum Raise using Pot Limit Omaha Rules

• A starting pot of $0 from previous betting round (this is the first round).
• Previous action: $10 small blind + $20 big blind = a trail of $30.
• $20 to call

By adding up all previous action on the table ($30), and adding the potential call the player can make ($20), we arrive at a total of $50, which is the maximum raise allowed at this point. The raise is added to the $20 “potential call” that was used to calculate the maximum bet. So if a player chooses to raise by the maximum amount, he will be putting $70 into the pot.

• Fold (of course).
• Call - $70
• Minimum raise - $140 (players must raise by a minimum of the previous action, which was $70).
• Maximum raise - $0 starting pot + $100 trail (previous action in this round) + $70 to call = $170 raise. Add that to the $70 “potential call” and you will come up with the final amount - $240.
• Raise by any amount between $140 (minimum) and $240 (maximum).

Omaha Poker Rules - Game Structure

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