Pot Limit Omaha Rules: Four Hole Cards, Exactly Two Must Play

Topic · Texas Hold'em RulesLevel · Beginner PokerRead · 5 min

PLO deals four hole cards but only two of them can be used, and that one rule makes Texas Holdʼem players misread their own hands. The dealing sequence, worked examples of the two-card rule, and how the pot limit raise cap is calculated.

Omaha, or Pot Limit Omaha (PLO), is the variant Texas Holdʼem players pick up fastest — and misread most often. The flow is almost identical: same blinds, same five community cards, same four streets. There are only two differences: you get four hole cards instead of two, and you must use exactly two of them.

That second rule is the source of every problem. Hands that look like a flush are not one. Hands that look like a straight are nothing at all. This page covers the rules, the maths, and the misreads that cost beginners the most.

⚡ Key takeaways

✓You are dealt four hole cards, but every five-card hand must use exactly two hole cards and three community cards — no more, no fewer.
✓Four cards of one suit on the board plus one in your hand is not a flush in PLO.
✓The pot limit cap is not the current pot. It is the pot after your call.
✓Four hole cards make everyone hit far more often, so two pair and even a single full house are frequently not enough.
✓Apart from the betting structure, action order, position and showdown rules are identical to Texas Holdʼem.

How a hand plays out

Exactly as in Texas Holdʼem:

1. Blinds: the small blind and big blind post before any cards are dealt. These are forced, not voluntary bets.

2. Hole cards: four to each player, face down.

3. Preflop: action starts to the left of the big blind. Fold, call or raise.

4. Flop: three community cards, with action starting from the first remaining player left of the button.

5. Turn: a fourth community card, then another betting round.

6. River: the fifth community card and the final betting round.

7. Showdown: if two or more players remain, hands are shown and the best one wins. Identical hands split the pot.

Hand rankings

The ranking order is exactly the same as Texas Holdʼem — ten hands, strongest first:

1. Royal Flush　A♠K♠Q♠J♠T♠

2. Straight Flush　9♥8♥7♥6♥5♥

3. Four of a Kind　Q♠Q♥Q♦Q♣7♠

4. Full House　K♠K♥K♦4♣4♠

5. Flush　A♦J♦8♦5♦2♦

6. Straight　9♠8♥7♦6♣5♠

7. Three of a Kind　8♠8♥8♦K♣3♠

8. Two Pair　J♠J♥6♦6♣A♠

9. One Pair　T♠T♥K♦7♣3♠

10. High Card　A♠Q♥9♦6♣3♠

For an example and the probability of each, see the full poker hand rankings chart.

The order is the same, but the practical value of any given hand is much lower in PLO, because four hole cards mean everyone connects more often. More on that below.

“Exactly two” is the rule that matters

In Texas Holdʼem you can use two hole cards, one, or none at all. PLO gives you no such flexibility: exactly two hole cards, exactly three community cards.

It looks like a flush. It is not.

Your hand is A♥3♠7♦9♣ and the board runs out K♥Q♥8♥2♥5♠.

Four hearts on the board and the ace of hearts in your hand. In Texas Holdʼem, that is the nut flush.

In PLO you must use two hole cards, and you only have one heart. Whichever second card you pick — 3♠, 7♦ or 9♣ — it is not a heart, so you do not have a flush. Your best hand is ace high, without even a pair.

It looks like a straight. It is not.

Your hand is A♠2♥7♦8♣ and the board is K♦Q♣J♠T♥3♦.

The board already reads KQJT, and your ace completes Broadway — in Texas Holdʼem, at least.

In PLO you need two hole cards. Ace with the 2, ace with the 7, ace with the 8 — none of them connect with three board cards to make five. This hand is nothing.

💡 Almost everyone arriving from Texas Holdʼem pays for these two boards once. Build the habit before you sit down: count which two cards you are using first, then read the board.

It works the other way too: both cards have to play

Your hand is Q♦Q♥T♠9♦ and the board is Q♠6♥4♦4♠6♠.

Here you do have a full house: both queens plus Q♠6♥6♠ from the board makes queens full of sixes. Legal, and strong.

But with only one queen in your hand, you would have to pair it with a card that does nothing — no trips, and therefore no full house.

Pot limit: how the maximum raise is calculated

This is the only place PLO differs from Texas Holdʼem arithmetically, and the number most often got wrong.

Pot limit means you may raise up to the size of the pot after your call — not the current pot, but the pot once the money you owe is already in it.

Three steps:

1. Work out what you have to call

2. Add that call to the pot to get the “pot after the call”

3. You may raise by that amount

A preflop example. In a 1/2 PLO game, everyone folds to you on the button:

The pot is 3 (1 small blind + 2 big blind)
You have to call 2
Pot after the call = 3 + 2 = 5
You may raise 5 more, for 7 total

So a pot-sized open on the button is to 7, not to 3.

A postflop example. The pot is 100 and your opponent bets 50:

You have to call 50
Pot after the call = 100 + 50 + 50 = 200
You may raise 200 more, for 250 total

If you remember the cap as “equal to the current pot”, you would think the maximum here is 100 and bet less than half of what you could. Most online rooms have a Pot button that does the maths, but live you have to do it yourself — and read what other players have raised.

Why hand values are completely different in PLO

Four hole cards give every player six two-card combinations, so everyone makes hands far more often than in Texas Holdʼem. That changes almost every judgement:

One pair is usually worthless. Top pair with a good kicker often wins in Holdʼem; in PLO that hand is normally a fold by the river.
A full house is not automatically safe. When the board pairs, other players make full houses easily, and theirs may be bigger.
Draws have far more outs. Drawing to a straight and a flush at the same time is routine, which is why so many pots reach the river.
The nuts matter much more. “Is my hand strong?” is the wrong question. Ask whether it is the best hand possible right now.

Put simply, Holdʼem instincts run optimistic in PLO. The same two pair that is worth three streets of betting in Holdʼem is often not even worth a call here — and in those spots, working out the pot odds beats going on feel.

Common mistakes

✗ Mistake: Reading a made hand off a single hole cardThis is the most expensive lesson in PLO. Four of one suit on the board plus one in your hand is not a flush. A board that makes its own straight plus one card from you is not a straight. Every time you read your hand, confirm which two hole cards you are using.

✗ Mistake: Treating the raise cap as the current potWith 100 in the pot and a bet of 50, a pot-sized raise is to 250, not 100. Call first, add that call to the pot, then raise that much. Getting it wrong means betting small in exactly the spots where you meant to apply pressure.

✗ Mistake: Calling down with Texas Holdʼem hand valuesTop pair with a good kicker, or a single unimproved two pair, gets outdrawn far more often in a four-card game. The hand names are the same; the standards are not.

✗ Mistake: Playing four cards that do not work togetherA hand like A♠ K♥ 7♦ 2♣ looks like it contains AK, but all four cards run in different directions and very few strong combinations come out of it. Good PLO starting hands are four cards that connect — suits and runs that support each other.

FAQ

What is the biggest difference between Omaha and Texas Holdʼem?

Four hole cards, and the requirement to use exactly two of them. Everything else — dealing, action order, hand rankings, showdown — is the same, so Holdʼem players barely have to relearn the rules. What they do have to rebuild is their sense of how strong a hand actually is.

Why is one heart plus four on the board not a flush?

Because PLO requires two hole cards and three community cards. With only one heart you cannot form a combination where both of your cards are hearts, so there is no flush. The same logic applies to a board that makes its own straight: you cannot simply add one card to it.

How exactly do I work out a pot-sized raise?

Work out what you owe, add it to the pot to get the pot after your call, then raise by that number. With 100 in the pot and a bet of 50: calling 50 makes the pot 200, so you may raise 200 more, for 250 in total. Preflop in a 1/2 game, a pot-sized open on the button is to 7.

Do four hole cards mean any hand is playable?

You do hit more often — but so does everyone else. The real question is whether the hand you make is good enough. Four unconnected cards will regularly make a pair or two pair and almost never make the best hand available, which loses money over time. Pick starting hands whose four cards support each other.

Should a beginner start with Texas Holdʼem or Omaha?

Start with Holdʼem. Position, bet sizing and pot odds carry over to both games, and pots grow much faster in PLO, so the same misjudgement costs more. Once your Holdʼem decisions are stable, bringing that foundation across makes PLO far easier.

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Key Terms

Pot Pot Limit Hole Cards Straight Hand Board Cap Call

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