Community Card Game
Omaha is similar to Texas Hold'em, but players receive four hole cards instead of two. This creates more hand possibilities and strategic depth. The rules below cover the deal, the all-important two-card rule, betting rounds, and how Omaha compares to Hold'em.
Step through a live deal — see how Omaha's four hole cards and the must-use-two rule change the game.
2-10 players
If you already know Hold'em, Omaha will feel familiar — the same community-card layout, the same betting rounds, and the same hand rankings. Three things make it a different game:
IMPORTANT: In Omaha, players must use exactly TWO of their four hole cards combined with exactly THREE community cards to make their best hand. You cannot use one, three, or four hole cards with the community cards.
Each player receives four private cards (hole cards) that belong to them alone. Five community cards are dealt face-up in three stages (same as Texas Hold'em).
When making your hand:
Same as Texas Hold'em:
Omaha uses the standard poker hand rankings — Royal Flush down to High Card, exactly as in Texas Hold'em.
Uses the same blind structure as Texas Hold'em
If you have 
and the board shows 
:
and (using 2 hole cards + 4 board cards is NOT allowed) with gives you two pair (8s and 9s)Omaha is the base game for a large family of variants — most of them keep the exact two-card rule and change the deal or the pot:
Each player is dealt four hole cards. Five community cards are dealt in three stages — the flop, turn, and river — with a betting round at each. At showdown you make your best five-card hand using exactly two of your four hole cards and exactly three community cards.
Yes. Omaha requires you to use exactly two of your four hole cards plus exactly three community cards — no more, no fewer. You can never play one or zero hole cards as you can in Texas Hold'em.
Omaha deals four hole cards instead of two and forces you to use exactly two of them with three board cards. Everything else — betting rounds, community cards, and hand rankings — is the same. Hands tend to run stronger in Omaha.
Yes. Six-Card Omaha deals six hole cards instead of four, but the two-card rule still applies — you use exactly two of your six. Five-Card Omaha, with five hole cards, is also common.
Omaha is more complex because four hole cards create far more possible combinations, and the exact-two-card rule trips up new players reading the board. The betting and rankings are identical to Hold'em, so the learning curve is mostly about hand reading.