The differences between Omaha and Hold?em

If you can play Hold?em poker, you will pick up Omaha in no time at all. If you have never played holdem or are a little rusty, why not check out our comprehensive holdem guide. You should then come back to this page to find out the variations in Omaha.

As you know, in Texas Hold?em each player receives two cards face down that only they can see (their ?hole cards?) before the five community cards are dealt face up.

In Omaha, each player is dealt four hole cards - there is a catch. Unlike Hold?em, where you can use any combination of hole and community cards to make your best five card hand, in Omaha you must use two of your hole cards and three community cards when making your hand.

So, just to recap, as this is important: when making your five card hand, you must use two of your four hole cards, and three of the five community cards.
Apart from that, the game follows the same patterns as Texas Hold`em, with the same blind structure and betting rounds. If you?re not sure about all that, you?ll get everything you need to know in our how to play Texas Hold?em guide.