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PLO stands for Pot-Limit Omaha. It is Omaha — four hole cards instead of two — with pot-limit betting rather than no-limit, and it is far and away the most common form of Omaha played anywhere. Everything else about it looks like Texas Hold'em: same blinds, same five community cards, same flop, turn and river, same hand rankings. Two rules change, and between them they change the whole game. You are dealt four cards and must use exactly two of them, no more and no fewer. And the most you can bet at any moment is the size of the pot, which means the huge preflop shoves of no-limit Hold'em are simply unavailable.
The exactly-two rule, and the flush that is not a flush
How a pot-sized bet is calculated, with worked numbers
Why hands that win in Hold'em lose in PLO
The rows that differ are the only rows that differ. Everything not listed here — blinds, dealing order, betting rounds, hand rankings, showdown — is identical between the two games.
Hole cards
Texas Hold'em
2
Pot-Limit Omaha
4
Must use from hand
Texas Hold'em
Any number, including none
Pot-Limit Omaha
Exactly 2
Must use from board
Texas Hold'em
Any number
Pot-Limit Omaha
Exactly 3
Two-card combinations
Texas Hold'em
1
Pot-Limit Omaha
6
Betting
Texas Hold'em
Usually no-limit
Pot-Limit Omaha
Pot-limit
Biggest possible bet
Texas Hold'em
Your whole stack, any time
Pot-Limit Omaha
The size of the pot
Typical winning hand
Texas Hold'em
One pair is often enough
Pot-Limit Omaha
Two pair is often not
The maximum raise is the size of the pot after you have called. This trips people up because the call is included before the raise is measured, which makes the legal maximum larger than the pot looks.
Situation
First raise, $1/$2 blinds
Pot before you act
$3
You call
$2
Pot after call
$5
Max raise
$5
Your total
$7
Situation
Facing a $7 raise
Pot before you act
$10
You call
$7
Pot after call
$17
Max raise
$17
Your total
$24
Situation
Postflop, pot $20, they bet $10
Pot before you act
$30
You call
$10
Pot after call
$40
Max raise
$40
Your total
$50
Players
6-8 seats
Setup
15 minutes
After game
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Pot-Limit Omaha: Omaha, played with pot-limit betting. Omaha is the four-card game, pot-limit is the betting structure, and PLO is the combination almost everybody means when they say either word on its own. You can play Omaha no-limit or fixed-limit and a few rooms do, but if someone invites you to an Omaha game without qualifying it, assume PLO. The acronym gets used as though it were a separate game from Omaha, which is why the search for what it means is so common.
You must play exactly two cards from your hand and exactly three from the board. Not one, not three, not four. This is the single rule that costs home games real money, and it costs them in one specific way: the board comes with four hearts, you are holding the ace of hearts, and you announce a flush. You do not have a flush. You need two hearts in your hand to use three on the board. The same applies to straights — four to a straight on the board and one connecting card in your hand is not a straight in Omaha, though it would be in Hold'em.
The reason PLO plays so much bigger is combinatorial. Two hole cards give you exactly one two-card combination. Four hole cards give you six, because there are six ways to choose two cards from four. Every player at the table is effectively holding six Hold'em hands at once, and the board interacts with all of them. This is why flops get hit so hard, why draws are enormous, and why a hand that would be a monster in Hold'em is routinely second best in PLO.
The largest bet you may make is the size of the pot, measured after you have called any outstanding bet. With $1/$2 blinds the pot is $3, so the first raiser calls the $2 big blind, making $5, and may raise $5 more — a total of $7. It looks fiddly and it is, but the effect is simple: nobody can move all in on the first street. Given how close everyone's equity runs with six combinations each, no-limit Omaha would collapse into preflop coin flips. Pot-limit keeps the money going in over several streets, which is where the game lives.
Top pair top kicker wins pots in Hold'em constantly. In PLO it is close to worthless — assume you are behind and play accordingly. Two pair is frequently second best. A non-nut flush is a genuine liability, because the player who called your bet on a three-flush board very often has the ace. The general rule is that you should think one full rank higher than your Hold'em instincts: where Hold'em asks whether you have the best pair, PLO asks whether you have the nuts, and if you do not, whether you can stand a raise.
Four cards that work together, not four good cards. A hand like A-A-K-K double suited is strong because every pair of cards in it does something; A-A-7-2 rainbow is close to junk despite containing aces, because four of its six combinations are unplayable. Look for connectedness, suits attached to high cards, and pairs that can make top sets. A useful test: cover any two of your four cards and ask whether the remaining two would be a hand you would play in Hold'em. If the answer is no for most pairings, fold.
The three habits that cost the most are overvaluing one pair, playing any four cards because four cards feel like a lot, and forgetting the two-card rule under pressure at showdown. The adjustment that helps fastest is to stop asking what you have and start asking what the nuts is on this board and how close you are to it. Bankroll swings are also larger — with equities running close, even a clear favourite wins far less often than the equivalent Hold'em spot, so a run of losses says less about how you are playing than it would at Hold'em.
FAQ
01
Pot-Limit Omaha. Omaha is the variant, in which you are dealt four hole cards instead of two; pot-limit is the betting structure, which caps any bet at the current size of the pot. PLO is by far the most common way Omaha is played.
02
Two things. You get four hole cards instead of two and must use exactly two of them with exactly three from the board. And betting is pot-limit rather than no-limit, so you cannot move all in on the first street. Blinds, dealing, betting rounds and hand rankings are identical.
03
Yes, exactly two from your hand and exactly three from the board, with no exceptions. Four hearts on the board and one in your hand is not a flush. This is the rule that most often causes a pot to be awarded wrongly in a home game.
04
Call any outstanding bet first, then the maximum raise equals the pot including that call. If the pot is $20 and an opponent bets $10, you call $10 to make the pot $40, then may raise $40, putting in $50 in total.
05
It is harder to play well and no harder to play legally. The rules are nearly the same, but with six two-card combinations per player the hands run much closer in equity, so mistakes cost more and results are swingier over any short run.
06
Four cards that work together — double-suited high pairs and connected cards such as A-A-K-K or J-T-9-8. Four individually strong cards that do not connect, like A-A-7-2 rainbow, play badly because most of their six combinations are unusable.
07
You can, and some games do, but it is rare. With equities running so close, no-limit Omaha turns into preflop all-ins. Pot-limit keeps money going in over several streets, which is why it became the standard structure for the game.
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