How to Play Omaha
Omaha is the second most popular poker variant. Players receive four hole cards (or five in PLO5, six in PLO6) but must use exactly two hole cards and exactly three community cards to make their five-card hand. This one rule changes everything.
The Critical Rule: Exactly Two Hole Cards
You MUST use exactly 2 of your hole cards and exactly 3 community cards.
Example: You have A-A-K-K. The board is A-A-J-5-2. You do NOT have four aces -- you can only use two of your hole cards, giving you A-A + A-A from board = four aces only if you use both your aces with two board aces. However you cannot use more than 2 hole cards ever.
Variants on SPN
PLO4 (4-Card Omaha)
Standard Omaha. Four hole cards, five community cards, must use exactly 2 + 3. Most commonly played as Pot-Limit.
PLO5 (5-Card Omaha / Big O)
Five hole cards instead of four. More starting hand combinations make big hands more common. Still must use exactly 2 hole cards.
PLO6 (6-Card Omaha)
Six hole cards. Even more combinations. Nuts are needed to win at showdown -- marginal hands rarely hold up.
How a Hand Plays Out
The betting structure is identical to Texas Hold'em: blinds, pre-flop, flop, turn, river, showdown. Most Omaha is Pot-Limit (maximum bet = current pot size). Hand rankings are standard poker rankings.
On SPN
All Omaha variants use the SPN tick-fee model. The two-card rule is enforced automatically -- the system only shows valid hand combinations at showdown.