Pot-limit Omaha (PLO)
Four hole cards, more action, bigger swings. The variance monster.
Two rules everyone gets wrong
You get four hole cards but must use exactly two of them. Not one, not three, not four. Exactly two. If the board is four hearts and you have the ace of hearts, you don't have a flush, because you only played one hole card. If the board is a straight and you have no cards contributing to it, you don't have the straight, because you played zero hole cards. This trips up literally every hold'em player on their first PLO hand.
Bets are capped at the size of the pot. This is not the same as no-limit. If the pot is $100 and someone bets $80, you can raise to at most $340 (the $100 pot + $80 you'd call + $80 already in the pot from the previous bet = $260 on top of your $80 call = $340 total).
What counts as "pot"
Pot for pot-limit-raise purposes is: what's already in the middle + any bets in front of you + the amount you'd call before raising. That last part is the one people forget. Live rooms usually calculate it for you if you say "pot". Online sites always calculate it automatically.
The four streets, same as hold'em
Preflop, flop, turn, river. Same order, same idea. The only difference: you're holding four cards instead of two, and the betting is capped at pot.
Hand rankings, same as hold'em
Royal flush down to high card, same order. What changes is what tends to win. A single pair almost never wins at showdown in PLO. Two pair is beatable. Straights and flushes get counterfeited constantly on later streets.
Reading your PLO hand
Every four-card starting hand contains six two-card combinations. So a hand like A K Q J double-suited plays 6 different "holdem hands" preflop: A K, A Q, A J, K Q, K J, Q J, and does it in two different suits. That's why double-suited rundowns are worth a fortune preflop.
Common PLO starting-hand shapes
- Aces double-suited. A A x x double-suited. Any of the four "blockers" being decent (kings, connected, suited) turns the hand into a monster.
- Rundowns. Four cards in sequence like 9 8 7 6, ideally double-suited. Makes straights, straight-flush draws, and wraps constantly.
- Broadway rundowns. A K Q J, A K Q T, etc. Big pair potential plus straight coverage.
- Aces-and-a-suited-run. A A T 9 single-suited to the ace. Big pair, backup connectors, ace-high flush possibility.
What to fold preflop
Danglers kill hands. If your fourth card is disconnected from the other three (K Q J 2 is a classic trap), you're playing three cards, and PLO is a four-card game. Fold.
Common PLO mistakes
- Overvaluing top set on wet boards. Top set on 9 8 7 rainbow is a coin flip against most made hands + big draws.
- Playing too many hands preflop because "four cards is more". Four cards is more equity, not more playability. Tight is right in PLO too.
- Calling river with just a straight when four of a suit is on board and villain never bluffs there.
- Getting all-in preflop with less than 55% equity and telling yourself "aces are aces". Aces in PLO run about 60/40 vs a strong rundown, not 80/20 like in hold'em.
Rules explained by the PokerGods editorial team. Reviewed against the 2026 Tournament Directors Association rules and standard casino floor procedure. Have a rules dispute? Email the desk via contact.
More on the site
- Strategy hub: learn the theory once you know the rules.
- Calculators: 22 free tools for the math side of every hand.
- Today's puzzle: put the rules to work on a live spot.
