Omaha is played exactly like Texas Hold’em, but with a few important wrinkles. Here are the poker rules for Omaha Poker.

Just like in Hold’em, players post a small blind and a big blind before any cards are dealt. Each player in Omaha is then dealt 4 cards face-down, instead of 2 as in Hold’em.

The action after that is exactly the same as in Hold’em. There’s a round of pre-flop betting, followed by a three card flop being dealt, which are community cards shared by all players. A round of betting ensues, followed by the turn being dealt, then betting, then the river being dealt, followed by a last round of betting.

All remaining players at showdown after the last round of betting then turn over their hands, with the best five card hand winning.

Here’s where the second key difference between Omaha and Hold’em emerges. In Hold’em, you use any combination of your two face down cards and the five community cards to make your best hand. You can use one card from your hand and four from the board, two from your hand and three from the board, or play the five cards on the board.

In Omaha, though, you must use both of your hole cards when forming your best five card hand. You don’t have the option of using just one. So if you hold the AhKd face-down and the board is 10h 9h 3h 2h Qs, in Omaha you only have an Ace high hand, and not a flush, since you must use both of your hold cards. In Hold’em, you have an Ace high flush with hearts, as you can use only one of your hole cards if you so choose, but that isn’t the case in Omaha. Omaha is typically played in two different ways. Omaha Hi (often just called “Omaha”) is the game described above, with the best five card hand winning the entire pot. Omaha is also played as a high/low split game (called Omaha HiLo or Omaha/8), in which the highest hand and the lowest hand split the pot.