In Omaha, hands always consist of 5 cards exactly, no more and no less.

Hands differ in rank (i.e. strength), and the player with the highest-ranking hand wins the game.

 

A hand is produced by using any 3 of the 5 community cards and any 2 of the 4 hole cards; the rules do not allow to make up a hand with, say, 4 community and 1 hole cards, or 2 community and 3 hole cards.

 

Hand strength is determined by the following:

If player 1 has got a Straight, and player 2 a Two Pair, player 1 wins (since a Straight ranks higher than a Two Pair), and the card individual ranks do not matter anyway.

 

If several players have hands of the same rank, the winner will be the one whose hand is made up of higher-ranking cards. If card ranks are also, in fact, the same, players simply split the pot.

 

Some of the hands involve a Kicker card, which does not determine the hand rank directly, but can affect its overall value. You can learn more about Kicker cards here: Kicker

 

A Royal Flush consists of the 5 highest cards of the same suit (Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten).

 

This is the highest possible hand in the entire game, and it is also the rarest. In Omaha, it is only possible for one single player to produce a Royal Flush in any one given game.

Also, should a Royal Flush come up entirely on the river, Omaha's specifics associated with the "3 community cards + 2 hole cards" rule make the case for players splitting the pot invalid.

A Straight Flush consists of any 5 cards of the same suit ordered in a sequence (except for the Ace-to-Ten hand, which is the Royal Flush we've outlined above). Here, an Ace may act as both the highest (closing) or the lowest (opening) card of the sequence; that is, you can play a Straight Flush of Ace, Two, Three, Four and Five.

 

The value of a Straight Flush is determined by the highest card involved; therefore, a Straight Flush ending with a King is valued higher than a Straight Flush ending with an Eight. A Straight Flush of Ace-to-Five is the lowest possible one, since an Ace here is likened to a "One".

 

Any one given game can only possibly involve a Straight Flush of one suit. If there are 2 players at the same time who have a Straight Flush on their hands, the winner will evidently be the one whose hand is of higher rank (or value).

 

For example, with community cards of J 2 5 6 7, two of player 1's hole cards of 8 9, and two of player 2's hole cards of 3 4, we'll have player 1 in the win, since he has produced a stronger Straight Flush ending with a Nine: 5 6 7 8 9.

 

An Ace can both open and close the sequence, remember? Here's an example of a Straight Flush ending with a Five: А 2 3 4 5. Here, an Ace is the beginning of the hand, its rank likened to "One", and a Five is the highest and closing card.

A Four of a Kind, also called Quads, consists, as the name suggests, of 4 cards of the same numerical rank + a Kicker.

 

The rank of this hand is determined, in the first place, by the four cards that make it up, and only then by the kicker. There are 2 ways to produce a Four of a Kind in a game of Omaha:

In any one given game, there can be no more than two Four of a Kind hands of different rank played; and the winner will be the player who has produced a higher-ranking four. For example: say, we have the community cards of 8 8 7 7 2, player 1's hole cards are 8 8 10 J, and player 2's hole cards are 7 7 2 3.

Both players have a Four of a Kind on their hands, but player 1 wins, since his hand is made up of Eights rather than Sevens.

A Full House consists of any 3 cards of the same numerical rank (a Three of a Kind, in fact) and a One Pair.

 

The strength of a Full House is determined by the rank of the triplet first and then by the rank of the remaining pair.

 

For example, a Full House of 3 3 3 2 2 ranks higher than a Full House of 2 2 2 A A; a Full House of J J J 9 9 ranks higher than a Full House of J J J 8 8. Don't forget that a hand consists strictly of 5 cards, no more and no less.

 

Now, consider community cards of J 10 10 K 5, player 1's hole cards of 4 4 J J, and player 2's hole cards of 4 6 K 10. Player 1 has produced a Full House of Jacks and Tens: J J J 10 10. Player 2 has a Full House of Tens and Kings: 10 10 10 K K. Player 1 wins, as his triplet is stronger (higher in rank) than that of Player 2.

A Flush consists of 5 cards of the same suit in any order.

 

In any one given game, it is possible to play a Flush hand of only one suit. If there are two or more players with a Flush on their hands, the winner is the one with the highest closing card of the sequence. If the highest card is the same for several players, the second-highest is used to determine the winner, and so on until you get to the 5th card.

 

For example, when both players have played a Flush ending with a King, but player 1's hand includes a higher-ranking Ten, it will be player 1 that wins.

A Straight consists of any 5 cards of any suit, but ordered in a row by rank.

Here, an Ace can both open or close the sequence, with one of the potential hands beginning with an Ace and ending with a Five.

 

The rank of a Straight is determined by the highest card in its makeup; therefore, a Straight ending with a King ranks higher than a Straight ending with an Eight. The Ace-to-Five Straight is considered the lowest, since an Ace here is likened to a "One", which makes Five the highest card.

 

If there are two players to have produced a Straight at the same time, the winner is the one with the highest-ranking closing card. Here's an example: our community cards are J 8 K 6 9, player 1's four hole cards include 10 Q, and player 2's four hole cards include 7 10; player 1 wins, as he has produced a higher-ranking Straight ending with a King (9 10 J Q K), while player 2's Straight only ends with a Jack.

 

Remember that an Ace can both open and close the sequence. Here's a quick example of a Straight hand ending with a Five: A 2 3 4 5; here, the Ace opens the sequence, and its value is likened to a "One", with Five acting as the highest card.

A Three of a Kind, also called Set, consists, quite evidently, of 3 cards of the same rank and two other cards, acting as Kickers.

 

A Three of a Kind's rank is determined firstly by the numerical rank of the cards that make up its triplet and secondly by the high Kicker; should these two criteria fail, the second (low) Kicker is examined.

If there are several players who manage to collect a Three of a Kind at the same time, the winner will be the player to produce the highest-ranking identical three. If the ranks of a Three of a Kind are the same, we turn to the high Kicker (have a look here for more details: Kicker).

 

In the next example, both players have produced a Three of a Kind of Kings, but player 1 wins thanks to his Ace high Kicker. The Queen from player 2's hole cards does not upgrade his hand in any way, since the Queen cannot be used to form this hand: only 3 community and 2 hole cards strictly can be used to produce playing hands in Omaha.

 

In the example below, both players have produced a Three of a Kind, but player 1 certainly has a higher-ranking one. Player 2 has a Six among his hole cards, but it does not upgrade his Three of a Kind of Eights in any way; similarly to the previous example, this Six cannot be used to form a hand, as player 2 is already using 2 out of 2 available hole cards (the Eights) to produce his best and strongest hand under Omaha rules.

 

A Two Pair consists of two pairs of same-ranking cards of any suit and an extra Kicker.

The rank of the two pairs is determined firstly by the highest pair and secondly by the lowest pair; if these do not differ, players' Kickers come into play.

 

In this example below, player 1 has produced a Two Pair even though there are no matches among the community cards as such:

 

And in this example we can see that one of the pairs is already dealt on the table:

A One Pair consists of a pair of cards of the same numerical rank and 3 more Kickers.

 

A One Pair ranks according to the rank of the cards making it up to begin with, and then is determined by the highest of the 3 Kickers; if these fail, we move on to the second-highest Kicker and then on to the lowest one.

 

A High Card is the lowest hand in Omaha.

This hand involves no matches as such, and it is simply about the card of the highest numerical rank, as well as four subsequent Kickers.

 

So, the ranking order for this hand is, first of all, determined by the highest single card a player can put forward (including a card picked from community cards). Then the highest Kicker is used to determine the winner, and, should it not be enough, we go for the rest of the Kickers one after another until we get to the fourth and the final one. (Remember, we can only consider 5 cards and no more, just as we do with any other poker hand).

 

Say, we have community cards of 6 J Q 3 7, player 1's hole cards are A K 5 2, and player 2's hole cards are A 4 9 10. Both of the players have an Ace as their High Card, therefore, we need to look at the first Kicker to determine the winner. And player 1's King does the trick here and awards him the win.