How to play
Five-Card Omaha, often called PLO5, is Pot-Limit Omaha with one more card in every hand. It has become a favorite in high-stakes online games because almost every hand has something to play for. Here you sit at a cash table with one to five computer opponents. Everyone starts with 1,000 chips, the blinds are 5 and 10, and a fresh 52-card deck is shuffled for every hand.
- Five hole cards. Everyone gets five cards face down. Yours are shown fanned out at the bottom; opponents’ cards are only shown at the showdown.
- Betting rounds are the same as in Hold’em and Omaha: the dealer button (D) moves one seat each hand, the two players to its left post the blinds, and you bet before the flop, after the flop (three community cards), after the turn (a fourth) and after the river (a fifth). On your turn you can fold, check, call, or bet / raise.
- Pot limit. The most you can raise is the size of the pot after you call. Facing a bet of 20 into a pot of 40, you call 20 (the pot is now 60) and can raise up to 60 more, to 80. The Pot button sets the largest raise. The smallest raise is the size of the last raise, and never less than the big blind.
- Exactly two plus three. Your hand is the best five cards made from exactly two of your five hole cards and exactly three of the five community cards. Five cards give you ten possible pairs to choose from, but the rule doesn’t change: four hearts on the board and one heart in your hand is not a flush.
- The best hand wins; if everyone else folds, the last player wins without showing. Every hand still in at the showdown is shown, and the cards that make the winning hand are highlighted.
All-ins, side pots and split pots work as in No-Limit Hold’em: you can only win from each opponent as much as you put in, an uncalled bet comes back to you, and the odd chip of a split pot goes to the first winner left of the button.
The table. When an opponent runs out of chips, a new player takes the seat with 1,000 chips on the next hand. If you run out, you can get 1,000 free credits and sit down at a new table. Between hands you can leave the table and pick a table size from 2 to 6 players. Your table is saved, so you can close the page and come back to the same hand.
Strategy
Expect big hands. With five cards each, someone at a full table usually has two pair or better by the river, and straights and flushes come often. Hands that would win a big pot in Hold’em are often only medium here. Ask what the best possible hand is on each board, and whether you hold it.
Value hands that connect. The strongest starting hands have cards that work together in many ways: a high pair plus connected cards, two suits, and few gaps. Count how many of your ten two-card pairs are useful. A hand like K-Q-J-10-9 with two suits has many; a hand with three cards of one suit, or two of the same rank you can’t use together, has fewer than it looks.
Draw to the nuts. Small flushes and the low end of straights lose a lot of money in PLO5, because with this many cards in play another player often has the bigger one. Prefer draws that make the best possible hand, and be careful calling big bets with the second best.
Watch the paired board. When the board pairs, full houses become likely. A flush or straight that looked strong on the turn can be behind on a paired river.
Pot-limit keeps pots growing in steps. Raising the pot several times gets all the chips in quickly once the pot is big, so decide early how far you want to go with a hand.
Read the labels. Each computer player is marked Tight or Loose, and aggressive or passive. Loose players call with many draws; bet your made hands against them. A passive player who raises the pot on the river usually has a big hand.
More poker. For four hole cards, play Pot-Limit Omaha. For two hole cards and no-limit betting, play Texas Hold’em.
If you enjoy Five-Card Omaha, try Fixed Seven Baccarat or Flop Hold’em next.
