How to play 6-card PLO (six-card Omaha)
6-card PLO (six-card Pot Limit Omaha, PLO6) is the Omaha variant with the most combinations and the most action. This guide covers all the rules from scratch, with examples: hand rankings, the table, how a hand is played, the golden rule of 2 + 3 cards and how much you can bet in Pot Limit.
1. What is PLO6
It's a community-card poker game, like Texas Hold'em, with three differences:
- Each player gets 6 face-down cards (2 in Hold'em).
- Your final hand uses exactly 2 cards from your hand and 3 from the board.
- It's played Pot Limit: the maximum bet is the size of the pot.
It's usually played at tables of up to 6 players («6-max»), and you win the pot in one of two ways: reaching the end with the best 5-card hand, or everyone else folding first.
2. Hand rankings, best to worst
They're the same as in any poker game. Suits have no ranking: none is worth more than another.
| # | Hand | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Straight flush | 9♥8♥7♥6♥5♥ |
| 2 | Four of a kind (quads) | K♠K♥K♦K♣3♠ |
| 3 | Full house (trips + pair) | Q♠Q♥Q♦4♣4♥ |
| 4 | Flush (5 of one suit) | A♦J♦8♦6♦2♦ |
| 5 | Straight (5 in a row) | 10♠9♥8♦7♣6♠ |
| 6 | Three of a kind | 7♠7♥7♦K♣2♠ |
| 7 | Two pair | J♠J♥5♦5♣A♥ |
| 8 | One pair | A♠A♥9♦6♣3♠ |
| 9 | High card | None of the above |
The ace can be high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low (A-2-3-4-5), but it doesn't wrap around: K-A-2-3-4 is not a straight. If two players have the same hand, the one with the higher cards within their 5 wins; if they're identical, the pot is split.
3. The table: button, blinds and positions
The button (BTN) marks the dealer and moves one seat to the left every hand. To its left, two players post forced bets: the small blind (SB, half a blind) and the big blind (BB, a full blind). That's why everything is measured in «bb»: 100 bb means 100 big blinds.
At a 6-handed table, the seats in preflop acting order are: UTG → HJ → CO → BTN → SB → BB. From the flop on, the first player still in the hand to the left of the button acts first, and the button always acts last. Acting after your opponent means being in position: you see what they do before you decide.
4. How a hand is played
- Preflop: everyone gets their 6 cards. First betting round, starting with UTG.
- Flop: 3 community cards. Second round.
- Turn: the 4th card. Third round.
- River: the 5th card. Last round.
- Showdown: if two or more players remain, they show their cards and the best 5-card hand wins.
On your turn you can fold, check (only if nobody has bet), bet, call or raise. Preflop, the first raise is called the open, the re-raise a 3-bet and the next one a 4-bet; entering by just calling the big blind is a limp.
5. The golden rule: 2 cards from your hand + 3 from the board
It's the most important rule in Omaha and the one that confuses beginners most: your hand uses exactly 2 cards from your hand and exactly 3 from the board. No more, no less.
Example 1: a single heart is not a flush.
Your hand: A♥K♠Q♦J♣8♠7♦ · Board: 10♥9♥6♥2♥3♣
→ 10-high straight (8♠ 7♦ + 10♥ 9♥ 6♥). No flush: you'd need two hearts in your hand.
Example 2: four connected cards on the board aren't enough.
Your hand: 10♠A♣K♦Q♥4♣3♦ · Board: 9♠8♦7♣6♥2♠
→ Just high card. 10-9-8-7-6 would use only one of your cards and four from the board.
Example 3: you can't use two board pairs at once.
Your hand: A♥Q♦J♣10♠9♠8♦ · Board: K♥K♦7♣7♠2♥
→ A pair of kings with A-Q. The board's two pair would be 4 board cards.
The same goes for three aces in your hand: you can only use two, so you have a pair of aces, not trips.
Practise this with the app
«Who wins?» and «Read your 6-card hand» drills with random boards and no limit. Join the waitlist and get the rules cheat sheet. The app launches first in Spanish; English is on the way.
6. Pot Limit: how much you can bet
The minimum bet is one big blind and the maximum is what's in the pot. That's why you can't go all-in whenever you like: only if your chips fit within a pot-sized bet.
How to calculate a pot-sized raise
- Count as if you called your opponent's bet.
- Raise the whole pot that results after calling.
Pot of 10 bb and your opponent bets 10. You call 10 → the pot is now 30 → you raise 30 more. Total: 40 bb.
Shortcut: 3 × the opponent's bet + the pot before it (3 × 10 + 10 = 40).
Preflop, nobody in and you're not in the blinds: there are 1.5 bb (0.5 + 1). You call 1 → the pot is 2.5 → you raise 2.5. Pot-sized raise to 3.5 bb. From the small blind it's to 3 bb, because you already have 0.5 in.
7. The nuts, draws and outs
The nuts is the best possible hand with the board as it is right now. Two shortcuts for reading any board: with fewer than 3 cards of one suit on the board nobody can have a flush, and with no pair on the board nobody can have a full house or quads.
Board: 9♠8♦7♣3♥2♠ → the nuts is the J-10 straight (7-8-9-10-J). No flush is possible (only two spades) and no full house (no pair).
A draw is a hand that's one card short, and your outs are the cards that complete it. If you hold 2 hearts and 2 come on the flop, 9 hearts are left (13 − 4). In PLO6 you hold many cards: with 3 clubs of your own and 2 on the flop only 8 are left, because every card of a suit you hold is one fewer in the deck.
8. PLO6 vs Hold'em, PLO4 and PLO5
| Game | Hole cards | Possible 2-card combos in your hand |
|---|---|---|
| Texas Hold'em | 2 | 1 (and you may use 0, 1 or 2) |
| PLO (4 cards) | 4 | 6 |
| PLO5 | 5 | 10 |
| PLO6 | 6 | 15 |
With 6 cards, your hand hides 15 different two-card combinations: more draws, more strong hands on the board and bigger pots. That's why reading the board and your own hand well matters even more than in other formats.
9. Common beginner mistakes
- Counting a flush with a single suited card in your hand.
- Counting a straight that uses four board cards.
- Thinking three of a kind in your hand is trips. You only use two.
- Miscalculating the pot-sized raise: add what you call first.
- Forgetting the nuts changes with every card: the best hand on the flop may not be on the river.
10. FAQ
How many cards do you use in 6-card PLO?
You get 6, but your hand uses exactly 2 from your hand and 3 of the 5 community cards.
If there are four cards of one suit on the board and I hold one, do I have a flush?
No: you need two cards of the suit in your hand and three on the board.
What is a pot-sized raise preflop?
To 3.5 big blinds if nobody has entered and you're not in the blinds.
Where can I practise?
At Omaha6, an app with short lessons, rules drills and hands to decide. It's in private beta and launches first in Spanish: join the waitlist.
Learn PLO6 in 5 minutes a day
We'll let you know when it opens, and you get the rules cheat sheet for free.