The most popular poker game on the planet by quite some distance is No Limit Texas Hold'em. However there has been a rise in popularity, especially since the dawn of Online and Mobile Poker of Pot Limit Omaha, or PLO as it's know for short. If you thought the action was crazy in No Limit Hold'em then you are about to be put into overdrive as Pot Limit Omaha is arguably the most action packed poker game that is available on any Online or Mobile Poker Site. Pot limit Omaha is played in a similar way to No Limit Hold'em in the sense that you are dealt starting cards, there is a flop, turn, and river with betting on each of the streets, and then a showdown at the end. However this is where the similarities end and you can see right off the bat as you are dealt 4 cards to start things off instead of the usual 2. It doesn't take too much thought to realize just how much this changes the game.
Not only does this change the power of certain hands such as connecting cards and suited cards, but it also makes the hands that get to showdown vastly more powerful too. The one thing that holds PLO back from being completely off the rails is that while you are dealt 4 starting cards, you can and only must use 2 of them in your final hand. That is to say you must use 2 cards from your starting hand, and 3 cards from the community cards as your final showdown hand. This makes hands such as double suited hands (eg 2 spades and 2 clubs hands) much more valuable than say a hand with 4 spades in it. This is because those extra 2 spades couldn't be used in the final hand and even worse than that they are ensuring even less spades in the deck available for you to draw to.
With this in mind flushes in PLO occur very frequently and any time you see 3 or more of a certain suit out by the river you can be reasonably confident someone will have made it. Furthermore with the possibility of 4 card connecting hands such as 4567 or 9TJQ as starting hands, straights and 2 pairs are a very common occurrence and as a result hands like AA59 where you have a high pair go down in value quite a bit as without hitting your set you are likely to be behind a whole lot. There is a common saying that Pot Limit Omaha is a game of the nuts(the best possible hand) vs the 2nd nuts. For this reason hands that include two suited aces, hands that can make top sets, and hands that can make top end straight draws are highly sought after as they all have the potential of being the nuts.
The final thing to bring attention to is the fact that this is a game of Pot Limit and not No Limit. This means that the maximum amount you can bet on any street is the pot. This makes the game a harder game to master as now there isn't the option of having the best hand and simply putting all the chips in the middle, instead player must evaluate each street and try and decide whether or not their hand is still ahead. In the end Pot Limit Omaha is one of the most action packed and exciting games around with big hands being made often and chips flying all over the place. So if you're looking for a lot of action, and even a bit of a gamble then you don't need to look any further than Pot Limit Omaha!
