No Folds Given
Omaha and Short Deck poker rules
Two ways to shake up a Hold'em night. 18+ · play money only.
Both games are played like Texas Hold'em: blinds, a flop, turn and river, and the same four betting rounds. What changes is the cards you get and, in Short Deck, which hands win.
Omaha
In Omaha you're dealt four hole cards instead of two. The big rule:
You must use exactly two of your hole cards and exactly three cards from the board. No more, no fewer.
That catches out every Hold'em player at least once:
- One suited card isn't enough. The board is K♠ 9♠ 6♠ 3♠ 2♦ and you hold A♠ 7♥ 7♣ 4♦. In Hold'em you'd have the nut flush. In Omaha you have no flush, because you need two spades from your hand.
- You can't play the board. If the board is 10 J Q K A, you only have a straight if two of your hole cards fit into it with three board cards.
- Four of a suit in your hand is weaker than it looks. You can only use two of them, and the other two are cards of your suit that can no longer come on the board.
Because everyone has more cards, hands run closer and the winning hand at showdown is usually stronger than in Hold'em. A pair or two pair that would win a Hold'em pot often loses in Omaha.
5-Card Omaha
The same game with five hole cards. You still use exactly two of them with three from the board. More cards means even more draws and even bigger hands. On No Folds Given, 5-Card Omaha tables seat up to 8 players, so the deck doesn't run out.
A note on betting limits
In casinos, Omaha is usually played pot-limit: you can't bet more than the size of the pot. On No Folds Given every game, Omaha included, is no-limit, so you can go all-in at any time. Agree with your table whether you want to play it like a pot-limit game.
Short Deck (6+ Hold'em)
Short Deck is Hold'em with the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s taken out, leaving a 36-card deck from 6 up to ace. You still get two hole cards and can use any combination of hole and board cards. Removing the low cards changes the odds, and so the rankings change too:
- A flush beats a full house. With only nine cards of each suit, flushes are harder to make.
- A-6-7-8-9 is the lowest straight. The ace plays low in place of the missing 5.
- A straight still beats three of a kind on No Folds Given. Some casinos rank three of a kind above a straight, so check the house rules if you play elsewhere.
Short Deck hand rankings on No Folds Given, strongest first:
- Royal flush
- Straight flush
- Four of a kind
- Flush
- Full house
- Straight
- Three of a kind
- Two pair
- One pair
- High card
Compare with the standard order in our poker hand rankings.
Tips for both games
- Omaha: play hands that work together. Connected, suited cards like J♥ 10♥ 9♣ 8♣ make lots of strong hands. Four random high cards don't.
- Omaha: draw to the best hand. With so many cards out, a second-best flush or straight is expensive.
- Short Deck: expect action. Pairs and draws come up much more often, so hands are stronger and all-ins are common.
- Short Deck: rethink your odds. An open-ended straight draw still has 8 outs, but from a smaller deck, so it comes in more often than in Hold'em. A flush draw has only 5 outs, because each suit has just nine cards.
- Use Coach tips while you learn. Leave them on when you create a table to see your equity and pot odds on your turn.
← Create a free table and try Omaha or Short Deck with friends