How to play Omaha

Set up the round

Omaha uses exactly four standard decks, including jokers. Every player begins each round with 11 cards. The rest form the draw pile, and one card begins the discard pile.

Start your turn

Choose one of two actions: draw two cards from the draw pile, or take the available discard pile. If you take the discard pile, you must immediately use its top card in a valid new meld during that turn.

Make melds

Jokers and twos are wild. During your turn, play as many valid melds as you can and add cards to your own completed melds. You cannot add cards to another player’s melds.

End your turn

After drawing and playing any melds, discard one card face-up. The next player then begins their turn. You may discard any card, including a two or joker.

End the round and win the game

A round ends when a player goes out. Cards in completed melds score positively; every card left in a hand scores negatively. Going out adds 50 points.

The game continues over as many rounds as needed. The winner is the player who goes out at the end of a round with a total score of at least 1,000 points—even if another player already has a higher total.