SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha and Hold'em)

40.1 One deck, seven players at most

Six cards each and a five-card board use 47 cards for seven players. An eighth player would need 53, one more than the deck holds, so SOHE is dealt to seven players at most. Burn cards don't change that: seven players with three burns still use only 50 cards.

Source: Poker Game Database, SOHE, "Number of Players"; common practice, from the card count.

40.2 The betting structure is the table's choice

BARGE's rules deal SOHE fixed-limit, with the small bet before the flop and on the flop and the big bet on the turn and river. The other published descriptions don't fix a structure, and nothing in the game depends on one, so pot-limit and no-limit SOHE play the same way apart from the bet sizes. Betting structures are Betting structures.

Source: BARGE Rulebook, "SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha Hold'em)," Dealing Procedure; Kevin Haney, "Spice Up Your Home Game: Simultaneous Omaha And Hold'em," Card Player, March 29, 2025.

40.3 Blinds, then six cards face down

SOHE uses a button and blinds exactly as Hold'em does (Blinds, antes and bring-ins). Each player is dealt six cards face down, one at a time, before any card goes to the middle.

Source: BARGE Rulebook, "SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha Hold'em)," Forced Money and Dealing Procedure.

40.4 You split your six into a Hold'em hand and an Omaha hand

Each player still in the hand divides the six cards into two groups: two cards for the Hold'em hand and four for the Omaha hand. Every player decides their own split, and any two of the six can be the Hold'em pair.

Source: BARGE Rulebook, "SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha Hold'em)," Dealing Procedure; Poker Game Database, SOHE, "Key Rules".

40.5 When the split is made: sources differ

Published versions disagree on when players split their cards, and it matters, because the first betting round is played either knowing your two hands or not.

1. (a) BARGE's rules have the first betting round played on all six cards, and only the players still in then split their cards, before the flop.
2. (b) Kevin Haney's Card Player description has players split during the first betting round, keeping the two groups clearly apart, with chips or card protectors if needed.
3. (c) Poker Game Database has every player split before the first betting round starts.

Example: you hold A-A-K-K-Q-J. Under (a) you can call a raise before choosing whether the aces or the kings go into the Hold'em hand. Under (c) you must choose first, and then bet. A host should say which version the game plays.

Source: BARGE Rulebook, "SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha Hold'em)," Dealing Procedure; Kevin Haney, "Spice Up Your Home Game: Simultaneous Omaha And Hold'em," Card Player, March 29, 2025; Poker Game Database, SOHE, "The Deal & Flow".

40.6 Once made, the split is locked

A split can't be changed for the rest of the hand. Poker Game Database calls a change after the split a foul. Neither it nor Card Player's description sets a penalty for one, so a home game should agree what happens, before a dispute.

Source: Poker Game Database, SOHE, "Key Rules"; Kevin Haney, "Spice Up Your Home Game: Simultaneous Omaha And Hold'em," Card Player, March 29, 2025.

40.7 Four betting rounds, played as Hold'em

After the deal (and the split, where it comes first) the hand is Hold'em in shape: a betting round before the flop, then the flop, turn and river, each followed by a betting round. Who acts first on each round is as in Hold'em (Betting action): the player left of the big blind before the flop, the first player left of the button after it.

Source: BARGE Rulebook, "SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha Hold'em)," Dealing Procedure.

40.8 The Hold'em hand may use one, two or no cards from your pair

Your Hold'em hand is the best five cards from your two Hold'em cards and the five on the board. It may use both of your cards, one, or none, in which case you play the board.

Source: BARGE Rulebook, "SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha Hold'em)," Evaluating the Showdown.

40.9 The Omaha hand uses exactly two of your four

Your Omaha hand must use exactly two of your four Omaha cards and exactly three from the board, as in Omaha (Omaha). Example: with four hearts in your Omaha hand and two hearts on the board, you have no flush, because only two of your cards may play.

Source: BARGE Rulebook, "SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha Hold'em)," Evaluating the Showdown.

40.10 Both hands play for high, and each competes only with its own kind

Both halves are high hands under the ordinary rankings (Hand rankings). Your Hold'em hand is compared only with the other players' Hold'em hands and your Omaha hand only with their Omaha hands; your own two hands are never compared with each other.

Source: BARGE Rulebook, "SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha Hold'em)," Evaluating the Showdown.

40.11 Half to the best Hold'em hand, half to the best Omaha hand

At showdown the pot is split in two: one half to the best Hold'em hand and the other to the best Omaha hand. A player who has both wins the whole pot, a scoop. Players tied within a half share that half, and each side pot is split the same way among the players eligible for it (Pots). A pot won because everyone else folded isn't split; the last player takes it all.

Source: BARGE Rulebook, "SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha Hold'em)," Evaluating the Showdown; Poker Game Database, SOHE, "Split Pot (Two Independent Hands)".

40.12 The odd chip between the halves

When the pot doesn't divide evenly between the two halves, someone has to get the extra chip. BARGE treats the Omaha hand as the "high" hand for this and gives it the odd chip, following the high-low rule that the high half takes it. We know of no other published convention. Example: a $45 pot pays $23 to the Omaha hand and $22 to the Hold'em hand under BARGE's rule.

Source: BARGE Rulebook, "Ties & Odd Chips," SOHE.

40.13 Splitting the pot when only one hand was shown

A SOHE showdown needs both hands from each player. A player who turns over only a strong Hold'em hand and mucks the other four cards has given up any claim to the Omaha half, and a pot split before every player's two hands have been read can easily go to the wrong players. Show all six, in their two groups, and read each half separately.

Source: Kevin Haney, "Spice Up Your Home Game: Simultaneous Omaha And Hold'em," Card Player, March 29, 2025 (the split must stay clear to everyone); common home-game practice. Showdown rules in general are Showdown.

40.14 What a host should settle before dealing SOHE

SOHE is young and its published versions differ, so a host dealing it should settle three things in advance: when players split (40.5), the betting structure (40.2), and which half takes an odd chip (40.12). In a dealer's-choice or mixed game (Mixed games), SOHE also needs a table of seven or fewer (40.1).

Source: BARGE Rulebook, "SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha Hold'em)"; Poker Game Database, SOHE; BARGE Rulebook, "Ties & Odd Chips".