Omaha Hands
Winning poker hands.
2 days ago Omaha hands UND its second home loss in 28 games with overtime power-play goal Written By: Brad Elliott Schlossman 11:03 pm, Mar.
To win at Omaha poker you need to know the winning hands, and this is absolutely essential in Omaha because you need to know if you are drawing to a great hand or not. Skill comes into how you play the hand and if you don’t know if you have a winning hand or draw, you wont be able to make and call the right bets. So the first part of getting an advanced Omaha strategy in play is to remember the hand rankings below.
You start with four cards in your hand and end up with five cards on the table. The winning hand must be made up of two of the four cards in your hand and three of the five cards on the table. The hand rankings below represent that combination of two cards from your hand and three from the table.
- Even suited hands help in getting you a win in Omaha poker. Basically, it is the ranking of strong hands that give the right Omaha poker starting hands. Though not the best, an ace-ace combination is a great starting hand. Omaha poker starting hands like As-Ad-Ks-Kd is excellent for flopping too.
- What are danglers in Omaha starting hands There are various non-favorable cards you can get preflop in Pot-Limit Omaha. One of them is a dangler – a term used by players to describe a low-card that doesn’t add any value to the four-card hand.
- Pot Limit Omaha Starting Hands In PLO there are a total of 16,432 different starting hands, made up of all the possibilities that result from the 270,725 stochastically possible combinations. So how do you decide what starting hands to play and what not to play.
- For a Royal Flush you need an Ace King Queen Jack Ten all of one suit, hearts or clubs.
1: Royal Flush.
For a Royal Flush you need an Ace King Queen Jack Ten all of one suit, hearts or clubs, diamonds or spades. A Royal Flush beats every other hand there is, but you won’t see one very often. Enjoy it and rake in as many chips as you can when you do.
2; The straight flush.
Second in rank five cards in sequence of the same suit, but not including the ace high. Also not a common hand but often well disguised.
3; Four of a kind.
Any four cards of the same rank, also known as quads. If there are four cards the same on the board, whoever has the highest card in their hand, such as an ace, will win. If two people have the same high card the pot will be split.
4; Full house;
To get a full house you have three cards of one value and two cards of another. In the example of 9,9,9,10,10 the rank of the three nines determines the strength of the hand. If someone else has a full house of 10,10,10,9,9 this hand wins because the 9,9,9 is lower than the 10,10,10 of the other hand.
5; The flush.
Five cards of the same suit make a flush. More than one person can have a flush. The winner is the person with the highest card making the flush.
6; Straight.
A straight is made up of any five cards in sequence but not of the same suit.
7; Three of a kind.
Any three cards all of the same rank.
8; Two pairs.
Two pairs of cards. Two players can have more two pairs and the winner is determined by the person having the highest pair.
9; Pair.
Any two cards of the same value.
10; High card.
In poker the highest card is an ace then a king and so on down the rankings. If no one makes a hand, whoever has the highest value card will win.
So now you know which hands will win the game, get out there and have a go. Playing Omaha poker is great fun and if you play well can be profitable.
If you want to play Omaha with other beginners at a low risk game, look up Boom poker club (Australia’s largest online club with well over 1000 players, with a poker jackpot of $4,000) onfacebook; or for instructions on how to enter the game email here; anish.kumar15@live.com
Note; The authors of Beginners Omaha Poker have no commercial connection to Boom poker club.
And if its Texas Holdem poker you are wanting to learn about, look at this great site; How to play Texas Holdem Poker.
Omaha Hi-Lo is a fascinating game packed with action! The action, at least in small-middle stakes games, is not only loose but many times also weak. By having four cards, and playing for high and low, some players frequently find a “reason” to stick with their hand. However, even if their hand has some potential, pot odds often do not justify playing it. So, many novice players play too loosely, stick with their hands when they shouldn’t, and end up making many mistakes.
Most errors originate from poor preflop hand selection. Understanding which Omaha high-low starting hands are solid and under which circumstances they are playable will significantly improve your game!
Starting hands
The best starting hands in Omaha hi-lo have both strong high and low potential. Since aces are the best cards for high and low, they are excellent starting hands! Almost all playable starting hands contain at least an ace! On the counterpart, cards between six and nine, are considered weak. So, any starting hand containing one or more of these cards usually decreases in value.
Another deal-breaker is to have trips in your starting hand! This is because you can only use two out of three, so you have an unusable card in your hands. Your chances of hitting a set also decrease. Let’s take a look at the strongest starting hands.
Top hands
The best starting hand is AA23, followed by AA24. These hands have excellent high and low potential! If one, or even better, both aces are suited, the strength of the hand increases as it also has nut flush potential.
Omaha Hand Calculator
Powerful starting hands with both high and low potential
- AA, with one or two low cards (the smaller, the better), like AA2x or AA35
- A2 or A3 with two high cards, like AKJ2 or AKQ3
- A2 or A3, with a big pair, like KK or QQ
Strong only low starting hands
- A2 or A3 with one or two more low cards (the lower, the better), like A23x
- 2345, 2346, 2356 (the flop must contain an ace, and at least another small card, or the hand may become useless)
Note that if one or no low cards come on the flop, these hands lose their value
Strong only high starting hands
- AA, with two high cards, like AAKJ
- A with three cards ten or higher, like AKJ10 or AKQJ
- Four high connected cards, like KQJ10 or QJ109
- High cards with one pair, like KKQJ, or KQQJ
- Double paired high cards, like KKQQ
Note that if three or even two low cards appear on the flop, these hands go down in value. So you should adjust your play accordingly.
Trouble starting hands to avoid
Unlike Holdem, in Omaha hi-lo, it is ok to play a little looser preflop. The idea is to try to see many flops with hands that have potential. However, you must remain selective and avoid some trouble hands, especially when playing in a full table.
Some hands may seem attractive, but will only make second or third best! Don’t play them as they have a negative expected value. For example, avoid playing A4x or A5x type of hands in a full table, as they may get you in trouble more often than not.
The same goes for the high. With everyone having four cards, it is more probable that someone will make a monster hand, so you don’t want to be drawing for second or third best! For example, if you are drawing for a queen-high flush, you will often lose to an ace or king-high flush. Even if you make a set of nines, you will often end up second best to a higher set! Let’ take a look at some other trap hands.
- 333A, AAA4 type hands have minimal high potential, and even if they make a low, it may be second-best.
- 9876, 8765, 7654 may seem keen but are really not! With these hands, it is tough to scoop the pot. If you make a nut straight, most of the time, there will be a low, and you will split the pot. If you make a straight with high cards, a better straight may beat you!
- High pairs with two one or two trash cards like KK9x or QQxx are weak hands. Do not confuse with the value of a pocket pair in Holdem. In Omaha hi-lo, with straight and flushes appearing often, a single pair is not all that great.
So, how to bet preflop?
In Omaha hi-lo, taking the lead in the hand with preflop aggression is less crucial than in Holdem. So, raise preflop mostly for value when you have powerful hands and position.
From position, when several players have limped, you can widen your range and add in see cheap flops with some speculative hands. Raise with premium hands for value. Most of the limpers will call you, and you also want to build the pot to be able to make big bets after the flop.
Out of position, limp with hands that have both high and low potential, to see a multiway flop.
Omaha Hi Low Starting Hands
Multiplayer versus heads-up preflop requirements
Some of the hands that are not good enough for a multiway pot go up in value heads-up. When playing in a multiway pot, you want your hand to have nut, or close to nut potential for the high and low. When playing heads up, you can win the low or high with medium-strength hands. For example, heads-up A4 is often good enough for the low, whereas in a multiway pot, it is a weak hand.
Also, heads-up you can win the high with a hand like two pair or a set, even when the board has some flush or straight possibilities. If the board is dry, even top pair-top kicker can win you the pot! In a multiplayer pot, when the board has flush or straight potential, you should expect that someone will have it most of the time!
In a nutshell
Omaha Hand Rankings
In Omaha hi-lo, you often see players playing too loosely. By adopting a selective starting hand strategy, you gain a significant advantage over your opponents. In multiplayer pots, play hands that have strong high and low potential, and avoid hands that can give you second or third best!
Omaha Hand Specialist
I hope you found this post helpful. If you have any questions or suggestions that you want to share, please leave a comment below.