If Hold 'Em is a game of strategy, then Omaha 8/b is a game of maths. At low limits, with lots of players seeing flops, reading other player's hands is largely irrelevant. Reading your own hand. This is my favourite starting hand in Omaha/8 since it gives top pair, two nut flush draws and a great draw to the nut low including counterfeit protection. Counterfeit protection means that if an ace, deuce or trey hits the board you still have the two best low cards to put with it.

In this lesson we’re going to take a look at three groups of Omaha/8 starting hands and assess what represent real powerhouse starting hands. We’ll also examine some good Omaha/8 starting hands along with hands that are playable but where some degree of caution should be exercised. Unfortunately, one cannot expect to be dealt a powerhouse hand on every deal.

Powerhouse Omaha/8 Starting Hands

This is my favourite starting hand in Omaha/8 since it gives top pair, two nut flush draws and a great draw to the nut low including counterfeit protection. Counterfeit protection means that if an ace, deuce or trey hits the board you still have the two best low cards to put with it. As an example, if the final board was K-2-5-Q-4, your deuce would have been counterfeited but you would still have the nut low (using one of your aces and the trey) as well as a straight. If three of the cards were either clubs or spades, you would have the nut flush for high with a wheel (five-high straight) for low. This would be a very good holding hoping to scoop the entire pot. If another player held the nut low as well but your high hand was the winner, you would win three quarters of the pot made up of the high half and half of the low half.

While this Omaha/8 hand offers no low possibility, since you must use two cards from your hand, it does offer two nut flushes, straight possibilities with two different high pairs which could make sets and then, if the board pairs, very good full houses. This is the type of hand where you hope that no one qualifies for low and you can scoop the pot with just a winning high hand. However, there’s a danger in flopping a set with your pair of aces, or with any pair that’s eight or lower. The danger is that you’ve already put one low card on the board, and you may be vying for only half the pot instead of all of it.

1. Pre-Flop Omaha Strategy in Action Maintaining a solid starting hand strategy is crucial in PLO, but once you've chosen a suitable hand to play the next thing you need to do is play it as aggressively as possible. In contrast to a conservative post-flop strategy, your approach to playing pre-flop should be confident.
2. But for any decent players being selective over starting hands is still of utmost importance, therefore the amount of hands played in 5 card omaha strategy shouldn’t different too much from regular omaha. Starting hands with pairs. Group 1: JJxxx, QQxxx, KKxxx, AAxxx – are all reasonable starting pairs.

This is an excellent Omaha/8 starting hand because you have four low cards offering double counterfeit protection coupled with straight draws and the nut flush draw. Having the three and four suited does not add value as a four high flush with three of that suit on the board is really a liability and not an asset.

Good Omaha/8 Starting Hands

This hand provides no possibility of a low hand so you would definitely like to see all high cards on the flop including a ten. There are also two flush draws, one to the nut and the other to the second nut. This is the kind of hand that, if no or only one low card flops you need to raise and re-raise to make it very expensive for low hands to chase in order to qualify. The object here is to scoop a one way pot for high. In fact, if you’re in late position and a number of players have already entered the pot, you should raise. Most of your opponents will play low hands, and a large number of opponents points to a deck that is presumptively rich in high cards, which favor your hand. So go ahead and get more money in the pot. If the flop contains big cards, you are likely to scoop. If it contains all low cards, you can easily release your hand.

Omaha Hi Lo Strategy Starting Hands

This Omaha/8 hand offers the opportunity of a nut flush, nut low and straight draws. With a pair you can also flop a set or even quads. Counterfeit protection is part of its upside as well. This is a good hand that is not quite a powerhouse.

While you usually want an ace in your hand this Omaha/8 hand represents very good counterfeit protection. Obviously, you would like to see an ace and two small cards hit the flop which would give you a nut low. The straight draws enhance the value of this starting hand. You’ll notice this isn’t double suited since getting a four or five high flush is really of no value. This hand’s value is in straights and lows with counterfeit protection.

Playable with Some Caution, Starting Hands

This is an example of a playable Omaha/8 hand where caution should be exercised. While there are two flush draws and a myriad of straight draws they are all somewhat problematic. In an action game like Omaha/8, where there is frequent raising, it can be very expensive to wind up with a second best hand for high or low. With a hand like this, if you make a low hand, it is unlikely to be the best low, and even a straight may not be the nut straight. Moreover, any flush you make may not be the best flush either.

This hand is a far cry from the two pair hand of A-A-K-K which was highlighted in the powerhouse section. While it looks good, including the straight possibilities and jack-high flush draw, caution is recommended anytime you’re not drawing to the nuts. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play them, but it does mean you should be a bit cautious when you do.

Best Starting Hands In Omaha

Here is another hand that on the surface looks pretty good with draws to both a king- and queen-high flush, straight draws, and two good low cards. While the winning hand can certainly be made with this start, the hand can also lead to trouble with a capital “T”. This hand exemplifies just how important an ace in your starting hand really is. You cannot make a nut flush or a nut straight or a nut low unless an ace comes on the board.

I’ve offered up three examples in each of the three categories to highlight what I believe represent the powerhouses, just good, as cautiously playable starting hands. Obviously this is not meant to be a complete listing but to give you a sense of the upsides and downsides of Omaha/8 starting hands. As with all forms of poker, your starting hand values need to be viewed in concert with your position, the texture of the game, your opponents’ playing styles, as well as your own style and the degree of risk you enjoy.

By Tom 'TIME' Leonard

Tom has been writing about poker since 1994 and has played across the USA for over 40 years, playing every game in almost every card room in Atlantic City, California and Las Vegas.

By: Lou Kreiger

Recommended Starting Hands

If you follow this list of suggested starting hands, you’ll seldom get into trouble, or find yourself involved in a hand where you’ll be confused about whether you ought to continue playing or fold your hand.
Ace-ace combinations: Any hand containing a pair of aces is a terrific starting hand, though some are much stronger than others. Obviously a hand like As-Ad-Ks-Kd is about as good as it gets. You’ve got the two best pair, and if you flop a set it will be the highest possible set and therefore any full house that may be derived from this holding would also be the highest possible full house. In addition, you can make the nut flush in either diamonds or spades, and if you make a straight it will be the highest possible straight.
Consider the difference in quality between this hand and a pair of “dry aces,” such as As-Ad-9h-5c. Although this hand is favored against any other individual hand except a better hand containing a pair of aces, it lacks flush potential, straight potential, can only flop one set rather than two, and can easily be run down by a group of opponents. Nevertheless, this hand would be favored against any other single opponent who does not hold a pair of aces in his hand, so it’s as important — and perhaps even more important — to raise with this hand in hopes of reducing the field than it is to raise with a higher quality hand containing a pair of aces.
Other good hands involving a pair of aces would include such holdings as A-A-Q-Q, A-A-J-J, A-A-T-T, A-A-9-9, and any pair along with a pair of aces. Obviously, if one of the aces is suited to another of your cards so much the better, and if both aces are suited that’s better yet.
But aces are valuable even if they’re not accompanied by another pair, and a hand like A-A-J-T, A-A-K-Q, A-A-Q-J, A-A-K-T, and A-A-K-J are all terrific starting hand combinations, and can be played very aggressively before the flop. After all, no one can have a bigger hand before the flop than one containing a pair of aces. The difference between incredibly good hands, such as A-A-K-K double suited and A-A-8-4 is that the former has so much more potential for making big hands over and above it’s pair of aces, that it is a far superior holding.
King-king and Queen-queen combinations: Just as any hand containing a pair of aces is a good starting hand, so are hands containing a pair of kings and a pair of queens. The quality of each particular holding that includes either a pair of kings or queens is similar to those hands containing a pair of aces.

In the best of these hands, the big pair is supported by another big pair and is double suited. Thus Kd-Ks-Qd-Qs is a better hand than Kd-Ks-9d-9s. While all the flushes will each be king-high, the former can make bigger sets and therefore bigger full houses than the latter hand and K-K-Q-Q can make bigger straights too.

Next in desirability are hands that are single suited. Once again, a hand like Kd-Ks-Qd-Qh is a better hand than Kd-Ks-9d-9h, for the same reasons.

A single pair of kings or queens, supported by straight cards is also very desirable, and a hand such as Kd-Ks-Qd-Js offers a big pair, a draw to a very big set and full house, as well as the second best possible flush draw in two suits and a variety of very big straights.
Wrap Music: Wrap hands can be incredibly strong, with the strongest of them all being J-T-9-8 double suited. Double suited hands are better than similar hands that are single suited, and a single suited hands is more desirable than one that’s unsuited, but the strength of these hands is not so much the flush potential –— which can easily be beaten by queen-high, king-high, or ace-high flushes — but in all of the straights that can be made with these cards.
Wrap hands need not be as tightly bound as this holding, and a hand with a gap in it can also provide a draw to a straight that can be completed by any of 20 outs. Since bigger is better, the higher the starting cards, the more likely yours will be nut straight. So what’s the difference between this hand and one like A-K-Q-J, which is also a terrific holding? You can make more straights with the jack-high grouping because it can meld with cards above as well as below it in ranking. Although you won’t make as many straights with the ace-high grouping, all of the straights you manage to make will be the nut straight.
Since higher hands are generally better than lower ones, small wraps, such as 6-5-4-3 are much worse than they might first appear. Yes, everything we’ve said about making straights with this hand and others like it are just as true as it is with hands like J-T-9-8, the big difference lies in the quality of the straight you make when the flop hits you. If you make a straight with 6-5-4-3, one of your opponents might have made a bigger straight, and even if he hasn’t there may be one or more opponents lurking in the weeds with a draw to a bigger straight. Hands like these can cost most or all of your chips in pot limit games, and quite a few chips in limit poker games too. Good Omaha players have the discipline to release these weaker wrap hands and save their time, chips, and energy for bigger holdings.
In all cases, double suited hands are superior to those that are single suited, and single suited hands are superior to those that are unsuited. All of these selections support the construction of big full houses, big straights, and when suited or double suited, they also support building big flushes too — the kinds of hands that usually win pots in Omaha games.
The hands that follow are emblematic of good starting hands for Omaha. They are not nearly as good as those hands based on pairs of aces, kings, queens; nor are they as strong as big suited connectors, such as K-Q-J-T, but they are playable. This list is certainly not exclusive. But these hands provide examples of entire groups of analogous hands that are playable.

Very Good Hands

Qh-Js-8h-6s: Call. You can flop flush and straight draws with this hand.
Qs-Qh-6c-3s: Call if the pot has not been raised. Your two smaller cards are essentially worthless. With a hand like this you want to either flop a set of queens get packing.
Kh-9h-6s-5s: Call if the pot has not been raised. You’ve got some draws that are possible with this holding, though it’s unlikely you’ll ever make the best possible hand.
Ad-Jc-Th-8s: This hand is significantly weaker than the very best hands, but it has high card potential for a straight, and can be played if the pot has not been raised before it’s your turn to act. If the pot has been raised, someone probably has a bigger hand than yours and you ought to save your money for a better opportunity.
9h-9c-8c-8d: You have potential to build a straight, a flush, and you might flop a set too. This is a playable hand.
All of these hands are playable because they offer numerous possibilities, such as sets, straights, and flushes. The time to play hands like these is when the pot has not been raised before it’s your turn to act. Hands like these have difficulty growing into the nuts, and facing the prospect of having to call a raised pot is a strong indication that the raiser is starting out with a bigger hand than yours. This puts the double-whammy on you: Not only are you an underdog to the better hand, it will cost also you two bets instead of one just to see the flop.
The following chart contains examples of hands you probably shouldn’t play from any position, even at the small cost of one bet. These hand s are either weak or tend to lead you into costly traps. We’ll explain why.

Omaha Starting Hand Rankings

Omaha Poker Starting Hands

Unplayable Hands

7s-7c-4c-2d: All of your possibilities are weak. A set of sevens is no guarantee of winning the pot and making a seven-high flush or a straight using either your four-deuce or seven-four combinations will produce hands that can easily be bested by others.
Qs-Js-6h-5h: Many hold’em players gravitate to hands like this: two fair hold’em hands that are completely uncoordinated for Omaha. Neither the five nor the six work in any way with the queen or jack, and two playable hold’em hands don’t always add up to a playable Omaha hand. There are lots of hands that fit into this category. Examples are As-Th-5c-5d, Jh-8h-5c-4c, and Ah-Kh-3c-3h. You should be able to think of a few others with some practice.
4c-4h-3d-3s: Low sets and baby straights can doom you to a second best hand that costs a lot more than you are apt o win if you get lucky. Just dig up the discipline to say “No” to hands like these.
As-2h-3h-4c: While you’d raise with this hand in Omaha/8, you shouldn’t even call with it in Omaha-high. Any straight you make can be bested by a bigger one, and winning the pot with a three-high flush qualifies as a modern miracle. If an ace falls, your pair of aces will lose to any other ace because your kicker is so low.
Kh-Qd-7s-6c: Two straight possibilities with nothing else is another example of two hold’em hands that look nice adding up to a lot less than one good Omaha hand. Save your money.

These recommend hands are not the only hands you can play before the flop, but if you are learning the game and stick to these hands and hands like them, you should be able to avoid the tragic flaw of playing too many of them. In addition to avoiding the downfall of many Omaha players, you’ll seldom find yourself trapped in hands that are confusing if you follow these suggestions. Releasing hands that do not catch part of the flop will by easy, and less costly too. And when you do play, the quality of your hands will be quite high. Since most people play Omaha because it offers an easy rationale for playing more hands, our recommendations will allow you to take advantage of that propensity and profit from it.