Omaha Hi Lo Poker Hand ranking. Omaha Hi/Lo - Hand Ranking. Once you have learnt How to Play Omaha Hi/Lo, it is important to understand the Hand Rankings. In Omaha Hi/Lo, the regular poker hand ranking is followed for the high hand whereas a set of rules are defined for making the low hand. Hand Ranking for the High Hand.
A preflop hand trainer to help improve your pot limit Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo Poker starting hand selection by learning hand rankings ordered by equity and profitability. In Omaha Poker there are 16,432 combinations of starting hands and in Omaha 5 Card, there are 134,459 combinations of starting hands! Many new players switching from Texas Holdem to Omaha have difficulty determining how good a. Omaha has 100x more starting hand combinations than Texas Hold'em, and, therefore, starting hand charts like the top 30 below can't be used as a strict guide. It is here merely to illustrate the principles of good hand selection in Omaha. Pot Limit Omaha Best Starting Hands Chart – Ranked from #1 to #30 Top 10.
'In No-Limit Hold'em, position is…everything. If I had position all night, I could beat the game…and I'd never have to look at my hole-cards.' – Doyle Brunson
In Omaha Hi/Lo, the very good hands take care of themselves as do the very bad hands (in the first case, you'll be winning all or part of the flop while in the second case you will be folding the hand). It is the hands that lie between the extremes where you will make (or lose) money.
What Is The Best Hand In Omaha Hi Lo
As we move through this lesson, remember the key determinants of a good starting hand:
- Do the cards work together?
- Do I have any flush draws? Do I have any nut flush draws?
- What would have to happen for me to win the low?
- Can I scoop the pot? How many ways can I scoop the pot?
- Would I be happy with my hand if someone raised?
Position
You may believe that position is not a major factor in Omaha. After all, Omaha is a limit game. Additionally, because starting hand valuations are more known than in hold'em, a strong hand is just as strong in early position as in late position (and a weak hand is just as weak). While this is true, position really matters for marginal hands. Although the quote (above) from Doyle Brunson refers to no-limit hold'em, I know that if I acted on the button (or next to last) on every hand, my win rate at Omaha would double.
Let's look at a marginal hand, A♥4♠5♦9♦. You're in first position (under-the-gun) and have to decide whether you're going to call, raise, or fold. You elect to call, but are not happy when Tight Ted raises from middle position. You know he has A2 suited (at least). When the betting comes back to you will you throw in the chips to call the raise?
There's an easy solution to this problem. Throw marginal hands in the muck from early position. Yes, sometimes your hand will hit the flop and you'll miss a big pot. But over time you will save money – most of the time your marginal hands will miss the flop.
Now take the same hand, A♥4♠5♦9♦ , and instead of being under-the-gun, you have the button. Again, Tight Ted raises from middle position. Isn't it a lot easier to make the right decision? You know that he has A2 or A23. Your chances of winning with this marginal hand have decreased, so you throw it in the muck. On the other hand, if there are three callers (players who could have anything) and you're in last position, you can call in comfort and have a good idea (from the flop and the betting on the flop) how to act.
Trap Hands
These are hands that look good but have a potentially serious defect. One prime example is A2 without any other low cards.
For example, let's look at A♦2♣9♣9♠. While this is a hand that I'd play, there are few flops where I can see myself scooping (essentially, to scoop, I need a wheel or nut low and nines full). Assume the flop is 3♣4♣10♦, and that you're last to act. You have the nut low draw and a middle flush draw. If the betting comes to you raised, you need to consider what may be out against you: someone is drawing to the nut flush draw, there may be a set of tens, and there may be other A2 draws out. I am not saying that you should fold this hand; however, I am saying that you need to be wary with trap hands. If you know that someone else has an A2, you need to consider that you may only get ¼ of the pot (and I've seen hands where A2 received 1/6 of the pot).
Another trap hand is AA without suited cards or connectors. While AA23 double suited is the best possible Omaha Hi/Lo starting hand, hands like A♦A♠9♣7♥ are trap hands. These are hands that hold'em players, especially, will overplay. Take a flop that looks good for this trap hand: A♣6♥8♠. You've flopped the nut high (three Aces), with a back-up straight draw. You should have seen the two key flaws for this hand: you're going after just half the pot (undoubtedly someone will have a better low than your hand) and if a backdoor flush comes you may end up with none of the pot. If you can't raise to limit the field (which is usually the case in low limit Omaha games), A♦A♠9♣7♥ can be mucked from early position. Yes, you may be missing an occasional big pot but you will save money over the long-term.
Playing the Blinds
Most Omaha games are played with two blinds: a small blind (immediately to the left of the button) and a big blind (to the left of the small blind). Usually, the small blind is half of the big blind (in a $3/$6 game, the small blind is $1 and the big blind is $3; in most $4/$8 games, the small blind is $2 and the big blind is $4). The blinds receive one advantage: they act last before the flop. However, after the flop the blinds will act first.
The Big Blind
In many Omaha hands the pot is not raised and the big blind will have but two choices: to check (and see the flop for free) or to raise. When you raise from one of the blinds, you will get the rest of the table's attention – you are saying that you have a very strong hand (raising will be covered in more detail in Lesson 10). This is not to say that you shouldn't raise; rather, you should vary your play so that you are not that predictable (this is a good idea in any case). If the pot has been raised, the big blind has the additional option of folding.
Obviously, you should be calling with your good hands and checking (or folding) your trash hands. But what about pot odds? Say, for example, you hold K♥J♠7♦4♠ in the big blind and the under-the-gun player has raised and everyone has called. I ran a simulation with this hand and assuming that everyone stays until the river this hand actually has the correct pot odds to call the raise. However, I believe that calling a raise with this trash hand is a bad mistake because you will not recognize many of your winning hands on the flop. Assume that the flop is 5♠6♠7♠. You check, and by the time the betting has returned to you the betting is capped. Do you really want to call and hope that your Jack-high flush will win high?
Instead, play the big blind conservatively. Check most hands and call raises only with hands that can scoop and that you can recognize scoop-potential flops with. Remember, a bet saved is money earned.
The Small Blind
Depending on the betting structure, the small blind can fold, call the big blind (in an unraised pot this will be ½ to two thirds of the bet), or fold. Remember that you will be out-of-position in all the subsequent betting rounds. I recommend that you play conservatively from the small blind: play your good hands and only the marginal hands where you will recognize that the flop has hit your hand.
In the next lesson we will look at playing the flop. After the flop, you will know 78% of your hand!
QUIZ
You are in the big blind for questions 1 through 3. Assume the pot has not been raised. Assuming you check there will be five players seeing the flop. Will you (a) check, (b) raise, or (c) fold?
1. 8♦6♥2♣2♥
2. 10♣3♣4♥Q♣
3. A♠A♥3♥4♣
In questions 4 and 5 the under-the-gun player has raised the pot. If you call there will be a total of five players seeing the flop. Do you (a) fold, (b) call, or (c) raise?
4. 5♦6♠7♥8♦
5. A♦2♦4♥7♠
In questions 6 through 8 you are playing in a $4/$8 Omaha game and have posted the small blind of $2. The pot is unraised. Assuming that you call and that the big blind checks, five players will be seeing the flop. Do you (a) fold, (b) call, or (c) raise?
6. J♦8♥7♥K♦
7. 3♦3♠4♠6♥
8. A♣2♣5♦3♥
In questions 9 and 10 you are playing in a $4/$8 Omaha game and have posted the small blind of $2. The under-the-gun player has raised the pot. Assuming that the big blind calls and that you call, five players will be seeing the flop. Do you (a) fold, (b) call, or (c) raise?
9. A♥5♣6♦7♦
10. 2♥2♠9♠A♠
Answers:
1. (a). Answer (c) is, of course, a trick answer – you should never fold the big blind in an unraised pot. However, this is a trash hand and you will need a miraculous flop in order to stay around in the next round of betting.
2. (a). Your hand is better than the first hand but you will still need to hit the flop to be around.
3. (a) or (b). You have a premium hand that should raise some portion of the time. (Raising is used to either increase the pot size, limit the field, or both.) My decision as to whether to raise with this hand would be dependent on my table image, the other players at the table, and how often I have been raising.
4. (a). This is a trap hand that can rarely scoop the pot. Marginal hands should be routinely thrown away.
5. (b) or (c). You have a premium hand so folding is out of the question. My decision as to whether to raise or not is dependent on the factors listed in the answer to question 3 and the passivity of the table. There are low-limit Omaha games where the betting is routinely capped before the flop (there are also games where a second raise will drive away much of the field). I infrequently re-raise from the blinds because I prefer to disguise my hand strength.
6. (a). This is a trash hand. Why put even a penny in the pot when you don't have to.
7. (b). This is a very marginal hand and I will not stay after the flop if I don't hit my hand. I have many ways of scooping and many of them will be apparent on the flop. Ideally, I'd like to flop nut low or a straight. The key to playing marginal hands is to fold when you miss the flop.
8. (b) or (c). See the answers to questions 3 and 5.
9. (a). The situation with this hand is very different than from question 7. This is another marginal hand but now instead of putting in $2 you must put in $6. Save your money and wait for a better opportunity.
10. (b). This is a good hand but the second deuce, the nine, and the fact that you have three spades detract from the hand's value. It's certainly worth seeing the flop but it is not worth re-raising.
Join us on our Discord channel.
Doctor of Psychology and acclaimed Omaha Hi-Lo player Dr Ed Hutchinson first came up with a ‘Point Count' system for starting hand selection back in 1997. The idea is to give a statistically derived value for both high and low possibilities in Omaha hi-lo starting hands – based on their expected profitability in below average games (i.e. not full of experts).
Here we outline Hutchinson's Point Count System for Omaha Hi-Lo Starting hands and discuss its pros and cons for online Omaha Hi-Lo games – both fixed limit (which the system was designed for) and the newly popular pot-limit Omaha hi-lo games. : If you are new to the game you might not know that there is a software tool designed to help with exactly this area of play… we explain how Omaha Indicator can bring big rewards at the bottom of this article.
In the interests of credit where credit is due you can find an overview of the points count system on Dr Hutchinson's website via this link: Dr Hutchinson's Point Count System.
The Point Count Method For Omaha Hi-Lo Starting Hands
Firstly the point count method identifies whether your hand qualifies as a ‘high only' hand, the criteria for this are naturally very strict – with 4 cards 10 or above required plus some other features such as a pair + 2 suited cards, 2 pair or double-suited unpaired cards.
If your hand is not ‘high-only' then 4 steps are carried out which result in a number being assigned to your hand. These are summarized below:
Omaha-8 Point Counting System Step #1:
Take the two lowest cards in your hand and assign points based on the chart.
A-2 = 20 points
A-3 = 17 points
A-4 = 13 points
A-5 = 10 points
2-3 = 15 points
2-4 = 12 points
3-4 = 11 points
4-5 = 8 points
Omaha-8 Point Counting System Step #2:
The next step involves assessing only the remaining 2 cards which are not your lowest, cards which are the same as those already used in step 1 should not be assigned any points in step 2 (so, if you have A-3-3-X then do not assign points for the 3 at this stage).
Any 3 = 9 points
Any 4 = 6 points
Any 5 = 4 points
Any Jack, Queen or King = 2 points
Any 6 or 10 = 1 point
Omaha-8 Point Counting System Step #3:
Now extra points are awarded for any pairs – if you also have a 3rd card matching the pair then only assign half of the points noted.
Pair of Aces = 8 Points
Pair of Kings = 6 Points
Pair of Queens = 5 points
Pair of Jacks = 2 points
Pair of Tens, Fours or Threes = 1 point
Pair of Twos = 3 points
Omaha-8 Point Counting System Step #4:
Finally we take the suitedness of the cards into account, the caveat here is that if you contain 3 cards of one suit then you can only assign half of the score given, 4 cards of the same suit mean that no points at all are assigned here. If your hand is double suited then assign points for both suits.
Suits are given points based on the highest suited card:
Ace + = 4 points
King + = 3 points
Queen or Jack + = 2 points
Eight, Nine or 10 + = 1 point
Finally we total up the scores and decide whether to play based on the simple rule:
20 Points or more (or high only) = Play This Hand
30 Points or more = Consider Raising With This Hand
Position
You may believe that position is not a major factor in Omaha. After all, Omaha is a limit game. Additionally, because starting hand valuations are more known than in hold'em, a strong hand is just as strong in early position as in late position (and a weak hand is just as weak). While this is true, position really matters for marginal hands. Although the quote (above) from Doyle Brunson refers to no-limit hold'em, I know that if I acted on the button (or next to last) on every hand, my win rate at Omaha would double.
Let's look at a marginal hand, A♥4♠5♦9♦. You're in first position (under-the-gun) and have to decide whether you're going to call, raise, or fold. You elect to call, but are not happy when Tight Ted raises from middle position. You know he has A2 suited (at least). When the betting comes back to you will you throw in the chips to call the raise?
There's an easy solution to this problem. Throw marginal hands in the muck from early position. Yes, sometimes your hand will hit the flop and you'll miss a big pot. But over time you will save money – most of the time your marginal hands will miss the flop.
Now take the same hand, A♥4♠5♦9♦ , and instead of being under-the-gun, you have the button. Again, Tight Ted raises from middle position. Isn't it a lot easier to make the right decision? You know that he has A2 or A23. Your chances of winning with this marginal hand have decreased, so you throw it in the muck. On the other hand, if there are three callers (players who could have anything) and you're in last position, you can call in comfort and have a good idea (from the flop and the betting on the flop) how to act.
Trap Hands
These are hands that look good but have a potentially serious defect. One prime example is A2 without any other low cards.
For example, let's look at A♦2♣9♣9♠. While this is a hand that I'd play, there are few flops where I can see myself scooping (essentially, to scoop, I need a wheel or nut low and nines full). Assume the flop is 3♣4♣10♦, and that you're last to act. You have the nut low draw and a middle flush draw. If the betting comes to you raised, you need to consider what may be out against you: someone is drawing to the nut flush draw, there may be a set of tens, and there may be other A2 draws out. I am not saying that you should fold this hand; however, I am saying that you need to be wary with trap hands. If you know that someone else has an A2, you need to consider that you may only get ¼ of the pot (and I've seen hands where A2 received 1/6 of the pot).
Another trap hand is AA without suited cards or connectors. While AA23 double suited is the best possible Omaha Hi/Lo starting hand, hands like A♦A♠9♣7♥ are trap hands. These are hands that hold'em players, especially, will overplay. Take a flop that looks good for this trap hand: A♣6♥8♠. You've flopped the nut high (three Aces), with a back-up straight draw. You should have seen the two key flaws for this hand: you're going after just half the pot (undoubtedly someone will have a better low than your hand) and if a backdoor flush comes you may end up with none of the pot. If you can't raise to limit the field (which is usually the case in low limit Omaha games), A♦A♠9♣7♥ can be mucked from early position. Yes, you may be missing an occasional big pot but you will save money over the long-term.
Playing the Blinds
Most Omaha games are played with two blinds: a small blind (immediately to the left of the button) and a big blind (to the left of the small blind). Usually, the small blind is half of the big blind (in a $3/$6 game, the small blind is $1 and the big blind is $3; in most $4/$8 games, the small blind is $2 and the big blind is $4). The blinds receive one advantage: they act last before the flop. However, after the flop the blinds will act first.
The Big Blind
In many Omaha hands the pot is not raised and the big blind will have but two choices: to check (and see the flop for free) or to raise. When you raise from one of the blinds, you will get the rest of the table's attention – you are saying that you have a very strong hand (raising will be covered in more detail in Lesson 10). This is not to say that you shouldn't raise; rather, you should vary your play so that you are not that predictable (this is a good idea in any case). If the pot has been raised, the big blind has the additional option of folding.
Obviously, you should be calling with your good hands and checking (or folding) your trash hands. But what about pot odds? Say, for example, you hold K♥J♠7♦4♠ in the big blind and the under-the-gun player has raised and everyone has called. I ran a simulation with this hand and assuming that everyone stays until the river this hand actually has the correct pot odds to call the raise. However, I believe that calling a raise with this trash hand is a bad mistake because you will not recognize many of your winning hands on the flop. Assume that the flop is 5♠6♠7♠. You check, and by the time the betting has returned to you the betting is capped. Do you really want to call and hope that your Jack-high flush will win high?
Instead, play the big blind conservatively. Check most hands and call raises only with hands that can scoop and that you can recognize scoop-potential flops with. Remember, a bet saved is money earned.
The Small Blind
Depending on the betting structure, the small blind can fold, call the big blind (in an unraised pot this will be ½ to two thirds of the bet), or fold. Remember that you will be out-of-position in all the subsequent betting rounds. I recommend that you play conservatively from the small blind: play your good hands and only the marginal hands where you will recognize that the flop has hit your hand.
In the next lesson we will look at playing the flop. After the flop, you will know 78% of your hand!
QUIZ
You are in the big blind for questions 1 through 3. Assume the pot has not been raised. Assuming you check there will be five players seeing the flop. Will you (a) check, (b) raise, or (c) fold?
1. 8♦6♥2♣2♥
2. 10♣3♣4♥Q♣
3. A♠A♥3♥4♣
In questions 4 and 5 the under-the-gun player has raised the pot. If you call there will be a total of five players seeing the flop. Do you (a) fold, (b) call, or (c) raise?
4. 5♦6♠7♥8♦
5. A♦2♦4♥7♠
In questions 6 through 8 you are playing in a $4/$8 Omaha game and have posted the small blind of $2. The pot is unraised. Assuming that you call and that the big blind checks, five players will be seeing the flop. Do you (a) fold, (b) call, or (c) raise?
6. J♦8♥7♥K♦
7. 3♦3♠4♠6♥
8. A♣2♣5♦3♥
In questions 9 and 10 you are playing in a $4/$8 Omaha game and have posted the small blind of $2. The under-the-gun player has raised the pot. Assuming that the big blind calls and that you call, five players will be seeing the flop. Do you (a) fold, (b) call, or (c) raise?
9. A♥5♣6♦7♦
10. 2♥2♠9♠A♠
Answers:
1. (a). Answer (c) is, of course, a trick answer – you should never fold the big blind in an unraised pot. However, this is a trash hand and you will need a miraculous flop in order to stay around in the next round of betting.
2. (a). Your hand is better than the first hand but you will still need to hit the flop to be around.
3. (a) or (b). You have a premium hand that should raise some portion of the time. (Raising is used to either increase the pot size, limit the field, or both.) My decision as to whether to raise with this hand would be dependent on my table image, the other players at the table, and how often I have been raising.
4. (a). This is a trap hand that can rarely scoop the pot. Marginal hands should be routinely thrown away.
5. (b) or (c). You have a premium hand so folding is out of the question. My decision as to whether to raise or not is dependent on the factors listed in the answer to question 3 and the passivity of the table. There are low-limit Omaha games where the betting is routinely capped before the flop (there are also games where a second raise will drive away much of the field). I infrequently re-raise from the blinds because I prefer to disguise my hand strength.
6. (a). This is a trash hand. Why put even a penny in the pot when you don't have to.
7. (b). This is a very marginal hand and I will not stay after the flop if I don't hit my hand. I have many ways of scooping and many of them will be apparent on the flop. Ideally, I'd like to flop nut low or a straight. The key to playing marginal hands is to fold when you miss the flop.
8. (b) or (c). See the answers to questions 3 and 5.
9. (a). The situation with this hand is very different than from question 7. This is another marginal hand but now instead of putting in $2 you must put in $6. Save your money and wait for a better opportunity.
10. (b). This is a good hand but the second deuce, the nine, and the fact that you have three spades detract from the hand's value. It's certainly worth seeing the flop but it is not worth re-raising.
Join us on our Discord channel.
Doctor of Psychology and acclaimed Omaha Hi-Lo player Dr Ed Hutchinson first came up with a ‘Point Count' system for starting hand selection back in 1997. The idea is to give a statistically derived value for both high and low possibilities in Omaha hi-lo starting hands – based on their expected profitability in below average games (i.e. not full of experts).
Here we outline Hutchinson's Point Count System for Omaha Hi-Lo Starting hands and discuss its pros and cons for online Omaha Hi-Lo games – both fixed limit (which the system was designed for) and the newly popular pot-limit Omaha hi-lo games. : If you are new to the game you might not know that there is a software tool designed to help with exactly this area of play… we explain how Omaha Indicator can bring big rewards at the bottom of this article.
In the interests of credit where credit is due you can find an overview of the points count system on Dr Hutchinson's website via this link: Dr Hutchinson's Point Count System.
The Point Count Method For Omaha Hi-Lo Starting Hands
Firstly the point count method identifies whether your hand qualifies as a ‘high only' hand, the criteria for this are naturally very strict – with 4 cards 10 or above required plus some other features such as a pair + 2 suited cards, 2 pair or double-suited unpaired cards.
If your hand is not ‘high-only' then 4 steps are carried out which result in a number being assigned to your hand. These are summarized below:
Omaha-8 Point Counting System Step #1:
Take the two lowest cards in your hand and assign points based on the chart.
A-2 = 20 points
A-3 = 17 points
A-4 = 13 points
A-5 = 10 points
2-3 = 15 points
2-4 = 12 points
3-4 = 11 points
4-5 = 8 points
Omaha-8 Point Counting System Step #2:
The next step involves assessing only the remaining 2 cards which are not your lowest, cards which are the same as those already used in step 1 should not be assigned any points in step 2 (so, if you have A-3-3-X then do not assign points for the 3 at this stage).
Any 3 = 9 points
Any 4 = 6 points
Any 5 = 4 points
Any Jack, Queen or King = 2 points
Any 6 or 10 = 1 point
Omaha-8 Point Counting System Step #3:
Now extra points are awarded for any pairs – if you also have a 3rd card matching the pair then only assign half of the points noted.
Pair of Aces = 8 Points
Pair of Kings = 6 Points
Pair of Queens = 5 points
Pair of Jacks = 2 points
Pair of Tens, Fours or Threes = 1 point
Pair of Twos = 3 points
Omaha-8 Point Counting System Step #4:
Finally we take the suitedness of the cards into account, the caveat here is that if you contain 3 cards of one suit then you can only assign half of the score given, 4 cards of the same suit mean that no points at all are assigned here. If your hand is double suited then assign points for both suits.
Suits are given points based on the highest suited card:
Ace + = 4 points
King + = 3 points
Queen or Jack + = 2 points
Eight, Nine or 10 + = 1 point
Finally we total up the scores and decide whether to play based on the simple rule:
20 Points or more (or high only) = Play This Hand
30 Points or more = Consider Raising With This Hand
Best Starting Hands In Omaha
The Point Count Method For Omaha Hi-Lo Starting Hands – Is It Any Good?
One aspect of Dr Hutchinson's Omaha Hi-Lo points count system which immediately stood out for us is the strictness of the criteria for high-only hands. A common error for those players new to hi-lo is to play too many high hands in addition to the lows. While Hutchinson's criteria of all cards above 10 are very strict, they do highlight the danger of playing too many high-hands. We suggest to loosen the high-only criteria for experienced players from later position only.
Hutchinson's system is a little too complex for ease of use at the tables, especially with the fast pace of today's online games. What is does very well is to show that, while the low-only portion is vital for good starting hand selection, it is the accompanying cards and the amount they assist which will often make the difference between a playable and an unplayable hand.
With A-2 hands being considered playable with no further help, there is a danger that newer players could overvalue those ‘bare A-2' hands such as A-2-9-Q no suits, which can easily be counterfeited or lead to getting quartered. We would thus prefer some ‘low / junk' reduction in points in an ideal world. Of course this depends on each player's ability to release a hand after the flop where the situation warrants this.
Finally we would suggest that pot-limit Omaha hi-lo games require slightly stricter pre-flop criteria than those ones Ed Hutchinson recommends. With the pre-flop bets small compared to the amount to be won, the temptation is to play more hands in pot-limit. However, the kind of hands which can call pot sized bets on later streets simply must have scoop potential in the pot-limit game due to exponential bet sizes. In the fixed limit game you can often call turn and river bets for only part of the pot.
To summarize, a great system for those new to Omaha Hi-Lo and we strongly suggest saving some hand histories and comparing the scores that the starting hands achieve. The loose and passive online Omaha games can be easily beaten by those with the discipline to stick to the best starting hands – and Dr Hutchinson's system is a great way of assessing these.
What Are The Best Starting Hands In Omaha Hi Lo
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Best Omaha Hi Lo Hands
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