Pot-Limit Omaha is quickly becoming one of the most popular forms of poker in the world. The game offers recreational players a lot of opportunity to gamble and gives the most experienced professional quite a big advantage in the long run. Understanding Omaha poker hand combinations, your opponents, and the different between PLO and Texas Hold’em should help those new to the game turn a profit in no time. For a top-10 poker hands order for Omaha make sure to check out the bottom of the page.
The biggest difference between Texas Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha is the number of cards you receive before the flop. In PLO you receive two extra cards compared to Texas Hold’em which leads to a lot more poker hand combinations and makes the game very interesting. While you will have four cards in your hand you can only use two of these cards when making your final five-card poker hand. Players will see a flop, turn, and river just like in Texas Hold’em but will only be able to use three of the five community cards. The biggest mistake beginners make in Omaha is using too many cards from their hand or the board. Hands such as one-card flushes are not possible as you are limited to just three board cards and thus cannot make a five-card flush without two of the same suit in your hand.
The other major difference between the two games is the betting structure, which, as the name suggests, is Pot-Limit. This can make things a bit interesting as players will not be able to go all-in on earlier streets unless they started the hand with short stacks or a lot of raises occur. Being able to only bet/raise the size of the pot makes it more difficult to charge players who appear to be drawing. Add to this the fact that Omaha tends to present a lot of opportunities to draw and to outsiders the game might appear to be all luck. However, this is certainly not the case as any game with so many combinations and options requires a good amount of skill in order to become profitable. Playing hands that draw to the nuts is very important, be sure to check out the Omaha poker hands order below for examples of good starting hands.
Poker Hand Percentages – Top Omaha HandsBelow you will see the top 10 Omaha starting hands. All of these hands should make you the most money! Your poker hand percentages will always be higher with suited aces, although you can still play a hand without a suited ace. For example, AAKJ is much better if suited or double suited, but still a playable hand without the suits.
Aces/Kings Double Suited
Aces + Broadways
Aces/Queens
Aces/Jacks
Aces/Tens
High Suited Connectors
Kings/Queens
Kings/Jacks
All Broadways
Queens/Jacks
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Poker Hand Order – Omaha The first step to becoming a solid PLO player is understanding what starting poker hands are correct to play and which hands will get you into trouble. The name of the game in Omaha is making the “nuts” or the best hand possible. Whether this is a straight, flush, full house, or better, in general you will need a strong hand to take down big pots. In order to make these strong hands you will need to start with hands that have nut potential. Hands with big pairs, suited-Aces, all high cards, and rundowns are all great starting hands and should be played from most positions. A rundown is a connected hand such as 5-6-7-8 which will bring a variety of straight draws which could result in 20 or more outs! At the bottom of this article you can find a poker hands order for PLO which will illustrate the top-10 hands to play.
Poker hands that get most players in trouble are those than make the 2nd best hand often. For example, a hand such as QsTs5d5h will often make players a non-nut flush or even bottom set. While in Texas Hold’em these might appear to be very strong holdings based on poker hand percentages, in PLO they will rarely be the best hand when a lot of money goes in the middle. A hand like the one above should be avoided until you have a better handle of post-flop play in Pot-Limit Omaha. When in doubt, ask yourself, “Can this hand make the nuts?” If the answer is no, then you have an easy fold. Another key to Pot-Limit Omaha is the use of your position during a hand. Being the last to act on each street is a huge advantage and should be exploited whenever possible. This means the majority of the hands you will want to play should come from later position, such as when you are the dealer. Because you know of two more cards than you do in Texas Hold’em you hold an even bigger advantage acting last on each betting street. Marginal hands which are not playable in early position will become raising hands in these spots. Conversely, hands which might appear playable should be quickly discarded when you will be out of position after the flop. One of the biggest mistakes for those new to PLO is playing too loosely in the blinds. Some might not see much harm in completing a weak hand in the Small Blind, but things can quickly get out of hand when you find yourself holding a marginal hand in poor position. In the early stages of your PLO career you will need to make an effort to play tight when out of position and loose when in position. Try to only play the hands illustrated in the Omaha poker hands order below when playing from out of position. Understanding hand strength is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Pot-Limit Omaha. Understanding which poker hands to play, based on poker hand percentages, is a key fundamental and cannot be overlooked. Omaha is a great game whose player base is growing by the day. Before you take the leap into a new game always make sure you fully understand the rules and have a grasp on which starting hands to play. |
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