Pot Limit Omaha Starting Hand Guide

In my Beginner’s Guide to Pot Limit Omaha I went over a few of the basic preflop principles, but now I want to give you a more practical guide to choosing which hands to play. The huge majority of Omaha players play far too loose before the flop. If their hand contains a good two-card combination, they’ll play it. That’s definitely the wrong strategy. With one exception (having two aces in your hand) you should only play hands where all four cards work together. Why would you put yourself at the disadvantage of playing a three-card hand when your opponent has all four of his cards working for him?

Position is incredibly important in Pot Limit Omaha (PLO). You should rarely raise before the flop in early position, and if there’s a lot of preflop raising at your table, you should also play extremely tight in early position.

There are three categories of playable hands:

Big pairs

A pair of aces is playable from any position regardless of what cards you have with it. That being said, AAxx is very marginal without any additional straight or flush draws (or a second pair). You can still play it, but you shouldn’t raise with it, and if the pot has been raised you should fold. One exception is when you or your opponent are short-stacked. If you can get all-in before the flop, AAxx is a favorite over any hand that doesn’t also contain a pair of aces.

Kings, queens and jacks are good pairs, but you cannot call preflop on the strength of them alone. If you have two pairs, it’s definitely worth playing, especially if the other pair is sevens or higher. Flush draws are good too, but unless they’re ace high they’re usually back-up draws rather than the primary hand that you’re trying to hit. Remember, Omaha is a game of making the nuts, not king-high flushes. A hand like KKJT is excellent; it has a big pair, two flush draws and lots of straight potential. A hand that good is definitely a raising or reraising hand.

If you are on the button and a few players have limped in, you may call with a bare pair of jacks, queens or kings, but if you don’t flop a set, get out of the pot.

Ace-high flush draws plus

An ace-high flush draw is very valuable, but it is by no means sufficient for calling before the flop. With your ace-high flush draw you need either a pair, two cards over nine, or a three-card straight combination. All of the following hands would be worth playing:
A5TT, A986, A8KQ.

These hands would not be playable:
A523 (baby straights are not worth drawing to), A9T4, A733 (the pair is too small).

Rundowns

Rundowns are hands where all four cards are connected, providing multiple straight possibilities. Straight draws are key in PLO because of the possibility of massive wrap draws. The recommended rundown hands can all make excellent wrap straight draws.

Any four cards over nine are playable. Along with straight possibilities (which will all be the nut straight) you will make the top two pair or the high full house if the board matches your hand.