Omaha Poker Starting Hands

Choosing the right Omaha poker starting hands is a valuable skill and one that is often overlooked by recent converts from Texas Holdem. The problem is that as ex-Holdem players, we make the switch over to Omaha thinking that our skills will translate right over without any problems.

With every hand getting 4 cards at a time, it’s easy to find strong card combinations in almost any hand. But just because a hand has a couple of strong cards it doesn’t mean it’s a strong Omaha hand. The key to picking the right starting hands in Omaha poker can be summed up in one line:

Strong Omaha poker hands are ones in which every 2-card combination of cards work together.

For example, a hand like QQ72 only has one strong combination of cards: QQ. Every other 2 card combination is weak unless you hit a miracle flop. Q7, Q2 and 72 are all junk hands. The only thing you have going for you with this particular hand is the chance of hitting a third queen. But even then, a set is far from a guaranteed win in Omaha poker.

Let’s look at a different starting hand: 8-9-T-J double-suited. First, every combination of cards works well together. This is the kind of hand that can give you huge draws because it has a ton of straight and flush possibilities. Even though you won’t make a nut flush with this hand, it can at least make small flushes and maybe even block the flush outs your opponents need.

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Big Pair Starting Hands

Big pairs are always a welcome sight but it would do you well to remember that strong starting hands in Omaha aren’t nearly as powerful as they are in Texas Holdem. This also applies to starting hands that contain big pairs. In an average Omaha game, it requires close to the nuts to win a pot so even if you have a hand like AAKQ, you’ll usually need help from the board to win the pot.

Omaha starting hands that contain two aces are good hands but they don’t guarantee anything. You need to play them extremely cautiously and only add money to the pot if they get help from the board.

You can also evaluate the helper cards to determine the strength of a high pair starting hand. For example, if you have AA67, it would be a much more powerful hand if each of the Aces shared a suit with one of the smaller cards. In that case, you would have the big pair, flush possibilities and even a couple of connectors working for you.

Even better than that are hands that have two big pairs. A hand like AAKK is great and even better if double suited. The best thing about having two big pairs is that you once again have all four combinations working together. Even if you don’t use the pairs, you still have two different versions of AK working together.

When you make it to the flop with one of these hands, you will know pretty quickly if it’s worth continuing on with the hand. You’ll almost always need help from the board to win the pot so if you don’t have anything promising develop right away, you should be looking for excuses to fold, not to keep playing.

Small Pair Starting Hands

Small pairs are awesome in Holdem because they can hit sets and break your opponents but they are worthless in Omaha. Those small pairs are more likely to break you than anyone else.

The problem with small pairs in Omaha is that they don’t make the nuts. If you play a small pocket pair, hit the bottom set and get any action, it’s almost always going to be from someone with a better hand than you.

Omaha players know not to give action with weak hands and if they have a hand that your low set can beat, they will probably have already folded that hand a long time ago. Set over set situations are rare in Texas Holdem but you’ll see them all the time in Omaha if you play small pairs.

Top 20 Omaha Starting Hands

To give you an idea of the types of hands you want to play in Omaha, here’s a quick list of the top 10 Omaha starting hands. Remember that these hands are better when they are double suited.

1. AAKK

2. AATJ

3. AAQQ

4. AAJJ

5. AATT

6. AA99

7. AAXX

8. 89TJ

9. KKQQ

10. KKJJ

11. TJQK

12. KKTT

13. KKAQ

14. KKAJ

15. KKAT

16. KKQJ

17. KKJT

18. QQJJ

19. QQTT

20. QQAK