Probably every player who makes the move from Texas hold’em to Omaha has a period early on when it seems as though every single hand dealt is playable. After all, one gets four cards rather than two, and if you count all of the different combinations that makes six different two-card combinations to play from one’s hand along with three community cards. Surely just about any four cards is going to have something playable in there somewhere, right?
In theory, such a notion is not entirely incorrect. It is true that just about any Omaha starting hand has the potential to flop a monster. But think about it — the same is true for hold’em. And like hold’em, some Omaha hands have a lot more potential than others, although it isn’t always obvious to the novice player how to recognize what constitutes a decent starting hand.
One good way to start developing an understanding of differences in starting hand values in PLO is to remember that the game is primarily a “post-flop” game. Many PLO starting hands are relatively close in value preflop, although that statement really has very little practical meaning unless one is referring to hands that are going to be played all of the way to the river.
For instance, let’s say one player holds Ac-Ad-9h-4s before the flop and another has 8s-7c-4d-2d. At first glance, one might think the hand with aces was a big favorite, but in actuality the edge is only approximately 60% to 40% — if both hands go all of the way to the river, that is. Of course, as will happen in hold’em, the appearance of the three community cards on the flop drastically changes those percentages, turning an A-A-x-x to a monster or mush lickety split.
Thus, one shouldn’t get too carried away with how a hand looks before the flop, although certain big hands like A-A-x-x double-suited and the like certainly deserve a preflop raise for value. However, one wants in Omaha to play hands that have genuine potential to connect with the flop, particularly because the pot-limit betting format ensures most of the big betting is likely going to happen after the flop.
A good general rule of thumb for selecting starting hands is to decide whether or not your four hole cards “work together” well, meaning do all six of those two-hand combinations have potential to connect with flops in productive ways. Thus, a hand like Jd-10c-9d-8c is quite strong for PLO, since all six two-card combinations yield straight and/or flush possibilities. A hand like the one referred to above — Ac-Ad-9h-4s — might look good to a hold’em poker player used to thinking of pocket rockets as the nuts, but in truth the hand isn’t all that strong, since after all, only one of the six two-card combinations is worth getting excited about. And when the flop comes without an ace, very often the hand will be behind, even to a hand like 8s-7c-4d-2d.
Bottom line: look for starting hands with four cards that are coordinated or “work together” well. Doing so increases your chances of hitting the flop, after which point the real money gets in the middle.
