PLO Starting Hands: Chart & Rankings

The best pot-limit Omaha starting hands are double-suited, connected, and high — four cards that work together to make premium straights, flushes, and sets. A-A-K-K double-suited tops the list. The worst hands look fine at a glance but have one or two “dead” cards that don’t connect. Below is a tiered chart plus the four traits that separate a raise from a fold.

The four traits of a strong hand

Every good Omaha starting hand scores well on these:

1. Connectedness. Cards close in rank (like J-10-9-8) make many straights. Big gaps (K-9-5-2) make few.
2. Suitedness. Double-suited hands (two cards of one suit, two of another) can make two flushes. Rainbow hands make none.
3. High cards. High cards make the nut end of straights and flushes, so you win when it matters instead of finishing second.
4. Pairs that help. A big pair (A-A, K-K) can flop a strong set. But a low pair with dead side cards is weak.

A hand that hits three or four of these is playable. A hand that hits one — say a lone high pair with two random low cards — usually isn’t.

Think of it this way: your four cards give you six two-card combinations to work with. A hand like J♠ 10♠ 9♥ 8♥ has combinations for high straights, two flush draws, and top pairs — nearly every combo can improve to something strong. A hand like A♠ A♦ 7♣ 2♥ effectively has one useful combination (the aces) and five dead ones. The more of your combinations that can make the nuts, the more you’ll win.

Why does the nut end matter so much? In Omaha, someone almost always has a straight or flush by the river. Making the low end of a straight or a middling flush means you connect with the board but still lose to a bigger version of the same hand. High, connected cards are what let you make the version that wins.

Tiered starting-hand chart

Use this as a guideline, tightening from early position and loosening on the button. Examples show the ideal double-suited shape.

The top five hands are raise-or-reraise material. A-A rainbow is a raise but play cautiously post-flop, since it can’t make flushes and connects with fewer boards. “Dangler” hands — three good cards plus one unconnected card — are the trap: they look strong but effectively play like three-card Omaha, wasting a quarter of your hand’s potential.

Notice that the highest-ranked hands are all double-suited (marked “ds”): two cards of one suit and two of another. That shape gives you two separate flush draws, doubling your flush potential compared with a single-suited hand and quadrupling it versus a rainbow hand with no matching suits. When two otherwise-equal hands compete, the double-suited one is meaningfully stronger.

Position raises hand values

The later you act, the more hands you can profitably play, because you see opponents’ actions first. A speculative rundown like 9-8-7-6 double-suited is a fold under the gun but a clear raise on the button. This is one of the biggest edges in the game — read more on why position matters.

Hands to avoid

• Danglers: three coordinated cards plus one that does nothing.
• Big gaps: hands like K-Q-7-2 that can’t make connected straights.
• Rainbow low pairs: small pairs with no flush or straight potential.
• Middle rundowns for the low end: 8-7-6-5 can make straights, but often the low end, which loses to bigger straights.

Turn the chart into wins

A chart gets you playing the right hands; strategy gets you playing them well. Pair this with our pot-limit Omaha strategy primer to learn post-flop play, and if you’re coming from Hold’em, see why hand values differ so you don’t overvalue pairs. Everything Omaha lives in the main hub.