Best PLO Starting Hands: Solver-Backed Omaha Starting Hands Chart

Omaha Poker rewards players who understand starting hand principles, not ones who memorise lists. This guide gives you a solver-backed PLO starting hands chart for PLO4, PLO5, and PLO6, backed by data from our internal and external hand database and the source materials from professional coaches and experts of the game.

TL;DR Cheat Sheet

Why PLO Starting Hand Selection Is Nothing Like NLHE

In No-Limit Hold’em, you have 1,326 possible starting hand combinations. In 4-Card PLO, you have 270,725. That is not twice as many. It is roughly 200 times as many.

Most NLHE players assume that more cards mean more hands to play. The math points in the opposite direction. Because every opponent holds four cards, the average winning hand at showdown is dramatically stronger than in Hold’em. Hands that regularly take down pots in NLHE, such as top pair, two pair, or a jack-high flush, are frequently dominated at PLO showdowns.

The practical consequence is this: you should play fewer hands in PLO than in Hold’em relative to the total number of combinations. The goal of raising preflop is not to see a favourable flop. The primary objective of most preflop raises, as verified in solver research by Cory Mikesell and backed by data from small-stakes grinders, is simply to win the blinds. Winning the blinds at a 6-max table generates 150bb per 100 hands for that specific hand. In NLHE, only pocket aces, kings, queens, and ace-king suited exceeded that threshold in database studies. In PLO, the threshold is even harder to clear because even AA is not as dominant preflop.

The NLHE crossover trap is playing hands that look strong through a Hold’em lens. K♠️Q♥️J♦️T♣️ looks excellent. In PLO it is a single-direction, non-suited, medium-strength hand that can only win half a pot on most runouts. More on trap hands below.

The Four Pillars of a Strong Omaha Starting Hand

Identifying good Omaha starting hands comes down to four qualities that every premium PLO hand shares. These four pillars explain why AAKK double-suited is worth raising from any position, while K772 rainbow belongs in the muck before the flop is dealt. The more of these qualities your four cards combine, the stronger the hand.

1. Nuttiness

Nuttiness measures how likely your starting hand is to make the absolute best possible hand on the flop, turn, or river. Hands that can make the nuts perform better in multiway pots because you can commit chips without fear of being dominated. A♠️K♠️Q♥️J♥️ can make the nut spade flush and a strong heart flush on most boards, plus the top straight on most broadway boards.

2. Connectivity

Connectivity measures how well your four cards work together to form straights and straight draws. J♠️T♥️9♠️8♥️ has maximum connectivity: it can hit wraps and straight draws on almost every board. A♠️K♥️4♠️2♥️ has low connectivity: the A and K work together, but the 4 and 2 do not interact with the broadway cards.

3. Suitedness

Single-suited hands (two or more cards of the same suit) are dealt approximately 51.8% of the time in PLO4 according to the nine-category hand framework from Mastering Small Stakes PLO. Double-suited hands, where you hold exactly two cards of two different suits, occur in only about 9.5% of unpaired hands. Their rarity is matched by their power: double-suited hands give you two separate nut flush draws, which multiplies your equity and semi-bluffing opportunities on every two-tone flop.

Avoid monotone hands (all four cards the same suit) and trip-suited hands (three cards of the same suit). Both block your own flush outs and reduce your ability to make nut flushes.

4. No Danglers

A dangler is a single card in your hand that does not connect in rank or suit with the other three. In A♠️A♥️J♠️2♣️, the 2♣️ contributes nothing. It does not help you flop a straight, it does not add to a flush draw, and it blocks none of the hands you need to beat. Danglers reduce your equity realisation on every street. One dangler weakens a hand significantly. Two danglers make a hand nearly unplayable in serious lineups.

Best Omaha Starting Hands: The Complete Tier Chart

The hands below are ordered by overall strength in PLO4 100bb 6-max games. All premium hands assume double-suited unless stated. Equity figures against a 30% range are verified against solver data from Cory Mikesell’s research.

Premium Tier: Open from any position

Strong Two-Way Tier: Open from all positions

Playable Tier: CO, BTN, and blind versus blind

Speculative Tier: BTN and blind versus blind only, fold to 3-bets

Position-dependent hands that lack suitedness or have one weak component. These need positional advantage to realise equity. Examples: A♠️Q♥️T♠️8♥️ (single-suited), A♣️J♥️9♣️7♥️, K♠️Q♥️J♦️T♣️ (rainbow broadway rundown — good connectivity, zero flush potential, BTN open only), J♣️J♦️T♦️9♣️ (single-suited — playable from BTN but fold to 3-bets), A♠️A♥️7♣️2♦️ (rainbow — bare aces can open from BTN/CO but fold to any 3-bet and never stack off without strong board improvement).

Fold Tier: Unplayable at all positions

Hands with two complete danglers and no suitedness. No viable path to the nuts.

Worst Omaha Starting Hands: The Trap Hands That Bleed

Recognising hands to fold is as important as identifying hands to play. The following are the most expensive traps in PLO.

Bare Aces Without Connectivity

A♠️A♥️7♣️2♦️ rainbow is the most overplayed hand at every stake level, and once the board runs against it, it is not a strong hand and certainly not one of the very strong hands beginners imagine. You can open it from BTN or CO in an unraised pot, it still has pocket aces. What you cannot do is call 3-bets with it, stack off preflop with it, or continue aggressively on most flops. If you miss the set (which happens approximately 88% of the time with any pair), you have no redraws, no flush draws, and no straight draws. Your opponents, holding four coordinated cards, connect to boards far more often. The hand has raw equity but cannot realise it. That gap between preflop equity and realised equity is where the money disappears, and postflop play becomes difficult because the hand has too few nutted continuations.

Non-Nut Flush Draws

Playing 9♠️7♠️ as your flush holding in a multiway PLO pot is long-term losing. The hand above you in suit hierarchy has your flush dominated, and in a multiway pot, it is likely to be out there. Nut flush draws only.

Triple-Paired Hands

Hands like A♠️A♥️A♣️K♦️ or K♠️K♥️K♣️Q♦️ have three cards of the same rank. In PLO4, you must use exactly two hole cards. Holding three of a kind preflop means one of those cards is dead weight. These hands also suffer from reduced flush draw frequency because suit duplication blocks your own outs.

Two Danglers

Any four-card combination with two completely disconnected cards is effectively a two-card hand. K♠️Q♥️5♣️2♦️ may look playable preflop, but it is much harder to play post flop and usually acts like K♠️Q♥️ with two dead cards attached. In PLO4 you must use two hole cards, so your two valuable cards are often forced to combine with board cards in ways that do not produce the nuts.

PLO Starting Hands by Position

PLO preflop ranges change significantly based on position. Generally speaking, position is more valuable in PLO than in NLHE because equities run closer and postflop mistakes are more expensive. The following position guidelines are derived from solver research on 100bb 6-max games and align with the preflop range work in Cory Mikesell’s PLO research.

Under the Gun (UTG) and UTG+1

Open approximately 10 to 12% of hands. This is tighter than most players expect. Solver research on UTG opening ranges in PLO confirms that UTG opens are expected to win the blinds only around 40% of the time in optimal play. In real games against loose opposition, that number is often lower because players call too wide. When opponents call too often, the mathematical case for opening marginal hands weakens further, which highlights the importance of adjusting solver ranges for stack sizes in real games.

Open premium and strong two-way hands only. Fold everything from the playable and speculative tiers.

Middle Position

Expand to roughly 15 to 18% of hands. Add the stronger playable tier hands (J♠️T♥️9♠️8♥️ double-suited, A♠️K♥️Q♠️T♥️ double-suited). Continue to fold speculative holdings.

Cutoff

Open approximately 20 to 25% of hands. The playable tier becomes standard. You can start to include single-suited broadway rundowns and the stronger speculative hands with suitedness.

Button

The BTN is your widest position at approximately 30 to 35% of hands. You will realise more equity from every holding in position, which gives you an easier time choosing profitable lines. Semi-speculative hands with decent suitedness are now playable. Hands with one dangler become marginal opens rather than automatic folds.

Blind Defence

The blinds, especially the big blind, require different thinking. You are calling rather than opening, so equity realisation is partly offset by your positional disadvantage postflop. Defend the BB with premium and strong two-way hands. Call from the SB sparingly. Out of position multiway pots punish marginal holdings.

PLO Starting Hands Chart: How to Read and Use It

Starting hand charts in PLO serve as frameworks, not scripts. There are 270,725 possible starting hand combinations in PLO4. No chart can prescribe actions for all possible hands. What the tier structure above gives you is a principle-based framework for categorising any hand you are dealt.

When you look at your four cards, run through these four questions in order:

1. Does this hand have nut flush potential in at least one suit?
2. Do at least three of my four cards connect in a way that lets you play hands aggressively through straights or wraps?
3. Is the hand double-suited, single-suited, or rainbow?
4. Do I have a dangler?

A hand that answers yes to questions 1 and 2, double-suited on question 3, and no dangler on question 4 is a premium hand. High cards also improve the value of otherwise coordinated structures. A hand that fails two or more of these tests is likely a fold in early position.

The equity advantage of double-suited over single-suited structures compounds over volume. Use the free PLO365 Odds Calculator to run specific matchups and verify how your hand performs against typical 30% ranges and multiway scenarios before you commit to playing marginal holdings.

Pot Limit Omaha Starting Hands for PLO5 and PLO6

PLO5 Starting Hands

PLO5 has 2,598,960 possible starting hand combinations, verified by Cory Mikesell’s combinatorics research. Double-suited hands occur in 46.8% of all PLO5 hands (1,216,800 combinations). Approximately one quarter of those double-suited hands include a nut flush draw. Overall, you hold a nut flush draw 24.6% of the time in PLO5.

The equity compression versus PLO4 is significant and verified:

These numbers have a direct strategic implication: premium hands in PLO4 are marginal hands in PLO5. The 6 percentage point drop for AA means you are much closer to a coin flip when you get your stack in with pocket aces in PLO5. With five cards, multiple players will show up with stronger draws and nuttier made hands more often. Adjusting requires tightening your stacking-off thresholds and demanding more side card quality before committing.

The key PLO5 adjustment from the source research: in 6-max PLO5, you should almost always hold either a double-suited hand or a nut flush draw before entering the pot preflop, especially in poker pools where callers go multiway often. Playing rainbow hands or single-suited hands without nut flush draws is structurally losing over volume. Against tight 3-betters, pocket kings with only a king-high suit may have only 37 to 39% equity and become a fold.

PLO5 Premium Hands (double-suited, fifth card coordinates with core four):

• A♠️A♥️K♠️K♥️X — any fifth card that adds connectivity or suitedness
• A♠️K♥️Q♠️J♥️T — five-card broadway rundown, maximum straight equity
• A♠️A♥️J♠️T♥️9 — aces plus a full wrap structure
• K♠️Q♥️J♠️T♥️9 — best PLO5 rundown without aces

The fifth card should never be a complete dangler. One disconnected card is tolerable in PLO4. In PLO5, you have five cards and one of them being dead weight is simply a waste of the format’s equity potential, while coordinated side cards can also help you bluff effectively later when they create blocker-heavy runouts.

PLO6 Starting Hands

PLO6 has over 20,460,840 possible starting hand combinations. The combinatorial explosion does not mean you play more hands. It means the average winning hand at showdown is stronger still, and the equity compression from PLO4 to PLO5 continues further into PLO6.

The key range adjustments verified in Cory Mikesell’s PLO6 research:

UTG in PLO6: Drop from ~18% (PLO4 standard) down to 10 to 12%. The rationale is the same as in PLO4 and PLO5: preflop opens must justify themselves by winning the blinds, and against loose opposition that calls too often, the blinds are harder to steal. From early position, you often want to raise or fold with the very top of range rather than drift into dominated calls.

CO and BTN in PLO6: CO around 30%, BTN around 50%. These positions provide enough positional advantage to play wider ranges. A wide limping range is recommended at BTN and CO to keep the pot small with hands that do not want to face a 3-bet or lead bloated pots unless they retain nut potential.

4-Bet threshold in PLO6: When facing a 3-bet and a cold call in deep-stack PLO6, the standard 4-bet range narrows to AA hands with two nut suits. AA without nut suits or without coordination, and in highly coordinated PLO6 ranges can become a random hand, is not strong enough to pot and commit 200bb pre-flop in a multiway scenario. The recommended threshold is AA with two nut suits and at most one dangler among the remaining cards.

PLO6 Premium Hands (triple-suited or double-suited with top connectivity):

• A♠️A♥️K♠️K♥️Q♣️X — strongest PLO6 holding, triple nut draw potential
• A♠️A♥️K♠️Q♥️J♣️X — nut flush in two suits plus broadway wraps
• A♠️K♥️Q♠️J♥️T♣️X — six-card broadway rundown
• J♠️T♥️9♠️8♥️7♣️6♣️ — maximum straight connectivity across six cards

Bare aces in PLO6 are not just weak: they are losing preflop raises. AA without connectivity and suitedness cannot realise its equity against the wide, highly-coordinated ranges that opponents play in PLO6.

How to Study PLO Starting Hands

Reading a chart is the first step. Internalising it through repetition is what converts theory into table profit.

PLO Mastermind Free Preflop Pass

PLO Mastermind offers a completely free preflop tool, named PLO Trainer Preflop Pass, covering 100bb 6-max ranges for PLO4 and PLO5. No credit card, no time limit. It is the fastest way to see which of your current preflop decisions deviate from GTO and costs nothing to access. Start here before spending on any paid subscription.

PLO Trainer Drills

The PLO Trainer (included with PLO Mastermind Pro) runs preflop and postflop GTO drills against pre-solved nodes. You can select position and stack depth, see which hands to open versus fold in real time, and track your EV loss per mistake. This translates the starting hands chart into muscle memory faster than any other method.

PLO365 Odds Calculator

Run custom matchups in the free PLO365 Odds Calculator to verify how a specific hand performs against the range types you face. Test bare aces versus connected rundowns, compare double-suited against single-suited equity, and model multiway scenarios before you commit to playing marginal hands at higher stakes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Summary Table