Omaha Poker Tips: What to Look for in a Starting Hand

Omaha, Hand Selection
August 27 2008

The No. 1 question to ask when deciding whether or not a starting hand is playable in Omaha is, "Does it have nut potential?" What we mean is, do the four cards in your hand have the potential to make a winning hand? It’s no good if your cards could make just a pretty good hand because there are up to nine other players at the table, and any of them could have that nut-potential hand.

The best starting hands in Omaha are hands in which you can use all four cards to make a winning hand. If you can use all four cards, you'll have more options on the flop, turn and river to make a winning hand. If only three of your cards are useable, then your chances of making a winner have been reduced. Don’t even think about how much your chances have dropped if only two of your cards are any good.

You also need to be able to determine which hands have the greatest potential to make a winning hand. These high-potential hands include connecting cards, suited cards and high pocket pairs. These hands give you many potential draws to winning hands. However, you also want to make sure you’re not drawing to low straights or flushes. Starting hands that give you the ability to draw to a straight or a flush can sometimes be deceptively bad and should be discarded. There’s no point going after a flush if your high card is 6 or 7. Same goes for a straight, because if one of your opponents makes a higher flush or straight it will likely cost you a large portion of your stack.

 

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