Omaha Hi Lo Starting Hands

‘Oh, right, the Dutch discovered Holland! Please, not again!’ you might be saying, but that's where you are wrong. It is never too early to study the starting hands. As their name suggests, you will surely need to know them at the very start. They determine what hand you will try to play and your whole further strategy in the game. They are, thus, the cornerstone of good poker playing.

Starting hands in Omaha Hi/Lo need special attention, the game being so tricky and full of uncertainty. But that's what poker all about, isn't it?

Coming back to Omaha Hi/Lo, the aim of the game is to make the highest and at the same time lowest hand possible, which makes winning it still more complicated.

Now let's consider possible starting hands here in ascending order.

The Best Hand Possible
Logically enough, a starting hand consists of the hole cards one gets at the beginning of the game.
However, there is generally no way of telling that your hand is the 100% winner of all times. However, you might still get a hand with the highest winning chances. This kind of hand could be AA23, and don’t forget that you can also use the aces for your low hand. If you get this hand, don’t hesitate to raise. You have good chances to become the lucky winner.

Close to Best Hands
These are trip aces with cards ranging from 2 to 5 or, let’s say, trip deuces with an ace. If you have something like AAA3, raise and rest assured, as your chances are again pretty good.

Just Good Hands
Well, let’s be more realistic and assume that life is not that lily white it seems to be when you get one of the hands described above. Frankly speaking, you must be really lucky to get a hand like that. Therefore, we are now going to shift to more frequent card combinations, which may still be good enough to win in Omaha Hi/Lo. These fall into several categories:
1) low cards like A2345.
2) big pairs with small connectors like AA34 or KK23. Remember that aces may also become part of your low hand, and finally,
3) straight draws with low cards. I don’t need to remind you that it is also good to have an ace here, as that increases your winning chances. A hand of this type could look like AKQ3.

Obviously, these hands are nice and worth playing, however, there are also hands that are generally not so good, like two pairs, high straight draws and stuff like that. Be careful when playing these and fold if there already was more than 1 raise. You chances are not too high here.
Other hands are usually considered trash in Omaha Hi/Lo. Still it all depends on the strategy your opponents are pursuing and style.

Mind that a good starting hand is not always the winning ticket, for one may even lose with the best cards ever possible. A good starting hand won't win your game for you, as there is always room for chance and mystery, but it will determine a lot.