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How good is it?
Equity is all-in preflop against random hands, run to the river 6,000 times (about ±1%). The tier uses the four-way figure, because Omaha pots are usually multiway and a hand that only wins heads-up gets into trouble. Real opponents don't play random hands, so treat the tier as a starting point, not a rule.
- Maths reviewed by Josh Miller
- Tested by Diana Westfield
An Omaha starting hands chart can’t list every hand, because there are 270,725 of them. What it can do is show which shapes win. A-A-K-K double-suited sits at the top with 71% against one random hand. A tidy J-T-9-8 double-suited has 56%. K-Q-J with a stray 2 drops to 48%. Type any four cards into the free CasinoCalcs checker above and it rates them the same way, with the reasons.
Omaha starting hands chart by shape
| Hand type | Example | v 1 random | v 3 random | Play |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aces with a high pair, double-suited | A♠A♥K♠K♥ | 70.6% | 45.0% | Raise anywhere |
| Aces with a high pair, rainbow | A♠A♥K♦K♣ | 64.8% | 36.7% | Raise |
| Broadway, double-suited | A♠K♠Q♥J♥ | 61.2% | 37.1% | Raise |
| High rundown, double-suited | Q♠J♠T♥9♥ | 57.4% | 34.2% | Raise or call |
| Middle rundown, double-suited | J♠T♠9♥8♥ | 55.6% | 32.7% | Play in position |
| Aces with junk | A♠A♦K♣7♥ | 62.7% | 30.8% | Raise, careful multiway |
| Suited ace, no structure | A♠K♠7♥2♦ | 50.2% | 25.4% | Late position only |
| Three cards with a dangler | K♠Q♦J♥2♣ | 47.8% | 23.5% | Mostly fold |
| Low rundown, rainbow | 9♠8♥7♦6♣ | 44.5% | 22.9% | Fold or cheap call |
| Trips | A♠A♥A♦2♣ | 56.6% | 22.5% | Fold more than you think |
Figures are all-in preflop equity, run to the river. Four-way, a fair share is 25%, so anything well above that is a hand that makes money in a multiway pot.
What makes a good Omaha hand
All four cards should work together. In Omaha you must use exactly two hole cards, which gives you six two-card combinations, and every one that connects to the board is another way to make the nuts. A-A-K-K double-suited has two big pairs, two nut flush draws and broadway straights. A-A-K-7 rainbow has one pair and almost nothing else, which is why its equity collapses from 63% heads-up to 31% four-way.
Trips are the trap. A-A-A-2 looks like a monster and plays like a pair of aces with two dead cards, because you can only use two of the aces and the third one is gone from the deck. The checker marks that, and danglers too: a fourth card that sits too far from the rest, like the 2 in K-Q-J-2.
Suits matter more than in Hold’em, but only the right ones. A flush draw to the ace is worth playing for. A small flush in Omaha is often second best, so a hand like 7♠6♠ in a rainbow mess isn’t the bonus it looks.
Using the chart at the table
Raise the top groups from any seat, play the rundowns and broadway hands in position, and fold most hands with a dangler or no suits. Because pots go multiway so often, the checker bases its tier on the four-way figure rather than heads-up. For equity against a specific hand or board, use the Omaha odds calculator; to size your raises, the pot limit calculator does the counting. Hold’em players can compare with the poker starting hands chart.
Want to see how a hand holds up over 10,000 deals? Try the Omaha simulator.
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