Omaha 8 Starting Hands

Starting hand selection is a critical part of your success in Omaha/8. Many players are tempted to play too many hands in this game – including many of the ‘high only’ hands in addition to those with low potential. In fact you should look to play less hands in Omaha/8 than in other forms of Omaha Poker, this counters the twin dangers of being quartered and having your low hand counterfeited.

In Omaha poker you must use exactly 2 cards from your hand and 3 cards from the board to make a hand at showdown. In Omaha/8 the splitting of the pot between the high and low hands means that two different poker hands must be determined. These are determined independently of each other – meaning it is possible to share cards between the high and low hands (an ace for example can count for both).

The objective in Omaha/8 is to ‘scoop’ both the high and the low sides of the pot, at the same time as avoiding sharing the low side with an opponent (being ‘quartered’). The large number of possible combinations of 2 cards from your hand and 3 from the board, along with the ‘scoop’ objective determine the best Omaha/8 starting hands.

Premium starting hands in Omaha/8 are ‘suited babies’ – small cards preferably suited with an ace. These hands give you ways to win the high and low sides of the pot simultaneously. Hands where the small cards are 5 and below – and connected (giving straight possibilities) are also considered strong.

Low hands should usually contain an ace and 2 other low cards. The reason for requiring additional low cards is to avoid being counterfeited by the board cards. For example if you hold ace-three-king-jack and the flop comes six-two-king you have a draw to the strong low. However if an ace or a three appears on the turn or river your low hand is ruined – now anyone with a 4 and another low card will beat you. Starting hands which have backup in the form of an extra low card are thus more valuable.

A bare ace-two hand can be dangerous in Omaha/8, especially if the high potential is weak (no suited or connected cards). Without some backup for the low these hands run a big risk of winning only a quarter of the pot – a return of 25c for every $1 invested.

Hands without aces are sometimes playable, though must be treated with caution 2-3-4-5 for example is a strong hand with scoop potential. However unless an ace comes on the flop it is less likely to make the strongest low.

High-only hands can be played when it is cheap to see a flop from late position (meaning less chance of a re-raise before the flop). Approximately 30% of boards will not make a low hand possible in Omaha/8 – meaning the high hand scoops the pot. Where high hands are played and a low is possible these should generally be played very cautiously indeed – especially where there is a draw to a straight or flush possible.

To summarize, the best starting hands in Omaha/8 have the potential to scoop both the high and low sides of the pot. Small suited cards, particularly when suited with an ace are the strongest starting hands of all.