Omaha Hi-Lo Starting Hands

When playing Omaha Hi/Lo your most important decision-making will be made pre-flop.  The four hole cards your are dealt have to be analyzed to determine if you should fold or play the hand.

Some things to keep in mind when analyzing your hand pre-flop:

• Aces count as both the lowest and highest value cards.
• Middle ranking cards (7 to 10) are typically of little value.
• Your hand should offer potential for both a low hand and a high hand win.
• Remember that the pot can be split several ways if more than one player has the same high or low hand.
• While there will always be a high hand winner each hand, there may not be a low hand winner (there will have to be at least three low community cards for a low hand to be possible, and a player must still have another two low cards to make a 5 card hand).

Bad Omaha Hi/Lo starting hands include:

• Any hand with four cards of the same value. (Remember; you can only play two of them from your hole cards, so if they’re not in the deck you can forget about improving.). 
• Any hand with three cards of the same value. (By the same logic, there’s only one card remaining in the deck that will land you three of a kind.)
• Most hand that contains three or more middle ranked cards. 

Fold these cards right away and save your chips and energy for a better hand.
Good Omaha Hi/Lo starting hands include:

• Hands containing two aces with other low cards (The lower the value of the other cards the better, and better still if you have cards suited with one or both aces.)
• The hands 2AAA, 3AAA, 4AAA(S), 222A(S). (While trips in the hole is normally not a good thing, in this case an ace on the board will give you a strong 3 aces, with no other opponent able to have the same.)
• Hands with three unpaired high cards and an ace if the ace is suited to one of the other  cards held (such as Ad K Q Jd).
• Hands that contain four good low cards (2 to 5) have potential, but you should be prepared to fold if the flop doesn’t turn up an ace. 
• Hands that contain at least two high cards, both of which are suited with a second card.

Keeping the above in mind, the best starting hand would be an A2 suited along with an A3 of a different suit.  These cards have great potential to lock in the best low hand, but also have a good chance at the high hand between the pair of aces and two nut flush draws.

Generally, a good starting hand in Omaha Hi-Lo is any hand that has the potential to take both halves of the pot.