“What is the best starting hand in Pot Limit Omaha?” is something I get asked a lot and unlike in No Limit Hold Em the answer isn’t actually as immediately obvious, this is because in Omaha hands almost always see a flop and so their absolute pre-flop equity is not nearly as important; additionally hand values run a lot closer together in general, meaning however strong a starting hand you have it’s a lot easier for your opponent to out flop your holding. With that said it is generally agreed that AAKK double suited is the best hand you could hope to get dealt in PLO:

That said, the key to a great starting hand in Pot Limit Omaha is floppability, a clumsy term, I know, but forgive me for a moment. It’s important to realise the *reason* why AAKK double suited is the best starting hand. It’s not because it has AA in it, that’s really only a big advantage if you can get most of your money in pre-flop, no the reason it’s the best hand is because it can flop either the nuts in lots of different ways or it can flop draws to the nuts.

Here are a few flops that As Ks Ad Kd could hit where you’d usually be super happy to get your money in even when you’re playing with a deep stack and the pot is small on the flop:

Poker in Texas is hot right now. Over the past year, poker clubs have sprung up across the state, and despite operating in a bit of a grey area, the Lone Star State industry continues to grow. Die boek vertel wat sy leer in die proses, nie net oor poker nie, maar oor die lewe. Die les wat my die meeste tref is dat geluk eintlik ‘n baie klein deeltjie van sukses is. Die ekonoom Ingo Fiedler het honderde-duisende pokerrondtes bestudeer en tot die verrassende gevolgtrekking gekom dat die beste hand net 12% van die keer wen. Beste en Ergste Hands in Texas Hold'em Poker. Die vyf beste beginhande in Texas Hold'em poker is pare aces, konings, koninginne, jacks en die ace-king-kombinasie. Dit is hande met die beste kans om te wen as dit gespeel word. Die slegste aanvangshande sluit die gevreesde 7-2-offsuit-kombinasie in, met die pas 7-2 net effens beter.

• 
  You’ve flopped top set, if you can get it in here you’re almost always going to be a favourite.
• 
  you have two overpairs the nut flush draw and a gutshot, getting all in on this kind of a board is always going to be good for you. Even in a worst case scenario and you’re against QQxx you’re going to be roughly a coinflip. In all other situations you’ll range from a clear favourite to a huge favourite. In spots like this the value of having the nut flush draw is extremely important. You’ll often get it in against a hand like 89TJ with the same flush draw, in this spot you are a massive (for PLO) 75% favourite to win the pot, however if you were to get all in against the very same hand holding AA52 rainbow (all different suits) you’d actually be a 29% underdog! This should clearly demonstrate the value of “Good aces” versus “Bad aces”, with a hand like AAKKds you will flop opportunities to get lots of money in with great equity far more often!
• 
  Again you’ve flopped an overpair and the nut flush draw. In situations like this you will normally be very happy getting money in, especially against an aggressive opponent. Just imagine he is holding Q875 for top two pair, he excitedly gets all his money in, putting you on an overpair, well in this situation you’re actually a 54% favourite, against other hands he might be shoving, like top pair + a lower flush draw you’ll have your opponent absolutely crushed!

What I’m trying to illustrate here is that by reraising pre-flop and playing AAKKds fast and aggressively you will flop a lot of good situations to get a lot of money in, on the other hand consider the following:

Although this is still a premium hand in the right circumstances it’s actually extremely difficult to make a lot of money with if you’re playing a cash game with deep stacks. Why? Because unless you flop top set it’s going to be almost impossible to play. Take this hand up against the 3 situations I posted above, only the the 1st situation (flopping the top set) will this hand play well, in the other two you will likely get money in a huge underdog. Secondly in the first situation you are twice as likely to flop top set because you have KK as your backup, with 8d 2h as your backup cards you’ll be rooting for a miracle to improve your hand.

Die Beste Poker Hands

If you can get 40% of your total stack in before the flop with any AAxx hand then you should do so and stack off on most flops, if however you are playing with deep stacks, either in a tournament or a cash game, you should understand the value of coordinated hands that will make you draws to the nuts.

So with that theory out of the way I hope you have a better idea of what kinds of hands you should consider the crème da la crème of pot limit omaha and why. Here are the complete top 10 omaha starting hands, as you look at them consider the many flops where they can flop big draws to the nuts or 2nd nuts and how coordinated the hands are. Remember Tc Jc Qd Kd is much, much, much stronger than Tc Jc Qd 4h:

From this I’m sure you can begin to formulate in your mind what the next 20 or 30 strongest hands might be. Remember to get AAKKds in PLO is much rarer that getting dealt AA in No Limit Hold Em. Because of this you’ll usually be seeing a flop with at least the top 50 or so hands you could be dealt if you’re playing a ring game and a much wider range again in a heads up match.

I hope this has been of help and I’ll see you next time!

Toward the end of the European Poker Tour Dublin festival that wrapped up last week, Day 2 of the Main Event had ended early giving myself and a few dozen others a chance to participate in the media tournament that night. Many took part, as did PokerStars players Lex Veldhuis of Team PokerStars Pro Online) and Friend of Team PokerStars Felipe “Mojave” Ramos.

As such events typically go, much fun was had with the low buy-in and turbo-styled levels helping encourage a lot of loose play. During one of those first levels a hand took place that saw Ramos open with a raise from UTG and a player in middle position call. On the button, I looked down at and called as well as did the big blind, meaning four of us saw a flop come .

It checked to Ramos who paused a moment to ask the dealer a question. “Does king-queen make a straight?” he asked while pointing at the community cards, and the table and dealer laughed in response.

Ramos then bet, the MP player called, and I called as well. The turn was the and he bet again, a little bigger this time, and only I stuck around, noting as I called that the pot was now bigger than my remaining stack.

The river brought the , giving me trips, and this time Ramos decided to check. I considered betting, but after just a few seconds decided to check back, and was glad I did when I saw Ramos table for a flopped straight. I showed my hand, earning some not-necessarily-deserved praise for having somehow managed not to lose more or even be eliminated.

It would be a lie to say that when contemplating a river bet I’d thoughtfully narrowed my opponent’s range down to hands that made betting seem incorrect. It did occur to me fleetingly that Ramos might not call me with worse, but if I’m going to be honest it was just caution — or passive timidity — that encouraged my check back.

Continuing with the honesty, it was only a minute or two later that I’d remembered what Ramos had said just before he c-bet the flop. He’d declared his hand!

Hey, You Guessed My Hand!

After the tournament, I thought back to a hand I’d watched play out earlier that day during the Main Event, probably the most interesting hand I’d seen on Day 2. The hand had come early in the afternoon during the 400/800/100 level and involved Christian Thiry who had raised from UTG and Nicholas Palma who called from the big blind.

“I’m either ahead or I’m not, am I right?” grinned the talkative Palma as he called, then the pair watched the flop come . Palma checked, and Thiry continued for 2,400. Palma then check-raised to 6,000, and Thiry hesitated.

“You would have put it in already, so I’m not worried,” said Palma. Thiry responded “I’m a nit” as he called, then the turn brought the .

At that Palma pushed out a big bet — larger than the pot, and a bit more than what Thiry had behind. Thiry immediately said “You probably got me crushed with a set of fours.”

“You see my cards?!?” said Palma in response, and the table laughed.

You might guess where this is going.

Thiry engaged in more table talk with Palma, at one point saying to him “You say one thing, I think you have it... you say another, I think you don’t.” Finally he decided to call, tabling .

Sure enough, Palma had — exactly what he’d said he had (or implied, anyway). Thiry shook his head and smiled, noting that at least he still had outs, but none came on the river and he was eliminated.

The Significance of “Straight Talk”

Both hands demonstrated players not quite saying exactly what they held, but jokingly indicating as much through their table talk.

There definitely exists only a small percentage of players who are willing to volunteer such things amid their table talk — that is to say, not everyone is likely amid table chatter to verbalize precisely what he or she is holding, even indirectly, particularly if that hand is the nuts or near-nuts. (I know I’m not likely to do so, although I tend not to talk much at all during hands.)

Die Beste Poker Hand Held

But there are those who are comfortable enough with chatting during hands to include such statements (or implied statements) in their repertoire of table talk. And when playing against such a player, it probably is worth keeping in mind that a reference to a particularly strong hand — even made in jest — should not automatically remove that hand from the player’s possible range.

In fact, in some cases such references might even mean you should be more willing to include that hand in their range.

Zachary Elwood’s book Verbal Poker Tells compiles a comprehensive catalogue of table talk. The section titled “Discussing own range of hands” seems relevant here.

“When a player makes a significant bet and discusses what his own hand might be,” writes Elwood, “it’s usually a sign of relaxation and a strong hand.”

Die Beste Poker Hand Analyzer

Elwood then presents a couple of examples of players happily discussing their own narrow range of hands postflop, including one in which the player starts by identifying exactly the very hand he’s holding.

Conclusion

In the media tournament hand, Ramos flopped a straight, then immediately joked about what was needed to make a straight. Of course, the relaxed atmosphere of that tournament was somewhat different from that of the EPT Dublin Main Event, with a lot of humorous table talk and less than “straight talk” happening.

But even in more serious events you’ll sometimes encounter certain players making direct references like this to particular hands. I would suggest at least paying attention when they do, and certainly avoiding the mistake of dismissing the possibility of players actually holding those hands by erroneously thinking “He’d never say he had it if I he really did.”

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  tournament strategycash game strategyno-limit hold’emlive pokerEPT DublinEPTFelipe RamosNicholas PalmaChristian Thirytellstable talkhand readingrange readingpostflop strategy

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  Felipe RamosNicholas PalmaChristian Thiry