Best Starting Hands In Plo

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The best starting hands in Omaha will be those that: Have suited cards, especially a suited Ace. AAxx hand needs to have the possibility of making the nut low. It's definitely not middle cards. Cards that work together and have good potential of winning the entire pot. The full article is here: Best Omaha Hi Lo Starting Hands. What are the 30 best starting hands for PLO. Pot Limit Omaha Starting Hands. Pot Limit Omaha Starting Hands. In PLO there are a total of 16,432 different starting hands, made up of all the possibilities that result from the 270,725 stochastically possible combinations. So how do you decide what starting hands to play and what not to play.

Best Starting Hands In Plo

We should be bringing you coverage of the 2020 World Series of Poker but COVID-19 put paid to that. The WSOP is magical because it showcases different poker variants instead of focussing on No-Limit Hold’em. Several different games crown their champions, including Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Low, or PLO8 as it is abbreviated to.

PLO8 is an extremely fun game and one that everyone should try, especially if they’re fans of standard PLO. I recently played in a low-stakes PLO8 tournament online and partypoker and had immense fun. It helps that I finished third from 130 entrants, but that’s a different story entirely!

Best Starting Hands In Plo6

That final table appearance gave me some inspiration for this PLO8 strategy article. Here’s hoping you can use it to reach your own final table in this crazy, yet fun, game.

What Are The Rules of PLO8

PLO8 uses the same rules as traditional Pot-Limit Omaha but with split-pot rules. This means everyone receives four hole cards and exactly two must be used to create the best five-card poker hand. This takes some getting used to, especially if there’s a four-flush on the board and you have one of that suit in your hand. You don’t have a flush in this instance!

PLO8 is a split-pot game meaning you can win with both a high and a low hand. Half the pot is awarded to the low hand and half to the high. You secure the entire pot if there is no possible high or low hand. At least three cards eight or lower have to be on the board for a low to be possible.

What Are The Best Starting Hands In Plo

Winning the entire pot is called scooping. You can also win half the pot or even be quartered. The latter is when, for example, you split the low half of the pot while someone else wins the high.

What Are The Best PLO8 Starting Hands

Every PLO8 hand looks playable thanks to the split-pot element but don’t get drawn into this trap. You still need to be selective with your hands if you want to taste success.

PLO players like their four hole cards to work together. Hands like As-Ac-Ks-Kc are powerhouse hands in Omaha Hi. You have the strongest two pairs, flush possibilities, and Broadway straight chances. This is also a strong hand in PLO8, but you have zero chance of winning the low.

Your PLO8 starting hands should follow similar rules where you try to have four cards that work together. Bear in mind straights are massive hands in this format, especially low straights. They give you the chance to scoop the pot by winning the high and low halves.

Hands win A-2 in them are extremely strong, with this in mind. A-A-2-3 double suited, so As-Ah-2s-3h for example, is the best PLO8 starting hand. This is followed by A-A-2-4 double suited, and so on.

Being double suited makes your hand more playable because it has flush potential. Ideally, each hand you play has the chance of making a high and a low hand to increase your chances of winning.

What Hands Should I Avoid?

PLO8 starting hands create many pitfalls for the unseasoned player. Every hand looks pretty, especially hands like 5-6-7-8. This is a dangerous hand because it’s unlikely improve to the nuts and PLO8 is a game of the nuts. A straight made with 5-6-7-8 is vulnerable because anyone with a hand with 3-4 in it. Players love holding A-2 or A-3 in their hands, which causes these middle run down problems.

New players overvalue hands like K-K-T-9 and play the game like Omaha Hi. The hand in this example isn’t exactly fantastic even in that discipline. Get used to tossing away many seemingly playable hands in PLO8, especially high pairs with a couple of random cards.

Playing on short-handed tables opens up more possibilities to play hands like K-K-2-4. Just don’t get married to the hand when you make the second nuts.

Omaha Hi/Low Outs Probabilities

It’s possible to have more than 20 outs when playing PLO8, but it is rare. You don’t have to memorize this table, but it helps to know your chances of improving in the most common situations.

Number of Outs% On Flop (2 cards to go)% On Turn (1 card to go)
14.42.3
28.84.5
313.06.8
417.29.1
521.211.4
625.213.6
729.015.6
832.718.2
936.720.5
1039.922.7
1143.325.0
1246.727.3
1349.929.6
1453.031.8
1556.134.1
1641.036.7
1761.838.6
1864.540.1
1967.243.2
2069.745.5
A pair of aces is the best pre-flop hand in Texas Hold'em Poker

In the poker game of Texas hold 'em, a starting hand consists of two hole cards, which belong solely to the player and remain hidden from the other players. Five community cards are also dealt into play. Betting begins before any of the community cards are exposed, and continues throughout the hand. The player's 'playing hand', which will be compared against that of each competing player, is the best 5-card poker hand available from his two hole cards and the five community cards. Unless otherwise specified, here the term hand applies to the player's two hole cards, or starting hand.

Essentials[edit]

There are 1326 distinct possible combinations of two hole cards from a standard 52-card deck in hold 'em, but since suits have no relative value in this poker variant, many of these hands are identical in value before the flop. For example, AJ and AJ are identical in value, because each is a hand consisting of an ace and a jack of the same suit.

Therefore, there are 169 non-equivalent starting hands in hold 'em, which is the sum total of : 13 pocket pairs, 13 × 12 / 2 = 78 suited hands and 78 unsuited hands (13 + 78 + 78 = 169).

These 169 hands are not equally likely. Hold 'em hands are sometimes classified as having one of three 'shapes':


  • Pairs, (or 'pocket pairs'), which consist of two cards of the same rank (e.g. 99). One hand in 17 will be a pair, each occurring with individual probability 1/221 (P(pair) = 3/51 = 1/17).
Alternative means of making this calculation
First Step
As confirmed above.
There are 1326 possible combination of opening hand.
Second Step
There are 6 different combos of each pair. 9h9c, 9h9s, 9h9d, 9c9s, 9c9d, 9d9s. Therefore, there are 78 possible combinations of pocket pairs (6 multiplied by 13 i.e. 22-AA)
What are the best starting hands in plo
To calculate the odds of being dealt a pair
78 (the number of any particular pair being dealt. As above) divided by 1326 (possible opening hands)
Best starting hands plo 8
78/1326 = 0.058 or 5.8%


  • Suited hands, which contain two cards of the same suit (e.g. A6). 23.5% of all starting hands are suited.

Probability of first card is 1.0 (any of the 52 cards)Probability of second hand suit matching the first:There are 13 cards per suit, and one is in your hand leaving 12 remaining of the 51 cards remaining in the deck. 12/51=.2353 or 23.5%


  • Offsuit hands, which contain two cards of a different suit and rank (e.g. KJ). 70.6% of all hands are offsuit hands

Offsuit pairs = 78Other offsuit hands = 936

It is typical to abbreviate suited hands in hold 'em by affixing an 's' to the hand, as well as to abbreviate non-suited hands with an 'o' (for offsuit). That is,

QQ represents any pair of queens,
KQ represents any king and queen,
AKo represents any ace and king of different suits, and
JTs represents any jack and ten of the same suit.

Limit hand rankings[edit]

Some notable theorists and players have created systems to rank the value of starting hands in limit Texas hold'em. These rankings do not apply to no limit play.

Best Starting Hands In Poker

Sklansky hand groups[edit]

David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth[1] assigned in 1999 each hand to a group, and proposed all hands in the group could normally be played similarly. Stronger starting hands are identified by a lower number. Hands without a number are the weakest starting hands. As a general rule, books on Texas hold'em present hand strengths starting with the assumption of a nine or ten person table. The table below illustrates the concept:

Chen formula[edit]

Best Starting Hands In Plo 5

The 'Chen Formula' is a way to compute the 'power ratings' of starting hands that was originally developed by Bill Chen.[2]

Highest Card
Based on the highest card, assign points as follows:
Ace = 10 points, K = 8 points, Q = 7 points, J = 6 points.
10 through 2, half of face value (10 = 5 points, 9 = 4.5 points, etc.)
Pairs
For pairs, multiply the points by 2 (AA=20, KK=16, etc.), with a minimum of 5 points for any pair. 55 is given an extra point (i.e., 6).
Suited
Add 2 points for suited cards.
Closeness
Subtract 1 point for 1 gappers (AQ, J9)
2 points for 2 gappers (J8, AJ).
4 points for 3 gappers (J7, 73).
5 points for larger gappers, including A2 A3 A4
Add an extra point if connected or 1-gap and your highest card is lower than Q (since you then can make all higher straights)

Phil Hellmuth's: 'Play Poker Like the Pros'[edit]

Phil Hellmuth's 'Play Poker Like the Pros' book published in 2003.

TierHandsCategory
1AA, KK, AKs, QQ, AKTop 12 Hands
2JJ, TT, 99
388, 77, AQs, AQ
466, 55, 44, 33, 22, AJs, ATs, A9s, A8sMajority Play Hands
5A7s, A6s, A5s, A4s, A3s, A2s, KQs, KQ
6QJs, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, 65sSuited Connectors

Best Starting Hands Plo 8

Statistics based on real online play[edit]

Statistics based on real play with their associated actual value in real bets.[3]

TierHandsExpected Value
1AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs2.32 - 0.78
2AQs, TT, AK, AJs, KQs, 990.59 - 0.38
3ATs, AQ, KJs, 88, KTs, QJs0.32 - 0.20
4A9s, AJ, QTs, KQ, 77, JTs0.19 - 0.15
5A8s, K9s, AT, A5s, A7s0.10 - 0.08
6KJ, 66, T9s, A4s, Q9s0.08 - 0.05
7J9s, QJ, A6s, 55, A3s, K8s, KT0.04 - 0.01
898s, T8s, K7s, A2s0.00
987s, QT, Q8s, 44, A9, J8s, 76s, JT(-) 0.02 - 0.03

Best Hands In Omaha Poker

Nicknames for starting hands[edit]

In poker communities, it is common for hole cards to be given nicknames. While most combinations have a nickname, stronger handed nicknames are generally more recognized, the most notable probably being the 'Big Slick' - Ace and King of the same suit, although an Ace-King of any suit combination is less occasionally referred to as an Anna Kournikova, derived from the initials AK and because it 'looks really good but rarely wins.'[4][5] Hands can be named according to their shapes (e.g., paired aces look like 'rockets', paired jacks look like 'fish hooks'); a historic event (e.g., A's and 8's - dead man's hand, representing the hand held by Wild Bill Hickok when he was fatally shot in the back by Jack McCall in 1876); many other reasons like animal names, alliteration and rhyming are also used in nicknames.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth (1999). Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players. Two Plus Two Publications. ISBN1-880685-22-1
  2. ^Hold'em Excellence: From Beginner to Winner by Lou Krieger, Chapter 5, pages 39 - 43, Second Edition
  3. ^http://www.pokerroom.com/poker/poker-school/ev-stats/total-stats-by-card/[dead link]
  4. ^Aspden, Peter (2007-05-19). 'FT Weekend Magazine - Non-fiction: Stakes and chips Las Vegas and the internet have helped poker become the biggest game in town'. Financial Times. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
  5. ^Martain, Tim (2007-07-15). 'A little luck helps out'. Sunday Tasmanian. Retrieved 2010-01-10.
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