Top 100 Omaha Starting Hands

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Range of Hands Syntax Help

Generic Range Syntax

Generic range syntax is the latest mini-language for describing ranges of poker hands. It is more powerful and more concise than any of the classic (read 'old') ProPokerTools syntaxes.

Generic Syntax Documentation

This list of the top 10 best starting hands for Texas Hold 'em is a good place to start learning. Do keep in mind, however, that there is some disagreement over which hands are the best, and it does depend in part on your skill level and style of play. Also, a great starting hand can turn bad quickly with the wrong community cards. This is a vital pot limit Omaha tip that needs to be taken into consideration every time you are picking a pot limit Omaha starting hand. Here are the top five pot limit Omaha Starting hands. These are the best hands ranking from number 1 to number 5 listed with exactly where their total value comes from. The cards that share a number share a suit. Computer analysis of the best starting hands has proven that the best starting hand for Omaha is A-A-K-K (double suited). One favorite starting hand for Omaha is A-A-J-10 (double suited), because of its wider range for making the nut straight (J-7, Q-8, K-9, and A-10).

Extensive Examples

Generic Syntax Documentation

Games Supported

Generic Syntax is currently available for all games.

Generic Syntax may also be used to specify the board and dead cards.

Ranks and Suits

The standard ranks are 'AKQJT98765432'.
The standard suits are 'shdc'.
Suit variables are 'wxyz'. See the examples below for how these work.
All other letters not listed above are rank variables. 'R' for Rank, 'O' for Other rank, and 'N' for aNother rank are reasonable choices. See the examples below for how these work.
'*' is the wildcard rank, and means 'any rank'.

Here are some example 4-card (omaha) ranges using only the above:

AsKhJd2c- a specific hand where all cards are known.
AA- a hand with at least two aces in it.
AxAyxy- double-suited Aces.
sshh- a hand with two spades and two hearts.
wxy- a hand with at least three suits.
****- a completely random hand. This can be written more simply as '*'.
RRON- A hand with one pair and two non-paired side cards.
RxRyOxOy- A double-suited hand with two pairs in it.

Percent of Hands

ProPokerTools has its own ranking of hands for omaha, omaha hi/lo, hold'em, five-card omaha, and five-card omaha hi/lo. Here are a few examples of how to generate ranges using these rankings:

15%- The top 15 percent of hands (full-ring)
5%-10%- Hands between the top 5 and top 10 percent of hands (full-ring)
1%-100%- All hands

The default rankings are for full-ring games. Also provided are rankings for 6-handed games. To specify the 6-handed rankings, simply add '6h' after the percentage sign:

15%6h- The top 15 percent of hands (6-handed)
5%-10%6h- Hands between the top 5 and top 10 percent of hands (6-handed)

Text files containing the hand orderings can be downloaded below:

Omaha Hi10-handed 6-handed 3-handed vs random hand
Omaha Hi/Lo10-handed 6-handed 3-handed vs random hand
Hold'em10-handed 6-handed 3-handed vs random hand equity squared
Five Card Omaha9-handed 6-handed vs random hand
Five Card Omaha Hi/Lo9-handed 6-handed vs random hand

If you are curious about how these orderings were created, you can check out these blog posts:

Combining Ranges

There are three ways to combine multiple ranges.

Use ',' (read as 'or') to get the union of two ranges. For instance, in hold'em, 'JJ, AK' means 'Jacks OR Ace-King.'
Use ':' (read as 'and') to get the intersection of two ranges. For instance, in hold'em, 'xx:15%' means 'hands that are suited AND in the top 15% of hands.'
Use '!' (read as 'not') to get the difference of two ranges. For instance, in omaha, 'AA!AAA' means 'hands with two aces NOT three aces.'

Note that all three combinators (',', ':', and '!') can be used together. For instance, in omaha, 'AA:xxyy, JJ!JJJ, KK' means 'double suited aces or a hand with exactly two jacks or a hand with at least two kings.'

Rank Spans

Rank spans allow you to specify cards that vary from a start rank to an end rank. This is easier explained with a few omaha hand examples:

KQJT-T987- Equivalent toKQJT,QJT9,JT98,T987
AAJT-AA87- Equivalent toAAJT,AAT9,AA98,AA87

It is possible to use multiple rank spans in the same hand if they are enclosed in square brackets. For instance:

[A-Q][J-T]23- Equivalent toAJ23, AT23, KJ23, KT23, QJ23, QT23

Furthermore, you can use a trailing plus or minus to indicate ascending or descending ranges:

T8+- Equivalent toT8,J9,QT,KJ,AQ
664-- Equivalent to664,553,442

Finally, suits and suit variables are allowed, as long as both sides match:

TsJs-KsQs- Equivalent toTsJs,JsQs,QsKs
[Kx-Jx]x- Equivalent toKxx, Qxx, Jxx

Rank and Suit Lists

Occasionally, you want to have a card match a particular set of ranks, suits, or cards. Here are some examples:

[2,3,4]- Equivalent to2-4
[2,4,6,8,T][3,5,7,9]- A hand with at least one odd and one even number card.
[As,Ah,K]K- Equivalent toAsK, AhK, KK

Card Order

Card order is preserved for games where the order of cards is significant (stud, stud-8). Card order is ignored for other games (hold'em, omaha, omaha-8). Card order is also preserved for flop game boards on the turn and river.

Card order in Stud Games

In seven-card stud, the order of the cards as they come out is significant except in the case of the first two cards. For instance, 'KsJhTd' and 'KsTdJh' are NOT considered the same hand. 'KsJhTd' and 'JhKsTd' ARE considered the same hand, because the order of the first two cards is not considered significant. When combining ranges, card order is respected for cards on third-street and beyond. For instance, 'KQJ:xxy' implies a stud hand with a suited king-queen in the hole and an off-suit jack showing (an equivalent way to write it wold be 'KxQxJy').

Card Order in Flop Games

There is no concept of card order in generic range syntax for Hold'em and Omaha. For instance, in Hold'em, 'KJ:hd' translates directly to 'a hand with a king and a jack AND a hand with a heart and a diamond'. As such, it is equivalent to 'KhJd, KdJh' - it is NOT the same as 'KhJd'. Similarly, in Omaha, if one wanted to specify a hand with ace-high flush potential in hearts single-suited, one would write 'Ahhxy' - it is NOT correct to write 'A:hhxy', as that would include hands such as 'AcJs7h6h'.

Card Order on Flop Game Boards

For games with a shared board (hold'em, omaha, omaha-8), the order of the first three cards (the 'flop') is not significant, while the order of the last two cards (the 'turn' and 'river') is significant. For instance, the boards 'KKJ' and 'JKK' are equivalent - they translate to 'a flop with two kings and one jack'. However, the boards 'sshds' and 'sshsd' are NOT equivalent - the first board has a flop with two spades and one heart, a diamond on the turn, and a spade on the river, while the second board has the same flop but a SPADE on the turn and a DIAMOND on the river.

Card Counts

For games where the number of cards in a hand is always known (hold'em always has 2 cards, omaha always 4), ranges are always implicitly 'topped off' with wildcards to bring the number of cards up to the correct number. For instance, in omaha, 'AA' is equivalent to 'AA**', and 'KJ:xxy' is equivalent to 'KJ**:xxy*'.

For stud games, card counts can vary. For stud and stud-8, card counts are brought up to a minimum of three cards, but no other topping-off is performed. For example, 'KJ' is equivalent to 'KJ*' (because all hands are brought to a minimum size of three). In addition, sub-ranges can only be combined if they have the same number of cards listed. For instance, 'KJ84:xxyz' is legal, whereas 'KJ84:xx' is not.

No Pair Constraint

You can enclose any number of cards in a subrange in curly braces to indicate that there are no paired cards. For instance:

A{A$W$W}- an omaha hand containg two aces and two non-paired wheel cards
{$W$W 5s}- a stud hand with a wheel draw headed by the five of spades

Special Stud Syntax

The pipe ' ' character can be used to delineate separate ranges for portions of a stud hand. For instance:

AA-TT, ss Ks-A big pair or two spades in the hole and a king of spades showing
xx:[9-Q][9-Q] RR s, K-Suited medium-large cards in the hole and a pair showing on fourth street followed by a spade or a king on fifth street

Note that each of the range pieces separated by ' ' are completely independent of each other. This means, for instance, that 'xx xx' does NOT mean four suited cards - it means two suited cards in the hole and two suited cards showing.

Syntax Macros

Syntax macros are a useful way to avoid typing in the same string of characters over and over again. Macros begin with a $ and may contain numbers and letters. Macros may reference other macros (but no macro may reference itself). The Generic Syntax comes with the following built-in macros:

Macro	Meaning	Games	Translates to	Example
$s	suited constraint	Hold'em	:xx	AK$s- ace-king suited
$o	off-suit constraint	Hold'em	:xy	JT$o- jack-ten off-suit
$B	big card	All	[A-J]	$B$B- two big cards
$M	middle card	All	[T-7]	$M$M- two middle cards
$Z	small card	All	[6-2]	$Z$Z- two small cards
$L	low card	All	[A,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]	$L$L$L$L!RRRR- four cards that can make a low (omaha hi/lo).
$N	no-low card	All	[K-9]	$N$N$N$N- four cards that cannot make a low (omaha hi/lo).
$F	face card	All	[K-J]	$F$F- two face cards
$R	broadway card	All	[A-T]	$R$R- two broadway cards
$W	wheel card	All	[A,2,3,4,5]	$W$W- two wheel cards
$ds	double-suited constraint	Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo	:xxyy	AA$ds- double-suited aces
$ss	single-suited constraint	Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo	:xxyz	AKQJ-9876$ss- single-suited medium-to-large rundown (hand has three suits)
$np	no pairs constraint	Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo	!RR	15%$np- a hand in the top 15% with no paired cards
$op	one pair constraint	Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo	:RRON	5%$op- a hand in the top 5% with exactly one pair (and no trips)
$tp	two pair constraint	Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo	:RROO	20%tp- a hand in the top 20% with two pair
$nt	no trips constraint	Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo	!RRR	50%$nt- a hand in the top 50% with no trips (or quads)
$0g	a zero-gap rundown	Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo	AKQJ-	$0g:10%- a zero-gap rundown in the top 10% of hands
$1g	a one-gap rundown	Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo	(AKQT-, AKJT-, AQJT-)	$1g:20%- a one-gap rundown in the top 20% of hands
$2g	a two-gap rundown	Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo	(AKQ9-, AKT9-, AJT9-)	$2g:ss- a two-gap rundown with two or more spades

Weighted Ranges

Weighted ranges are supported for hold'em, omaha, and omaha hi/lo.

Weighted ranges allow you to specify the relative probabilities of hands appearing in a range. For instance, if we want a range where aces and kings are always played but queens are only played half the time, we could write 'AA-KK@100,QQ@50'.

Generic Syntax Odds and Ends

Case ('A' vs. 'a') is ignored. Nevertheless, ranges are easier to read if ranks and rank variables are capitalized while suit variables are in lower case.
Aces are always high. This means that 'A-5' is equivalent to '[A,K,Q,J,T,9,8,7,6,5]'. If you want wheel cards, you can use [A,2,3,4,5] instead.
Suits and suit variables are attached to the rank on their left. If the symbol immediately to the left is not a rank (A, K, ...), rank variable (R, O,...), or wildcard rank (*), then a wildcard rank is implicit. For example, 'ss' is equivalent to '*s*s', 'KsTsxx' is equivalent to 'KsTs*x*x', and 'sJhhd' is equivalent to '*sJh*h*d'.
Suit variables will not bind to any suits listed in a range. For instance, 'ssxx' means two spades and two cards of some other suit - the 'x' will not assume the value of spades. Similarly, rank variables will not bind to any ranks listed in a range. For instance, 'AARR' means aces with another pair - it does not include four aces.
Parentheses ('(' and ')') have the highest precedence, and can be used for grouping. For instance, '(AK, JT):xx' is equivalent to 'AxKx, JxTx'.
Constraints ('!' and ':') have the next highest precedence after parentheses, and are left-associative. For instance, 'AK,*:xx!RR' is equivalent to 'AK, (*:xx)!RR'
Commas (',') have the lowest precedence.

Key Differences vs. Classic Syntax

Here are a few quick notes for those of you who have made extensive use of the classic ProPokerTools range of hands syntax:

Hold'em Players

At long last, hold'em range syntax gets as much expressive power as omaha. Hooray!
's' and 'o' no longer mean suited and off-suit. 's' always means spades. If you want a suited hand, you have two options - you can use suit variables ('AxKx' for ace-king suited), or the suited macro ('AK$s'). For offsuit, use 'AxKy' or 'AK$o'.

Omaha Players

If less than four cards are specified, wildcards ('*') are added for you. Where you used to write 'AA**', you can now write 'AA'. Where a random hand was '****', '*' will now suffice.
'&' (the 'and' combinator) has been replaced with ':'. This is partly to avoid confusion with the old syntax, and partly because the colon just feels better.
Operator precedence has been fixed to match users' expectations. In the old syntax, errors seemed almost more common than correct usage when combining '&', ',' and '!'. Constraints ('!' ('NOT') and ':' ('AND')) now have high precedence and are left associative. This means that 'AK:15%, JT:30%, KQ!Ks' means what it looks like - namely, 'ace-king in the top 15% or jack-ten in the top 30% or king-queen without the king of spades'. The most common case where you need parentheses in the generic syntax is when you apply a constraint to a number of subranges, such as '(AA, AK):xxyy' for 'aces or ace-king double suited'.

Stud Players

Stud now has the same expressiveness as other games.
There is no longer a limitation that upcards be specific cards (although there is a maximum number of hands allowed in any range).

Extensive Examples

Hold'em Examples

AsKh- Ace of spades and king of hearts
AA- A pair of aces
AA,KK,AK- A pair of aces, a pair of kings, or ace-king
AxJx- Ace-jack suited
AJ$s- Another way to write ace-jack suited
AxTy- Ace-ten off-suit
AT$o- Another way to write ace-ten off-suit
K*h- A hand with any king and another card that is a heart
*- A random hand
15%- A hand in the top 15% of hands
30%-50%- A hand between the top 30 and top 50 percent of hands.
K- A hand with a king in it
ss- A hand with two spades in it
JR- A hand with a jack and some other rank
hx- A hand with one heart and one other suit
TT-77- A medium pair
Q+- A hand with a queen, king, or ace in it
[T+][T+]- A hand with two broadway cards in it
A-Q- A hand with an ace, a king, or a queen
[A-J][2-5]- A hand with an A, K, Q, or J and a 2, 3, 4, or 5
K[2s,Jc,T]- A hand with a king and a 2 of spades, jack of clubs, or ten
J[T-]- A jack-high hand
A!AK- A hand with an ace but not ace king
25%:xx- A hand in the top 25% of hands that is suited
A:15%!AA- A hand with an ace in the top 15% of hands but not a pair of aces.
40%!AA-22- A hand in the top 40% of hands that is not a pair
(A, ss):15%- An ace or a hand with two spades in the top 15% of hands

Omaha Examples

AsKhJd2c- Ace of spades, king of hearts, jack of diamonds, and two of clubs
AA- A hand with at least two aces
AA,KK- A hand with at least two aces or two kings
AxAyxy- Double-suited aces
AA$ds- Another way to write double-suited aces
AxAyxz- Single-suited aces
AA$ss- Another way to write single-suited aces
KJ*ss- Any king, any jack, and two other cards that are spades
*- A random hand
15%- A hand in the top 15% of hands
30%-50%- A hand between the top 30 and top 50 percent of hands.
K- A hand with a king in it
ss- A hand with two spades in it
JRON- A hand with a jack and three other ranks
RROO- A hand with two pairs in it
hhxx- A hand with two hearts and two of some other suit
TT-77- A hand with at least two tens, nines, eights, or sevens in it
Q+- A hand with at least one queen, king, or ace
9876-- A medium to small rundown
A-Q- A hand with an ace, a king, or a queen
[A-J][2-5]33- A hand with an A, K, Q, or J and a 2, 3, 4, or 5 and two threes
K[2s,Jc,T]- A hand with a king and a 2 of spades, jack of clubs, or ten
J[T-][T-][T-]- A jack-high hand
*$np- A hand with no paired cards
*$nt- A hand with no trips
AA!AAA- A hand with exactly two aces
AA$nt- Another way to write a hand with exactly two aces
AARR- A hand with two aces and another pair (but not four aces)
{$L$L$L$L}- Four non-paired cards that can make a lo
A!K- A hand with an ace but no king
25%:wxyz- A hand in the top 25% of hands that is monotone
A:15%!AA- A hand with an ace in the top 15% of hands but not a pair of aces.
40%!RR- A hand in the top 40% of hands with no paired cards
([T+][T+][T+], ss):15%- At least three big cards or a hand with two spades in the top 15% of hands
(Ax[2x-5x], 2x3x-2x5x, 3x4x-3x5x, 4x5x):30%-50%- A hand with at least two suited wheel cards in the top 30 to 50 percent of hands

Stud Examples

AsKh2c8h9d- Ace of spades and king of hearts in the hole, followed by the two of clubs, eight of hearts, and nine of diamonds.
AAK- Aces in the hole and a king up.
AA-JJ, dd 8d- A big pair or two diamonds in the hole and the eight of diamonds up
xxxx- A four-flush
x x Rx x R- Flush draw that paired the door-card on fifth street.
{$L$L 8s6c}- A low draw on fourth street with the eight of spades and six of clubs showing

Board Examples

AsKdJh- A flop with the ace of spades, the king of diamonds, and the jack of hearts
A**!AA*- A flop with exactly one ace
***![T+]**- A flop with no card ten or higher
RON- A flop with no pairs
RRO- A flop with one pair
234+- A straight-friendly flop
RONR- A board with no pairs on the flop that paired on the turn
xyz- A rainbow flop
xxx- A monotone flop

Classic Hold'em Range Syntax

The examples below show the set of features available in the Hold'em Range Syntax

AsAh- ace of spades and ace of hearts
AAany pair of aces
AA, KKa pair of aces or kings
A*any hand with an ace in it
**- any two cards
JTs- jack-ten suited
JTo- jack-ten off suit
JT- any jack-ten
A*s- any suited ace
*h*h- any two hearts
AA, KK, AK- aces, kings, and ace-king
X%- The top X% of hands
A5-A2- equivalent toA5,A4,A3,A2
AK-JT- equivalent toAK,KQ,QJ,JT
QTs-97s- equivalent toQTs, J9s, T8s, 97s
AA-TT, AK, AQ, AJs- any pair tens or higher, any ace-king or ace-queen, and ace-jack suited

Classic Omaha Range Syntax

The examples below show the set of features available in the Omaha Range Syntax

AsKsTdTh- ace of spades, king of spades, ten of diamonds, and ten of hearts
AA**- any hand with at least two aces
AA**, KK**- any hand with at least two aces or two kings (',' is the union operator)
AA** & KK**- any hand with two aces AND two kings ('&' is the intersection operator)
AAKK- another way of writing the above
15% ! AA**- A hand in the top fifteen percent of hands EXCLUDING those with two aces ('!' is the difference operator)
(88**, (99** & *s*s**)) ! 10%- Use parentheses for grouping. Operators in ascending precedence order are '&', '!', ',', '()'.
*h*h**- any hand with at least two hearts
X%- Hands in the Xth percentile or better.
15%-30%- A hand in the 15th to 30th percentile
BBMM- two big (A,K,Q,J) and two middle (T,9,8,7)
ZZLL- two small (6,5,4,3,2) and two low (A,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) cards
NNWW- two non-low (K,Q,J,T,9) and two wheel (A,2,3,4,5) cards
AsBsAhBh- ace-big of spades and ace-big of hearts

Classic Stud Range Syntax

The examples below show the set of features available in the Stud Range Syntax

* * Ks- any two hole cards and Ks up
*s *s Ks- two spades in hole with Ks up
Js Qs Ks- Js, Qs, Ks
Js Qs Ks- Also Js, Qs, Ks - no pipe needed if all cards exact
J Q Ks- any jack and queen with Ks
9+ 9+ Ks- two cards nine or higher with Ks
9+s 9+s Ks- two spades nine or higher with Ks
88-QQ Ks- 88, 99, TT, JJ, or QQ with Ks
22-AA, *s *s Ks 2c Ts- pair, trips, or flush draw on fifth street
22-AA, *s *s Ks 2c Ts 8h *d, *h- Red card flashed on river
B M Ks- a big (A,K,Q,J) and middle (T,9,8,7) card with Ks
Z L Ks- a small (6,5,4,3,2) and 'low' (A,2,3,4,5,6,7,8) card with Ks
N W Ks- a 'no-low' (K,Q,J,T,9) and wheel (A,2,3,4,5) card with Ks

Classic Razz Range Syntax

The examples below show the set of features available in the Razz Range Syntax

A35- An Ace, a three, and a five
JJ4- Two Jacks and a four
**6- Two random down cards and a six
9- 9- 4- Two down cards nine or lower and a four
3+ 3+ 9- Two down cards three or higher and a nine
(T- 7- 4)- Three DIFFERENT ranks - a ten or lower, a seven or lower, and a four
Use parentheses to force ranks to be all different.Range of hands currently supported on down cards only (cards one, two, seven).

Blog

Now that you understand the position concept we are going to expand on that by looking at the subject of which starting hands to play and which to throw in the muck.

This is the area where inexperienced players become fish, simply by not having the ability to fold weak hands before the flop. You can save a lot of money at this stage of the hand just by simply choosing not to play.

The Importance of Starting Hand Selection

As you know Poker is a game of maths and probability. It is therefore possible to know which starting hands are most probable to win a hand and this has been statistically proven in many studies. These studies have been able to rank starting hands according to how likely they are to win the hand against a random selection of opponent’s starting hands.

Starting hand

By Starting Hand we mean the two hole cards which are dealt to you at the start of each hand.

Since we now know which are the best starting hands in poker then we can apply this knowledge to our strategy. Remember, when we play a hand, we want to play with the odds in our favour, and by selectively choosing which starting hands we play we can ensure this.

Of course if we just waited for the two or three best poker starting hands then we wouldn’t actually play many hands as the probability of these cards being dealt is only once in a while.

So we combine the position concept with our starting hand concept, to allow us to only play a narrow starting hand selection when out of position and to play a wider range of starting hands when we are in position. Therefore the benefit of playing in position makes up for the weaker starting hands we may play.

Starting Hand Groups

You could look at all the statistical information and studies, but we’ve taken all the work out of it for you. The following section is a key part of your strategy and you should practise choosing the right action before the flop using the poker starting hands chart below.

We have chosen 46 different hands that we will play depending on the position and situation we are in. Those 46 hands have been separated into 8 groups named Group A to H. Group A are the strongest hands in poker based on the statistics and group H are the weakest hands that we are willing to play. Of course there are many more hand combinations weaker than the hands in Group H, but we are not interested in playing with these and they will be folded into the muck straight away.

Group B

Group D

AQs

AJs

Group F

KJs

QJs

Group H

J8s

T8s

87s

76s

The ‘s’ next to some of the hands stands for Suited, so two cards of the same suit. ‘AJs’ could stand for A J whereas ‘AJ’ could stand for A J

Take a minute just to browse the hands in each group, you don’t need to memorise these, as you can use the chart to refer to, and once you have used it for a while, you will start to remember which hands are in which groups.

Poker Starting Hand Charts

Ok, so now we have our selection of 46 hands, and have split them into 8 groups based on strength, now what? Well we won’t just automatically play any of those 46 hands when they are dealt to us, we will make a decision based on the position we are in, and the situation we are faced with at the table.

When we are in position we will play a wider range of groups and out of position we will only play the stronger groups. Similarly when opponents have shown strength at the table by raising we will only play the better cards against them.

There are three charts, UNRAISED, RAISED and BLINDS. These are our Action charts, and show us what action to take when we have a hand in one of the starting hand groups.

The three charts are:

UNRAISED – When everybody acting before you has either folded or called the big blind.
RAISED – When somebody acting before you has raised.
BLINDS – When you are in either the small blind or the big blind position and somebody acting before you has raised

UNRAISED
Everybody acting before you has either Folded or Called the Big Blind
Action	Early Position	Mid Position	Late Position
Opening Raise	A B C D	A B C D E	A B C D E F
Call a Re-Raise	B C	C	C D
Raise a Re-Raise	A	A B	A B
Call the Big Blind (if Multiway Pot)	F G	G H

RAISED
Someone acting before you has Raised already
Action	Early Position	Mid Position	Late Position
Re-Raise	A B	A B	A B
Call	C	C	C D

BLINDS
After a Raise and You are in the Blinds
Action	Raised from Early Position	Raise from Mid Position	Raised from Late Position
Unraised Blinds – Play as if you were in Late Position in the Unraised chart
Re-Raise	A	A B C	A B C D
Call	B C D	D E	E F

To use the charts, just follow these steps:

What group is your starting hand in? if it isn’t in any group then you Fold.
What Situation are you in? Choose one of the three action charts relevant to the situation you are in.
What Position are you in? Look at the column in the chart for the position you are in.
Starting Hand Group not shown? If your starting hand group is not shown in that column, then you Fold.
Starting Hand Group Shown? If your starting hand group letter is shown then take the action the chart is showing you.

The different actions in each of the charts are:

Opening Raise – Make the first Raise
Call – Just Call when a person has Raised
Re-Raise – Re-Raise a person who has Raised
Call a Re-Raise – Call when someone Re-Raises your original Raise
Raise a Re-Raise – Re-Raise when somebody has Re-Raised your original Raise
Call the Big Blind – Just call the big blind amount (also known as ‘limping in’)

Quick Reference

I don’t expect you to memorise all the starting hand groups and action charts. The way to learn them is by putting them into practise and then over time you will start to memorise them. But to start with, you can refer to the charts while you are playing.

You can either just bookmark and pull this page up each time you play or we have a couple of other methods to make your life a bit easier.

Printable Starting Hands Chart

A neat and tidy, A4 size starting hand chart which you can print and keep in front of you for quick reference while you are playing.

To download the Starting Hands Chart right click on the link and select save target as.

Top 100 Omaha Starting Hands Ranking

It is a PDF file, so to view and print this you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you don’t have this you can download it here.

Starting Hands Chart Desktop Wallpaper

Use this as your computer desktop wallpaper. It is designed so that whilst you are playing poker, you can place your poker table window over the Poker Professor logo and all the charts will be visible around the table. Neat huh!

To download the Starting Hands Wallpaper right click on the link and select save target as.

To set as your desktop wallpaper, right click on the file you have just downloaded and select “Set As Desktop Background”.

The wallpaper is optimised for a desktop screen size of 1920×1080 as this is the most common. It should work with most other desktop sizes as well as windows should automatically resize it for you.

Starting Hand Examples

Lets take a look at some example starting hands and walk through what the charts are telling you to do and what thought process to follow.

Example Hand 1

You are sitting in early position and are dealt A J. You are first to act and so nobody has bet before you.

What group is my hand in – AJ is a Group E hand
What situation am I in – Nobody has raised before me so UNRAISED
What position am I in – Early Position

So from the answers to the above questions we look at the UNRAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Early Position. You will see that Group E is not shown in that column so we are not allowed to play a Group E hand in Early position in this situation and so we would fold this hand.

Example Hand 2

You are sitting in early position and are dealt A K. You are first to act and so nobody has bet before you.

Top 100 Omaha Starting Hands Live

What group is my hand in – AK is a Group B hand
What situation am I in – I am first to act so it is UNRAISED
What position am I in – Early Position

So from the above we look at the UNRAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Early Position. You will see that with a group B hand we are told to make an opening raise. So we would enter the hand by making a Raise (We will look at details of how much to raise later in the lesson).

Example Hand 3

You are sitting in Mid Position and are dealt A A. A Player in early position has raised the pot up to 3 times the Big Blind.

What group is my hand in – AA is the best starting hand and therefore a Group A hand
What situation am I in – There has been a raise by a player in early position, so it has been RAISED
What position am I in – Mid Position

So, we look at the RAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Mid Position. You will see that with a group A hand we are told to make a Re-Raise. So we would enter the hand by making a Re-Raise. (We will look at details of how much to raise later in the lesson)

Example Hand 4

You are sitting in Mid Position and are dealt 9 9. A Player in early position has raised the pot up to 3 times the Big Blind.

What group is my hand in – 99 is a Group D hand
What situation am I in – There has been a raise by a player in early position, so it has been RAISED
What position am I in – Mid Position

Top 100 Omaha Starting Hands

So, again we look at the RAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Mid Position. You will see that we are not allowed to play an already RAISED pot in Mid Position with a group D hand. So we fold this hand.

Example Hand 5

You are sitting in Late Position and are dealt 8 7. Two Players acting before you have limped in and called the big blind.

What group is my hand in – 87s is a Group H hand
What situation am I in – There has been two limpers, but no raise, so it is UNRAISED
What position am I in – Late Position

So, we look at the UNRAISED Action chart, and look in the column for Late Position. You will see that we are allowed to Call a Multi-way pot with a group H hand (multiple players playing the hand). As two people have already called and the blinds will likely also call we can call the big blind and play the hand. So we would call the big blind on this hand.

How much should I Raise?

An opening Raise in general should be between 3 to 4 times the Big Blind. Anywhere in this range is ok, and as guide to start with I would raise the following amounts:

When you are in EARLY POSITION Raise 4 times the Big Blind
When you are in MID POSITION Raise 3.5 times the Big Blind
When you are in LATE POSITION Raise 3 times the Big Blind

You should mix and match the size of your raises to prevent your opponents getting a read on your betting patterns, but the above can act as a general guide whilst you get used to your new strategy.

The reason to Raise more in Early position is because we are out of position and want to put as much pressure on our opponents as we can.

How much should I Re-Raise?

A Re-Raise should in general be between 2 – 4 times the original Raise, As a guide:

When it has been Raised from EARLY POSITION Raise 2 times the Raise
When it has been Raised from MID POSITION Raise 3 times the Raise
When it has been Raised from LATE POSITION Raise 4 times the Raise

The reason for this is it is more likely that a player in late position has raised with a weaker hand than a player in Early position.

Practise Time

Well, that was a lengthy lesson and a lot to take in. Don’t worry, with practise it will start to become second nature, and that is exactly what you should do now with the first stage of your bankroll challenge.

Poker Bankroll Challenge: Stage 1

Stakes: $0.02/$0.04
Buy In: $3 (75 x BB)
Starting Bankroll: $25
Target: $3 (1 x Buy In)
Finishing Bankroll: $28
Estimated Sessions: 1

Use this exercise to get used to selecting which starting hands to play and which not to play according to the Starting Hands chart and get used to understanding what position you are in at the table. Don’t get too carried away at this stage though, play conservatively and be aware that someone may have a better hand than you. We are going to learn in more detail about betting after the flop later in the course.