Omaha Poker Hand Rankings: No.1 Guide for an Impressive Game

Poker is an ever-evolving game and it has been around for a long time. There are many games that have become very popular, but poker players are constantly looking for new and better options.

Omaha poker is almost as old as Texas Hold’em. While it didn’t enjoy the same instant popularity as Texas Hold’em when it first appeared, the game is now more popular than ever. Omaha poker is rapidly becoming a popular choice among poker players, regardless of whether it’s a cash game, tournament, high-only or high/low variant, or live or online play.

This article will highlight the best and worst poker hands in both high-only and low-low versions of the game. It is crucial to be able to accurately rank Omaha poker hands in order to succeed at the game.

Let’s take a look at some Omaha poker hand rankings!

Omaha Poker Hand Rankings

omaha poker rankings

Here are the Omaha poker hand rankings, for Omaha high only or Omaha high/low. Let’s first break down the Omaha poker hand rankings only. Then we’ll jump to the Omaha hand rankings high/low.

Omaha Poker Hand Rankings – High Only

This section will examine the Omaha poker hand rankings. Omaha high-only poker is an Omaha version where players only aim to make high hands. The best hand will win the whole pot. Let’s look at some Omaha poker hands that are better than others.

Best Omaha Poker Hands: Omaha High Only

Omaha High is a game that is well-known in the industry as a “nut” game. You must have the nuts if you want to win a big pot.

Omaha high is a tough game. Hands such as small straights or flushes can be deadly. The best way to avoid these hands is to just throw them away.

This means that Omaha poker hands that make it to the high-only game will be the best. They are not likely to win the big pot, but they are more likely to make the money.

Let’s look at some examples of these types of hands.

  • Suited Aces: Hands with a suited Ace are highly prized in Omaha because they can make big pots and have the potential for making nut flushes.
  • All Face Cards – If you have all the face cards in your hand, you can draw large straights that could be the nuts. This will give you the ability to pump the pot and make a lot of money. You should exercise extreme caution if you draw a non-nut straight.
  • Large Pairs – A small set of Texas Hold’em can be flopped to win a large pot. A small Omaha set can flop high in Omaha. However, this is a great way for you to bust. Small sets are not always strong enough to win. And even if they do turn into a full house, you have to be cautious as there will be bigger boats that will beat you. Playing hands with large pairs can give you a good chance of making the top set and then winning the top boat.

Worst Omaha Poker Hands: Omaha High Only

omaha poker high rankings only

We have now shown you the best Omaha poker hands, but let’s take a look at some of the worst Omaha poker hands for Omaha high. You should avoid making really strong hands that aren’t strong enough for you to win, but too strong to fold.

  • Small Flush Draws: If you’re a Texas Hold’em player trying Omaha for the very first time, small flushes will be your biggest challenge. A small flush in Texas Hold’em is considered a hand that can be raised in many situations. In Omaha, however, it’s a hand that you will most likely make a crying call. Non-face card flushes are best avoided as they can only get you into trouble.
  • Small Pairs – While flopping a set can be a wonderful feeling, what if I said that your bottom set hand may not be worthy of a call? This doesn’t mean you should snap-fold every time you flop a set. However, you may need to make quads on your flopped trips if you want your hand to feel great.
  • Out of Position – Because the hand values are all over the place, it is important to have as much information available as possible before the action happens. Playing hands out of place is a big no-no. You will be blinded and have to guess a lot. Even if your skill level is high, you can’t make too many guesses. This will reduce your chances of winning. When playing Omaha high-only poker, do your best to narrow down your ranges.

Omaha Poker Hand Rankings – High/Low

Omaha high/low split can be the most played version of poker depending on where you play it. It could also be a rare variant that is not widely spread. For example, Omaha high/low in Las Vegas is more popular than high-only.

If you’re playing online or in Europe, PLO (pot limit Omaha hi only) will be your game of choice. We will now dive into the Omaha poker hand rankings, which I prefer to play, Omaha high/low. Omaha high/low is a game where half the pot goes to the highest hand and half to the lowest hand. This usually happens with an 8-qualifier or higher.

Best Omaha Poker Hands: Omaha High/Low

omaha poker high low rankings

Omaha high/low is all about getting a scoop. You can only win a pot by making a high and low hand. This makes it easier to choose hands since I don’t like to play too many hands with no scooping potential. This doesn’t mean you can’t play high-only hands, but you will be limiting your chances of winning the whole pot.

  • Suited Ace/Deuce: When it comes down to scooping pots the best hands to use are suited ace/deuce.

Suited Ace/Deuce allows you to make the nut low or flush, and can be used under almost any circumstance.

  • Three or four to a Wheel – Even if you don’t have an ace or a deuce, you will still be interested in playing it. You will get too many combo draws from flops to make a wheel. This is the best way to scoop the pot and have enough to win both the high or the low.
  • All small cards with double suits – Any card below 8 is considered small. To get the low half, you will need a low of 8 or higher. Although you don’t want a bad habit of drawing small flushes, having a strong low and a small flush will increase your chances of scooping the pot.

Worst Omaha Poker Hands: Omaha High/Low

Now that you know which hands to play when playing Omaha high/low you can now look at the hands to avoid.

  • Hangers for Weak Hands – These cards don’t match the rest of your cards. A hand is a combination of an ace, deuce, and trey. The 9 is useless for you. You are basically playing with 3 cards while everyone else has 4. Hangers are bad. But they can get even worse if you have a poor hand. Hands such as 3, 4, 7, 9, and 9 are not playable. They only cause maximum pain.
  • Anything with Multiple Eights or Nines – Eights and nines are the worst cards for Omaha high low. If you have more than one of these cards in your hand you should fold. You might make an emergency low to steal half the pot or make a weak straight to steal away half the high. But 8s and 9s are more likely to cause you to lose money and you should get rid of them.
  • Out of Position – I don’t play any poker game where the importance of position is greater than Omaha. When we discussed Omaha high hands you shouldn’t play, we already mentioned the importance of position. I’ll mention it again in the high/low section to emphasize how crucial position is. There is a difference between being in and out of position. You can’t be heroic and call someone down weak to steal half the pot. However, there could still be players who could beat you. When you are the last to act, however, you have all of the information you need to understand the situation and get paid. Take advantage of every opportunity to get into position and avoid speculative positions.

Omaha Poker: Conclusion

omaha poker hand rankings conclusion

Are you ready to join the action after reading all about Omaha poker hand rankings? We assume the answer is yes! Omaha poker is growing online, and now is the best time to play. Thank you for reading, and have fun playing Omaha poker!

And, as always, remember to bet with your head and not over it!

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