PreFlop Hands - Omaha and Texas Holdem Starting Hands

PreFlop Starting Hands

Playable hands in Texas Holdem and Omaha High and High/Low poker

It is essential to distingue between good and bad starting hands when playing poker. If you play all hands you get, you will lose your money, it is that simple. PokerSniffer and OmahaSniffer show the strength of your hole cards, which enables you to make perfect preflop decisions.

Whether you should call or raise a starting hand always depends on the game and your position according to the button. In general, if a hand is good enough to call with it is properly good enough to raise with. When a call is your best play it will most often be in late position with a speculative hand, and someone has already put extra money in the pot. The call lets you see a cheap flop, and if you do not hit, you can easily get away from it without losing too much.

Texas Holdem
Starting hands in Texas Holdem which belong to a one of the Sklansky groups can be considered playable. PokerSniffer automatically shows your hand group when playing. The groups are as follows:

* Group 1: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AKs
* Group 2: TT, AQs, AJs, KQs, AK
* Group 3: 99, JTs, QJs, KJs, ATs, AQ
* Group 4: T9s, KQ, 88, QTs, 98s, J9s, AJ, KTs
* Group 5: 77, 87s, Q9s, T8s, KJ, QJ, JT, 76s, 97s, AXs, 65s
* Group 6: 66, AT, 55, 86s, KT, QT, 54s, K9s, J8s, 75s
* Group 7: 44, J9, T9, 33, 98, 64s, 22, KXs, T7s, Q8s, 53s, 43s
* Group 8: 96s, 85s, J7s, 74s, A9, Q9, J8, T8, 42s, 32s, 87, 76, 65, 54, K9

A general advice would be to only play Group 1-2 in early position, add Group 3-4 in middle position and maybe add Group 5-8 in late position.

Omaha High
The following point system is known as the Hutchison Omaha High point system. OmahaSniffer automatically calculates your points. Hands with more points are likely to win more often compared with hands with fewer points.

1. Give points according to the highest card:
* If the highest card is an ACE award 8 points
* If the highest card is a KING award 6 points
* If the highest card is a QUEEN award 5 points
* If the highest card is a JACK award 4 points
* If the highest card is a TEN or a NINE award 3 points
* If the highest card is an EIGHT award 2 points
* If the highest card is SEVEN or below award 1 point.
* If your hand contains more than two cards of the same suit, deduct 2 points.

2. The advantage of having pairs:
* If you have a pair of ACES award 18 points
* If you have a pair of KINGS award 16 points
* If you have a pair of QUEENS award 14 points
* If you have a pair of JACKS award 13 points
* If you have a pair of TENS award 12 points
* If you have a pair of NINES award 10 points
* If you have a pair of EIGHTS award 8 points
* If you have a pair of SEVENS or below award 7 points
* Award no points to any hand that contains three of the same rank.

3. The advantage of having cards capable of completing straights. With no more than a 3 card gap:
* For FOUR cards, add 25 points
* For THREE cards, add 18 points
* For TWO cards, add 8 points
* From these totals, subtract 2 points for each gap, up to a maximum of six points
* Deduct 4 points from the above totals when an Ace is used
* Add 6 points if your hand contains an Ace and another wheel card
* Add 12 points for an Ace and two wheel cards

Final Result: Experience shows that playable hands will need at least 28 points to be potentially profitable in the long run. For this reason, OmahaSniffer gives you the following split-up:

Weak: below 27 points
Premium: from 28 to 43 points
Strong: from 44 to 60 points

Omaha High Low (8 or better)
Hutchison point system for Omaha High-Low games.

1. Look at your two lowest cards and award points as follows:
* A-2 equals 20 points
* A-3 equals 17 points
* A-4 equals 13 points
* A-5 equals 10 points
* 2-3 equals 15 points
* 2-4 equals 12 points
* 3-4 equals 11 points
* 4-5 equals 8 points

2. Look at your two remaining cards (kickers) and award points as follows:
* 3 equals 9 points
* 4 equals 6 points
* 5 equals 4 points
* J,Q or K equals 2 points
* 6 or Ten equals 1 point
* Do not award any kicker points for a card that duplicates a card used in step one and if the kicker is paired it is counted only once under this step.

3. If you have any pairs, add points as follows:
* Aces equal 8 points
* Kings equal 6 points
* Queens equal 5 points
* Jacks equal 2 points
* Tens equal 1 point
* Fours equal 1 point
* Threes equal 1 point
* Deuces equal 3 points
* Deduct half of the points awarded under this step if you have three cards of the same rank.

4. If you hold two suited cards and the highest of them is:
* an Ace, add 4 points
* a King, add 3 points
* a Queen or Jack, add 2 points
* an 8, 9, or Ten, add 1 point
* Deduct half of the points awarded under this step if your hand contains three cards of the same suit and award no points if all of the cards are of the same suit.

Final Result: Playable hands will need at least 20 points to be potentially profitable in the long run. For this reason, OmahaSniffer gives you the following split-up:

Weak: below 20 points
Premium: from 20 to 31 points
Strong: from 31 to 45 points