Practical Poker Math

Starting Hands
Your first chance to gain an edge over your opponents is with
your starting hands. The two keys to this edge are:
1. Play a higher quality starting hand than your
opponents
2. Play the hand better than your opponents.
The strength of a hand matters more in split games than in
non-split games. With both Low and High possibilities, calls
are more likely and moves don’t work as often.
In a 10-handed game, the players’ hole cards represent over
3/4 of the deck. After the River card, 45 of 52 cards have been
dealt to either the board or the players.
The significance of this almost complete distribution of the
whole deck on every hand, is that whatever nut hands the
board makes possible have a good chance of being held
among the 40 cards at the table.
The table below shows the likelihood of you or any other
specific player at the table receiving certain hands as hole
cards in Omaha Hi-Lo.
Odds & Probabilities
Hand Probability Odds
149
Starting Hands
AAXX 2.5% 39 : 1
A2XX 7.2% 12.8 : 1