PLO5 Starting Hands: Building Five-Card Hands

In PLO5 almost every hand looks playable: five cards give you pairs, suits and connectors nearly every time. That’s exactly the trap. Because everyone’s hand is stronger, the hands worth playing are the ones that make the nuts — the top straight, the ace-high flush, the top full house — in many different ways. This lesson shows you how to recognise them, with equity numbers from our Omaha evaluator.

Key takeaways

• Judge PLO5 hands by nut potential: suited aces, high connected cards and big pairs with support.
• Connectedness matters even more than in PLO4: aces with connected, suited side cards are the strongest hands.
• A 'fifth card' that doesn't connect is less harmful than a PLO4 dangler — but it's still dead weight.
• Low rundowns, trips and non-nut flush cards lose a lot of value.
• Equities are close, so position and post-flop skill decide more than starting hands.

The same four qualities — with higher standards

The qualities from PLO Starting Hands still apply: nut potential, suitedness, connectedness and pairs. The difference is the standard. In PLO5, nearly every hand has some suit and some connection, so ask whether yours makes the top of those holdings.

• Suits: an ace-suited card is gold; a low suited card without the ace is often a liability.
• Connectedness: the more of your five cards that work together, the more nut straights and wraps you’ll make.
• High cards: high rundowns make the top of straights; low ones make the “ignorant end”.
• Pairs: big pairs with connected, suited side cards are the premium hands.

Equity against a random hand

Heads-up, all-in preflop against a random PLO5 hand:

Hand	Description	Equity
A♠A♥9♠8♥7♦	Aces + connected, double-suited side cards	~65%
A♠A♥K♠K♥7♣	Aces and kings, double-suited, spare card	~64%
A♠K♠Q♦J♦T♣	Five-card broadway, double-suited with the ace	~60%
K♠Q♠J♦T♦9♣	High rundown, double-suited	~58%
A♠A♥7♣4♦2♥	Aces with weak, disconnected cards	~57%
K♠K♦Q♥Q♣J♠	Double pairs plus a connector	~57%
J♦T♦9♣8♣7♥	Middle rundown, double-suited	~55%
9♠8♠7♦6♦5♣	Lower rundown, double-suited	~50%
6♣5♦4♥3♠2♣	Low rundown, nearly rainbow	~39%
7♠7♦7♥2♣3♦	Trips	~30%

Two lessons stand out:

1. Aces need support. A♠A♥9♠8♥7♦, with connected and suited side cards, is stronger than A♠A♥K♠K♥ plus a spare card — and far stronger than aces with junk.
2. Low hands fall off a cliff. A five-card low rundown is one of the weakest hands you can hold.

The best hand types

1. Aces with connected, suited side cards: A-A-9-8-7 ds, A-A-J-T-9 ds.
2. High, double-suited rundowns: K-Q-J-T-9, Q-J-T-9-8 — ideally with an ace-suited card.
3. Aces with a second pair and suits: A-A-K-K-x ds.
4. Broadway hands with a suited ace: A-K-Q-J-T ds.
5. Big double pairs with connectors: K-K-Q-Q-J, Q-Q-J-J-T.

Hands to be careful with

• Weak aces: A-A with three disconnected, off-suit cards. Playable, but not the monster they look like.
• Low rundowns: 6-5-4-3-2, 7-6-5-4-3 — they make low straights that lose to higher ones.
• Non-nut flush potential: two low cards of a suit without the ace.
• Trips and quads in your hand.
• Hands with two or more dead cards.

Quick check

Which PLO5 hand had the higher equity against a random hand in our simulations?

A♠A♥7♣4♦2♥A♠A♥9♠8♥7♦Both are the sameNeither — aces are weak in PLO5

Check answer

About 65% vs 57%. Connected, suited side cards add a lot of nut potential to aces.

Quick check

Why do low rundowns like 6-5-4-3-2 lose so much value in PLO5?

They can't make straightsThey make the low end of straights and small flushes, which lose to higher hands that are common in PLO5They're against the rulesThey never pair

Check answer

When everyone connects, the player with the higher straight or flush wins — and low hands rarely have it.

Next up: how equity behaves after the flop — PLO5 Equity.