PLO preflop ranges cannot be printed on a 13 by 13 grid. Pot Limit Omaha deals 270,725 possible four-card starting hands, and their equities run so close together that a two-color raise-or-fold chart throws away most of the information you need. This guide explains why Omaha ranges work differently from Hold'em charts, what a solver-backed PLO range actually shows, how ranges shift by position at 100 big blinds, and how to study them without trying to memorize a combo list.
Disclosure: This guide is published by GTO Gecko. Our team also makes PLO Gecko, the Omaha trainer used as the range viewer example below. Every product claim here is checked against the current store listings.
Why Do PLO Preflop Ranges Look Nothing Like Hold'em Charts?
Because the game hands out equity differently. Two forces shape every Omaha range: equity compression and nut orientation. Once you understand both, the structure of PLO preflop charts stops looking arbitrary.
| Property | NLHE | PLO4 | PLO5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting hand combos | 1,326 | 270,725 | 2,598,960 |
| Two-card combinations inside each hand | 1 | 6 | 10 |
| Preflop equity gaps between hands | Wide | Compressed | Most compressed |
| Chart format that works | 13x13 colored grid | Hand categories with frequencies and EV | Same, with tighter entry requirements |
| Main selection driver | Raw equity and dominance | Nut potential and hand structure | Nut potential, even more strictly |
Equity compression
In Hold'em, pocket aces win roughly 85% of the time against a random hand. In four-card Omaha, the best starting hand, A♠A♥K♠K♥ double-suited, is closer to a 3 to 2 favorite against a strong rundown like J♣T♦9♣8♦. You can check pairings like this yourself in a Monte Carlo equity calculator; PLO Gecko ships one built in.
Four cards give every hand six two-card combinations, so almost any four cards connect with some flops. Nothing is ever a huge preflop favorite, and nothing is ever completely dead. That is why Omaha ranges are built on structure and playability rather than raw equity edges. If the concept of equity itself is new to you, read our poker equity guide first.
Nut orientation
Compressed equities push more hands to the flop, pot-limit betting builds big pots gradually, and multiway pots stay common. The result is that large pots are usually won by the nuts or close to it. A hand that reliably makes king-high flushes or the low end of straights is not a small winner in PLO, it is a stack-losing liability.
Solver ranges reflect this. Double-suited hands with an ace-high suit, connected broadway cards, and quality rundowns dominate the top of every opening range. Disconnected rainbow hands with a dangler, meaning one card that coordinates with nothing, fall out fast. Our PLO strategy guide covers the full hand selection framework behind this.
What Does a Solver-Backed PLO Range Actually Show?
A real PLO range is a list of hands with action frequencies and expected value, not a wall of solid colors. Because equities run close, solvers mix constantly: the same hand often raises part of the time and folds the rest, and the EV difference between those actions can be tiny. A chart that collapses this into "raise" or "fold" hides exactly the information that separates close decisions from clear ones.
Example: one row in a range viewer
Suppose you open the Cutoff opening range and look up K♠Q♠J♥T♥. A frequency-based viewer shows something like: raise most of the time, fold occasionally, with the EV of raising slightly above zero. The same structure as a rainbow, K♠Q♥J♦T♣, might mix far more folds at a lower EV. The numbers above are illustrative formatting, not a quoted solve, but the pattern is the point: suitedness alone moves a hand across the boundary.
This is why frequencies and EV matter more in Omaha than in Hold'em. In NLHE you can memorize a mostly-pure chart and lose little. In PLO, huge regions of the range are mixed, and knowing that a hand is a marginal open teaches you more than knowing its majority action. For the general theory of thinking in ranges rather than single hands, see understanding ranges in poker.
How Do PLO Preflop Ranges Change by Position at 100bb 6-Max?
The shape is the same as Hold'em, tight early and wide late, but the position premium is larger because closer equities make playability worth more. Here is the qualitative picture at 100 big blinds in a 6-max game. Treat these as tendencies to verify in a range viewer, not numbers to memorize; exact frequencies depend on the solve configuration.
| Position | Opening tendency | What enters, what stays out |
|---|---|---|
| UTG | Tightest, strongly nut-oriented | Premium AAxx, double-suited broadways, high rundowns. Marginal single-suited and rainbow hands stay out. |
| HJ | Still tight, first speculative adds | More single-suited rundowns and suited-ace hands with connection. |
| CO | Noticeably wider | Mid rundowns, weaker double-suited hands, KKxx and QQxx with less help. |
| BTN | Widest range at the table by a distance | Speculative suited and connected hands that are folds everywhere else. Guaranteed position carries them. |
| SB | Cautious despite the discount | Playing out of position with compressed equities is expensive, so the range leans on nut potential again. |
| BB vs an open | Defends wide against a single raise | The closing price turns many structured hands into calls, but danglers and weak rainbow hands still fold. |
The Big Blind row is driven by price: you already have money in and you close the action, so the pot odds justify continuing with hands that would be easy folds elsewhere. The math behind that decision is the same as in Hold'em, and our pot odds guide walks through it.
Why are PLO 3-bet ranges linear instead of polarized?
Because bluff 3-betting with weak hands does not work when everyone realizes equity. In Hold'em, a polarized 3-bet range with hands like A5s works partly because folds are common and dominance is real. In Omaha, opens rarely fold to a pot-limit 3-bet, your weak hand gets called, and it plays a bloated pot with a structural disadvantage.
Solvers respond by 3-betting linearly: simply the strongest part of the continuing range. AAxx with coordinated side cards, double-suited broadway hands, and premium rundowns 3-bet; medium hands call; weak hands fold. Four-bet ranges concentrate even harder around AAxx. The practical takeaway is blunt: if a hand is not good enough to call, it is almost never good enough to 3-bet in PLO.
How Do You Read a PLO Range Viewer?
Since a 13 by 13 grid cannot hold 270,725 hands, a PLO viewer has to offer several ways to slice the same range. The concrete example here is PLO Gecko, the Omaha trainer we make (rated 4.5 stars on the US App Store, and 4.9 in Brazil). It includes an interactive preflop range viewer for both PLO4 and PLO5, and its layout options map directly to how you should study.
- Grid, list, column, and matrix layouts: The grid gives you the overall shape at a glance, the list shows exact frequencies and EV per hand, and the column and matrix views group hands so boundaries between categories become visible.
- Filter by hand category, suitedness, and action: Isolate only double-suited hands, only rundowns, or only the hands that mix between raise and fold. Comparing double-suited against rainbow versions of the same structure is the fastest equity-compression lesson available.
- Sort by EV and frequency: Sorting by EV puts the most profitable opens at the top and, more usefully, shows you the near-zero hands at the bottom of the range. Those boundary hands are where your money is made or lost.
- Exact solver frequencies and EV per hand: Every lookup shows the numbers, not just a color, so you can tell a 95% raise from a coin-flip mix.
The app is on the App Store for iPhone and iPad and on Google Play, and the free tier includes 50 range lookups plus 25 training hands per day, enough for a real study session before paying anything. For a full walkthrough of the app, including the 31 training modules and leak detection, read our PLO Gecko (formerly PLO Edge) trainer guide. If you want to see how it compares with other Omaha tools, our honest PLO trainer roundup covers the field, including the desktop solvers.
How Do PLO5 Preflop Ranges Differ From PLO4?
The fifth card compresses equities further and raises the nut requirement again. Every PLO5 hand contains ten two-card combinations instead of six, so all hands connect with more flops, hit more redraws, and defend better against your made hands. Three tendencies follow directly.
- Ranges tighten overall. When every hand plays better after the flop, marginal preflop hands become bigger liabilities. The bottom of each PLO4 opening range mostly disappears in PLO5.
- Bare aces lose value. AAxxx with three uncoordinated side cards is easier to crack than its PLO4 cousin, because opponents hold more ways to outdraw an unimproved overpair. Aces want double-suited, connected help even more than before.
- Suitedness and connection are worth a premium. With five cards, hands that coordinate across all of them, like double-suited rundowns, pull even further ahead of hands with dead cards.
These shifts change enough decisions that PLO4 charts should not be reused for the five-card game; the reasoning is covered in depth in our PLO5 strategy guide. On the tooling side, PLO Gecko solves PLO5 preflop at 100 big blinds, dedicates 14 of its training modules to PLO5 preflop spots, and tracks PLO4 and PLO5 progress separately so switching variants in one tap does not blur your stats.
How Should You Study PLO Preflop Ranges?
Browse first, then drill, then review your misses. A workable weekly loop looks like this.
- Pick one position and open its range. Sort by EV. Read the top ten hands and the bottom ten. The bottom ten are the lesson: they define the boundary.
- Filter by suitedness. Compare double-suited, single-suited, and rainbow versions of the same structures. Say out loud what changes and why.
- Drill that position. Make decisions before seeing the answer. PLO Gecko grades every choice against solver frequencies and EV, from perfect to blunder, and runs position drills across UTG, HJ, CO, BTN, SB, and BB.
- Use an RNG for mixed hands. Frequencies you never randomize are frequencies you do not actually play. The app includes RNG dice for exactly this.
- Review by pattern. Group mistakes by position and hand category, then send the worst pattern back to step one.
If Hold'em is your main game, the identical loop works for NLHE ranges in GTO Gecko on the web or the GTO Gecko iOS app, which cover cash, MTT, and Spins preflop with the same frequency-and-EV feedback. The habit transfers in both directions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a PLO preflop range?
A PLO preflop range is the set of four-card (or five-card in PLO5) starting hands that a strategy plays in a specific spot, together with how often each hand takes each action. Because Omaha equities run close, good ranges are expressed as frequencies and EV per hand rather than as simple raise-or-fold colors.
Are there free PLO preflop charts?
Yes, with limits. PLO Gecko's free tier currently includes 50 range lookups and 25 training hands per day, which covers a focused daily session; unlimited access requires a subscription. Free static charts also exist around the web, but most show only majority actions without frequencies or EV. Access limits can change, so check the current product page.
How many starting hands are there in PLO?
Four-card PLO has 270,725 possible starting hands, compared with 1,326 in Texas Hold'em. Five-card PLO has 2,598,960. This is why Omaha ranges are organized into hand categories with filters and sorting instead of a single grid: no chart can display every combo at once in a readable way.
Should I memorize PLO preflop charts?
Memorize principles and boundaries, not combos. Learn which hand categories open from each position, how suitedness moves a hand across the raise-or-fold line, and which structures 3-bet. Then drill decisions until the boundaries feel automatic. With over a quarter of a million starting hands, rote memorization is not a realistic plan in Omaha.
Do PLO preflop ranges change with stack depth?
Yes. Shallower stacks raise the value of current hand strength, so pairs like AAxx gain, while deep stacks reward hands that can make the nuts and win big pots, so suited and connected hands gain. Always check which stack depth a chart was solved for before using it; this guide's positional descriptions assume 100 big blinds.
Open a Range and Find Its Bottom Ten Hands
That single exercise, repeated across positions, teaches more about PLO preflop ranges than any amount of passive chart reading. Pick a position, sort by EV, study the boundary, then drill it. You can start today on the PLO Gecko product page or install the app directly from the App Store or Google Play links above.