PLO Starting Hands: The Nine Hand Classes, Ranked

Two forces decide a PLO hand's strength before rank ever enters the picture. Pairing determines how often you flop sets, two pair, and full houses; suiting determines your flush equity. A two-pair, double-suited holding sits at the top because it does both at once, which is why the Button opens it 100% of the time. A rainbow, unpaired collection of high cards sits at the bottom, opened barely a fifth of the time, because it makes nothing but one pair.

The ordering never changes by seat or stack. Later positions open every class more often and earlier positions less often, but a two-pair double-suited hand always outranks a single-suited one, which always outranks a rainbow one. Learn the ladder once and you can read any PLO range at a glance: find the row, then adjust up or down for position.

This is the single biggest mental shift for a Hold'em player moving to PLO. Stop grading four cards by their high card. Grade them by class first, pairing and suiting, and the rank only breaks ties within a class.