I am just starting to really dig into PLO after being just an NLH guy. I’ve been doing a lot of reading, and it’s gotten me thinking…

Has anyone out there come up with any kind of quick “scoring system” for starting hands that helps you decide the strength of a hand?

Something like…

Includes AA: +2
Double suited: +1
3+ broadways: +1
Rundown (no gaps or bottom gap): +1
Dangler: -1
Blocker: -1
Etc…

Obviously you couldn’t have too many categories or it would be too cumbersome to try to calculate in game.

If no one has published anything like this, any of you more experienced PLO players want to take a crack at how you’d do something like that? How much weight do you give each of the various qualities in a hand?

Suitedness
Connectedness
High Cards

Don’t play any hands with less than two of the above.

http://best-omaha-strategy.com/omaha...ing-hands.html

The pros on this forum tend to dismiss such systems as oversimplifications, and I have no opinion on the usefulness of this one; I'm just pointing you to an answer to your question.

Right.

It's not that cobbling together a point system is impossible, its just impractical and arbitrary.

Hand evaluation is one of the key skills to playing omaha at a professional level, so 'dumbing down' the process for inexperienced players can severely hinder the development later.

A point system also doesn't lend itself well to the comparisons of rundowns vs high-orientated premiums. For example, at 200bb+ a pro may be more willing to play for stacks pre-flop with a hand like (98)(54)ds than (kk)(qq)ds.

Yeah, I understand that a good player wouldn’t need such a thing. I was just thinking of it like a training device for newbies.

I think this system is pretty good for beginners -- at least it gives them something to go by and to think about.

It reminds me of trying to figure out bridge, only much easier