Double-Suited Hands in PLO: What the Suits Are Worth, Exactly
Every PLO player knows double-suited is better. Almost nobody knows by how much, so here it is exactly, from our 400,000-trial-per-class rankings of all 16,432 hands: A-A-K-K is the 6th-best hand in the game double-suited (70.7% vs a random hand), 82nd single-suited (67.9%), and 334th rainbow (65.1%). Same ranks, 5.6 points of equity and 328 places apart on suits alone.
| Ranks | ds | ss | 3-suit | mono | rainbow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A-A-K-K | 70.7% (#6) | 67.9% (#82) | - | - | 65.1% (#334) |
| A-A-J-T | 70.6% (#7) | 68.0% (#79) | 67.0% (#124) | - | 65.4% (#268) |
| T-9-8-7 | 53.2% (#4,719) | 50.2% (#7,675) | 49.4% (#8,647) | 48.5% (#9,486) | 47.0% (#11,163) |
Three things in that table are worth more than the headline. First, the suit premium is proportionally bigger for speculative hands: T-9-8-7 double-suited is a clearly above-average hand, and the same rundown rainbow is below average - the suits are the difference between a hand and a fold in most seats. Second, look at the monotone column: four cards of one suit ranks below single-suited, because you hold three of your own flush outs. "Suited" means one working pair of suits; stacking more of the same suit subtracts. Third, single-suited splits into sub-classes (which cards share the suit) spanning dozens of ranks - A-A-J-T with the suit on an ace is a different hand than with the suit on the jack-ten.
How often the deal cooperates
Double-suited arrives 13.5% of the time in PLO4. In PLO5 it becomes the most common suit pattern at 36.5%, which is one reason PLO5 standards run higher: a third of every range is double-suited, so the feature stops being a bonus and becomes the baseline. Rainbow, 10.5% of PLO4 deals, is impossible in PLO5.
Why suits are worth more than a few percent
The equity numbers understate the practical gap, and the multiway data shows why: suits are nut-flush potential, and nut outcomes are what survive extra opponents. A double-suited hand can also realize equity better: it can continue on more flops and draw to stronger flushes than the same ranks with a weaker suit pattern. The PLO4 equity rankings show the suit effect within each rank set; seat-specific decisions still require a preflop strategy.
The complete ladder for any rank set is in the PLO4 rankings CSV, and you can check any two specific hands against each other in the equity calculator.