We shall show that certain simple, fast algorithms are able to produce nearly-optimal search strategies for typical partial orders under the two models of random partial orders that we consider. For instance, our algorithm for the random graph model produces, in linear time, a search strategy that makes O((log n))^1/2 log log n_ more queries than the optimal strategy, for almost all partial orders on n elements. Since we need to make at least lg n = log₂ n queries for any n-element partial order, our result tells us that one may efficiently devise near-optimal search strategies for almost all partial orders in this model (the problem of determining an optimal strategy is NP-hard, as proved recently in [1]).