QuickFact #9 Know Which Wraps Flop A Straight?

[syndicate] QuickFact #9: The Purest 4 Card Wraps (JT98-7654) Flop A Straight 5% Of The Time, A 12+ Wrap 18% Of The Time, And An OESD Or 9 Wrap 13% Of The Time.

 

In Hold’em, an open-ended or a double gut-shot is a legitimate draw, but in PLO naked open-enders don’t have very much value unless you have some other type of secondary equity to supplement it. One reason they’re devalued in PLO is because there are so many straight draws that crush a naked open-ender. If you find yourself getting stacks in with only eight outs, it’s likely someone has your draw freerolled, or holds a made hand that crushes your draw.

Highly connected hands also add smoothness, because it’s easy to pick up equity on later streets, and the bigger straight draws (or wraps) do very well against sets. In addition, straight draws are more deceptive than flush draws, thereby increasing the chance you’ll get paid off if you improve. Additionally, the more connected your hand is, the more likely it is that when you flop two pair, you’ll have a straight-draw to go with it. This is generally a pretty strong hand, especially when you flop top two pair with a nut open-ended, like KQJT on JT3r.

13-Card Wraps

We will now define the characteristics of each wrap. Let’s start off with the 13-card wraps. This is your typical big straight-draw in PLO, and there are four ways for a 13-wrap to be formed using two of the flop cards.

You can have two connecting cards like on a 982 board, a one-card gap like on a 972 board, a two-card gap like on the 962 board, or two distinct cards from T to K like QJ[2-7]. This is interesting, but truthfully the most important characteristic of a wrap isn’t how many outs it has, but how many outs it has to make the nuts.

We’ll be going through several tables similar to the one below, but before we go any further, I want to mention that these tables were pulled from Jeff Hwang’s first book titled “Pot Limit Omaha Poker”, which you should definitely check out if you want to learn more about this stuff.

Table 3.1. 13-Card Wraps

 

Hand	Flop	Outs	Nut Outs
QJTx	982	13	13
765x	982	13	3
JT8x	972	13	13
865x	972	13	3
T87x	962	13	13
875x	962	13	7

 

Notice the importance of having the top wrap instead of the bottom wrap. For example, look at the difference in the number of nut outs in the first two rows of table 3.1. All of QJTx’s outs are to the nuts, while only 3 of 765x’s outs are to the nuts. In addition, remember that the likelihood of a wrap being dominated increases dramatically as the number of players in the pot grows. 

Broadway Wraps

I included table 3.2 below to provide you with a visual example of why big cards kick so much ass in PLO, and why they provide a better opportunity to accumulate equity than smaller cards do. In comparison to the last table, you can see that all the outs for broadway wraps are to the nuts, so draw domination isn’t as big of an issue.

Table 3.2. Broadway Wraps

Hand	Flop	Outs	Nut Outs
AKQx	JTx	13	13
AKJx	QTx	13	13
AKTx	QJx	13	13
AQJx	KTx	13	13
AQTx	KJx	13	13
AJTx	KQx	13	13

 

16-20 Card Wraps

Earlier we covered the 13-card wraps, but the biggest straight draws you can have are the 16-20 card wraps. To get these, you need to use all four cards in your hand, plus two specific board cards. Even though we generally prefer to have all four of our hole cards in a row, you can’t get these monster wraps without having a gap in your hand. I’ll show you some examples in a moment to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

It goes without saying, but one of the benefits of having these monster draws is that they have good equity against sets. For example, if you have a 20 out wrap, you’ll make a straight by the river almost 70% of the time, and even 16 outs wraps make a straight by the river almost 60% of the time.

Tables 3.3 and 3.4 shows several examples of three and four card 16 and 20 out wraps. Again, although these wraps have more outs than 13 card wraps, note the stark contrast between the number of nut outs to non-nut outs. For example, using the second hand in table 3.4, you can see the domination danger that T76x is in when up facing JT7x on the 982 board. Again, big cards rule the turf in PLO, so it’s crucial to have the wrap on top of the board. 

Table 3.3. 16-20 Card Wraps (using 4 hole cards)

Hand	Flop	Outs	Nut Outs
QJT7	982	16	16
JT86	972	16	16
AKT9	QJ2	16	16
JT76	982	20	14

 

Table 3.4. 16-20 Card Wraps (using 4 hole cards)   

Hand	Flop	Outs	Nut Outs
JT7x	982	17	11
T76x	982	17	7
T86x	972	17	11

 

The previous tables displayed wraps where two of the cards on the board were used. Let’s look at table 3.5 which shows the wraps that use three board cards. 

Table 3.5. Wraps Using Three Flop Cards

Hand	Flop	Outs	Nut Outs
9865	T74	20	14
JT86	Q97	20	14
JT86	K97	20	14
JT97	Q86	16	16
J987	QT6	16	6
J986	T75	16	16
J986	QT7	16	6
J976	T85	16	10

 

You’ll notice that all these draws are monstrous 16-20 out wraps. Again, the most important thing to look for is the quality of outs, not the quantity of outs. Likewise, notice how the number of nut outs is directly correlated with where the gap in the hand is. It is always better to hold a hand with a gap on the bottom, rather than on the top.

For example, compare the number of nut outs between JT97 and J987 on the two boards we have listed here. Because the nuttiness of your hand becomes more important as the number of players in the pot increases, you want to avoid playing middling rundowns that have a gap at the top in multi-way pots. Instead, make sure to focus on playing higher rundowns with gaps at the bottom. That way, when the money goes in post-flop, you have a better chance of dominating other straight draws.

The Inside Wraps

The good thing about inside wraps is their outs are always drawing to the nuts. The bad thing is they’re a relatively small straight draw. A nine-out wrap on a rainbow board is basically the same thing as having a bare flush draw on a two-tone board, except the draw is usually more disguised. Remember, having some equity is always better than nothing, so inside wraps definitely have value in a variety of situations. 

Table 3.6. Inside wraps.

Hand	Flop	Outs	Nut Outs
QJTx	K92	9	9
543x	A2x	9	9
QJTx	AKx	9	9

 

The mistake to avoid is thinking that holding an inside wrap gives you a license to auto-stack off when stacks are deep. The difference between these wraps and the other ones we’ve covered is the sheer number of outs. One of the primary benefits of having the 13+ card wraps is that they do very well against sets. Inside wraps don’t do as well against sets, because as table 3.6 shows, they only have 9 outs and will be drawing dead on the turn roughly 20% of the time depending on the number of blockers and dead cards.

Now that we’re familiar with all the different wraps, how can we use this information to make more money at the tables? The most glaring piece of knowledge gained is that big cards have a huge advantage in PLO. Since PLO is a drawing game centered on making the nuts, it’s logical to play big cards more often, because they make higher flushes, bigger boats, bigger straights and dominating straights draws. Furthermore, they pick up bigger pieces of equity on later streets.

Four-card connectors are very strong hands in PLO for a variety of reasons, especially when they’re single-suited, double-suited, and when the ranks are high. This leads to a very smooth equity distribution, which means when they flop one piece of equity, it’s very easy to realize the rest of it too. For example, the purest four-card connectors like JT98 flop a straight 5% of the time, a 12+ wrap 18% of the time, and an open-ended straight draw or nine-wrap 13% of the time. What this means, is that almost one-third of all flops are really strong for these hands, since every time you flop an open-ender, you flop two-pair as well.

Particularly in multi-way pots, it’s better to have gaps at the bottom instead of the top. Even though four-card connectors are the bomb, having a gap in your hand isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because remember that to flop the biggest wraps, you need a gap. Put more simply, four-card connectors have a smoother equity distribution than hands with a gap in them, but when hands with a gap in them flop well, they typically flop very well. Just be careful of going up against someone with a better draw or pair plus combo draw.

Also, remember that wraps drastically lose value on two-tone boards. This is simply because a flush draw not only blocks some of your outs, it increases the chance you will be drawing dead by the turn or get outdrawn on the river.

Finally, when holding a strong straight draw, adding a flush draw doesn’t provide much additional equity when facing a set. To put it in layman’s terms, adding a flush draw to a straight draw increases the equity much more as the number of straight draw outs decreases. For example, against a set, a bare 20 out wrap only moves from 54.4% equity on a rainbow board to 57.9% equity when there’s a flush draw with it. This is because a set will win on board-pairing cards regardless of whether the wrap has the additional flush outs. Put more simply, no matter how big the draw is, a set has a guaranteed 38% equity that comes from board pairing cards.

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