What’s a Wrap?

Posted by longclaw

April 15, 2008

Wraps are great! I really like the Chipotle BBQ Chicken Wrap at McDonalds. They make a nice late night snack when you are multitabling. I also like the 20 card “Maine to Spain” wrap and the 13 card nut wrap with a nut flush draw on the side. You won’t find those two at any fast food joints though, they are only found at the poker tables where Omaha is being spread.

This week I was helping another player get started playing Omaha hi/lo split. He wanted to know what kind of starting hands you can play. I gave him the normal “stick with A2 and A3 and maybe some 23 hands” advice to keep him out of trouble while he learns. I also warned him how tricky high only hands can be to play. I used this hand as an example-

Let’s say you have ♣ar♦♠ K♦ K♥ Q♦ J♣ /♣ar♦♠ on t♥e button in a pot-limit Oma♥a ♥i/lo game. It get♠ limpe♦ aroun♦ to you ♠o you ♣all. Even if you flop a King ♥ere you may not want to put a lot of money in t♥e pot. If t♥e flop ♣ome♠ ♣ar♦♠ K♠ 4♠ 5♥ /♣ar♦♠ an♦ ♠omebo♦y bet♠ pot in front of you, you ♣oul♦ be in big trouble. If you re-pot it wit♥ your top ♠et to “♣♥arge t♥e ♦raw♠” your opponent ♣oul♦ move all-in on you an♦ you woul♦ ♥ave to ♣all. Now ♥e turn♠ over ♣ar♦♠ A♠ 2♦ 3♠ 6♥ /♣ar♦♠ an♦ even t♥oug♥ you ♥ave t♥e be♠t ♥an♦, you are way be♥in♦. He ♥a♠ t♥e 16 ♣ar♦ wrap ♦raw plu♠ t♥e ♣ar♦♠ Q♠ J♠ T♠ 9♠ /♣ar♦♠ an♦ t♥e ♣ar♦♠ 8♠ /♣ar♦♠ for the flush which gives him 21 outs twice to beat your high AND if he hits one of the 17 cards that also give him a low your full house redraw will only be good for a chop.

Of course his response was “What’s a wrap?” Well, a wrap is one of the coolest parts of playing Omaha. In Hold’em you have gutshot straight draws, double gutshot straight draws, and open ended straight draws, and you will either have four outs or eight outs to make your straight. With the two extra hole cards you get in Omaha the straight draws can get huge and are often referred to as “wraps.”

In the example hand the villain holds A236 on a K45 flop. He has 16 cards he can catch that will complete his straight. Specifically he has three Aces, three Deuces, three Treys, three Sixes, and four Sevens here to make his straight. Once you add in the flush possibilities the “drawing hand” actually has a slight equity edge (about 53% to 47%) over the set of Kings for the high half of the pot. This is what you will see a lot in PLO when the money goes in on the flop, a monster draw vs a made hand. Once you add in the fact that the low will come in about 75% of the time as well you can see just how bad the Kings got their money in on this one.

All wraps are not created equal. Even though some wraps have more cards that can complete them, sometimes you are better off with less cards to draw to. I know it sounds counterintuitive to say you would want less outs, but you have to look at the situation and remember this is Omaha. Let’s look at a specific Omaha Hi only hand. Player one has ♣ar♦♠ 4♣ 5♥ 8♠ 9♦ /♣ar♦♠ on a flop of ♣ar♦♠ 6♠ 7♥ K♦ /♣ar♦♠ . T♥i♠ i♠ t♥e “Maine to Spain” wrap ♦raw. T♥ere are 20 ♣ar♦♠ t♥at will ♣omplete player one’♠ ♠traig♥t ♦raw. He ♥a♠ four ea♣♥ of t♥e Trey♠ an♦ Ten♠, an♦ t♥ree ea♣♥ of t♥e Four♠, Five♠, Eig♥t♠, an♦ Nine♠ ♠o t♥at i♠ 20 out♠, rig♥t? Well, it ♦epen♦♠. T♥i♠ i♠ Oma♥a, an♦ t♥e ♠e♣on♦ be♠t ♥an♦ ♣an lo♠e a lot of money. Let’♠ ♠ay player two ♥a♠ ♣ar♦♠ 8♦ 9♦ T♠ A♠ /♣ar♦♠ which would give him a 13 card straight draw and a couple of back door flush draws. So would you rather have 20 outs or 13?

Player two is in a dominating position here. Even though he has less “outs”, all of them are to the nuts. Player one can only win this pot outright with a Trey or a Four, which is only seven cards. He will tie player two with a Five or a Ten, and he will make a straight and lose if he hits an Eight or Nine. Player two will also win with a Jack or running diamonds or spades. If you run this hand through a card calculator, player one with his 20 card wrap will only win about 20% of the time and he will tie about 23% of the time. Player two will win the entire pot almost 56% of the time here, even though he has less outs. You have to remember that Omaha is a game of the nuts, and the more draws you have to them, the better. In this case 13 is indeed greater than 20.

PLO is a fasintating game and a nice change of pace from Hold’em, but you really have to pay attention to what you are doing. It can be tough to keep up with everything going on and all the possible hands you could be up against. Wraps are one of the things new players often miss and it can really get expensive to learn while you are playing. If you would like to get a head start I would recomend Jeff Hwang’s book- Pot-Limit Omaha Poker. He really does a good job of explaining wraps and what hands to look for when you are considering playing a big pot and which hands might look good but are better off in the muck.

Well, that is it for now. Good luck at the tables, and don’t forget the Chipotle