Being dealt four cards can result in some massive straight draws. In PLO, any straight draw with 9 or more outs is referred to as a wrap in the poker dictionary.
Good PLO players can do the following -
- Count the number of wrap outs.
- Count the number of nutted wrap outs.
This information is trivial in a game like Hold’em since every straight draw poker combo has 4 or 8 outs. PLO wraps are much more complex and require practice to build proficiency.
In this article, we’ll get familiar with the standard types of PLO wrap -
- 9-out wrap
- 13-out wrap
- 16-out wrap
The 9-Out Wrap - PLO
The 9-out wrap only just qualifies as being a wrap. (Eight outs would simply be an open-ended straight draw.)
To keep things simple, we’ll ignore suits in our wrap examples.
Hand: QJT2
Board: AK5
In this hand example, any queen, jack or ten would complete the Broadway straight.
Let’s see that represented in a table:
|
Out |
Number of Outs |
Nutted Outs |
|
Q |
3 |
3 |
|
J |
3 |
3 |
|
T |
3 |
3 |
|
Total |
9 |
9 |
There are a couple of practical rules of thumb for spotting wraps quickly – almost like a poker cheat sheet:
- If it weren’t for the PLO rule requiring us to use precisely two hole cards, we’d have a straight directly on the flop. Any time we can make a straight using three of our hole cards, it implies we already have some type of wrap.
- Our hole cards that create the wrap are also always our outs. For example, we use a queen, jack and ten to formulate our 9-out wrap. Any queen, jack or ten on the turn will also complete our Broadway straight.
Additional outs are often also possible, although not in the case of the 9-out draw in our example
Quick Pattern Recognition - 9-Out Wrap
- If we can make a straight using three hole cards, we have a wrap.
- The hole cards used to make the wrap are also our outs.
Here is another example of a 9-out wrap.
Hand: 7892
Board: T63
|
Out |
Number of Outs |
Nutted Outs |
|
7 |
3 |
3 |
|
8 |
3 |
3 |
|
9 |
3 |
3 |
|
Total |
9 |
9 |
The 9-out wrap is the weakest in PLO (at least in the number of outs).
We can think of it as being akin to the gutshot in Hold’em.
The 13-Out Wrap - PLO
The 13-out wrap is a powerful straight draw in PLO, especially when all are nutted.
The 13-out nut wrap only requires three hole cards to formulate.
Hand: KQJ2
Board: T93
|
Out |
Number of Outs |
Nutted Outs |
|
Q |
3 |
3 |
|
J |
3 |
3 |
|
T |
3 |
3 |
|
8 |
4 |
4 |
|
Total |
13 |
13 |
Compared to the 9-out wrap, an additional four outs (the eights in this case) are of a different rank to the hole cards used to formulate our wrap.
Note - we don’t ‘block’ the eight with any of our hole cards, so there are four outs instead of three.
The other outs are ‘blocked’ by our own hole cards, so they have three outs each.
Here is an example of a 13-out wrap where many of the outs are questionable.
Hand – 6782
Board - T93
|
Out |
Number of Outs |
Nutted Outs |
|
6 |
3 |
3 |
|
7 |
3 |
0 |
|
8 |
3 |
0 |
|
J |
4 |
0 |
|
Total |
13 |
3 |
Although we still have a massive 13 outs, only 3 are nutted. Nut outs are the most crucial in PLO. We’d typically prefer a 9-out nut wrap over a 13-out dominated wrap.
Another useful pattern: Notice how our wrap hole cards are ‘above the board’ in the first 13-out wrap example, whereas they are ‘below the board’ in this second 13-out wrap example.
When our hole cards are ‘above the poker board’, our outs will be to the nuts.
Quick Pattern Recognition - 13 Out Wrap
- If our hole cards are ‘above the board’ our outs are more likely to be nutted.
- Fewer nut outs are often more valuable than lots of dominated outs in PLO.
The 13-out nut wrap is a very strong wrap in PLO.
We consider it as akin to the nut OESD in Hold’em poker hand rankings.
The 16-Out Wrap - PLO
The 16-out wrap uses all four hole cards.
It’s possible to make a 17-out wrap using just three hole cards, e.g. J972 on T83. But most of the outs for this wrap are dominated.
The 16-out wrap using four hole cards can have all its outs to the nuts.
Hand – KQJ8
Board – T92
|
Out |
Number of Outs |
Nutted Outs |
|
K |
3 |
3 |
|
Q |
3 |
3 |
|
J |
3 |
3 |
|
8 |
3 |
3 |
|
7 |
4 |
4 |
|
Total |
16 |
16 |
The 16-out nut wrap is a potent draw in PLO.
Not all 16-out wraps are good news, however.
Take a look at the following -
Hand – J986
Board – QT7
|
Out |
Number of Outs |
Nutted Outs |
|
K |
4 |
0 |
|
J |
3 |
0 |
|
9 |
3 |
0 |
|
8 |
3 |
3 |
|
6 |
3 |
3 |
|
Total |
16 |
6 |
While this wrap may appear very powerful, it can quickly become problematic.
USE caution due to the large number of dominated outs.
It’s possible to make an even larger 20-out wrap using all four cards, e.g. 9865 on T74.
This big straight draw is referred to as the ‘Maine to Spain’ wrap.
Although it has 20 outs, only 14 are to the nuts. The 16-out nut wrap is arguably better.
Quick Pattern Recognition - 16-Out Wrap
- 16-out nut wraps require four hole cards.
- Although 17-out wraps are possible with just three hole cards, many outs will be dominated.
- The biggest possible wrap using four cards has 20 outs, although it’s not possible for all the outs to be nutted.
Improving with Wraps
Wraps can appear in additional flavours to those listed above. It takes a lot of practice to be able to quickly identify the precise nature of a wrap.
In practice, we will also need to factor in additional components such as the presence of flush draws or backdoor flush draws.
Why not mark some drawing hands from your next PLO session and take the time to figure out the following -
- How many outs do we have?
- How many of the outs are nutted?
