A strong pot-limit Omaha hand
Editor’s note: What follows is an edited excerpt from Jeff Hwang’s book, Advanced Pot-Limit Omaha: Small Ball and Short-Handed Play.
In Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy, I noted that the presence of a two-flush on the board significantly devalues a wrap when you don’t have a flush draw yourself (Page 50, “When There is a Two-Flush on the Flop”). On a 10
9 2
flop, for example, the Q
J 8
7, a 20-card wrap, is nearly a 3-2 dog to the A A 4 3, a pair of aces and the nut-flush draw. As such, you should tend to play more cautiously when you are holding a bare wrap when a flush draw is possible, especially as the effective SPR [stack-to-pot ratio] reaches the three-bet (mid) range.
But let’s reverse the roles for a second. Let’s say that you have the nut-flush draw; running through a few hand matchups, it is quite clear that the nut-flush draw is pretty strong against an opponent who is also on a draw, even when your opponent has a flush draw himself. On a Q 6 5 board, for example, the A K 10 2, a dry nut-flush draw and ace high, is about a 2-1 favorite over the 10 9 8 7, a 13-card nut wrap with a flush draw, and is only a slight dog against the 9 8 7
6, a pair plus a 13-card nut wrap with a flush draw. Meanwhile, A-A plus the nut-flush draw is going to be pretty strong against even the biggest draws.
This means that you can play the nut-flush draw pretty strongly in situations where your opponent doesn’t have to have a set to play with you for stacks — namely, low-SPR situations, as well as some mid-SPR situations when you have A-A, another pair, or some other kind of draw to go with it.
| You | Opponent | Flop | Equity(You/Opponent) |
A 2 3 4 |
J 10 9 8 |
Q 7 6 |
57.0%/43.0% |
| A 2 3 6 |
J 10 9 8 |
Q 7 6 |
59.15%/40.85% |
| A A 2 3 |
J 10 9 8 |
Q 7 6 |
62.8%/37.2% |
| A K 10 5 |
10 9 8 7 |
Q 6 5 |
65.98%/34.02% |
| A K 10 5 |
9 8 7 6 |
Q 6 5 |
49.88%/50.12% |
| A K 10 2 |
9 8 7 6 |
Q 6 5 |
47.20%/52.80% |
| A A K 2 |