🎁 Freerolls and wraps: how to be on the right side
Nut outs, redraws and why the nuts on the flop isn't a pot already won · Advanced
The main goal in PLO is to win your opponent's stack, and for that you need to be on the dominating side when the bets get big. This lesson covers freerolls (the same hand, but one player has a redraw), wraps with 13, 16 and 20 outs, and why not all outs matter — only the nut ones. The numbers are exact enumeration by our engine and match the PLO Mastermind calculator.
The freeroll
A freeroll is when you and your opponent have the same made hand, but you have a redraw: a flush draw, a higher straight, a full house. The worst outcome for you is a split pot, the best is taking it all.
Flop 8♣9♠10♥: J♥Q♦K♦2♦ and K♠Q♠J♣10♣ — both have a king-high straight. But the second one also has backdoors: 56.4% vs. 43.6%, and the pot is split in 87% of hands. The entire edge comes from the redraw.
Multiway it's even harsher: on 6♣5♠9♠, A♥K♣7♦8♦ (a nine-high straight with no redraw), 7♣9♦8♠10♠ (the same straight + flush draw + a redraw to a higher straight) and 9♥9♣10♥J♦ (a set) get 12.6%, 49.9% and 37.5%. The same straight with no redraw is worth only 12.6% multiway: one opponent has a freeroll, the other a set drawing to a full house.
Wraps and nut outs
A wrap is a four-card straight draw with 9 or more outs. What matters is not only how many outs there are, but how many of them give you the nuts:
— J♠10♦7♣6♥ on 9♣8♦2♥ — 20 outs, 14 of them nut outs;
— Q♠J♦10♣7♥ on 9♣8♦2♥ — 16 outs, all 16 are nut outs;
— K♠Q♦J♣10♥ on 9♣8♦4♥ — 13 outs.
The more gaps in the hand, the fewer nut outs the wrap has. But a gap in the middle isn't always a minus: QJ87 is missing the ten and the nine, and on a T9x board the board itself fills them — you get a 20-out wrap.
Dominating draws and nuttiness
A wrap with the nut flush draw against a similar wrap is almost a freeroll. A♠J♠10♦9♦ against J♦10♠9♠6♥ on 8♠7♥4♠ — 76.7% vs. 23.3%: their straight draws are similar, but the first one also has the nut flush draw. "Pair + wrap against a wrap" works the same way: the extra pair gives a redraw to a set and a full house.
Nuttiness often matters more than connectedness: A♦2♦9♣9♠ (a set + nut flush draw) against J♦10♣7♣6♦ (a 20-out wrap) on 9♦8♣4♦ — 62.9% vs. 37.1%.
Even preflop: A♥K♦K♥9♦ against K♠Q♠J♣10♣ — 64.2%. Double-suited kings with an ace dominate the KQJT rundown: it holds two kings, and the rundown has only one live king left.
Freeroll rules
1. A flopped nut straight with no redraw on a board with two cards of one suit — play carefully: when you get raised, your opponent often has the same straight plus a flush draw.
2. Draw only to the nuts: the nut flush, the nut straight, top set.
3. Hands with a dangler — a fourth card that helps nothing — give up their edge: they're essentially three cards against four, and they end up on the wrong side of a freeroll more often.
4. An underfull usually wins a small pot or loses a big one. A middle or bottom set in a big pot is either a small favorite or a big underdog.
Practice: nut outs and regular outs on big draws.