Omaha Hi question

Hi guys. I have been playing Omaha for a while now. I'm still fairly new to it and keep the stakes low, but I just had a quick question about hand strength.
I know double suited wraps are a pretty strong starting hand, lets say 7c 8s 9c 10s for example... BUT...how strong is the same hand when single-gapped? I mean 7c 8s 9c Js.
I have had some success playing these hands quite aggressively, but was severely berated by a player on a $2 capped table today for calling his max pot with what I thought was a very strong draw.
I had 8 9 10 Q, flopped the 10 and J (leaving me any 7,8,9,Q or K for a straight) so called his max bet. He had 3 of a kind and never improved, while my straight filled up.
Am I overplaying these types of hands? Obv I would have folded if I was only on a pair/2 pair, or an open ended straight draw, but I felt I had a decent shot of drawing my hand. Additionally, the pot was capped at $2. Hardly mortgage money! Thanks.

Who cares, you're playing both of them....

Having a gap in the bottom/middle is more advantageous than having a gap in the top. But you're playing any hands that have 4 cards that work that well together.

The main issue with the hand you posted is that you don't have the nut wrap. Only a 7 or 8 gives you the nuts. Thus if you were to stack off against a hand like AKQ, your equity wouldn't be all that large, since 3 cards that make you a straight make him a bigger straight. But in my limited Omaha experience, having dominated straight draws doesn't happen that much. Someone with more Omaha experience might be able to make a better comment on this, but generally with Omaha starting hands, 4 cards that work together are certainly playable.

The "mute chat" feature is a great thing

Very often the "flopped nuts" (nuts at that time), will not hold up, i.e. your villains 3k, or a straight on a two flush board, etc.

Anybody who then whines about you "sucking out", doesn't really understand Omaha. (Probably NLHE players)

i agree with your play for those hands discretion is certainly warranted pre-flop but when you hit the flop that well it is hard to throw it away on a pot limit game... Many players will give you crap for playing those hands but if you pay attention they play them too!!!! After everyhand when someone calls your river bet and their hand is mucked take a look at that one using the previous hand button... You will get a lot more info on other players and notice that they also play questionable hands more often than they would like to admit to.

Shortened your post, but all very correct. With an upper gap, you are really hoping for a flop lower than the cards you have. Problem is, if the jack hits, and either your 9 or 10 (and it did in your case), you can easily get screwed by QKA, especially if any of those come on the turn or river. Middle and lower gapper provide many more outs for nut straights.

Now getting back to your question....
Not even going to address the upper gapper. Here's the deal with middle and lower gappers as opposed to no gaps at all. It's like 6 of 1 half dozen of the other. No gappers hands are fairly rare, but they will hit a straight a decent percentage of the time. Chances are you'll pair up once or twice, and you won't have many nut outs. If you have a 1 gapper, say middle, you need to hit that single gap card on the flop. But if you hit, you have more outs than a no-gapper. The biggest monster wrap in Omaha is a 2 gapper, say 67TJ and the flop brings you 89. Your nut outs are any 5, 6, 7, 10, J or Q. But as you can see, you've harder to hit it perfect, lower % play preflop - huge % play if you hit.

Thanks guys. So, with the example I posted, I was right to call but still only a coin flip in most situations?
Was his trips v's my strong straight draw roughly the equivalent of underpair vs AK in hold em? Or was I more of a favourite?

Need to get some tracker software with a decent odds calculator, but I dont know if I play enough to warrent forking out for one really.

Against *just* a set, you're a 53% favorite. The trick is that with Omaha, he can have more than just a set because he's got 2 other cards. So if he has a set & a gutshot, it can really hurt your drawing power.

Qs Ts 9s 8s 0.530
3c Jd 4d Jh 0.470

vs.

Qs Ts 9s 8s 0.395
Ac Kd Jd Jh 0.605

That's why having 4 cards that work together & draw to the nuts are so important. And if you don't have a ton of draws to the nuts, play the hand differently.


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