Applying a Proper “Gap” in Limit Dramaha

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Last issue we discussed what hands to open from each position when the action was folded to you, and in this installment, we will explore what holdings we should play when an opponent has raised the pot ahead of you. Any discussion on this matter would be remiss without considering the Gap Concept as it applies to Dramaha.

Gap Concept in Dramaha

The Gap Concept was first introduced by David Sklansky in Tournament Poker for Advanced Players, and essentially states that you need a stronger hand to contest a previously opened pot than you would require to open yourself. This is partially due to the fact that you can no longer win the pot uncontested and also since your opponent is representing some strength you require a stronger hand.

The difference in hand strength from what you would have opened had the pot been folded to you versus what you are playing against in the face of a raise is known as the “gap.” Most games have a theoretical gap yet due to the nature of the different games some have a smaller one than others.

The gap is relatively small in a game such as Omaha eight-or-better as equities run closer and position is important in maximizing the realization of your equity while attempting to deny your opponent his fair share. In deuce to seven triple draw lowball, a premium two-card draw is not a huge favorite over one that is simply mediocre and the in position player has distinct advantages in the game as he able to make better pat/break decisions than his opponent. In contrast the theoretical gaps are larger in one winner games such as limit hold’em and seven card stud.

Dramaha may have the biggest theoretical gap than any other variant in existence. This is because the strength of your Draw hand is extremely important and the cost of being up against a superior one is very high. Thus, when facing a raise you must jettison the lower part of your range or else you will be taking much the worst of it way too often.

Playing Against a Raise

We must answer two separate questions when discussing how to deal with a raise:

1. With what hands do we proceed?
2. Is this strictly a re-raise or fold situation, or can we sometimes simply smooth call?

If you feel your Draw hand is a large favorite to be best it is generally in your interest to isolate and take the pot heads-up. It is not really to your benefit to let people in behind you or allow the big blind to come in cheaply with a good Omaha hand that can flop strong and take half of the pot. If someone wants to take “three to the face” with hands like flush draws that’s certainly fine with us, but they are going to pay the maximum.

There are a few possible exceptions to the raise or fold strategy, for example, assume a tight early position player opens and we look down at trip sevens on the button. Our opponent is usually quite strong but we still have him beat in Draw most of the time. However, a potential drawback to isolating this individual is that it is going to be difficult to make a strong Omaha hand thus we will rarely scoop.

It’s somewhat rare that you will get a tight opponent to fold along the way with a hand he deemed strong enough to open from early position even when he does not improve. If he has unimproved aces he will mostly be calling down in the hopes of winning the Omaha side and with two pair or better he will usually go to showdown. Therefore, it might be worth it to call and let in the big blind with a much larger range in order to try and win half of a three-way pot in the process hopefully increasing our overall expected value.

If, however, the raise came from the cutoff, we should always reraise because our opponent’s overall draw strength is on average much weaker. We should also reraise loose players who play flush and straight draws from all positions.

Now suppose a player open comes from early position but this time we hold aces or kings with an ace kicker. In this situation you are often an underdog against many early position openings thus isolating yourself against this range is not ideal. However, with these holdings you have too much hand to fold with two-way Draw and Omaha prospects. Holding an ace kicker with your kings is important for card removal reasons as you are a big underdog to aces and we want to limit the times we face that hand.

The exceptions of A-A and K-K (with an ace kicker) aside, when dealing with a previously opened pot we should feel that our Draw holding is a strong favorite to be the best hand. In games such as limit hold’em this threshold is often set at around 50 percent (or slightly under) as there is dead money contributed from the blinds which mitigates the risk of isolating yourself against a better hand.

However, in Dramaha the cost of bumping up against better Draw hands is quite high. For example, earlier on in the series we saw that we have terrible equity when holding two pair against a higher two pair, trips, or a made hand. Thus, it is prudent to set the bar higher such as requiring that your Draw hand beats at least 60 percent of your opponent’s estimated opening range. Admittedly this is a somewhat arbitrary threshold but having the second-best Draw hand is a terrible place to be thus we must take appropriate steps to minimize the frequency it happens.

As in all games, player reads are important and other players are not often adhering to the Golden Rule and will often be opening wider than they should be and this of course should be reflected in your decision making. In other words, if they are opening weak two-way hands and draws from all positions you should play slightly looser and re-raise aggressively.

Beating 60 percent of an Opening Range

Suppose a player opens from UTG and you consider him to be playing a range of kings or better which is around 14 percent of hands with the distribution looking as follows:

Probability Cumulative Prob
Full House or Better 0.17% 0.17%
Flush 0.20% 0.37%
Straight 0.39% 0.76%
Three Kind 2.11% 2.87%
Two Pair – Aces Up to Jacks Up 2.38% 5.25%
Two Pair Tens up to 3322 2.38% 7.62%
AA 3.25% 10.87%
KK 3.25% 14.12%

Notice that this player has not been reading these articles and is opening with any two pair hands. Either that or he is painfully stuck and is in no mood to fold two pair, hey it happens to all of us. In order to beat around 60 percent of his hands you should stick to any holding with a cumulative probability equal to or less than 5.6 percent (40%*14.12%) in the above chart.

This would appear to be any hand around tens up or better; jacks up if you want an extra dose of conservatism. You might feel like a nit sending 7-7-2-2 to the muck, however, it is very important to realize that you are not a big favorite against anything but could easily be a huge underdog. This holding is only around a 53 percent equity favorite against A-A or K-K but is a huge underdog against trips or a higher two pair.

As previously discussed, you can always call a single raise with A-A due to its robust two-way potential and it may be best to also do so with medium or low trips. When we flat with both A-A and trips our opponent, he will be hard pressed to know where his two pair hand is at after the draw.

When faced with a raise from the hijack we should still be folding many of our two pair hands as the opening range differences between first position and the hi-jack for most players are usually not materially wider.

However, when we are on the button and face a raise from the cutoff we should re-raise with any trips, any two pair, and aces. Even when your opponent is only opening jacks or better a pair of aces will be the best hand approximately 50 percent of the time.
Against most players you can also re-raise a pair of kings. When your hand is best and you take the hand heads-up it is a big win. And when you don’t have the best hand your opponent will often let you know (this information is valuable), your equity is fine against most holdings, and you have position.

The cutoff is the position on the table where villain’s aggression level tends to increase substantially and they will often hold many more speculative Draw hands that will not automatically go to showdown. This means that your medium and low trips have a better chance to win without a showdown when they fail to improve in Omaha. And for the same reason it’s also good news for two small pair holdings such as 6-6-3-3.

Suppose you are in the small blind and the button who raises at least 40 percent of his hands opens the action. Against someone raising exactly 40 percent of their hands, queens is the best hand around 57 percent of the time, thus they can be re-raised in order to hopefully knock out the big blind and take the pot heads-up.

Playing queens is not mandatory as a player may be playing tighter than you assume, the big blind can wake up with a hand, and you have the worst position. However, if you do choose to play them the play is to reraise. Aces and kings are always a reraise, and jacks should hit most often hit the muck unless your opponent is massively overplaying his button.

When you are in the big blind and thus half invested my rule of thumb is to defend with a range that I would have opened if I were in my opponent’s position. For example, facing a button open I would defend from the big blind any hand I would have opened myself had the positions been reversed. This would include some very good Omaha high only holdings where I could flop strongly on that end and then hopefully pair one of the high cards in Draw. It’s important, however to not go overboard as leaving home with weak Draw hands is a recipe for disaster even against wider ranges.

We are not defending the big blind as much as we would in other games but that is the nature of Dramaha. Keep in mind the small blind also bears a portion of the defending responsibility.

In the situation where you are in the big blind and defend against a single raiser it is advantageous to simply call with any hand you choose to defend. This helps protect the weaker holdings in your range and when you hold a very strong Draw hand you can get your value by check-raising the flop. This check-raise will succeed at a very high rate and also serve the purpose of not providing your opponent any information regarding your Draw versus Omaha strength. There will be further discussion on this in the next issue along with guidance on how to play the after the flop. ♠

Kevin Haney is a former actuary of MetLife but left the corporate job to focus on his passions for poker and fitness. He is co-owner of Elite Fitness Club in Oceanport, NJ and is a certified personal trainer. With regards to poker he got his start way back in 2003 and particularly enjoys taking new players interested in mixed games under his wing and quickly making them proficient in all variants. His new mixed-games website Counting Outs is a great starting resource for a plethora of games ranging from the traditional to the exotic. He can be reached at [email protected].