Cash Game Live PLO8, FLHE and FLO8 questions (1 Viewer)

[upNdown]

I’m gonna finally check out the poker room at Foxwoods. Can’t believe I haven’t done that yet. Since everywhere else I’ve played live is mostly all NLHE, I figured I’d try some different stuff.
I’ve played enough fixed limit holdem on poker stars to have a feel for it. I mean it’s really not much different than NLHE, except you need more patience and better hand selection, because most hands will go to a showdown, right?
So how many big bets do people typically sit down with? If the rake is the same for 2/4 and for 4/8, does it make more sense just to play the 4/8? What other things should I be thinking about?
The other game I’ve gotten comfortable with online and I’m ready to give it a shot is PLO8. I’m definitely excited to play that live. But I just noticed that they also have 5/10 FLO8. I wonder if it’s worth trying that instead. I wonder how differently those two games play, live. And I guess while I’m wondering, I should also wonder how differently casino PLO8 plays from free online PLO8.
I’d love to hear any thoughts.

 

[MikesDad]

The recommended buy-in for FLHE is 20-25 big blinds... theoretically (assuming 3 raise limit) on hand could cost 2BB pre + 2BB flop + 4BB turn + 4BB river
Both 2/4 and 4/8 are "no foldem" games... people come to play for fun...that also means you usually have the correct odds to call for almost any draw. Given the same rake,
4/8 is an easy choice... 2/4 is virtually unbeatable with the rake, so only play with a couple of good friends with a plan to drink alot and play crazy

I think FLO8 would be a better place to start than PLO/PLO8 where the pots can get really big really quickly even at 2/2 blinds. 5/10 FLO8 might not be "cheap" but it's alot cheaper than PLO/8 if you're learning... unless of course you like to gamble and have the bankroll for it

I wouldn't put any stock in free online games... they play way different than real money games.. there's nothing at risk


Just my 0.02.. YMMV

 

[BGinGA]

Fixed-limit games - whether hold'em or omaha8 - are much more drawing games by nature/design than their big-bet counterparts, because most drawing hands are almost always getting a great price to call. Hand selection is key, as you noted - but strategic betting/calling/raising/folding makes a huge difference in your EV results. Missing a single bet is huge, as is paying off one when you didn't need to do so, or failing to look somebody up when they try to buy it cheap on the river. In many ways, I think mentally walking through a hand along with live table reads is more important in limit poker than in big-bet variants. Often times, big bet hands almost play themselves due to stack/pot sizes and player history. No so much in limit games, although player history is important..

I always buy in for 40-50 big bets in limit games, just because I can take two or three massive beats and not have to bother with reloading. Plus, moar chipes.

You should never start a hand with fewer than 12 big bets in your stack when playing a limit community card game (Hold'em/Omaha/Pineapple), or you risk missing value by running out of chips. Stud games require more chips (18 big bets is the maximum exposure per hand).

If you can hold your own at a full-blown meet-up circus table, you'll be okay at most casino PLO8 games. But neither is for the faint of heart or shallow pockets.

 

[upNdown]

The recommended buy-in for FLHE is 20-25 big blinds... theoretically (assuming 3 raise limit) on hand could cost 2BB pre + 2BB flop + 4BB turn + 4BB river
Both 2/4 and 4/8 are "no foldem" games... people come to play for fun...that also means you usually have the correct odds to call for almost any draw. Given the same rake,
4/8 is an easy choice... 2/4 is virtually unbeatable with the rake, so only play with a couple of good friends with a plan to drink alot and play crazy

I think FLO8 would be a better place to start than PLO/PLO8 where the pots can get really big really quickly even at 2/2 blinds. 5/10 FLO8 might not be "cheap" but it's alot cheaper than PLO/8 if you're learning... unless of course you like to gamble and have the bankroll for it

I wouldn't put any stock in free online games... they play way different than real money games.. there's nothing at risk


Just my 0.02.. YMMV

Thanks. Good stuff here.
Let me be clear - I won’t be playing PLO or FLO. Straight Omaha confounds me; I have no feel for the game.
PLO8 is a different story though. So here’s my question. When you say free online games play way different than real money games - I TOTALLY get it with NLHE. Playing that online for free is just dumb. People play anything and then they just get lucky or refuse to fold when they should or suck out on you or all of the above.
I don’t feel like that happens with free online PLO8. That’s a game where you’re playing to the nuts so often, you usually know when you have it or you don’t, regardless of what stupid cards people may have played.
Maybe I’m playing too nitty online and/or maybe I’ll be surprised when I play it at Foxwoods, but I’m guessing (and hoping) that that game doesn’t play as significantly different from its free online counterpart as NLHE.

 

[upNdown]

f you can hold your own at a full-blown meet-up circus table, you'll be okay at most casino PLO8 games. But neither is for the faint of heart or shallow pockets.

That’s what I’m hoping for. At the only meetup I was at, I called for Corchevelle (or whatever you call that 5 card hi/lo game) just about every time it was my turn. But those crazy games are all split pot one way or another. I feel like if you can play those games, you can play cards.

 

[Jambine]

So how many big bets do people typically sit down with?

20 big bets is plenty to start. 40 is better

 

[TheBigTater]

Typical buy in is for 25 big bets ($200 at 4/8). 4/8 is about the minimum limit game you want to play in a casino. Any lower limits and the rake will eat you alive. I love limit but playing limit in a raked game is a real grind, limit is better played in a home game with no rake.

 

[churlbut18]

I live just over an hour from Foxwoods and it is actually the only casino I’ve played poker in. I’ve logged hundreds of hours at both the $2/$4 and $4/$8 limit hold’em tables. For the $2/$4 game I usually buy in for $200 (ask for a full rack of yellow $2 chips seen in my profile pic; FYI - these chips have only been on the floor few a few months). I usually buy in for 1 full rack to start at the $4/$8 too, but always have another $200 at the ready if the 2nd rack is needed on a bad night.

I haven’t noticed much difference in play or the caliber of player between the two games and I like the 2 chip / 4 chip structure of the $4/$8 game since I became a chip snob thanks to PCF.

You’ll get a lot of players calling bets and seeing flops. Hard to raise and push players off of bets too. So obviously not a ton of opportunity to bluff as you’ll likely have to showdown a good percentage.

But regardless, I love these games. I love to grind it out on the limit tables for 12-16 hours at a time without the worry of risking my entire stack on every hand.

Have fun and enjoy. The poker room is enormous. I think close to 200 tables and a huge variety of poker games/stakes.

 

[bergs]

Get ready for the following at the FLO 5/10 game - I have a couple hundred hours at it.

- the old guy in the open shirt with the chains won't play less than 5 handed

- two of the guys won't sit in the 1, 2, 8, or 9 seats.

- Rob R will complain and demand to go to the cameras if he thinks someone got an extra chip in a chopped pot

- half the players will be walking around for half the orbits

- nobody can beat the little old lady - she ALWAYS rivers it

- everyone will be between 65-80 years old

- everyone will insist on correcting the dealer when they're doing things right

- everyone will insist on insulting the dealer when they don't do something right

- everyone will bitch about the casino - as they sit at the casino trying to earn comps with zero variance

Have fun. You might want to consider making snow angels in the middle of Route 2E instead of playing in this game though.

 

[bergs]

Also, oxygen tank jokes are ironically both less and more funny, depending on your perspective, when 2 of the players at the table are on bottled oxygen.

 

[bergs]

Last time I played in this game, there was an old guy with a flip phone that had voice to text enabled so he was loudly saying things like "HOW WAS THE BASKET BALL?" to his young nephew.

It was getting annoying so one of the older other guys waited until he went to talk into his phone and leaned over and yelled into it;

"I LOVE FAT C**K IN MY ASS ALL DAY LONG F**K IT HARD....SEND!"

It's always funny to see old people fight with their fists.

 

[bergs]

If you're playing at 1/2 and they call this game DO NOT pickup. Leave your card at the O8 table and see if it goes. 60% of the time it won't go because people are babies and can't get their shit together.

 

[bergs]

That’s what I’m hoping for. At the only meetup I was at, I called for Corchevelle (or whatever you call that 5 card hi/lo game) just about every time it was my turn. But those crazy games are all split pot one way or another. I feel like if you can play those games, you can play cards.

Corchevelle is an absolutely shitty game.

 

[upNdown]

Corchevelle is an absolutely shitty game.

Next time I wander up north I’ll be sure to call it early and often.

 

[bergs]

Next time I wander up north I’ll be sure to call it early and often.

Get ready for 8 people to sit out.

 

[upNdown]

Get ready for 8 people to sit out.

There’s more than one way to steal the blinds