Moving from LHE to PLO

Over at DeathDonkey.com, beset has some advice for people turning from the dark side of hold em and moving on to a game like pot limit omaha.

Simming Razz

On 2+2, some discussion on how to describe opponent hand ranges while trying to do simulations for razz

Relative and Asolute Position in PLO

Mark at Plan3t Gong continues his series on PLO SNGs.

Backdoor Draws Matter

Mike at Ante Up! folds the best hand. A two-flush on third street (and a three-flush on fourth street) add non-negligible value to your hand in seven-card stud and can be the difference between playing on or not, so you should always be aware of your less obvious ways to win.

PLO Morons

Ribbo gives an example of why he thinks that middle limit PLO is easy to beat.

One of these Days, I Should Go on a BARGE Trip

Lou Krieger’s describes Chowaha:

They play Chowaha at BARGE. It’s a staple of the fun and frivolity. The game is a variant of hold’em, only it’s played with three flops, two turn cards, and one river card. Each player is dealt two cards, and both hole cards must play. Three flops are then spread—one on top of another. Two turn cards are dealt, one placed between the top and middle flop, the other between the middle and bottom flop. The top turn card plays with the top and middle flops, and the bottom turn card plays with the middle and bottom flop. There is one river card, and it plays with all available combinations.

If some dealers were confused by Chowaha’s intricacies, they loved the game’s fringe benefits, particularly the occasional cries of “mandatory toke,” which required each player to flip a dollar chip in the general direction of the dealer. These mandatory tokes quickly made Chowaha a dealer favorite. Another innovation, designed to liven up the “anyone-can-afford-it” $2-$4 limits, was the occasional multi-straddle, in which four successive players placed progressively larger blind bets.

Chowaha was such a hit that off duty dealers are usually eager to join in the fun and play. One of my endearing BARGE memories was the absolute incongruity of an announcement made at 4:00 a.m., in an otherwise quiet and mostly empty poker room, when a deep and somber voice on the public address system intoned: “Seating is now available in the must-move Chowaha game, table two.”

I’ve never played Chowaha, but my guess is that suited connectors go up in value, since they can work towards strong five-card hands with multiple flops while pocket pairs go down in value because they are more likely to beaten (although they are often still playable for set value).

Some 30/60 Stud/8 Hands

Bill King posts some hands from an online session on Pokerstars. No commentary, though one can see why he was sad to cut his session short.