As I said in my last post, my new favorite game is HORSE. It's a mixed game, so switches between a different form of poker every ten hands. I'm earning over 5/BB hour (that's five big bets an hour) pretty consistently. I'm sure a lot of that is due to getting lucky; I haven't had a losing session all month. But most of it is surely from the extremely poor play of the competition. I'm currently hanging out at FullTilt, on the $1/$2 tables, and it really is a gold mine if you've got a good grasp of the fundamentals.
The stakes are really low, so it is a little frustrating to only be making about $20 to $30 a session. But that's all part of my extra discipline. I'm now counting my online bankroll totally separate from my cash bankroll (since I don't want to ever upload money) which leaves me with a little over $700. I'm sticking to my rule of needing 300 times the big bet to play, so at $1/$2 I'd need $600.
I've also modified my rules a bit. I now won't move up in stakes unless I have 400 times the big bet of the next level. And I'll move down in stakes if I drop below 200 times the big bet at my current level. That gives me about 200 big bets to adjust to the new stakes. It's slow going, but it's not like I'm playing for a living. I have to work my bankroll up to $1600 before I move up to $2/$4, which will take a while, but I could use the practice. I haven't seen much strategy for HORSE as a whole, just the individual games, so it kind of feels like a new frontier for me. Here's my understanding so far:
Hold'em - This is the standard game that most people play, so my opponents are fairly comfortable with it. They'll get involved in a lot of hands, but don't make too many glaring mistakes. You're almost guaranteed to get paid off when you have a big hand, but stealing is difficult. You can get away with stealing the blinds from late position if the players are tight, but I've seen a lot of people in the blinds call bets all the way down to the river, holding hands that can only beat a bluff/steal. I just stay tight aggressive and try not to donate to the calling stations.
Omaha Eight - Omaha is like Hold'em, except you get four hole cards (giving you six different hand combinations). You also must use exactly two of your hole cards to make a hand (plus three from the board, of course). In Omaha Eight, the pot is split between the high hand and the low hand, but the low hand can't contain any card higher than an 8. Since the pots get split so often, you don't really have the pot odds to chase many draws. The key is to only play starting hands that have the potential to scoop (win both the high and the low). This is the game where a lot of money can be made, especially if your opponents are mostly used to playing Hold'em. Since you can win with either a high or a low hand, most of the players find some excuse to stay in the hand. They'll chase marginal draws, while you're only ever drawing to the nuts or to a hand that can scoop. Big money maker if you get good cards, but you must stay tight aggressive. Bluffing situations are rare, but definitely keep your eyes open for them.
Razz - Razz is Seven Card Stud, played for the low hand. The strategy is so simple, I'm truly baffled why my opponents play it so poorly. All you need to do is wait until you have three low cards, then bet the crap out of them, giving up if your opponent starts catching lower cards than you. It's a fantastic game when you're at a table full of optimistic opponents who will call bets when they have xxAQQ showing. It's also key to always try to steal the antes if you're in late position, no one has entered the pot, and you have a lower card than what the bring-in is showing.
Seven Card Stud - This is the classic game where you have two down cards, four up cards, and one down card. Since there are so many up cards, you have a good idea of what cards are still in the deck. I like to only play strong hands, usually a pair higher than the highest up card showing. And I really prefer hands that can win multiple ways, like strait draws, flush draws, two pair draws, etc, when all the cards I need are still in the deck. Again, overly optimistic opponents are key. And you always want to try to steal the antes when you're the in late position and no one else has entered the pot.
Seven Card Stud Eight - This is another high/low split game, like Omaha Eight. Pretty much the same basic strategy, where you only want to play hands that can scoop. And again, it's key to make sure all the cards you need, for all of your potential hands, are still in the deck. There are also some unintuitive situations you have to deal with. For example, let's say you have a marginal low hand and there are multiple people in the pot. The player to your right, who is clearly going for high, bets. The players to your left seem to have low hands that may or may not be better than yours. You must raise here, in an attempt to drive them out of the pot. It won't matter if your low hand is marginal if you're the only one going for low.
As a whole, HORSE is a great game. The competition is usually okay at one or two of the games, but it's rare to see someone who's good at all of them. It's best to pay attention to each player's worst game and then try to get into the pot with them in one of those games. You'll usually get paid off if you make your hands. Just stay tight aggressive and you can probably win solely from starting hand selection. I'm hoping my time spent at $1/$2 will give me all the fundamentals I need to deal with better players once I finally move up in stakes.