How to transition the home game from NLHE to Mixed...

[italianstang]

The home game, like most probably, is all NL Holdem. Blinds vary from 1-2 to 2-5 depending on the audience. However, as I have been reading Barry Greenstein's site and Daniel Negreanu's site it seems like there is money to be made in the other games, I think I have an advantage in the other games that is bigger than my advantage in NLHE and plus playing holdem for six hours at a time sometimes gets old.

I have tried a couple of times to suggest we play a little Omaha 8 but it has not been met with good results. Anyone else try to introduce mixed games at home? Any strategies for convincing stubborn players?

[PokerChamp22]

You could try a mix of HOE (holdem, Omaha HiLo and 7Stud HiLo). It works pretty well for the home game I play in.

[fsuplayer]

at the home game i play in, its a 1-2 100min no max buy in.

we normally play NLHE for most of the night, then for the last two hours or so, we play dealer's choice of NLHE, PLO high, and sometimes PL pineapple and PL7S.

we used to do PLO8, but it was taking forever with splitting the pots, and not everyone knew how to play it.

it has seemed to work best when we do NLHE or PLO high, dealer's choice.

try that, and make sure you mississippi straddle on the button on PLO. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

i know my edge is higher in PLO, so i always choose that.

[lucas9000]

maybe you shouldn't start with o8. perhaps start with straight omaha high, so that they can get a feel for the game. stud might be another good one to start with because of how easy it is to learn.

if you're really sadistic, bring in triple draw (a-5 or 2-7). all you'll need is for one of them to hit a lucky streak and you'll have them hooked /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[nuclear500]

I'd steer away from playing Stud8 as an introductory "new" game. If they aren't capable of "getting" Omaha8 they sure as shizzle aren't going to "get" Stud8.

The better games to start playing are straight up 7 Card Stud, Omaha, 5 Card Draw and Pineapple.

Introduce wilds in order to get people to play. All scrubs play wild card games. After a bit of dealer calls, call a straight up game vs a wild game.

The thing to remember is to not necessarily push people out of hands in the 'new' games. Lose some money to them at first. Just don't do anything dumb with your A234 in Omaha when the board comes A56.

Make minimum bets. I made the mistake of throwing out 7 Card Stud and hitting buried pair of Jacks, raising and getting called and hitting a 3rd Jack on 4th street and raising again. That was the end of that and it wasn't played again that night without a wild.

[timmer]

Have a dealers choice HORSE or Hose game one night

Hold em
Omaha
Razz
Stud hi
Eight or better stud hi lo

Hold em
Omaha EOB
Stud Hi
Eight or better Stud hi lo

[Hedge Henderson]

I don't have anything in the way of advice, but I did enjoy reading this. I had the opposite problem. When our current regular game first started, it was nickel ante, dealer's choice. I introduced hold 'em a few weeks in, and everybody took to it like a fish to toilet paper. I'd always get a comment like "Nothing wild?", and then a sigh. I'd explain how popular hold 'em was in the real world, but I never did get a positive reaction towards the game until hold 'em started showing up on TV everywhere.

I had the same problem with O/8, and it's now our second most popular game. The few ladies we play with love it for some reason, and, in pot limit, it's very useful for taking chips away from cocky newbies.

[PokerGoblin]

I host a regular game w/ a couple 2+2ers... what we do generally is play 1-2 pot limit dealer's choice by orbit.

We usually start w/ PL holdem for about a half hour or so, then we move on to dealer's choice, that that game dealt until the deal reaches the player on the original dealer's left, then it's his choice. For stud games and games with a ante, the dealer antes for everyone, usually .50 per man. This evens out the inconsistencies of going from blinds to antes and back and forth.

Dealer's choice basically forces people to learn new games, which is good. It keeps things more interesting. It can also help you fleece some people that are good at holdem but suck at other games.

We play Holdem. Omaha and O8, razz, triple draw lowball, and Mississippi stud and Miss. Stud 8. Mississippi stud is great for pot limit, it is played exactly like regular stud except 4th and 5th street are dealt at the same time, eliminating a betting round. Also the river card is dealt face up.

PG