How hard is 7 card stud & Omaha compared to Hold'em?

[Moyer]

I've been studying and playing limit hold'em for a while. I'm now looking into new forms of poker. I'm hoping to find something that doesn't take as long to learn as hold'em did. No limit is one option I guess. But I'm also interested in others. I know absolutely nothing about Omaha or 7 card stud. I played some micro limit 5 card stud for a while the other day on a Prima site. I thought it was interesting, but it is very different from hold'em.

Which form of poker do you think would be easiest for me to learn? What are the pros & cons of these different forms?

I know this question might be a little hard to answer. Just asking for opinions before I start buying books and throwing money on the table.

Thanks.

[Iceman]

[ QUOTE ]
I've been studying and playing limit hold'em for a while. I'm now looking into new forms of poker. I'm hoping to find something that doesn't take as long to learn as hold'em did. No limit is one option I guess. But I'm also interested in others. I know absolutely nothing about Omaha or 7 card stud. I played some micro limit 5 card stud for a while the other day on a Prima site. I thought it was interesting, but it is very different from hold'em.

Which form of poker do you think would be easiest for me to learn? What are the pros & cons of these different forms?

[/ QUOTE ]

Omaha-8 is very easy to learn. The problem is that it's rarely spread in B&M above low-limits, and the online games above 1-2 are rarely worth playing. But if you're strictly a low-limit player who doesn't intend to move up, it's a good choice because it's a game where good players destroy bad players, and is usually more profitable than holdem at low-limit B&M or micro-limit online.

Stud is more difficult to play well than holdem. A stud expert will generally earn more than a holdem expert at the same limits against similar opposition, and tight stud games can be very profitable unlike tight holdem games. While many of the WPT-crazy new players are flocking to holdem, profitable stud games abound also. In the East Coast of the US, you can play B&M stud games from 1-3 to 400-800. There's a lot less stud on the West Coast, although there are a few games in Vegas and the major LA rooms. Online stud is full of weak players as high as 5-10, and the 10-20 is beatable by a solid player. If you play on Party or on the East Coast, and you're willing to learn a difficult game, I'd definitely recommend stud.

Pot-limit Omaha high is another option. This game is the most popular in Europe. It's not difficult to learn, but you must learn the basics before you play for real money or you'll get creamed. The variance is huge, but good players can have a high win rate in the long-run.

[Andy B]

Buy lots of books anyway. I like poker books.

It is relatively easy to learn how to play Omaha/8 reasonably well. You only want to play hands that are well-coordinated and can make nut hands--A2, A23, Axs and/or big pairs with other things going for them, etc. If you are in a loose game, with six or so players seeing the flop, once that flop hits, either you have the nuts, a good draw to the nuts, or garbage. In a tight game, you actually have to play some poker, and I have no interest in learning how to play in tight Omaha/8 games. I have enough trouble staying awake in O/8 as it is.

I think that seven card stud is the most intuitive of the major poker variations. If you have the best hand, it is usually correct to bet. In hold'em, the pot gets so big before the flop that the flop bet won't get anyone out. You simply have to risk a free card and try for a check-raise in some cases. That is rarely the case in a stud game, although I have seen my share of third-street caps. Stud was the first game I learned how to play reasonably well, and it took me a long time before I was a winning hold'em player. They're very different games.

No-limit cash games are the next thing I'm going to tackle myself. I want to play NL not because it's what I've seen on TV, but because it's what everyone else has seen on TV

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