PLO high vs. PLO8
 

I just started playing some PLO8 this weekend after finishing Tenner/Krieger. PLO high has been my regular game over the last 2 months. I can't say I enjoyed playing PLO8 much, although I did pretty well (+140bb over about 3 hours.) The things I didn't really like are:

1. Hand requirements seem a lot tighter, so you play less. 2. The game itself is a lot slower since reading your hand takes more time to see what low and high hand you have and there are a LOT more draws to calculate
3. Play is a pretty straight forward as there is little need to get tricky, and you nearly always need to protect your made hands by betting/raising. PLO high seems like a richer game overall.

Main compensation I see for the above is that the big pots are often bigger than they are in PLO high.

Am I missing something about this game? I've gotten through half of Zee's book, but can't say it has added much to my impression of the game. PLO high and NLHE seem much more fun.

Re: PLO high vs. PLO8
 

[ QUOTE ]

1. Hand requirements seem a lot tighter, so you play less.


[/ QUOTE ]

Dunno, all the omaha games require tight play. O/8 tends to seem very tight, because if you play properly, you will rarely get involved after the flop.


[ QUOTE ]

3. Play is a pretty straight forward as there is little need to get tricky, and you nearly always need to protect your made hands by betting/raising. PLO high seems like a richer game overall.


[/ QUOTE ]

Play is much more straight forwards because it is alot more cautious, especially among good players. Simply put, good players try to avoid getting involved in situation where they may get 3/4rd or freerolled. That's always the first thing on you're mind, because in PLO/8 you will get plenty of action when you are beat.

The net result is that PLO/8 rewards tight, cautious play, with the willingness to go for all the chips when it's needed. However developing an understanding of when to go for all the chips takes an enourmous amount of thinking and is very difficult.

[ QUOTE ]

Main compensation I see for the above is that the big pots are often bigger than they are in PLO high.


[/ QUOTE ]

The really big pots involve 3/4ring people who think they have the nuts. You sit and wait for 2 hours for that one big potwhere you get a freeroll/ 3-4 for all the chips.

[ QUOTE ]
Am I missing something about this game? I've gotten through half of Zee's book, but can't say it has added much to my impression of the game. PLO high and NLHE seem much more fun.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, in real life PLO/8 games break up 10 minutes after the live ones go busted. A tough PLO/8 game is awful.

Re: PLO high vs. PLO8
 

[ QUOTE ]
2. The game itself is a lot slower since reading your hand takes more time to see what low and high hand you have and there are a LOT more draws to calculate
3. Play is a pretty straight forward

[/ QUOTE ]

How can the game both require more inspection and calculation, yet be more straightforward?

[ QUOTE ]
you nearly always need to protect your made hands by betting/raising. PLO high seems like a richer game overall.

[/ QUOTE ]

You need to protect made hands more in PLO. Because if you give free cards you can lose an entire pot. Whereas in PLO8 you often just lose portions of the pot since its split pot or quartered.

[ QUOTE ]

Am I missing something about this game? I've gotten through half of Zee's book, but can't say it has added much to my impression of the game. PLO high and NLHE seem much more fun.

[/ QUOTE ]

Each game has its own advantages and drawbacks. Personally, I find the high variance and large number of suckouts kind of annoying in PLO. But I like the fact that you can play just about any 4 cards with position. Just depends on what you like or are in the mood for.

-g

Re: PLO high vs. PLO8
 

I do play Omaha and Omaha/8 live but all of my PL experience is online.

[ QUOTE ]
The things I didn't really like are:

1. Hand requirements seem a lot tighter, so you play less.


[/ QUOTE ]

I don't play much PLO, but your hands really need to go 2 ways (hi and lo) which may open the range of hands especially in multiway pots. Aces are golden in PLO8 but I believe this is less true in PLO. Multitable if you play online.

[ QUOTE ]

2. The game itself is a lot slower since reading your hand takes more time to see what low and high hand you have and there are a LOT more draws to calculate


[/ QUOTE ]

This is a good thing by increasing the skill needed to correctly play the game hence giving a bigger advantage to the good player.

[ QUOTE ]

3. Play is a pretty straight forward as there is little need to get tricky, and you nearly always need to protect your made hands by betting/raising. PLO high seems like a richer game overall.


[/ QUOTE ]

Are you saying that you don't need to protect your hands as much in PLO? I assume you mean you are protecting your high hand by trying to eliminate the low draws in some situations which is obviously unique to PLO8. This can payoff big in some situations though when the low draw doesn't come through or they counterfeit their low on the turn/river. As for trickiness, this applies to any game but the tactics are different. Is that PL bet because he's going hi or lo or both? Also, the concept of multiway pots adds another wrinkle on how you play a hand.

[ QUOTE ]

Main compensation I see for the above is that the big pots are often bigger than they are in PLO high.


[/ QUOTE ]

I will agree that pots are bigger but alot of times they are often split which is a money loser head's up with the rake. The holy grail is when you get more than 1/2 of multiway pot and really make some money. Nothing like getting 2-3 other players all-in and then getting 2/3 of pot while they each get 1/6. Some people just can't fold their nut low for any reason.

[ QUOTE ]

Am I missing something about this game? I've gotten through half of Zee's book, but can't say it has added much to my impression of the game. PLO high and NLHE seem much more fun.

[/ QUOTE ]

Its all a matter of what you like. If you prefer the action and such of PLO, play it. I prefer the additional choices and calculations that PLO8 requires.

Re: PLO high vs. PLO8
 

Thanks for all the replies. Glad to see everyone is generally in agreement with my assessments.

In response to

[ QUOTE ]
How can the game both require more inspection and calculation, yet be more straightforward?

[/ QUOTE ]

This is because once you have made the correct calculation, the answer to what to do is very straightforward. If the maths say you are the favorite to win, bet or raise, if you are even money, call, and if you are a dog, fold. This is because of the importance of protecting your hand.

In PLO high, your EV is often greater if you wait until the next card to bet/raise when you are the favorite (for example, AAxxs preflop, or flopping nut set w/ flush and/or str8 draw on the board.).

Re: PLO high vs. PLO8
 

"Hand requirements seem a lot tighter, so you play less. 2. The game itself is a lot slower"

Funny, this is exactly why I'm now playing O8.

Re: PLO high vs. PLO8
 

[ QUOTE ]
1. Hand requirements seem a lot tighter, so you play less.

[/ QUOTE ]

i started playing limit omaha eight because i felt like i wasn't playing enough hands in limit hold'em since i am such a tight player and i would play a lot more hands of omaha, but i probably play less hands in omaha that i ever did in limit holdem.

Re: PLO high vs. PLO8
 

One point that hasn't been mentioned, but should be considered is why do you play. What are your long term goals? If you are playing mostly for fun, with no intention to move up limits, then it doesn't really matter, although plo8b will provide less swings in that case.

If you want to move up in limits then ultimately plo8b hits a brick wall. To say its a dying game at higher limits would not be true. It died a year ago. There is no high action on Stars, which used to be its home. There is tiny action on Party, especially considering that at the 2k level, there are normally more than twice as many ring games for PLO. I haven't played the 2k plo8b there in some time, but in general 2k ring games always end up stinky, as the bad players burn out. Back when plo8b was my mainstay, I *never* saw a big game survive a long period of time. And this is over many years, back when big was the 1-2 on UB. Furthermore the game is almost never played live anywhere. The opportunity for PLO play is, and always will be, much greater.

gl

dd

Re: PLO high vs. PLO8
 

By the way, is O8 played limit or pot-limit at the WSOP?

Re: PLO high vs. PLO8
 

[ QUOTE ]
By the way, is O8 played limit or pot-limit at the WSOP?

[/ QUOTE ]

Limit, I'm pretty sure they've never spread PLO8 at the WSOP.

Don