Re: Will Stud ever fully recover from the HE craze?
Stud games have already recovered quite a bit. I have posted examples before, but that was many months ago, so who knows what hidden 2+2 archives those examples might be located in now.
At the 2004 WSOP non-HE games were hard to come by. The lower limits were virtually non-existent. There was usually a 50/100 Stud 8 game going, sometimes two, but the second was almost always shorthanded or breaking. Forget about Razz or Stud High. I was there for a month, on and off, and couldn't get much interest in any type of Stud game, save the one 50/100 Stud 8 staple.
Fast forward to the WSOP 2005. Every day there were multiple 50/100 Stud 8 games going. I saw three of them going strong, with a list, to boot.
Some of us wanted to get a mixed game going; Razz, Stud 8, Omaha 8. No problem getting it and keeping it. Even more surprising? For hours my husband was the OLDEST person at the table (he is 38), instead of the youngest! Lots of 2+2er's came and went, and can cooroborate. We had a great time.
In addition, there were Stud High games and non-HE/non-Stud games like Omaha 8, PLO, Badooki (or however it's being spelled this week), TDL, Chinese, etc. There was no lack of other games.
A few smaller examples that other games are finally making a comeback include:
-A Vegas group got a mixed game going at MGM. This was followed by a 2+2 group and a poker blogger group. The mixed game became so popular that MGM started spreading it regularly.
-I was at Wynn on Friday night. The 10/20 mixed game was going strong all night, never short, with a list. They had recently taken out HE because "no one wanted to play it."
-In December 2004 I tried to get some players at Excalibur interested in a mixed game. Everyone looked at me like I had two heads. By June 2005 our same group was playing mixed games at Plaza, Golden Nugget and MGM.
No, Stud games will never explode like HE, IMO, but they are getting stronger, even if the tournament world is eliminating them altogether. Unlike my earlier, more dire predictions of a year ago, I do think they will survive.
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