Betting Structure Question

[Crooked Paul]

Recently, I've started playing at a second weekly home game. This game has been going on for quite some time, and I'm the new kid at the table, so I didn't want to make waves... but I want to ask you guys what you think about this.

They play HORSE, which for those who might not know runs like this: Each player (let's say 7) deals one hand of Hold'em. When the button comes around to the first player again, we switch to Omaha for one orbit (7 hands). Then 7 hands Razz, 7 of seven-card Stud, 7 hands of Eight or better (aka Omaha Hi-Lo or Omaha/8), then back to the beginning for more Hold'em.

HORSE:
Hold'em
Omaha
Razz
Stud
Eight or better

Okay, so far, so good. I'm a very good Hold'em player, decent at Omaha and 8/b, and I play tight during the Stud and Razz games and don't fare too badly. So I like the variety.

Here's the question. What's up with their betting structure? It's a $20 buy-in. For the community-card games (Hold'em, Omaha, 8/b), they play .50/$1 strict limits. But for Razz and Stud, they play "spread limit" (not sure if that's the correct term), where any bet/raise can be .50-$1.25.

What do you guys think of this? I have a lot of opinions on the subject, but I don't want to prejudice your answers, so I'll hold my peace for the time being.

I'd really like to hear any thoughts y'all have to offer on the subject. Thanks in advance.


Crooked

[wingsfan]

I'm curious to hear your answers on this one. Next week, I'm having a SHOE game. For starters (this is my first time and I want to make it simple), I'm playing everything with fixed limits. However, I think (although I'm not positive) that a lot of stud and razz is played with spread limits. Wasn't sure how to resolve the two (spread vs. fixed limit) so I just ignored it for now. Would love to hear the different structures that people use though.

[smoore]

Spread limit works fine for stud, but I would think that a $0.25-$1 spread would be better. I like $1/$2 for the flop games with a $0.50-$1.50 spread limit for the stud games, $0.25 ante. There is one more betting round in a 7stud game.

of course, the stakes are so low that it really doesn't matter. If there isn't an ante in the stud games (just a bring in) then play tight as hell and learn how to play the bring in well.

[Crooked Paul]

Okay, not a lot of action on this thread. I'll post why I think their betting structure is weird, and I'd appreciate it if anyone can explain why I'm right or wrong (or a bit of both).

I'm used to playing no-limit hold'em, and it seems to me that at the most competitive levels, hold'em is almost always played no-limit, Omaha and Omaha H/L usually pot-limit, while Stud and Razz are played limit.

At the WSOP, this is the standard betting structure. They have limit hold'em games, too, but my sense is those tournaments are less competitive; they certainly get less airtime. And heck, on Poker Stars you can't even play Stud with any other betting structure. It's always fixed bets.

These conventions make sense to me from a theory perspective. When you're playing no-limit hold'em and someone bets all-in on the flop, you have enough information to decide whether it's worth a call of all your chips to see two more cards. On the other hand, fixed bets in a Stud game keep the betting from getting totally out of control so that your pot odds aren't totally wrecked. I mean, after the first three, you might have to decide whether to call or fold for each additional card. Fixed bets seem to keep the price for that information more reasonable, given whatever's already in the pot.

But if you're in a Stud hand with the wacky betting structure of this home game (.50-1.25 spread limit), you might have to call half or a third of the pot just to see fifth street. To me it seems like this structure is wrecking the odds. It heavily favors made hands over drawing hands, favors aggressive bluffers over smart callers.

What do you guys think?


Crooked