Enjoy my Poker Blog

[benfranklin]

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I found that somehow my PL holdem game was better than it ever was.

Now PLHE is far and away my best game even though I have played fewer hands of that game than either PLO or NLHE.

I guess my point is that I think by learning other games you may stumble upon skills that can sharpen your ability in all games... and you may find that you excel particularly in one game.

Irieguy

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I played nothing but O8 for several months, becoming a small but consistent winner at the low limit games. When I started playing some HE again, my HE game was definitely improved.

The key is that while learning O8, you are also learning poker. When you go back to HE, you don't know more about HE than you did before, but you do know more about poker. Knowing how to play poker is more important in the long run than knowing how to play HE.

Learning O8 (or any other game) gives you a different slant on, and a different approach to, poker. And you aren't focussed on the poker, you are focussed on the O8. The poker knowledge just kind of sneaks in.

It's like when you are studying some technical issue in a book, and then you read a different book or see a video or hear a lecture. In your mind, often subconsciously, you sort and merge the commonality of the various inputs into a unified set of skills.

[Oluwafemi]

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I agree that at some point its important to learn other games. There is no reason I shouldn't be able to properly read my hand in Omaha/8. I just think I have too much that I need to learn in holdem games to worry about those games yet.

Since I already have some knowledge in this area, it should be easier to pick those up. Although really I never really had huge success in ring games, almost all of my bankroll was built through tournaments.

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I learned to play PLO just because it sounded fun, and then fell in love with the game. So, for a few years I played mostly (almost exclusievely) pot-limit omaha and PLO-8 on line.

Then, when the holdem craze hit I had to switch back to holdem to take advantage of the money... and I found that somehow my PL holdem game was better than it ever was.

Now PLHE is far and away my best game even though I have played fewer hands of that game than either PLO or NLHE.

I guess my point is that I think by learning other games you may stumble upon skills that can sharpen your ability in all games... and you may find that you excel particularly in one game.

Some "famous" examples of this type of learning would be Phil Ivey, Paul Darden, and Ted Forrest. All three of those guys probably played less than 10% of their hands in holdem each year until 2002. Now, those guys would all make most people's top-20 lists in NLHE.

I guess i'm just interested in why you feel it wouldn't help your overall progress.

Irieguy

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i agree with Irie. i learned how to play NLHE first [exclusively in SNG format]. PS then introduced their [play money] PLO and NLO8 SNGs and i started killing them. now you may laugh because there's no real money involved and most of the players are weak but i don't look at it that way. PLO and NLO8 are primarily postflop games and good postflop players are the players who excel in them. in the low limits i play, i pride myself on having an edge postflop on most players. these play money PLO and NLO8 SNGs definitely improved my postflop play more than anything this year and i didn't have to go broke doing it. PLO and O8 are definitely two games that will help in your overall progress.

[The Yugoslavian]

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i agree with Irie.

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Irie, I know how you always talk about people being too unwilling to agree with you on some of your points....but in this case I gotta say that this endorsement troubles me, [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img].

Yugoslav

[lacky]

hmmm...I'm already champion, so I guess my only real goals right now are making money and beating you at STTF-HUC2. Why don't you make it PLO. I'd have a reason to finally learn the game, and you'd have a fair chance [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Steve

[psyduck]

I'm adding you ^___________^ KEKEK

No seriously though, very interesting stuff.

[chisness]

looks pretty cool. how often do you plan on playing? do you give yourself vacations whenever you want?

i can relate to your hitting a big upswing (mine was relatively very large for myself) and then getting ridiculously lazy. it's hard to explain since it's like giving up money, but there's just no drive.

[curtains]

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looks pretty cool. how often do you plan on playing? do you give yourself vacations whenever you want?

i can relate to your hitting a big upswing (mine was relatively very large for myself) and then getting ridiculously lazy. it's hard to explain since it's like giving up money, but there's just no drive.

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A lot of things come up for me, so Im going to have to take time off here and there. But I'll try to play as many days as I can.

[chisness]

best of luck, if you can keep this up, 2006 should be a very very profitable year for you. so what do you do with your winnings? stocks, money market, briefcases in the closet?

[curtains]

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best of luck, if you can keep this up, 2006 should be a very very profitable year for you. so what do you do with your winnings? stocks, money market, briefcases in the closet?

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A little of everything. I suspect the most profitable thing would be to play as many sit and gos as possible all the time, but its pretty boring too to do it all the time.

[chisness]

well that's not really feasible

even if you're a $200 player, once you've got $20k or so online, it's gotta be most profitable to put most of the rest in the market.