Learning another poker game?

[PygmyHero]

I know this may be better suited to Other Poker, but there is some ML application here, which I will get to.

Lately I've been considering learning another poker game, with some preference going to games that are the LEAST like HE (I would think that would make Pineapple variants and Omaha variants at the bottom of my list).

Here's why I'm posting this here:
I am wondering if anyone in the forum frequently plays other games (I think I remember Paxosmotic posting about it). If so, I'd be particularly interested to hear if it helped them and their poker game overall. If it helps sustain your interest in poker just to have some variety, I would consider that 'helping your overall poker game.' Other possibilities that occurred to me - playing draw and improving your reads, playing 7S and improving your card counting and memorization, etc.

I am also wondering if anyone feels that playing another game has the potential to stunt their HE game while it is still in its adolescence (which I think is a valid concern for a ML player to have). Would this danger be mitigated by playing a game that is extremely disimilar to HE (my primary motivation in choosing a non-HE type game is simply variety, but I think this should be a factor)?

And lastly, I guess I wouldn't be averse to some game recommendations (please explain why that's your choice).

Thanks for the input.

[WordWhiz]

If you think O8 is anything like Hold em, it's obvious you haven't played it. It happens to be a community card game. That's about it.

I've just started playing o8 a couple of weeks ago, using nothing more than Ray Zee's book, a couple of websites, and a starting hand chart. I'm up over 5BB/100 thru 2000 hands (yeah, yeah, sample size, I know).

Anyway, it has definitely been a fun and entertaining diversion from hold em, which has sharpened my thinking of lots of hold em related topics. A lot of key topics, like counting outs, betting strong draws, redraws, and getting counterfeited are magnified 100 times in O8. Other concepts, like domination, are less valuable. Just my 2 cents.

[Aaron W.]

[ QUOTE ]
I am wondering if anyone in the forum frequently plays other games (I think I remember Paxosmotic posting about it). If so, I'd be particularly interested to hear if it helped them and their poker game overall. If it helps sustain your interest in poker just to have some variety, I would consider that 'helping your overall poker game.' Other possibilities that occurred to me - playing draw and improving your reads, playing 7S and improving your card counting and memorization, etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

I "frequently" play stud8 (60 hands last weekend... that's a lot for me). I'm learning that game because I'm interested in doing something a little different.

[jaxUp]

Paxosomatic might have something good to say here too if you want to talk to him.

[Greg J]

We don't do 2p2 games here as much we used to, but i used to advocate playing the weirdest fing game we could -- 7 stud hi lo was one of my favs, taking it seriously (not a lagfest).

I've also been thinking of the same things. I first started to think about it around month six of my learning experience. Obviously, six months isn't a long time so I dismissed it and remained specializing in LHE.

Fast forward another six months (now), and I've been debating it again. For practical reasons, I want to take up some Omaha. Instead I think that I'm going to try out more HE variants like some ultra-cheap single table tournaments and freeroll MTTs.

Obviously, I'm not thinking about roll building or anything, just to have a little fun with poker...as well as learning something new. The grind can be grueling and playing something different will make you feel refreshed.

But I'm still a limit donkey, so I don't really want to spread myself thin. Oh yeah, I should also mention that I'm new to 6-max so that's somewhat of a change in the last month.