Party O8: Is $10/$20 softer than $3/$6?

[Kyle Stevenson]

I've noticed something odd on Party's limit O8 tables - the pots are bigger on the $10/$20 tables and the $2/$4 tables than anything inbetween. At $2/$4 and below the average pot is usually around 8-12BB, and at $10/$20 it's about 8-11BB, but at $3/$6 and $5/$10 it's more like 6-9BB.

I can think of two possible reasons for this.

1) There's more preflop raising in the 10/20, not incorrect or exploitable, just a different style of play that leads to bigger pots. The game is tougher than the lower limit games, like you'd expect.

2) 2/4 and below attracts the casual recreational players, 10/20 (the largest O8 table available without a long wait) attracts the players who want to gamble it up, while no one is in 3/6 or 5/10 except players who are cautiously moving up from the lower limits. So the 10/20 is actually more beatable than the games immediately below it.

Which of these is closer to reality? I'm wondering whether my plan should be to steadily move up in limits, or to spend extra time in 2/4 and then jump straight into 10/20.

[Iceman]

Actually neither - the primary reason is that there's more postflop action in the higher game.

Larger average pot sizes in Omaha-8 don't necessarily mean a softer game. If usually only 3-5 people see the flop, but you have a lot of three or four bet rounds on the flop and turn, then there will be a high average pot size, but the game will be very difficult to beat. In 3-6 you might have less preflop raising and slightly more people seeing the flop on average, but then a lot of the later streets will more often just have a bet and some calls, since people aren't as good at reading situations to know when they can push a good-but-not-great hand.