Adventures in Low Limit Omaha Eight

The fog is finally starting to clear, and I can think again. The sun is partially out, my blood sugar is fine and I'm raring to head up to Vegas for some live play this weekend.

It is amazing that I can play O8 online and win money, while sick, when I can't even think. I guess I'm lucky that O8 can be played by rote at those limits.

While I hated playing so passively, at first, now I'm getting used to it. It seems strange to have my pointer on check/call or check/fold versus bet/raise or check/fold, lol. I want to bet, bet, raise, when I know I've got the best hand at the time, but following Zee's advice, I cannot do that all of the time. Not only does he suggest sometimes not betting and/or raising with the current nut hand, but he even says on occasion we have to check/fold with the current nut hand! Wow, that is tough to do! It is truly a tough test of patience and obedience.

In the past five days, I've made about 140 bb's at .25/.50 O8. I usually only play one table at a time, unless I am transferring tables. I am making over 4 bb's per hour. I know I'm not making the most of my top hands, but my variance is very low, too. I'm not playing for drama, I'm playing to pass the time and endure some of my illness in a constructive manner (instead of being doped up on drugs all the time, which is what most doctors seem to suggest as the correct treatment).

I'm waiting for someone from 2+2 to start posting my hand histories and ripping me to shreds, but for the limits I'm playing, this tight/passive strategy isn't bad. I'm not an expert player, by any stretch of the imagination, plus trying to make a move on any of the micro limit players is just a joke.

Who knows where this is leading. For right now, I'm having a blast, making a little bit of money (hey, don't spend that $10 per day all in one place!) and trying to get through the winter complications with my diabetes.

Can't wait to see you all this weekend in Vegas!

More Comments...

StudioGlyphic said... A very, very tempting offer. 25c/50c... that's Stars, right?

I've actually been playing on UB, because I had about $45 in bonus that I could work off. Now that they have added a reload bonus for December, I'll probably continue there. As soon as I double up, I'm going to move to 50/1.00. I'm almost there, so if you want to play, hurry!
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Online Poker said... Hi Felicia.

I play a lot of O8 online. I've added your link to my new blog. (http://online-poker-player.blogspot.com/) be great if you could reciprocate, you're the only one on there right now.

Great, thanks! Let me check yours out.
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Poker Nerd said... The demise of stud really is unfortunate. I love playing it, but I feel obligated to follow the fish and they sure aren't there. Add on the fact that no online sites, with the possible exception of Stars, have any clue what a proper ante should be in relation to the blinds, and I just can't convince myself to play.

I had hoped that the poker boom would help these games...it appears to have done the opposite.

I hear you. I am thinking about getting some help from John Cernuto. I think perhaps I have a bit of a future in O8 play. If he thinks I can win some majors, that might extend my tourney career a little longer.
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olivertse said... The trend in tournament poker is "no limit hold'em almost all the time", with a smattering of limit hold'em, pot limit hold'em, and pot limit omaha high.

The other games are all losing market share.

As for cash games, restricted buy-in no limit hold'em is where the fish now swim. No limit hold'em is slowing killing off 7-Card Stud High, Stud High-Low, and Omaha High-Low cash games at middle limits and even low limits.

Good players will adjust by following the fish and become jack of all trades.

If and when the poker bubble deflate, no problem. Casinos will simply replace poker tables with slot machines.

Other than the WSOP, I can't seem to financially justify the cost of traveling to play high-low tournaments (Omaha/8 and Stud/8) anymore given that I can make more money on average playing no limit hold'em cash games online.

I might go to LA or even Reno once a while from San Francisco, but Vegas is too long and too expensive a trip during the winter, and traveling to any point further east of Vegas had never made any financial sense for me.

Oliver, you are too smart! When are you going to start your own journal? Yes, I know that it's -EV to go traveling around for a handful of tourneys, but my problem is that I'm an addict, and my name is Felicia D...
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olivertse said... Felicia:

Commerce is NOT charging juice on rebuys.

The only thing that Commerce has changed is in its advertising.

Instead of hiding "3% is withheld for the tournament staff" in the fine print, Commerce decided to list the 3% to be withheld as a fee.

The more "honest" advertising Commerce is using seems to have backfired, as players who didn't read the ad carefully acted in a kneejerk manner.

I'm sorry, you are correct. The photo they used on their page is very blurry, and I missed the fine print at the bottom. Although I sometimes still refer to mandatory tipping as "juice," I know there is a difference. All-in-all, though, Commerce is still charging less than Tunica, and I can drive instead of fly :)

Omaha 8

If you haven't already guessed, I'm not going to be able to play the Stud 8 event at Bellagio tomorrow. It is raining and very cold here. I can't really function today and my blood sugar is a mess. I hope to see you all next weekened, instead, at the Sam's Town invitational tournament, and around Vegas. The weather is supposed to be warm and sunny, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
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I've been playing a lot of low limit Omaha 8 online since I've gotten sick. I used to hate O8, because it's such a suck-out game, and to play against average players (loose-passive), you have to play super passive yourself, until you've got the virtual nuts at the river, or an almost unbeatable hand before that.

I hate playing so passively, check-check-check. It is too much like weakness. So I never cared much for Omaha 8.

Being sick, though, limits my options. Okay, if I can't go out and play, I can either watch movies, surf the web, play Nintendo, play some other online game, or play poker. Having run through the other options, I finally turned to online poker again, something I rarely do, and don't care for.

Now, as far as the online poker games go, I can play LHE pretty much by rote, but I'm sick of HE. I'll bet I've played 1000 HE tourneys in the past two years, and I just want a change. I can play Stud, but Stud takes a lot of work to play expertly, and when I'm sick, I just can't concentrate as well as when I'm 100%. Draw can be played by rote, but I've never liked Draw much, it just doesn't do anything for me, besides, I don't have Paradise on my PC, I'd have to use Glenn's, and I have the soft, Lazy-boy :)

Pineapple and TDL don't interest me much. Pineapple is a no-brainer, true, but there aren't many games, and once again, I don't have Paradise. TDL is just insane, the most luck-based accepted poker game being played today. Forget it, not to mention that I'm not a big Draw fan in the first place, like I've said before.

So that leaves Omaha 8. And you would think I would hate it, but for whatever reason, it comforts me when I'm sick. I don't have to put a player on a hand, because they play like they have no brain. They don't even know what hand they have most of the time, so how could I ever put them on a hand? Psychology goes right out of the window at those low limits.

I can sit and patiently play the nuts for hour after hour. I don't have to "work" to beat the game. I don't have to think about what the players might have, if I know I'm going to get some dough, I just play my own cards, and screw them. If I can get my money back on a nut hand (sometimes, even getting quartered you can make money, if you play it right, depending on the number of players in and your position), I just play it the way I feel will get the most in my stack. Simple, Zee strategy.

So for right now, I'm FeliciaLee online, and grinding it out at O8. If you see me, don't be hurt if I don't respond. I never have the chat enabled.

I will be happy to help out anyone who wants to deposit $25 and learn O8. You can IM me on Yahoo, MSN and sometimes AOL as fzdyer. Don't expect to be coddled and complimented, though, I'll just tell you what you need to know, what you are doing wrong and right. I will also play against you like I'd play against anyone. No softplaying, no colluding, you are no different from anyone else at the table. I would never discuss hands we are in together while they are being played. I'm not awesome at O8, but I can surely help out some fledgling players :)

I don't know why this game has started to soothe me, but it has. So I'll keep playing it. I don't think I'm going to get too hurt at .25/.50, even if I start to run really, really bad, lol.