Online Poker at Full Tilt

As I have mentioned several times in the past, tournaments other than NL Hold em have really taken off and gotten to be more abundant on Full Tilt. In the past it was much harder to find action in say, a PL Omaha Hi-lo tournament, but with the increase of players on Full Tilt, these games have become easier to find.

If you are looking for a break from NL Hold’em, you might think about trying a H.O.R.S.E, Omaha, Stud, or Razz tournament of some variety. I have found myself playing more of these types lately just to get a break from NL Hold’em. Last night I made the final table in a large multi-table PL Omaha Hi game and I enjoyed it more than I have NL Hold’em games lately. I think there are a couple of reason why it can be easier to advance further in these games.

First, most of the players playing them are NL Hold’em players. H.O.R.S.E, for example requires a far different skill set than Hold’em. I think the “green-ness” if you will contributes to a little easier pickins for those of us who have some experience in these games. Maybe some signed up by mistake, maybe they wanted to try it and found them didn’t like it, whatever the case may be, I see a lot of players simply calling and then re-raising every bet until they run out of chips after they have lost one big hand.

These are the kind of players that you can really capitalize off of. Look for these guys at every table in multi-table tourneys. They are there and you can increase your chip stack because of them. They seem to get frustrated by the fact that they cannot go all-in because it is a Limit game. It is a form of “Tilt” just a different one than you are used to seeing in NL games.

The other thing I notice is that you will find less suck-outs in games like Omaha etc. Not to say that there are none, but it is harder to suck out on a hand in these games and if a player is used to playing too loose in NL games, he will get eaten up in a game like H.O.R.S.E. You really have to tighten up your play and only play the hands that give you a good chance of winning, especially early on. Most NL Hold’em players play way too loose in these games and you can take advantage in a big way. If being selective in NL Hold em is important, it is 10x more so in games like Omaha Hi-lo. Many of the players you are up against give absolutely no thought to playing hands that have no chance of winning the Lo-pot. If you keep this in mind and play against them accordingly, you can take more chances to win both pots, knowing you are in better position than your opponent to win the Lo. One of the keys to playing these games is to not play hands that don’t give you a chance to win both pots.

Anyway, if you need some variation in your daily dose of poker, try straying out of the NL box. Bone up on your skills (it is a radically different skill set for these other games!) and see if your bankroll doesn’t start reflecting the difference!