how do you find the 50s to be different? my experience is that you get some people slumming from the higher levels and will uberlag it up, but other than that...

if you have $1100, i would definitely consider giving a two buy-in stab at the 100s. just play tight and don't make loose calls.

stars can be good, but game selection is key.


anyway, keep us updated.

I play PLO8 tables ranging from $25 to $200. I actually play more hands at the $25 tables because the games are generally looser and I figure the players there are bad enough to pay me off if I connect with longshot hands. I find it frustrating playing speculative A45x hands, and folding ~90% of the time on the flop. Then when I actually connect with a flop everyone folds to my bet. That's a big difference at the higher limits. People tend to play better. I know it's obvious, but it's very very true. Beating good players is a lot harder than beating bad players.

I'd say, "Test everything. Hold on to the good." For big-bet games like PLO/PLO8 or NLHE there are many different winning styles. Some styles do better in different game types and being able to adapt is the sign of a truly skilled player. I think you'll benefit from trying different things. Try playing more hands and see how it goes. Your success with depend a lot upon how well you play post flop and especially the qualify of your opponents.

There was a time when I studied a lot of Ribbo's hand histories and tried imitate his semi-loose aggressive style. I didn't have much success and felt uncomfortable the whole time. Some elements carried over as I gradually shifted gears back into my natural playing style. I then started to win again and felt I had a better overall understanding of the game. Wintermute had a nice post over at 2+2 talking about some issues regarding this topic.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showt ... er=4734384

Wintermute is one of the few players who plays in the $2k game that openly talks about his thoughts. So I thought it was also very interesting that since he's started being able to beat the $2k game regularly, he now claims he can't go back at beat the $100s any more.

http://fundy.livejournal.com/8491.html? ... 683#t16683

JD, a couple of thoughts.

1) The $100 players are only a tiny bit better then the $25 player. You can still win a decent rate (around 10BB/100 I would guess) by just playing ABC poker.
2) It really depends on the site. When I play PLO8 $100 at party after playing at the Cryptos I am shocked at the aggression and visa versa.
3) In PLO8 Marginal hands are marginal for a reason. Yes when you connect playing A45 you have a hidden hand but really how often do you connect? To use a bad analogy in HE this would be like saying if you play 36o from EP your hand will be really hidden if you flop a str8.
4) Good hands are good hands for a reason. Even at the $100 tables I am making 60% of my money with A2, A23, A3, and 234. I am making another 30% of my money with AA + a low. That leaves only 10% for everything else. Most of the other players in my DB have the same distribution.

I agree that stacking is much less common a the higher levels; however, not showing down hands is more common. That means you are no longer going to stack people but there is plenty of opportunity to steal. At the $100 tables esp. at the cryptos I make the majority of my money by winning small to medium sized pots where I am fairly sure I don't have the best hand.

My suggestion to you would be to not loosen up to look to stack someone, just look for more opportunities to steal. Disclaimer, I haven’t played a ton of PLO8 $100 at party so my advice is mainly targeted to the Crypto games.

My other suggestion is to join TG and me over at the Crypto games. I have been clearing the bonuses at around $6/table hour and the games are mostly weak passive so you get to be a LAG. My favorite configuration is to have 1 Crypto $100 game going in which I am play very aggressive and focusing almost all of my attention. Then I add 2 $25 Party tables in which I am playing ABC.