I can beat .5/1 ... now what? O8

[GooperMC]

After about 10K hands of limit O8 I have started to feel confident that I can beat .5/1 consistently. Here are my PTO stats.

Total stats:
Hands: 9211
VP$IP: 17.7
W$SF: 21.28
BB/100: 1.7
WtSD: 26.89
W$SD 64.05
PFR: 2.8
PFAgg: .19
FlopAgg: .92
TurnAgg: 1.45
RiverAgg: 2.04

Last 5K (Since I have figured out how to play this game)
Hands: 4423
VP$IP: 16.9
W$SF: 23.85
BB/100: 4.9
WtSD: 26.41
W$SD: 68.99
PFR: 2.99
PFAgg: .20
FlopAgg: 1.17
TurnAgg: 1.82
RiverAgg: 2.36
TotalAgg: .78

My question is: “now what?” I obviously would like to move up but I am wondering where to play. Currently I have been playing at party and like playing there because I can use PlayerView and it is very fishy. However party usually only has 2 full ring 1/2 games running and they seem pretty rocky.

They options I see:
- Play party 1/2 and deal with the rockyness and lack of table selection (augment with .5/1 tables as needed)
- I’ve heard that paradise has some decent 1/2 games but then I would lose PlayerView
- Skip straight to 2/4 and hopefully not go on a bad run and lose all my .5/1 winnings.
- Play party 1/2 6 Max.
- <insert better suggestion here>

What do you guys think?

[Drade]

[starstealer]

[GooperMC]

[Rhound50]

I think you should move to veags and play the $200/$400 game at the bellagio, thats sort of like $2/4 right???

[Felonius_Monk]

[GooperMC]

That is a very interesting point Monk. Before this limit kick I have been on I did play a bunch of PLO8 (remember all the questions over at the other, now dead, O8 Forum) and was winning a decent amount (around 4.5 PT BB/100) however it was very streaky. I am going back to school in a few months and I am thinking about using poker as supplementary income while in school. If that is the case then streaky is the last thing that I need.

I have heard of decent O8 players pulling 4BB/100 at 3/6 and 5/10. At 3/6 you probably get about 50 hands per hour so if I 4 table I would be making $25/hr.

I have heard that you can get up to 15 PT BB/100 playing PLO8. If I worked my way up to $100 level that would be $15/table hr. I have only ever been able to play 2 games of PLO8 at the same time so it would work out about the same as playing 3/6, but the swings, oye the swings.

Granted I have not played either 3/6 of the $100 buy in PLO8 and these are only numbers that I have heard so all of this is just conjecture. What do you guys think?

[Felonius_Monk]

Well here's my figures for your perusal:

This year, in 100 and 200 PLO I am making somewhere in the 25BB/100 region (this is only an approximate figure taken from my hourly rate, assuming ~35-40 hands per hour). Make a bit less at the 400 PLO games, and because I multitable so much I rarely play them.

I am making 19BB/100 in $100 PLO8 given the same rationale. I have played (so far) 156 hours on these tables, usually 6 or 7 tabling including some PLO. I am not an especially good O8 player.

With slightly less hours (mostly messing about chasing party and empire bonuses when I was doing something else, or showing someone something about poker) I am on 22BB/100 at $25 PLO8. In the $200 PLO8 games (which I play less than the $100 games because my O8 skills basically arent as good as my PLO skills) I am racking up the princely total of 2BB/100, although that's only after 20-odd hours.

As I say, I usually play 6/7 tables, so given that, only playing $100 games, I should be racking up something like 250 hands/hour, and therefore somewhere in the $60/hr region (theoretically) though my rate is lower than that because I don't always play so many tables, sometimes play less lucrative games, and other such considerations.

Playing 2 tables of $100PLO8 (and frankly I don't see how you can bare to play less than 4 online, or maybe I just have ADD ) you could comfortably make $15/hr. I would think a really good player who doesn't tilt and takes advantage of the additional reads possible by only playing 2 tables could nudge that closer to $20/hour. In my experience the swings in 100PLO8 are not considerably greater than the swings for playing 3/6. I would be comfortable playing 100PLO8 with a bankroll in the $1000 region (personally, though I'm not saying I don't think there's a risk of ruin, albeit slight) but would rather have a little more for 3/6, personally.

I guess if you don't like multi-tabling, then limit O8 provides the best opportunity for doing so with minimal risk of screw ups. It's easier to play 4 tables of 3/6 than 100PLO8 with less chance of making a horrible mistake. However, I would think that you could perhaps do with trying to work on the necessary skills required to add a couple more tables to your abilities. Certainly, playing 25PLO8 and nut-peddling is not really that taxing, considering you only see a playable hand about one time in 4 even playing loosely in these games AND you only need to get a "read" as far as picking out the complete balloons who will re-raise their stack on a bare low draw, at this level.

Poker is SERIOUS horses for courses stuff, and you should do what makes you feel COMFORTABLE, as comfort is a vastly important proviso in playing your best game. That said, you should think very hard about your capabilities and try to push them and expand them, within the limitations of your bankroll and ambitions. Push your skills as hard as you can, and, if you see an opportunity, go for it; just don't risk going broke. That's the best advice I can give. Perhaps now is a good time to try pushing yourself a little bit harder, if you want to make some money from this when school time comes around again - maybe have a ru at PLO8, add an extra table and see if your game or your winrate actually really suffers (my money says it won't) OR if you're not comfortable with that idea, move up to 1/2 on different websites, bonus whore as hard as you can and try to get that BR up to 2/4 level, where the games are pretty juicey most places.

Best of luck!

Monk
xxxxx

[GooperMC]

Monk. Thanks for the reply you gave me a lot to think about.