H.O.R.S.E. easier ? Or simply luck.

I stumbled accross a horse tournament, and it was my first time playing Omaha, razz, stud and hi-lo.

I don't know if its me but I found that the competition was alot easier in those tournaments, maybe I got a lucky break but people seemed to call alot with bad hands, and not necesserely knowing where to put their money on. Since it was limit to most, but n/l holdem people dint lose to much in every game, but when we got to hold'em, people got eliminated really fast.

I finished 12th with 10000 competitors, is it begginers luck, do I have the touch or is it simply easier because the common player dosnt necesserly quite understand these games?

Whats your opinion?

GotaLovePoke said:

I stumbled accross a horse tournament, and it was my first time playing Omaha, razz, stud and hi-lo.

I don't know if its me but I found that the competition was alot easier in those tournaments, maybe I got a lucky break but people seemed to call alot with bad hands, and not necesserely knowing where to put their money on. Since it was limit to most, but n/l holdem people dint lose to much in every game, but when we got to hold'em, people got eliminated really fast.

I finished 12th with 10000 competitors, is it begginers luck, do I have the touch or is it simply easier because the common player dosnt necesserly quite understand these games?

Whats your opinion?

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Conrats! Although frankly, I'm oftem a little shocked. Usually, it's the typical hold'em player that doesn't know what they're doing in the other games. Unfortunately, their strategy still sometimes works even with more experienced HORSE players that don't know that the bets before them are misguided.

The average level of play in a low-stake HORSE tournament is usually pretty low. That's because so few players will be strong in every game. You might get someone who is strong in HE and Omaha, but weak in Razz and Stud. Or vice versa. Also, since the most popular game is NLHE, most players have little experience playing limit games. Some assume limit means you can just draw to any hand.

That combination means that players capable in all games as well as the limit structure should do very well in HORSE tournies.

I play horse fairly often as I find it helps me to analyze my game a little better. The fact that different games have different strategies and as PokerVic said "so few players will be strong in every game" helps.

its probably not u . I do really well in Horse , not because I'm a great player , but because the other players are even worst than me.

Sounds like a freeroll anomaly to me - I'm assuming HORSE tourney with that many players could only have been a freeroll?

In general, HORSE is a very easy game to lose money at. Very few players can play all five games well, and most have major leaks in at least one or two of the games. Razz and Stud8 are the common ones in my experience.

Personally, I play very little HORSE because I know I'm awful at Stud8 and my regular stud / LHE / O8 games are average at best.

Razz is the only game where I think I'd have any advantage over the majority of my opponents, and I really don't think my edge in 20% of the hands outweighs the disadvantage I'd be putting myself at for the other 80% of hands. Hell, I don't think it'd even outweigh the black hole that is my Stud8 game

I have had some success also playing HORSE. I think that people now do want to play HORSE more than ever, even without experience, since it has become one of the main attractions at the wsop. I think this accounts for why a lot of the people who play freerolls or low buy-ins do not have a lot of experience playing the various constituent games. People with more experience, in my opinion, tend to gravitate to higher stakes games. When I am playing any of the games I am weaker on, I compensate by playing tighter. Its great to play a variety of poker games. It makes you appreciate NLHE even that much more.

Thank you all for your reply, I guess it is indeed a mixture of luck, inexperienced players and low stakes game. It was indeed a freeroll.

My experience was enjoyable though and I really enjoy HORSE.

Stumble is right... HORSE is one of the trickiest combos to master... newbies like yourself, you think these games are luck, are asking to be eaten alive, over time, slowly...

Makwa said:

Stumble is right... HORSE is one of the trickiest combos to master... newbies like yourself, you think these games are luck, are asking to be eaten alive, over time, slowly...

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I love how you threat me in that specific quote, especialy since I am actualy refering to a tournament not the game, now I never said it was a game of luck.

Secondly I doubt I am a bad poker player, Horse is a great game, and your just being rude.

This game is based on probabilities when it comes to an all-in, even a low % will hit when lucky.



Please if you want to add a comment, do so, but don't do so in a rude, arrogant way.

Could be luck. . .could be you figured everything out. I like the mix. I find that Stud and Razz are my weak games, with omaha and hold'em being my strengths. If you play well during your strong games, then you stand a great chance of finishing strong in a horse tournament.

Good Job! Even though the competition in horse is weak at best until the money in freerolls, that is a great accomplishment. horse is a great game to to play, and if you get good at it, that could be your calling.

PokerVic said:

The average level of play in a low-stake HORSE tournament is usually pretty low.
Some assume limit means you can just draw to any hand.
That combination means that players capable in all games as well as the limit structure should do very well in HORSE tournies.

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True.

Congrats, well done.
I think they are very easy, too.

I play on FT but opened a PS account last week.
I placed in 5 freerolls of 8 played.
In the round 1 freerolls minimum 75% of all players are fish.
On every game.
This counts even more for HORSE where you should be good in all games.

I think they donk off most chips in omaha but in general the fields are very weak.

The luck can swing both ways. If you are playing people that don't know how to play the limit games, many will chase to the end because they see it as only 1 more bet. As you well know this can bump the pot up for people that have their hands already made, but gives a lot of opportunity to the chasers to hit their hands at the end. If you are playing with beginners many have no idea what a good starting hand in say omaha is, so it is not easy to put them on hands after the flop. But HORSE is a great game and not one easy to master. Congratulations on your 12th place finish. Keep up the good work.

I like the horse tournamnets that I have played in. All were low stakes or freerolls. And the play is questionable by some players who have never played the other games involved in this fromat. Which is were I seem to make most of my cashes. The players do not have a very good understanding of these games and will play anything just trying to advance or get to the one game they understand better. My weakest game is Omaha, but I love Razz. As with any of the low stake or freerolls out there, there are lot of allin players trying to get lucky by chaseing hands that should never have been played out.