Stealing A Poker/ Fight Question From Giant Buddha

[David Sklansky]

In the thread about figters GB answered:

This question and the answers posted seem similar to asking "which of the following is most likely to win a HORSE tournament?"

1) The best Hold'em player in the world
2) The best Omaha player in the world
3) The best Razz player in the world
4) The best Stud player in the world
5) The best Stud-Eight player in the world"

Assuming each expert knew the rules but had never played a hand of the other games, who WOULD win? And why.

[Piemaster]

Have the Omaha/Stud/Razz players watched plenty of Hold'em on TV?

[David Sklansky]

No

[Piemaster]

I would say that the obvious (although not necessarily correct) answer is the Stud/8 player, because he has the most transferable skills. He should have a somewhat inate understanding of the mechanics and strategy of Stud and Razz, due to his experience of Stud/8 which is effectively a hybrid of the two. He would also have hi-lo game experience that would be useful in Omaha/8. He may struggle a bit with Hold'em, but that still gives him at least a superficial understanding of 4 games out of 5.

Speaking of superficial, that's my answer for now until I have thought about it some more.

[Keepitsimple]

Stud/8 or Omaha. I think Omaha/8 is the game where the expert has the biggest edge. I dont know which is more valueble. Knowing how split games work or knowing omaha.

Probably its better to know omaha.

So Omaha>=Stud/8>Razz=Stud>Holdem

I put holdem last since its quite simple to become good enough to not lose a lot. Its also a quite tight game if played as fullring so you wouldnt really need to do anything special.

[tomdemaine]

No limit holdem is the Cadillac of poker so I assume the holdem player will win.

[Piemaster]

Another thought is that, because there are far more hold'em players than anything else, the best Hold'em player is statistically more likely to be an overall better all round poker player than the others. Doubt this will affect the probabilities too much though, my original answer of Stud/8 stands.

[onoble]

Chip Reese

[Boredom]

pie and onoble,

the premise of the question is that this is a hypothetical universe where the best players in these games have never played the other games. so the preponderance of hold'em players in the real world and consequent likelihood of the well-roundedness of some, and the existence of a well-known master of all games in the real world, are non-starters.

[alphatmw]

has to be the stud8. he should have the 2nd best understandings of razz and stud, after the razz and stud experts.