The structure of HORSE

[The world sucks]

How do you structure a HORSE game, so that every player gets to pay the same amount of blinds? Are the stud games played with an ante, and how big should it be in relation to the bring-in?

Also, when playing stud, it's random who pays the bring-in, while the blinds are fixed relative to the button.

How is the game structured to address these kinds of problems?

[The world sucks]

Well, I suppose I wasn't very clear there. The questions are:

1) How are the games with ante and bring-in structured so that they are played for the "same stakes" as the games with blinds? What should the ante be?

2) If it's dealer's choice, it seems to be better to choose O or H, since you are sure you won't have to put in a forced bet. Is this true, and if so, are there something in the structure to prevent it?

[Beavis68]

play poker like the pros has a good ante structure guide.

HORSE isnt dealers choice, it changes every round.


the first time a player plays a blind game, they have to post or wait for the BB.

[MarkGritter]

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1) How are the games with ante and bring-in structured so that they are played for the "same stakes" as the games with blinds? What should the ante be?


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There was a thread a while back, IIRC, about the fact that more money went into the pot in 7CS due to the extra big-bet round. Somebody suggested that they be played at smaller limits.

In most situations, though, the big bet and small bet are the same for both stud and flop games. (And draw!)

You should pick an ante size that makes sense for the game rather than trying to make things "fair".

For example, PokerStar's stud structure at 5/10 is $0.50 ante, $2 bringin. At an 8-handed table this means each players puts in, on average, $6 in forced bets per 8 hands. In Hold'em each player would put in $7 per 8 hands. Trying to make these come out even leads to either a $3 bringin (too large, more than 50% of the bet) or a strange-sized ante. Or you could play with $1/$5 blinds in HE, I guess.

You might try asking in Home Games if you are having trouble finding a good ante size for your game. One option is to use a 'dealer ante' where one player antes for the whole table each hand, rotating around the table. (A dead blind, essentially.)

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2) If it's dealer's choice, it seems to be better to choose O or H, since you are sure you won't have to put in a forced bet. Is this true, and if so, are there something in the structure to prevent it?

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The best way to avoid this is to play an entire round of whatever game is chosen. So if you are 6-handed and the dealer picks a stud game, play 6 hands of stud. If he picks hold'em, play 6 hands of hold'em. This ensures blind parity (and bringin parity over the long run.)

Or, try to sit to the left of players who pick stud games and enjoy the lack of forced bets. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]