What Games Show Signs of Long Term Popularity (Not Including NLHE/PLO)

[rainonacongadrum]

Mods: If there is a better forum for this please move.

In the interest of flexibility, profit, and learning I plan to proficiently learn one other form of poker. I already play NLHE and PLO. These are games that I play fairly well and plan to get much better at.

I would like the game to be challenging and preferably somewhat different from PLO/NLHE (to test myself). The most important things, however, are for the game to show signs of long-term popularity, have a lot of players, and generally be profitable.

What game should I add to my arsenal that meets the above criteria?

[jfk]

HORSE would be a natural addition. It seems to have grown recently in stature, hopefully with a commensurate increase in interest.

Those aspiring to play in various live big games (not that I'd know) would be well served to brush up on their HORSE skills.

[Gonso]

7Stud seems like the obvious choice to me, but then Stud was the game here before the NLHE boom. It's vastly different than what you play now, very skill dependent, and you can still get a game. LHE is very worthwhile also.

The high-lo games are ok, same with Triple Draw, but eh. Stud, LHE, PLO and NLHE are really the "core" poker games to me.

I'm all for playing HORSE, but he's not playing any of the five games right now. Learning one game at a time is challenging enough.

[RobNottsUk]

I've spent time learning O8 and also dabbled with 7Stud.

PLO8 seems quite popular, and profitable; the strategy change for split pot, would lead you into 7Stud8. FLO8 and FL 7Stud are quite fun, but if you're used to NLHE and PLO, you might find it frustrating (especially loose-passive games), as you can't set the cost of the 'outdraw', but must take a long term view. In FL poker, you often need the cooperation of an opponent to build the pot, and the technical card play and accuracy is emphasised over inter-personal battles (hint: bluff rarely).

Trying 7Stud in a break, helped my other games, as it really is good practice for card reading skills.