HORSE Metagame Makes HORSE an "Other" Game?

[AlanBostick]

I take seriously the point of view that since all of the component games in HORSE have their own forums, HORSE is not an "Other" poker game.

At the same time, it seems to me that there are metagame issues in HORSE and other mixed games that simply aren't present in the individual games.

One of these, surely, is the fact that most mixed-game players are stronger in some of the games in the mix and weaker in others. It makes a big difference to me in how I play a hand if my single opponent in a stud/8 round is a stone-killer Omaha player but is weak in stud/8.

Who the live ones are can change with the change of game. What's more, the stud player who takes a beating in the flop-game rounds might be on a particular sort of tilt when the stud games start: "Okay, I'm in my element, now, so you better get out of my pots!"

What are other HORSE player's thoughts on the metagame? How is the HORSE metagame different from those of its component games?