am i dumb?

[Popeye]

i read kriegers book, i read cappletti's (sp?) book, i have read the chapter in SS2, and i am now reading Ray Zee's book, but i still feel clueless when i play, i thought o8 was one of the simplest pokergames, i hate the fact about all the books i bought and that i'm still a crap player.
not only does this cost part of my bankroll, but also my emotional self-esteem, right now i feel like i will never become a good o8 player, and i feel like chit.
guess i'm just a dumbtruck hehe

[kurto]

I don't understand where you heard it was the easiest form of poker.

Its more difficult then NLTHE in that (1) every hand can be played two ways (and all the implications that has on determining odds/ev) (2) all the draws (including backdoor draws) which are out there and must be considered (3) its pot limit (and the implications of not being able to bet more then the pot)

That being said, there are some things that are simple about it... Do you have the nuts? Are you drawing to the nuts? Can you be counterfeited?

[Popeye]

by the way, i am talking about LO8
the thing i hate is all the books i have invested now i don't want to quit this game, but if i see that i have no improvement and i keep being a losing player i feel like quitting. thats what tears my mind now: quit, don't quit, quit, don't quit, quit, don't quit, quit.....

[morphball]

[ QUOTE ]
i read kriegers book, i read cappletti's (sp?) book, i have read the chapter in SS2, and i am now reading Ray Zee's book, but i still feel clueless when i play, i thought o8 was one of the simplest pokergames, i hate the fact about all the books i bought and that i'm still a crap player.
not only does this cost part of my bankroll, but also my emotional self-esteem, right now i feel like i will never become a good o8 player, and i feel like chit.
guess i'm just a dumbtruck hehe

[/ QUOTE ]

Supbro, don't feel bad. Took me a while to beat O8 as well, and I actually remain down in $25 PLO8 to this day (moved on up to where they would respect my raises...lol).

Simple advice if you are playing 1/2 LO8 or below, play conservatively (and almost weakly when you don't have a monster) and the money will come to you...Site dependant and game dependant, of course, I played 1/2 games that were awefully hard...

[Popeye]

acoording to mason malmuth in pokeressays i have the bankroll to play 3/6, so i play 2/4 and 3/6 now, is that dumb of me?
i used to play at party, but now i play at stars, the games seem tougher at stars though.

[morphball]

I don't know, the 3/6 games on-line are a lot tougher than the 5-10 games you will find at the card rooms

[kurto]

Oh... Limit.

I've only played it a few times. Didn't think it was terribly difficult. You just need to realize that, at the low limit tables, every tom, Dick and Harry will call with absolutely anything. Just playing premium starting hands will give you a good advantage. Don't raise to force anyone out because there's no such thing. Just raise for value.

I learned that you also have to much some thin river calls once you know who the idiots are who'll bet with anything.

But, if you always have 4-8 people seeing every flop who never fold, there will be a lot of really dumb suckouts and you can have some crazy variance.

Play strong hands, play for the nuts. That really is the key.

[Cooker]

In my experience, the 2/4, 3/6, and 5/10 games are surprisingly easy. There is a bigger increase in the average skill of competition between .5/1 LHE and 2/4 LHE than there is between .5/1 LO8 and 5/10 LO8 IMHO. The 2/4 and 3/6 games are pretty soft at the sites I play most frequently.

LO8 is much more profitable for me than is probably possible at LHE at comparable stakes right now, and I am not the greatest player in the world. I would say there is a lot of value in learning it, and it looks like you have most of the books on the game. Still, you aren't going to read a book and be a winner overnight. Give it some time to get used to the game and if you can't beat 2/4 after a few months then I would suspect you really haven't read the books critically enough.

[ZenMusician]

OP: It really doesn't matter if you are dumb or not. For what it's
worth, I was (am) a 3.5BB/100 LHE player (I played up to 10/20).

When I started LO8, I cashed out all but $50 to play the 50¢ game
on Party. You could be an excellent LHE/NLHE player and still have
lots of UNlearning to do! I suggest when starting a new game or
variant to begin at the beginning...it would be far better than eating
the cost of those pricey books!

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Post specific hands here! There is some
amazing talent in this section; they have brought me from loser
to 7BB/100 (granted slightly less than 100k sample) in about
6-7 months!

There are complete morons who win money every day...we'll
help you take that money. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Welcome, STAY WITH IT, and Good Luck!

-ZEN


P.S. I completely disagree that 5/10 = .50/1.00!!! They are MUCH
tighter, MUCH better hand readers and WAY more aggressive!
(at least on Party, from my experience).

[cero_z]

Hi Popeye,

Carefully review Ray Zee's starting hand requirements, and stick to them. Then, read this passage over and over again (lifted from Zee), until you understand and believe it:

The key to LO8 is having the nuts with redraws. Rarely play on the flop unless you have the nuts or a draw to the nuts.