HORSE Multi-Table Strategy
A cash game of HORSE requires a far more elaborate strategy than any other single game of poker, and a HORSE tournament takes the need for an airtight strategy to a whole new level. If you’re reading this article, then chances are you already know how hard it is to find a comprehensive HORSE multi-table strategy. That’s because with five different games to consider and multiple rounds to survive there are too many variables to make the usual strategy generalizations. One thing is certain: HORSE multi-table tournaments are not for amateurs.
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Horse Tournaments
You don’t have to be a pro to hold your own at a HORSE tournament (but it would certainly help). You just have to have a good understanding of every game and an even better understanding of where your own strengths and weaknesses lie. With both the games and the players changing with every round, it can be hard to get a good read on your opponents. While you shouldn’t abandon the search for tells altogether, your main focus should definitely be on your own cards. Too many HORSE tournament players get overwhelmed by the changeups and can’t keep pace with the changing games and growing blinds. By keeping your mind on your own hand you’ll be ready to make the moves you need to to continue on in the tournament.
HORSE Poker Multi-Table Strategy
The most important thing you can do as part of your HORSE multi-table strategy is put your money where your skills are. Hopefully you’re especially good at Omaha poker and Hold ‘em, because most of the other players will be, and the growing blinds make these hands especially valuable. Being good at the other games has its benefits too. While many of your opponents will be playing conservatively to survive their off games, you can use their hesitance to bluff and bet your way into some easy pots. Just be sure to reset your mindset and strategy every time the game changes.
In the early rounds when the stakes are low, it’s ok to be aggressive, especially in your forte games. The blinds aren’t forcing you to make iffy decisions yet, and you want to build your stack before hitting the middle of the tournament. In the middle of th tournament, it’s time to switch to a tight-aggressive strategy. Regardless of which game you’re playing, always push hard on a good hand. This will make it hard for your opponents to peg your weaknesses and will likewise land you the chips necessary to hold your own toward the end. Hold ‘em almost always decides the later rounds of HORSE multi-table tournaments, so it’s important that you enter this stage of the game with a large enough stack to choose your own hands.
Playing Large HORSE Poker Tournaments
Once you really get good at HORSE poker, and you find yourself raking in serious pots at the cash games and consistently winning the sit and gos, you might wonder what’s next. The most common answer is tournaments. Multi-table tournaments that is. HORSE tournaments are on the rise, and so are their prizes. Since the WSOP first recognized the game a few years ago, poker rooms around the world (and on the worldwide web) have followed suit and are offering big pot HORSE tournaments of their own. Here’s what you need to know before you start playing large mult-table HORSE poker tournaments.
HORSE Tournament Strategy – Come Prepared
This should go without saying, but for some reason thousands of amateurs continue to throw their money away by playing over their heads. You might get away with being good at just Hold ‘em when you’re playing small stakes HORSE cash games, but at a large HORSE tournament you’d better be skilled at all five games if you want to end in the money.
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Get to Know Your Opponents
The biggest advantage you can give yourself is knowing your fellow players. Pay extra close attention to tight players—they often place the same bets for the same hands. Loose players will ultimately eliminate themselves. Also try to keep track of which players back off their betting in which games. This will tell you where they’re uncomfortable and can help you bluff and bully your way through later rounds.
HORSE Tournament Strategy – Play Up Your Strengths
This tip can be a little tough to pull off. While you want to make the most of your strengths, you also don’t want to give away your weaknesses. If you manage to eke your way through the early rounds, then it’s time to put your pride aside and build your stack any way you can. If you know you’re the best Hold ‘em or Razz player at the table, then don’t be afraid to dominate.
HORSE Tournament Strategy – Watch the Blinds
It’s easy to get caught up in the action and over-confident about your position once you make it to the later rounds. If you’re an exceptional stud player, then chances are you’ll be raking in a fair number of chips during those rounds, but you’ve got to be careful in what is usually a Hold ‘em-dominated playing field, especially because the growing blinds make Hold ‘em and Omaha increasingly more valuable as the tournament progresses. Whether you’re an ace at these games or they happen to be your weakpoint, once you get to the final table you’re going to have to go balls to the wall with your bets if you want to stay in the game.
Mistakes While Playing HORSE Poker
With five different games and thus five different strategies to keep track of while playing HORSE poker, it’s easy to see how and why so many players make mistakes. Even at single variation poker tables, seasoned players make a mistake now and then. In fact, anyone that plays poker long enough will eventually make a stupid mistake. Should you find yourself in that position someday, it’s important that you accept what’s happened and shake it off. While one mistake is painful, nothing is more costly than going tilt or playing while frustrated. Here are a few common mistakes that HORSE players make; often they don’t even know they’re making them.
HORSE Poker Mistake 1 – One-Game Players
HORSE’s new found popularity is drawing crowds from other tables. Hold ‘em players especially seem to be drawn to this new game. It’s fine if your playing skills are a little lopsided and you’ve got some obvious strengths, but you should never sit at a cash HORSE table if you’re not prepared to compete in all five games. With only two community card rounds and three stud variations, Hold ‘em players often find themselves in over their heads, and even stud-only players can take big hits as the Hold ‘em blinds start increasing. While you don’t have to be exceptional at every game, you should at least know which hands are worth betting on. Even if you’re a shark at Hold ‘em, if you’ve never tested your skills at the stud tables then you’ll probably be a fish at HORSE.
HORSE Poker Mistake 2 – Playing Stud like It’s Hold ‘em
The best starting hands for Hold ‘em have some similarities to those for stud. For example, high pairs are always a good sign early in the game. Where the two strategies diverge is in drawing for a straight or flush. In Hold ‘em, you only have to make one bet to see three cards in the flop and know if you should continue chasing a straight. In stud, you’ll be paying for every card you see, which means that you can invest a lot just to find out you’ve got nothing.
HORSE Poker Mistake 3 – Over-Bluffing
If you’re a perceptive player, then you’ll probably catch a lot of tells in HORSE. An aggressive Omaha player whose betting dries up in Razz poker is probably not as confident at stud. Knowing these things about your opponents can give you some valuable opportunities to bluff. But just as with any other poker game, you don’t want to turn yourself into a calling station and get trapped. Instead of automatically bullying any player you suspect is weak, play close attention to all the tells and carefully choose your bluffs.
HORSE Poker Mistake 4 – Being Obvious
As you’re watching your opponents for important clues about their game, you can rest assured that the smart ones are watching you too. Don’t make yourself an easy read. If you fold every hand in the Seven Card round, your opponents are going to peg you as an easy target. Even if you’re not 100% confident about each game, knowing a basic strategy and the top starting hands for each variation should be basis enough to bet consistently throughout the rounds.
How to Play Texas Hold ‘em
If you’re an aspiring online Texas Hold ‘em player, then you’re in luck because the internet is absolutely overflowing with good, free information on the game as well as with opportunities to play it (for fun OR for money). You can find everything you’ll ever need to know about how to play Texas Hold ‘em with one quick search. Basic strategies, cash game strategies, tournament strategies…You can find reviews on the best Texas Hold ‘em tables, calendars that include all the major events, and sit ‘n’ gos starting the second you want to play. That said, there’s some bad information online too, and to recognize it you’re first going to have to have at least a basic understanding of the game and what it takes to win it.
Playing Texas Holdem
Texas Hold ‘em is a variation of poker often referred to as a “community card†game. The objective is to make the best possible five-card hand, and you’ll have seven cards with which to do that. Two cards are dealt face down to you at the start of every hand, and then five more are dealt in three additional rounds. In some games, the hand may be won before all the cards are dealt, but that’s something we’ll discuss later. The “community card†part of the game comes from the cards that are dealt to the center of the table. Players can use any combination of these cards and their two facedown cards (also called “hole cardsâ€) to build the best possible hand.
Holdem Rules
- The game begins with each player receiving two cards face down.
- After reviewing your cards, you will have the decision to call, bet, or fold. If you are not betting first, you may also have the decision to raise another player’s bet.
- To ensure that every hand offers a healthy pot, two players will be assigned blinds. The blinds rotate every hand, and the players sitting in the blind positions are required to bet the blind minimum for that hand.
- After the first round of betting, the dealer will place three additional cards face up in the middle. This is called “the Flop.†The players that have not yet folded will start a new betting round.
- This is followed by another card being dealt face up to the middle of the table. This card is referred to as “the Turn.â€
- The Turn is followed by another round of betting, and then the fifth and final card—the River—is dealt to the center of the table.
- Players engage in one last round of betting and then proceed to “the showdown.†At this stage of the game, all players must reveal their hands to determine the winner.
This is your basic breakdown of how a Texas Hold ‘em game works. As you read and play more, you are sure to discover that while the game is easy to play, it is not so easy to win.
HORSE Sit and Go Strategy
Your HORSE Sit and Go strategy should take into consideration each of the games you’ll be playing and when in the tournament you’ll be playing them. Because sit and go’s are notoriously fast-paced, you’ll need to be quick on your feet transitioning between games. These tournaments always start with Hold ‘em, which is where the majority of the players are most comfortable. You’ll see many of them playing fast and loose in hopes of maximizing their money before they get to their weaker rounds. You don’t want to enter the stud round with a small stack, so play this round tight.
HORSE Sit and Go Strategy
Toward the end of the Omaha hi lo round, your competition will be narrowing itself down as the Hold ‘em players start betting too hard too early in an effort to come out on top. Once you’re down to a few players at your table, you can start opening up and sweeping more pots. By the Razz round many players will be feeling less confident. In fact, Razz tends to be something of a warzone in the HORSE tournaments. This is your chance to use your reputation as a tight player to start stealing some blinds. You’re going to need all the chips you can get by the time Hold ‘em rolls around again, so make the most of weak players in the Razz and Stud Poker rounds.
To summarize, your strategy should start tight and then move toward tight-aggressive. As the tournament progresses, the action’s going to get hard and fast. If you’ve played your cards right, by now you’ll have a stack to back your cards and you should start using it if you want to stay in the money. By the end of the tournament, your once tight strategy will be leaning far more toward the aggressive. Remember to continue working the Razz poker and 7 Card Stud poker rounds, and consider switching from low to high in the later Eights or Better rounds.
Toward the end of the tournament, everyone’s in it to win it, and Hold ‘em and Omaha players are really going to be working the blinds. You can’t afford to be tight at this point, and the tables are small enough that moderate hands have gained considerable value. Don’t let your opponents make your choices for you; at this point in the game you’re not playing to stay in it, you’re playing to win it. Remember that in sit and go’s the last man standing tends to be the biggest bully.




