Advice for PFA lurker playing WSOP Event 20

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Hi everyone,

I am a long time listener to radio (from the previous site and this one, going back several years). I have listened to every single episode in the arCHives and never live. I have only posted on this site (under a different username) a couple times. But. . .

This year I a turning 40. And to celebrate, I am heading to Vegas to play in a WSOP event. Based somewhat on timing, but also on comfort I have chosen Event #20: Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, $1500. A little bit of background.

I live in NYC. Married, 2 small children (5 and 2) and busy full-time teaching job (computer science). I used to play a lot of poker, a ton. I started around 2004 and played on party, poker room, ub (ugh), stars, and a bit on tilt. I used to be a winning player (especially on party back in the day) and built a good bank roll. As time went on and I got older, busier with work, my skills really dropped off and became a losing player online. I stopped playing online almost completely when my son was born (2008) and have only played in home games here and there as well as some charity tournaments.

I feel like my NL hold 'em skills are horribly out of date. I am pretty chicken at higher-stakes. I'm a nit. So I think a limit tournament would probably be better suited for me. I can afford $1500, but it's also probably three times more than I've ever spent on a tournament buy-in so I'm worried about playing scared. I have played a lot of limit Omaha H/L in home games as well as live (Parx poker room, Orleans) and have generally found myself to feel comfortable. I have never played an Omaha H/L tournament, however, and don't have a good sense of limit tournament strategy.

I'm looking for advice. Will I have fun playing this tournament? What is the general skill level at $1500 limit Omaha H/L. If I sell any action to friends, what is fair?

I am also considering getting some coaching, geared specifically for this tournament. Any recommendations?

Otherwise, what other tournaments or cash games might I consider playing while I'm in vegas? At this point I'm an entirely recreational (-EV) player so I'm looking for fun low to medium stakes games.

Thanks everyone.

[chinamaniac]

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cruel, but (probably accurate) point taken.

[Dan Druff]

I am by no means a great Omaha player, so I can't give you strategy advice.

However, I will give you some general advice.

- Everyone wants to play NL holdem, so you usually get a lot of donks and semi-donks at the lower buyin NL events (though they have gotten harder over the past 5 years or so). The non-NL-Holdem events tend to attract smaller fields and a lot higher percentage of specialists. This can make them very tough. At the $1500 level, you will get some holdem-only players who want to take their shot at Omaha, but other than that you will encounter a number of experienced and semi-experienced Omaha players. Think of it this way -- if you're the average casual poker fan and have budgeted $1500 for the WSOP, do you play Omaha or NL Holdem?

- There is a myth that cash games are better during the WSOP. They aren't. In general, they are tougher, because you get a lot of great/good players from out of town. I'm not saying you can't find good games here and there, but be careful.

- Regarding playing scared, don't. I know, easier said than done. But if you play scared, you'll lose. As long as you aren't just chunking off your chips, gambling a little bit to get a stack isn't a bad thing. If you do accumulate a big stack, I would suggest tightening up and just playing solid, especially at limit events where you can't "bully" the short and medium stacks. I will say that my best two tournament results ever (both in 2005) were when I was most willing to gamble and panicked the least about busting.

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- Everyone wants to play NL holdem, so you usually get a lot of donks and semi-donks at the lower buyin NL events (though they have gotten harder over the past 5 years or so). The non-NL-Holdem events tend to attract smaller fields and a lot higher percentage of specialists. This can make them very tough. At the $1500 level, you will get some holdem-only players who want to take their shot at Omaha, but other than that you will encounter a number of experienced and semi-experienced Omaha players. Think of it this way -- if you're the average casual poker fan and have budgeted $1500 for the WSOP, do you play Omaha or NL Holdem?

Yeah, this is sort of my fear. I knew this would be the case for the $5k omaha, but was hoping the 1500 might have a lot of NL players just dropping a buy-in after busting another tournament and hoping to get a bracelet in a smaller field event or something.

- There is a myth that cash games are better during the WSOP. They aren't. In general, they are tougher, because you get a lot of great/good players from out of town. I'm not saying you can't find good games here and there, but be careful.

yes, good point.

- Regarding playing scared, don't. I know, easier said than done. But if you play scared, you'll lose. As long as you aren't just chunking off your chips, gambling a little bit to get a stack isn't a bad thing. If you do accumulate a big stack, I would suggest tightening up and just playing solid, especially at limit events where you can't "bully" the short and medium stacks. I will say that my best two tournament results ever (both in 2005) were when I was most willing to gamble and panicked the least about busting.

Yes, this is my thinking. I may not be as self-aware as I think I am, but in my experience, I tend to be much more aggressive and confident in limit. And in Omaha H/L, my reading ability in terms of where I am in a hand is stronger than Hold 'Em. So while I'll probably be up against much more skilled players in this event, I'm hoping that other players edge is smaller. In NL, I think I would just get killed by an aggressive young thinking player with good hand reading skills. I'm not really afraid to lose $1500. In fact, I'm planning to. So that's something on my side.

[BeerAndPoker]

TAKE THE $1500 AND MAKE IT RAIN AT THE RHINO INSTEAD.

[GrenadaRoger]

during the WSOP there are other places around town having tournies at the same time, almost always for lower buy-ins....take a look at one of those if you think $1500 is a big plunge

[PLOL]

- There is a myth that cash games are better during the WSOP. They aren't. In general, they are tougher, because you get a lot of great/good players from out of town. I'm not saying you can't find good games here and there, but be careful.

This. The local games near me get better because the pros all go to Vegas for the series and the donks all stay.

[Baron Von Strucker]

God your a dick.

The guy reg's M.E. and his head goes up his ass.

[Deal]

Take 1k, put it in a college fund for kids. Take $400 and take wife out for night. Stake Druff with remaining $100 and enjoy the sweat.

+ev

[Cat Out Of The Bag]

TAKE THE $1500 AND MAKE IT RAIN AT THE RHINO INSTEAD.

solid advice

[gauchojake]

God your a dick.

The guy reg's M.E. and his head goes up his ass.

With all the male on male foot rubs going on here this post is much needed and fucking hilarious at the same time.

[Rollo Tomasi]

TAKE THE $1500 AND MAKE IT RAIN AT THE RHINO INSTEAD.

solid advice

[Henry]

God your a dick.

The guy reg's M.E. and his head goes up his ass.

lol

[sonatine]

Dont trust whitey.

Lord loves a workin' man.

See a doctor and get rid of it.

[ShadyJ]

Take 1k, put it in a college fund for kids. Take $400 and take wife out for night. Stake Druff with remaining $100 and enjoy the sweat.

+ev

Great advice spend all your money on your wife, kids, and a guy you dont know. Fuck that dont worry about being a donk because 99% of tourney players are donks anyways.

.

[Sloppy Joe]

I played two events in 2010, cashed in one and honestly felt the whole experience to be rather blah.

I'd played in cash games for 10-12 hours at a time, but 12 hours of tournament poker is fucking boring, like gouge out your eyeballs boring.

I didn't like the table dynamics and the Rio is a shit hole.

It may seem like a glamorous 'dream' but save the 1500 especially if the money is meaningful.

[SrslySirius]

If it's an amount you can afford to lose, I see nothing wrong it. Playing in a WSOP event is something I've always wanted to do as well, just for the experience. Tick it off your bucket list and have a good time.

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Thanks everyone for the replies. All good advice. I agree that the money could be "better" spent on family and that poker tournaments are actually not that fun, but I'm not choosing to do this over spending money on family (clearly a higher priority), I can do both and this is a one-time thing. I also have a feeling I'd probably enjoy playing in a really lively cash game for low stakes more, but I have more opportunities to do that and few chances to play at the world series. I am mentally considering the money spent and more than happy to just bust and do something else (you are welcome pros) so am committed to playing fearless.

My schedule changed so I'll now be playing event Event #30: $1000 No-Limit Hold'em. $500 less and in the end, as much as I prefer limit/mixed games, it's probably best to be one donk in a field of many.

I don't pretend that anyone is really interested, but I'll come back and post my results. Really appreciate all the replies.