Games to Play

Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 06 August 2008 / Leave a Comment

In the introduction to Doyle Brunson's masterpiece Super System 2 Steve Zolotow writes an excellent piece about which games aspiring players should learn.

As one of the old school generation, who have seen the poker landscape steadily change, Zolotow gives an excellent insight into how poker changes and what players need to do to adjust to it. What I want to look at here is what sort of games you should be learning right now, and what games you should learn for the longer term.

Quite obviously, the most popular game right now is the main event game - no limit hold'em, and the game you should master first. Although the most popular poker variant right now, at the highest stakes this game is hardly ever played anymore by pros. This is because the game has been so closely analysed that it is close to becoming a solved problem - there is simply very little edge between the best players, with the result that the game becomes just like a big gamble, with the money being passed around depending on the luck of the day.

So where has all the action gone? The highest stake online games running at this point in time are usually pot limit Omaha. This game is not a solved problem, as there is still huge debate about optimum strategy, correct bankroll management, and hand selection. As a result it has become the new in game of the moment, with millions of dollars trading hands at the nosebleed stakes. This should probably be the game you next focus on - it will probably become even more popular over the next few years, as well as it being closely related to hold'em, which makes it easier to become familiar with.

After this, game choice become more complicated. Depending on taste I would either focus on Omaha hi/lo or the stud variants. Stud is a classic example of how tastes can change in poker. In the seventies and eighties it was the number one game in town - now it's one of the least played.

The highest stakes games in Vegas run a huge number of poker variants, and if you ever want to rise right to the top of the game a knowledge of all forms of poker is necessary. This does not mean you should run out and try and do it all at once, more to have an eye on how the landscape is changing and what games seem to be becoming popular. If you need a reason to start learning a few more games than hold'em, just think of all the five card draw specialists from the sixties and seventies - they would be lucky to get even a mid stakes game going in the modern era, and I'm sure their bankrolls now reflect this.