I have started playing some high stakes O8, and so far I’m not impressed. It seems like there are mostly two player types:
degen gamblers who massively overbet the pot whenever they think they have the best hi or lo hand, and chase draws against the odds, or
nits who constantly undervalue their hands, literally only betting big with the nuts and just waiting for the gamblers to overplay something they beat
As a result of this dynamic, sizing is basically an RNG. I bet 1/2 pot and it feels like I’ve checked.
Is this standard or am I just running into some uggy tables? I’m happy to profit off these guys but would love to eventually get in an actual quality game. So far I’ve clocked *manu and *bromholm1 as competent players along with a couple others, but for the most part it’s been yikes
I am an O8 ring reg Luke, 20/40 and 50/100 and sometimes 100/200k, and you described it well, half pot bets do not work, (it’s like playing in a freeroll the first couple blind increases), it’s all about risk reward, and the billionaires are risk positive, you can’t hurt them, unless you are in the 500k/1,000,000, (above my paygrade) but I have studied that game. Full pot bet post flop seems to be the norm for taking pots, or at least narrowing the field, and the no low yet turn card is the optimal big bet opportunity, for taking pots from low draws.
It makes sense to play this way given the field, too; I just really dislike it. If I’m playing for real money I am all for just casting a wide net and waiting to catch fish. It is not much fun sitting at a 9-handed table and having to consistently continue with only the top 10% of your range because there’s a 50% chance that someone will ask for your whole 200bb stack by the river on any given hand, making sitting around waiting to make the nuts almost literally the only profitable strategy.
