Big Slick Poker

H.O.R.S.E. (an acronym for Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Stud, and Stud Eight or Better) is a game that has rapidly increased in popularity over the past 3-4 years. The game is played by rotating through those five different poker variants in an orderly fashion. The rotation can be done either by time (ie: game switches every 15 minutes) or by hands (ie: game switches every 10 hands).

Here is a crash course for some things to keep in mind when playing HORSE. Realize that the aim of this article is to give you a basic concept of how to play the game so you don’t get destroyed at the table. Entire books could be written about HORSE if you really wanted to dive into specifics.

Hold’em

This should be the variant most people are comfortable with. However, hold’em in HORSE is played with limit betting, which is something that many aren’t used to anymore since most games are played as no-limit hold’em. Some basic tips to keep in mind are pot odds and position. Pot odds make it so that you can call river-bets with fairly marginal hands since the pot will likely have already ballooned to a handsome size. Position is crucial in these games as well.

Omaha Hi-Lo

Don’t show up without an Ace in this game. You want a hand that has a chance at “scooping” (winning both the hi and lo parts of the pot). “Lo” hands involve all five cards being an Eight or lower (no pairs). Any hands with an Ace and a Two are great for drawing to a low. The best hand in this game is something like AA23 double-suited. Hands like JT97, which have no chance of winning the low and very little chance of winning the high are the worst hands in this game.

Razz

Razz is Stud Lo. The best hand is A2345. The key to this game is making sure that your three starting cards work well towards a low. If they do, continue with the hand, if they don’t, fold. This is a very easy game to learn since it’s usually pretty obvious who has the best hand based up on the “up” cards.

Stud

This game has two “down” cards (initially) just like hold’em. Put quite simply: play your hand like you’d play a hold’em hand. Also, pay close attention to the other players’ “boards” so you know when it’s time to fold or raise.

Eight or Better

This is a combination of Stud and Razz where the pot is split by the person who makes the best hand in each variant. However, unlike Razz, the highest card in a qualifying Lo hand has to be Eight or lower. A great hand to start with in this game is Ace-Ace with a Two “door card” (which means the first card face-up). “Rolled up” Aces are very powerful since you already have a pretty good Hi hand a good start at drawing to a good Lo hand. The key to this game is to not get caught drawing to a Lo hand when you know you have zero chance of taking the Hi hand.

The European Poker Tour (EPT) is coming back to Germany. Dortmund will host the €5,300 buy-in event from March 10th through the 14th. Last year, Mike “timex” McDonald triumphed over a field of 411 players to win the €933,000 first place prize. McDonald’s win sent a message to the poker world that youth is most certainly not a handicap; he was just 18 at the time of his big win.

It is likely that this year’s field size will increase notably. Firstly, EPT field sizes have been steadily increasing in general. Additionally, poker has been growing in Germany more rapidly than most other parts of the world, so there could be a sizable turnout for this one.

Players to Watch

Johannes Strassmann

Strassmann finished 6th in this event last year (€152,000) and should be hungry to continue his streak of fantastic success on the EPT in his home country. Presumably many Germans feel the way Strassmann does about this event. As he told Poker Tips in an interview, “It was surely of great importance to do so well in my home country.”

Moritz Kranich

Moritz was a fairly unknown player until a few weeks ago when he won the EPT Dauville (France) event for €851,000. Now that he is no longer a stranger to the poker world, this young German could be antsy to join the likes of Strassmann and Sebastian Ruthenberg among his country’s best tournament players.

Peter Eastgate

The reigning world champion of poker is showing that his win in Vegas last November was no fluke. He has already won a $5k second-chance event at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure in the Bahamas this year. Just yesterday he received double honors at the Scandinavian Poker Awards for “Rookie of the Year” and “Best Performance of the Year”. There is perhaps no one in the world with greater confidence in their game than Peter Eastgate right now.

Dario Minieri

Relentlessly aggressive, this young Italian has had a quiet 2009 so far. If his success in 2008 says anything (a WSOP bracelet, and two 3rd place finishes on the EPT), it’s just a matter of time before he pops off something big.

EPT German Open Info

Players and fans alike can catch all the EPT German Open action in Dortmund at Casino Hohensyburg. Satellites priced at €300 kick-off on March 8th with the Main Event starting March 10th. There will also be a €2,000 buy-in second-chance tournament that starts on March 13th which is the day the Main Event will play down to a final table of eight players.