No Limit Texas Hold 'em may be the most popular variation of poker in Asia, but it always makes for a better poker player if one learns how to play the game's different forms.
Meet New Team PokerStars pro Ville Wahlbeck from Finland, who is a mixed-games assassin. He has been killing cash games for years and in 2009 shocked the poker world with his mixed-game tournament skills at the World Series of Poker. That year he cashed six times in non-hold’em events, including winning his first bracelet in the $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event, placing sixth in the $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E. event, third in the $10,000 Seven-Card Stud Championship, and second in the $10,000 World Championship 2-7 Lowball. Clearly, when it comes to mixed games, Walhbeck has a wealth of knowledge. PokerNews talked to the pro about learning mixed games and found his top tips for beginners for each game in H.O.R.S.E.
When players sit down for the first time at a mixed-game table, what should they keep in mind?
When you’re playing on a mixed-games table like H.O.R.S.E., know which ones are your weak games and which are your strong games. You should definitely play much tighter in the games you don’t play that well. You can open up in the games that are you strong suit. Examine your opponents. Don’t give them any unnecessary action in their strong games.
What’s the biggest mistake you see players making when diving into mixed games?
You should start at a level low enough. Once you beat that level, then obviously you can move up, but there’s no sense in starting so high where the other players are more or less crushing you, or you’re making so many mistakes that you’re giving away a lot of value. After you learn, than you can you move up.
Let’s talk about each of the H.O.R.S.E. games.
Hold’em
It used to be that players started playing limit hold’em and transitioned to no-limit. Nowadays, players learn no-limit hold’em and then learn limit hold’em so that they can compete in mixed games. What advice do you have for them?
For players who are transitioning from no-limit hold’em to limit hold’em, I think they’ll be surprised by the amount of action there is and how many hands are going to showdown. In limit, more often than not, the hand is played all the way through. The difference in value of the hands in fixed limit hold’em compared to no-limit is quite big. Usually in fixed limit, if you flop middle pair, you’re going to call down or get to showdown.
Of course playing tight in early position is important in no-limit hold’em, but it seems even more important in limit because of the lack of flexibility to be creative in order to bluff.
That’s right. In early position, you should obviously play tight. Also, the same as in no-limit, you can open quite liberally from the cutoff and button, but of course players are going to adjust and three-bet you.
Are there any other important strategic differences players should keep in mind?
I’d say in limit hold’em, there is a lot of jamming or betting, and you just have to call down. In no-limit, you have to be much more careful because you can lose all the money in just one hand. Decisions are bigger in no-limit whereas in limit they should be automatic.
Omaha eight-or-better
What are common missteps beginners make in this game?
I’d say the biggest mistake would be people chasing bad lows in multi-way pots or staying in with less than great high hands. In a three or four-way pot, if you don’t have much of a low hand and you’re getting in a raising war between two people, you just have to let it go. Too often players are staying in without a nut-low draw and getting free-rolled on.
Omaha can be a tough game, because even with the nut-low it’s possible to get quartered. If you’re in a three-way pot and you have the nut-low and there’s a lot of action, you have to be aware there’s a possibility of being quartered. I wouldn’t be jamming the flop unless you have a high redraw or made high hand. If you just have the nut-low, you have to just be careful and call down.
Razz
In terms of starting hands, what should you be raising?
The first obvious thing is that if you have the only low card up, you should be raising no matter what your whole cards are.
Even if you have a pair?
It depends sometimes, but if you have a six up and everyone else has a face card, yes, you have to raise. There are really no other tactics. Preflop, you’re looking for two wheel cards like ace-deuce, ace-three, with an eight or something are perfectly playable. It really depends on your position that round and what your opponents’ up cards are.
Razz is just a very pure form of poker in the sense that there’s very rarely anything to think about as what your opponents are thinking. You just go with the hand as it develops. If you’re going to let the hand go, you should let it go on fifth street. If you get passed fifth street, you should usually just call it down the rest of the way unless you are still drawing and don’t hit anything.
Seven-card stud
In seven-card stud, as far as starting hands go, you’re looking for three high cards, high pairs, and three cards of the same suit with a couple of high cards preferably. Small pairs with a high kicker are obviously much stronger than small pairs with a small kicker, and hidden pairs are much stronger that up pairs because hitting a set would be so hidden. Again, it comes down a lot to your position that round and those of your opponents. If you are up against an opponent who is jamming all the time, you’re forced to call him down with very marginal holdings sometimes.
The difficulty is learning when you can value-bet just one pair in the end, or when you should check it behind. So once you have an understanding of starting hands and positions, then you’ll start to learn how hands usually play out. When you start with a high card up and you raise and keep jamming and your opponent’s board doesn’t develop, you can keep betting. If you see his board develop, you have to slow down and see how he reacts. If he starts betting into you, you have to reevaluate your hand strength and decide whether you should call down or fold on fifth street.
Seven-card stud eight-or-better
Obviously, in this game, you’re always looking for hands that can go both ways. Rubbish low hands like two-three-four are only playable in certain kinds of situations, but should stay out of the action usually in multi-way pots. Any kind of ace with a low card is usually playable. High hands are dangerous in seven-card stud eight-or-better because anytime someone makes a low against you, they often have a gutshot or a pair that can be improved, so they’re either freerolling or close to freerolling. Those are the hands you should be really careful with. There’s not a lot of stealing and re-stealing in stud games.
Did you have any trouble learning any of the mixed games?
No, no. Poker is a pretty simple game. It’s like chess or something. You can learn the rules in one day or one hour. It’s about executing proper strategy, learning starting hands, and how the game flows. Those are the things that you learn with playing the game.
Earlier this week, PokerNews hostess Gloria Balding also caught up with Ville Wahlbeck at the PokerStars European Poker Tour Tallinn and sat down with him to talk about learning mixed games.
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