8-Game Mix: 2 Tables $4/$8

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8-Game Mix: 2 Tables $4/$8

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James Obst

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8-Game Mix: 2 Tables $4/$8

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James Obst

POSTED May 16, 2013

James takes a look at some mixed game footage and describes some of the fundamental and strategic differences between the different forms of poker.

The 8-Game Mix includes:

T - Limit 2-7 Triple Draw
H - Limit Hold’em
O - Limit Omaha Eight or Better (Hi/Lo)
R - Razz
S - Limit Seven Card Stud
E - Limit Stud Eight or Better (Hi/Lo)
H - No Limit Hold’em
A - Pot Limit Omaha

24 Comments

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Nom de Guerre 11 years, 10 months ago

good choice of topic, nobody ever talks about mixed games.

- is adopting an ABC strategy overall more optimal in mixed games versus normal big bet games (e.g. NLHE, PLO) given that many of the mixed games have fixed betting limits?

also, in normal ring games a dynamic may form between you and a particular opponent (he's raising a lot, playing fast and loose, etc).

- do you find the same sort of thing happening in the mixed games you play?

it's a little more complicated when you change games regularly, account for comfort level of opponents with different games, hands going to showdown more often due to fixed betting limits, and so forth. 



James Obst 11 years, 10 months ago
1) Absolutely. Less meta-game means play sound poker and expect to win.

2) For sure when you play in the same games a lot dynamics get created, even in mixed games there's often a pretty wide difference in styles. Still very important to observe the tendencies of your opponents in each game and adjust your own frequencies accordingly to save or win that extra bet or two an hour.
hidegreen 11 years, 10 months ago

You say that ppl should push their edge and then you don't 3bet AK in limit holdem? I haven't played limit for a long time, but not 3betting AK I have never heard of that!

James Obst 11 years, 10 months ago
I presume I was in the big blind? I'm not sure if I covered that in this take or not, but as far as I know it's still accepted that you should just smooth call all hands you're continuing with out of the BB when you're heads up and OOP (at a >2 handed table, if it's a heads up match you need to have a 3betting range given c-betting frequencies will be lower since opponent's opening range would be wider), due to c-betting rates being so high in LHE and your ability to then check/raise when you like the flop (gaining the same amount of bets), and to check/call (or fold) when you don't, saving bets. It certainly makes sense, wouldn't flat in any other scenario (multi-way or in position vs SB). It's also great to do as a part of an overall balanced strategy, it allows you to attack all board types by check-raising, including the high card flops, which will result in you being able to win a lot more uncontested pots without having to make strong hands all the time.
hidegreen 11 years, 10 months ago


I understand your reasoning and I obviously have no idea how often the player on the button attack the blinds also agree that it can be good to flat AK and other strong hands in the BB sometimes. But this being a standard play in limit games I'm sorry I can't believe that, you will have the best hand pre most of the time against a good button and many times have the best on flop,turn and river w/o hitting a A or K.

Like I said I haven't play limit holdem in a long time and I could be wrong and you should never 3 bet OOP in the BB but to me it just feels terrible to be honest. Would be nice to hear comments from some other limit players/pros on this.

In any case nice video!

James Obst 11 years, 10 months ago
For what it's worth, every highly regarded limit hold'em pro I've watched/spoken to has taught the same thing. To me it's extremely logical and feels right though I'm of course open to other opinions as well. In your example of having the best hand with A high a lot, we get to check/call down often somewhat safely and win those pots (when we don't make a pair, it isn't good that we have extra bets in unless we have the hindsight knowledge that our hand's good), but if we've 3bet and start betting postflop, we may get raised off the hand at some point not being able to realise our equity, and also we lose a lot more when we are beat but still call down.

RunItTwice345 11 years, 10 months ago

Hey there, I play mid/highstakes LHE myself and can confirm that smoothcalling in the BB with our entire range is still the play being done by pretty much every solid regular at these stakes (and at lower stakes as well). It has its certain advatages and of course if we have an opponent who is folding like 30% flops in 3bet pots we can or rather should depart from the standard play there.


Raphael Cerpedes 11 years, 10 months ago

There are lots of people making tournaments vids on this site already so you should make a lot more mixed games vids like this, hopefully at higher stakes too.

Mr Nobody 11 years, 9 months ago

awesome to see some mix game content here now james, that 987 stud hi hand has made me think about stud in a different and much better way than the somewhat ABCish approach iv been taking with it... Aswell with the theory involved in flatting AK in the BB, I would 3bet tht hand 100% time without second thought but after reading the above comments you made i can understand that its definately the better stratergy

Would be awesome to see another mix game vid at mid - high stakes in the future

Best of luck in the SCOOP

Philipp 10 years, 10 months ago

more mixed game videos PLZ! scoop,wsop and the wcoop coming! we need some more mixed game content!! PLZ! ( it s nearly totally missing on runitonce) ;)

betgo 9 years, 9 months ago

I like the video a lot. At minute 16, there is a raise and 3-bet in O/8. Hero calls in the BB with JJ76. I can see maybe defending calling 1 bet, but IMO it is a junky hand and hero is OOP against 2 good hands. Hero winds up calling down to the river basically unimproved. He indicates he probably should have folded the flop or turn.

betgo 9 years, 8 months ago

Maybe I'm a nit, but hero cold 4-bets AKJ6ds on the button in O/8. He discusses why the 4-bet is better than a call. Is it possible to fold to the 3-bet? Again hero calls down without much and gets scooped.

betgo 9 years, 8 months ago

I played in several mixed games and fixed limit tournament with the author several years ago. My impression then was that he was a NL player who was too aggressive in those games. In fixed limit, playing solid hands is important. In those days, I saw young NL players way overvalue aggression in limit games. For example players (not the author) here would try to bluff in stud games when it was clear from their boards that they were behind. I really like this video, but IMO the play is too loose in some situations.

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