Mixed Poker Games such as HORSE, HA and 8-Game give bad poker players more opportunity to make mistakes than in almost any other online poker format. Thinking poker players who make the correct adjustments can accumulate large profits – simply by exploiting these errors. This article outlines 5 of the biggest mixed game poker mistakes and shows you how to profit from them today.
#1 – Not Knowing The Rules
It is quite simply amazing how many players will join mixed games without knowing the rules of the game being played. The most common examples include playing aces (or straights) in Triple Draw, or not realizing you must play 3 from the board in Omaha. Keep your eyes open for opponents who do not know the rules – they can be a great form of profit. Omaha Hi-Lo sometimes confuses new players – you can find the Omaha Hi-Lo Rules here!
#2 – Split Pot Horror Stories
Omaha HI-Lo and Stud Hi-Lo games both provide unique opportunities to lose money very quickly. This usually takes the form of being quartered or counterfeited for the low or playing a middle-card starting hands. Make sure you understand both the mechanics of the game and the ideology of drawing only to the nuts and starting with hands that have ‘scoop potential’. Our dedicated section on Omaha Hi-Lo covers strategy for this important round and how to take advantage of players who actually pay good money in the hope of hitting a card which will give them half of it back!
#3 – Being A Calling Station
While calling has its place in a balanced poker strategy, constantly calling bets will inevitably lose you money over time. This is especially true in loose / passive fixed limit games which is typical of many mixed game poker tables. Make sure you raise when ahead to thin the field and charge opponents the maximum to draw against you. Calling ‘just one more bet’ on an early street can make it ‘correct’ (mathematically) for you to see a hand to the river – especially in stud games with an extra betting round boosting the pot – make sure your hand warrants this before you make the initial call, tight and aggressive is the right formula.
#4 – Bluffing Errors
This is really the converse of #3 above and relates to those times that the table is full of loose / passive ‘calling station’ types. The temptation when you ‘know’ they have a weak holding is to keep firing on progressive rounds until they fold. Well, this is not likely to happen often enough to make the bluffing worthwhile. Opportunities to charge 2 bets to players behind you and to semi-bluff with a strong draw should be taken at every opportunity. However pure bluffs should be abandoned fast where your calling station opponents show resistance.
#5 – Pot Limit Omaha Specials!
Those mixed poker games which have PLO rounds can be a goldmine for players able to spot and adjust to opponent errors correctly. The most common error of all is over-valuing over pair hands – especially aces. In a mixed game you will find opponents willing to go broke with over-pairs every time, with straights on flush boards, with flushes on paired boards and with bottom set type hands too. Take advantage of these players by building large pots early with your good hands – and add them to your buddy list… since players who over value hands in Pot Limit Omaha can quickly become your personal ATM!
