HORSE Poker

HORSE Poker Sit and Go Strategy

Playing Sit and Go HORSE tournaments can be a great way to not only improve your HORSE game, but also to pad your bankroll at the same time. When you consider that you would have to bring an average of $50.00 to sit down at a small stakes HORSE poker cash table, you could play almost ten 5.00 Sit and Go versions of the same game. So if you’re looking to enhance your play in this game, then Sit n Go tournaments may be the way to go.

If you’ve only played cash HORSE games up to this point, you’ll need to tweak a few parts of your game when moving to SNG style HORSE tournaments. The primary consideration is the blinds and how quickly they move up. So during these early stages you will want to A) Make sure that you’re comfortable with the game you’re playing and B) Stay away from spots where you’re a big underdog or you’re drawing slim to a made hand. An example of the latter would be in Seven Card Stud where you have two pair but feel you will need to turn a Full House to beat someone’s made flush or straight. Your tournament chips are too valuable at this point to risk them needlessly.

Since HORSE is still a new game to many players, it’s also important to exploit a players weakness when it comes to games such as RAZZ. Besides Omaha, this is the most mistake-prone game and while the luck factor plays a larger role in Omaha, RAZZ presents a little less variance. With that in mind, you should focus on improving your RAZZ game so that when this round begins, you’re more than ready to stick it to unsuspecting players who are still on a steep learning curve.

Omaha is another game where players make big mistakes by coming into a pot that’s been raised pre-flop and they’re only holding marginal starting cards. If you’re able to spot players with a tendency to do this, you can pick up a fair number of tournament chips by isolating these players and betting them out of a pot. Of course, they will hit the occasional flop so if they play back at you with a raise you should play accordingly.

Another area where you can profit at these HORSE Sit and Go tournaments are players that will chase a low hand in Stud and Omaha Hi Lo (and you’re fairly certain that they are indeed doing this) when you have a made high hand. In most cases these players will check call you down in order to hit their draw on the cheap. The risk that they’re running in doing this is that they’re on a draw for HALF of a pot, not the whole pot. Conversely, you should remember this yourself because even though the temptation is great in these spots, it’s simply not a profitable long-term equation. Heads up or short handed this play may be acceptable but remember, we’re talking about accumulating chips here not drawing out to collect half pots.

Hopefully these strategies will help you make some quick adjustments to your HORSE game.