2024 World Series of Poker May 28th to July 17th ***No Spoilers***

If they can run PLO8 events they definitely can run double board bomb pot events.. As far as chaos-level ensues.

At least in Finland there's always more PLO than NLHE tables. I was thinking Sweden too but maybe not. Estonia is one, I think. I know Norwegians love to play PLO in Estonia but I haven't played in Norway so not sure about that. Maybe I was a little liberal saying many countries.

Thanks for that, I honestly have no idea about poker in Scandinavia. Those countries are pretty small compared to the larger European countries (Sweden & Finland together have a smaller total population than Germany's largest individual state) but there's obviously a large number of well known poker players from there so they're probably overrepresented at the WSOP?

The swedish casino (singular down from 4, and soon to be zeerooo) has about... 8x the NL tables compared to PLO normally. And people get very upset if you want to play 4 cards instead of 5. The Swedish championship live event last week had the NLHE ME draw about 6x as many entrants as the PLO event even though the NL pricepoint was a bit higher.

So defo not Sweden. I can see it being the case in Helsinki Finland though.

edit: and to madlex: Swedes are wildly underrepresented at the WSOP due to the tax laws for winnings outside of the EU (any win is 30% tax, losses are not deductible). Same with Triton events. Decent turnout at inside-EU-ran EPTs though. For same reason.

Ivey has been playing lots of events this year, which is a departure from recent years. Always cool to see the legend out there.

I played 5/5 mixed PLO/PLO8 at I think the Wynn at the Series about 15 years ago. Then most of the table was foreigners, mostly Europeans. Then there wasn't much PLO at the Series.

Aria seems to have a zillion PLO tables, as well as WSOP. It is pretty big at Parx. As mentioned lots of 5-card PLO in MD. It definitely seems to be getting more popular. I assume partly because of solvers and GTO geeks at higher stakes NLHE.

I wish they spread lower level mixed games. How the **** am I supposed to practice or really learn some of these games damnit? Besides, While NLH is the best game, it does get boring at times and even just to take a break would be nice while still getting some poker in.

That Pic looks filtered in some weird way, but the legend looking his age. ****, we're getting old.

Have fun getting in a few hands an hour when every hand is a family flop and then split into quarters and eighths. Dealers are human.imo.

Why is this tool Dan Smith in giant headphones, low hat, and sunglasses with a jacket pulled up to his mouth

Not the game with more players, but from my experience in Spain and Portugal is normal for the plo game to be the biggest game in the casino. From my limited experience also in France. So, at 1/2 or 2/5 way more NL tables, but in bigger games is normal to see more PLO than NL.

Two years ago I was max late reg in a tournament, and asked the floor for a rulling on how this works. So you are in the moment you check-in into the tournament, this means when you show ID and get your chips. So when you are in from the reg line and show ID and get chips, you can get penalized if you dont go directlly to your seat. If you register lets say 5 minuts into the tournament, you will most times a table numeber and seat. In this situation you can go, check your table, and decide if you want to sit or if you dont want to seat, because you will only show ID and get the chips at the table.

What games are generally in that mix?

As an aside, what happened to the 20-40 O8 games? Usually, you'd see 1 to 4 tables running at the WSOP and Bellagio much of the summer, but those games aren't making at all this year. They all playing the mix now? I find most of the 1-2 Big O games pretty nitty and preferred the action of the 20-40 O8 game, but looks like I won't have a choice when I arrive in a couple of weeks.

Idk but it was funny when he got bluffed by the over 70 rec dude who only started playing a few years ago.

Also lold at the super nitty chinese dude who folded 89s on the button when it was folded to him, but accidentely exposed his cards. Bleznik needling him with the "I've never seen someone fold your hand on the button in 18 years" was hilarious.

Norman Chad in the booth last night was great, glad he is back for another year. Looking forward to the final table tonight.

Bc he's a tool.

It helps that he's gotten past the Borgata baccarat lawsuit settlement and can keep his US winnings again.

Actually, Norman Chad sharing the booth with David Tuchman was rather sad. Tuch, having been an NLHE pro, can talk about the action sensibly, and he is genuinely funny. It raises the question of what Chad actually brings to the party.

Sucks, but he doesn't bring anything in this era. A lot of people in poker have been around a long time, which might seem good because they remember him and have experienced his commentary. However, they've seen the change in poker over the years and he's just not in touch. It's not his fault.

Also, Triton has spoiled us with their production and coverage. PokerGo has a paywall and is almost unwatchable. Carey Katz has enough F-you money (like Phua and Yong) to put on a good production for free on youtube and would probably generate some decent monetization to at least cut some of the losses like Triton does. idk, maybe he's just too good of a businessman to take on a losing operation like Paul and Richard (who either do not give a f--- or are money laundering)

Ivey got rekt in that $25k today, AA lost to KK all in pre flop for massive pot

Would have been 2nd in chips with 22 left, bummer for sure.

Hellmuth would have gotten away from that one.

Some comments on the games spread this year vs previous years.

I have been playing across multiple casinos in Vegas consistently for the past year getting prepared for wsop and playing summer wsop cash games consistently for 10 or so. (Not much of a tourney grinder).

My opinion is that 4 card PLO is having a mini boom that is under the radar if you will, because many decent and experienced players are making good money live in casinos and private games that spread it, as stated above, people are tired of NLHE, the preflop hand ranges in NLHE have made most full ring games heads up to the flop and people are "bored".

PLO8 and 5 Card Hi-Lo, called multiple different names (I wish we would just consolidate the name lol), player pool is a mix of the 20-40 O8 crowd that can't find games, and the PLO players that maybe don't want constant 55/45 spots.

4/8 (rake trap) and 8/16 O8 is a constant in Vegas at one or two casinos, mostly full of retirees spending social security money and playing very nitty at 4/8 and quite a bit looser at 8/16. During wsop 15-30 is running consistently at Orleans and these players have essentially chosen Orleans as the home for LO8. [No comment on the larger 100-200+ mixes floating around town, I don't play them]

Aria has almost 20 PLO tables (8-handed and 1-2 is hand shuffled) running nightly, 1-2 with a 5 dollar complete, and 5-5 with a rock and "mandatory restraddle" is very popular amongst the traveling euro players and american players seeking action. I have played a few sessions of 1-2 PLO this year and as bad as a NLHE player I am, I see these tables as what NLHE must have felt like for people who were better players during the poker boom, people are not 3b enough pre, calling value bets very light and calling off rivers with underfulls and bad flushes. Dealers were ok, and very few mistakes were made at 1-2 other than failure to round up the 3 singles in a pot calculation. The same way SDFD hands were played extremely fast in NLHE early on "I have 13+ outs", I am seeing that same allure with PLO and people having what they think is a wrap, and its good for the game when you have top set and backdoor draws. Aria also has mandated dealers ask "once or twice" when players are all in, even having a plaque for the cameras to distinguish that it is being run twice.

Talking to floor about 4-8 and 8-16 mix games, they will never try to get these games going because they are slow as far as hands per hour, and the rake is king. You want carnival mix, I think RW is still running the 9/18.

It seems that cash games "on site" at the wsop is lessened at the moment, because poker room managers seem to be "catering" or "specializing" their rooms for a particular game, and much of this has to do with dealers. The series is already hiring many NLHE tourney dealers that are weak from what I have heard, so why subject them to O8 or PLO, their full time in home staff deals NLHE almost exclusively as well. Aria Wynn Bellagio and Venetian recruit and retain the dealers that can deal 8 games and they are obviously making more per hour and the customers know where to go to get the service that they need.

is that davyjones with the chiplead in the 25k NLHE?