source: @RobertGoldfarb

Really … $1k an hour? I mean that’s not quite Carrot Top money, and supposedly Gold’s already had five students pony up … but jeesh … you’d think at that rate they could at least afford a nicer sign!

Additional Resources

• [video] Eliot Spitzer hooker money
• [video] Wall Street Journal on $1,000/hr attorneys
• Richest comedians/Carrot Top net worth

As a journalist who recently emigrated from the other side of the Mississippi River to divide his time writing and grinding in Las Vegas, the poker capital of the world, I hear a lot of buzz around town. Much of it is just noise, sometimes it’s early rumblings of actual news, and occasionally it’s just really good FYI for Vegas live-poker-room regs.

We hope to have a little bit of everything here for you. Some of the topics I’m looking to explore:

* Just about every casino has a daily tournament — some just a short-handed sit-n-go while others play like a mini-multitable bracelet event. Where can you get the most play for your buy-in? And what’s really going on with the juice?

* Different rooms have different rules. Some, like Tropicana’s Jamie Gold Room, are throwing many of the standards out the window. Which rooms have the strictest rules? Aria, for instance, has a rule against talking to gain information in a heads-up pot. Why?

* More and more casinos are offering rakeback-type promotions. The “get paid to play” trend sweeping through town varies from place to place. What rooms have the best deals? Is it possible to be a live rakeback grinder? What kind of players do these promos attract? What are the upcoming promotions to look out for?

* How should you go about finding the best action, or any action? Is it Venetian’s updated online list of cash games or Bellagio’s Twitter feed? What should you do to get a seat at the juiciest table in the house? Where should you be playing on a Friday night? Can you find a good game on a Monday?

Whether you play every day or visit Vegas once a year, I’m here to keep you informed about what’s happening in the games around town. Whether you’re a tournament grinder, cash game specialist, or maybe even just a live-poker bonus whore, we’ll scope out the action. We’re at the table right beside floor managers, dealers, locals and tourists, and we can’t help chatting it up.

Las Vegas is a 24-7 poker hot spot like no other — what happens here sets standards around the world —  and we want to help you maximize your time on the felt.

Bookmark Dave’s column here; and you can Twit-follow his ramble along the Vegas Strip @RandomPoker.

It may not be PLO, but hey, I’m no one-trick pony. More like a half-trick pony, lol. But regardless, I’ve been meaning to sack up and get more live, low-stakes Razz under my belt. (I dominated the $1,500 event in the ’07 WSOP for Playstation — won a bracelet and everything!) The tournament is just a couple weeks old and supposedly has gotten a great response from the start: three tables of tournament action last week, followed by a $4/$8 HORSE cash game as players started busting.

Something similar expected tomorrow. RSVP on Facebook here … and/or just show up @ the Palms tomorrow at 7:30pm.

CORRECTION(S): I got a few factoids wrong. According to Michelle Lau’s FB invite …

Michelle Lau

Every Tuesday night 7:30, last week was our first tournament. Also Palms is gonna spread a HORSE CASH game at 5pm ($4/8) Come on down, lots of fun and very playable structure.

Hear for yourself about the man police are seeking:

download

Sound like anyone you know?

Dude … I’m actually pretty sure I’ve seen him at the tables somewhere.

click to enlarge

The Gold Coast poker room is apparently no longer … The flat-screens were dark, and tables had been replaced by video-poker and slot machines. And according to the sign they intend to turn the previously post-boom-downsized poker room into a slots and video poker tournament area. Not that anyone misses one of the least raucous, nittiest $2/$4 limit games in town … and I don’t think you can say much about this being a trend of poker continuing to recede or anything like that, but it may say something about smaller rooms being unable to justify their existence when small-stakes players gravitate to the bigger rooms in town.

As the sign says, all Gold Coast player(s) are being shipped over to The Orleans, which seems to be re-emerging as the big-little off-Strip room that locals like for the sake of convenient parking if nothing else. (Their Friday-night tourney continues to set field-size records, consistently drawing 100+.)

Talk of PLO on Poker After Dark comes as I personally have been jonesin’ for mo-bigger low-stakes PLO … and based on emails, tweets, and Facebook, a stream of Vegas visitors and locals seem to be, too. Interest in PLO may be growing, but players in Las Vegas looking for starter stakes can’t always be sure where to find reliable action.

Word from the Strip is that a rather strong 1/2 PLO game has been running lately at the Venetian, apparently fueled by the November Deep Stacks. But one-bullet buyers beware, a $5 bring-in at the V makes the game kinda steep … especially for those with a strategy of pushing with weak two-pairs, calling with non-nut draws, and relying on run-it-twice to stick around long enough for a meal comp. (Don’t ask me how I know.)

And Aria Poker spreads a vibrant 1/2 NLH/PLO that occasionally makes. Their game plays most similarly to the Pokerati Game of old — and though it runs only sporadically, Aria often has the game posted on the board with a list of mostly 1/3 and 2/5 no-limit regulars ready to take a seat against any and all PLO tourists.

Full Tilt began offering these online a while back, but no clue how they worked out. According to the sign, these were the first ever in a land-based casino. I ventured over to see how it was playing, but they were down to three and it seemed at this point it was just straight poker. Mel Judah sat at the final table but wasn’t playing. I assumed he was sweating, or at least trying to woo, the lovely middle-age Asian lady still with chips. That may or may not have been true, but turns out primarily Judah was there because it was his game — supposedly his creation.

See for yourself what Mel is up to at CashoutPoker.com.

UPDATE: Oops, turns out the lovely lady was JJ Liu. One of these days I will learn actual players.

Hard Rock charity knocks

Upon his own early elimination, Gavin Smith took over as charity photog, no-flash rules be damned!

Also stopped by the Hard Rock this weekend … first time since Detox and the shuttering of their room (and operations) that made @hardrockpoker the Pokerati game’s home for most of 2010. No new-resto construct has begun — just a bunch of tables stuffed in the back of the old room, with their previously decorative orange-luxe highback leather chairs lined up in front of the TVs that used to entertain 1/2 players. With football on and one viewer lounging per screen, It was both awesome and sad.

Anyhow, the new smaller spot is still called the “Poker Lounge” … nice-ish, but looks unsettled in. And though it seemed clear from a matter of simple square footage that the Hard Rock’s days as a red-carpet poker venue are gone, none of that seemed to stop the good times at Gavin Smith’s Darius Goes West charity tourney (with Bryan Devonshire) … which was kinda a birthday party for the namesake beneficiary, Darius Weems, the kid with an extra-funky form of muscular dystrophy that Smith says inspired him to a WSOP bracelet this summer. Darius had just turned 21 (he wasn’t supposed to live past 16 I think?) … and really, can you think of a better host to welcome those coming of age into the glorious world of degenerate gambling?

Here’s video from the final table, with Layne Flack, David Plastik, and at least one semi-awkward kiss:

BTW, fwiw, the Hard Rock has changed their basic game to 1/3 NL, with a $500 max buy-in.

Elsewhere in Vegas …

Unvetted, unconfirmed word has it that Fiesta Henderson has closed their poker room. Supposedly they lost their players to the Club Fortune casino, which began holding a $40 bounty tourney ($10 for each knockout) and taking a better-for-locals high hand jackpot drop. (You’ll have to pardon Pokerati for not digging into this plausibly controversial game-shift.)

And here’s a globally funny poker picture … from power Vegas player Eric Baldwin at EPT-London:

And here’s an amusing video of the other Russ Hamilton, which makes you realize how shafted some people’s legacy can be in Google, particularly for a cultural renegade who sang about the desire to “make love” out of wedlock to a teenage girl in 1957:

(Of course it is, but surely that can’t be a silver main event bracelet he’s wearing, right?)

This video was shot at MGM yesterday, about 9:30. (That’s the lion attack exhibit in the background.)

Again, without saying this is for certain any one specific person who has never been formally accused of any crimes yet still finds himself living something of an OJ Simpson retirement … Hamilton has apparently resurfaced from poker exile in the Nevada amateur pub leagues and has been showing up at the MGM about once a week for the past month or so to in put in some hours on the low-stakes grind.

(Check it out, pretty much the same type of crumpled visor Hamilton wore in the notorious Raw Vegas vid.)

Supposedly this player was noticeably a bit tilted by the lingering camera, and quickly got up to put his name on the 2/5 list as “RR”.

UPDATE: RH said in ’08 he keeps his bracelet in a safe, only to be taken out for the World Series. Thinks obviously coulda changed since then, but that was his answer almost three years ago. [Video interview]

Damn. Kinda cool to see the lady lion try to help break up the fight. And Papa Lion clearly had it in for that one dude. That’s how it can go at MGM poker … a tame game can suddenly turn brutal. Still contend that the lion wouldn’t stand a chance against Ivey.

Also, with no information other than what you just saw in the video, I’ll bet for sure that the overall rake for MGM poker goes up over the next week, even though the number of lion attacks will almost certainly go down.

According to casino personnel, almost immediately upon the conclusion of Detox, Hard Rock cash games will be moving to a more efficient 6-8 table spot connected to the main casino area — something with a smaller electric bill, more in line with plans for expanded sports-book offerings, and in view of the round casino’s famously raucous “center bar”.

The decision to downsize was final before Detox even started — and gotta say … kudos to HR Poker Director Troy Evans for presumably putting his job on the line to keep Detox. New suits above him were supposedly less enthusiastic about keeping the Matt “Savage Rocks!” late-summer mini-series on the calendar. Don’t have any hard dates for transition, but all potentially affected say it will be quick. Here’s a glimpse of what the new space next to Wasted Space will look like:

(Wasted Space is also closing, to make room for the new-and-improved sportsbook.)

The new poker room — about a third the square footage and in an arguably better location — will replace the former “Hell’s Belles” blackjack pit (hot dealers, go-go dancers, $100 minimum bets), which prior to that had been the “Peacock Lounge” (a pimped-out tribute to Jimi Hendrix). It will supposedly still have its own bar (with video poker, of course), a semi-private nook for high-stakes or VIP games, and a separate poker-player’s bathroom. Management says they’ll be bringing over the same tables and chairs, but are unsure whether or not they will keep the name “poker lounge”.

Decisions were also still pending (as of last week) about whether or not the Detox Series would be back and held in a Hard Rock ballroom. The current poker space will apparently become a restaurant.

Of course that’s kinda the point of bringing in an internationally renowned tourney director. Or at least it was initially. Kinda still works, but for different reasons …

First things first … Savage has guaranteed the guarantees — $350k worth. This is despite a misleading tweet just two weeks ago from @hardrockpoker saying there’d be $1 million in guaranteed prize pools. [/shaking head] It coulda just been a hyperbolic typo, but an amusingly ironic one then considering the Hard Rock’s image problems after a few overpromises that these tourneys were to help put to rest. But according to Matt himself on 2+2, he’s got the $350k locked up by contract no matter how few players show.

Beyond that … expect an extra-partytime atmosphere around typical Savage series stuff (deep structures, quality dealers, friendly intelligent floor, good internet coverage, etc.) to liven up the joint: He’s in charge of providing ultra-improved tournament action while the Hard Rock promises to provide good music and a guaranteed flow of nipple-friendly eye-candy stumbling past the poker room.

Regardless of turnout, Detox is almost certain to be the biggest, and plausibly coolest extended poker shindig at the Hard Rock ever since it opened. All that and the Pokerati game’s Las Vegas tourney debut to boot!

LOL, “boot” could turn into a funny word @DetoxPoker … where additional player-friendly perks include added-seat satellites, lotsa food, a 2+2+Media pre-party, and promised field-wide rounds of vodka shooters.

PokerRoad Radio will be at the Hard Rock broadcasting live throughout the week. Should make for quite an interestingly raucous poker confab, intended for bigger players looking to take advantage of small buy-ins to remember what fun, no-worries poker is all about … and lower-stakes players + Allen Kessler who see good value in taking them on in a uniquely challenging hard-rocking show.

I knew the Hard Rock’s High Stakes Cash Game was in the works but wasn’t sure what would come of it — as the first thing required for a game of this size is players! I’ve sent my overseers @HardRockPoker a message inquiring who they know will be there. Will pass on info when I find out.

This Friday
June 4th at 7PM

Hard Rock Poker Lounge
Las Vegas

Come play the high stakes cash game
on the first Friday of each month.
Buy-in is $20,000 to $50,000.
Blinds are $25 and $50.

Also wonder if this game will have $50 splash pots like we’ve got in our 1/2 NL/PLO to stimulate action, lol. (Remember, if The Maven makes a huge raise on a hold’em splash pot, you should probably call with J-10 or better … and if you don’t know the answer in the song game, your best bet is either Britney Spears or Cheap Trick.)

Indeed, the Hard Rock seems to be elevating various action levels in their luxed-out, poker boutique. I’m probably biased by the peanuts they throw me to soften the weekly blow from my own half-and-half game, but at least a few things the Hard Rock’s got going seem to be working well. The room, while too small to ever be packed Venetian-style, was noticeably bumping during the last Pokerati game … with eight other full tables at midnight, and Scott Fischman’s 7-game Mix running continuously for more than 21 hours!

Will have to get back to you on how well their rake-free satellites are working, which seems to me the coolest idea they’ve brought into play … basically buy 4 get one free for satellites into small WSOP events … if enough sit-n-go players are regularly there to fill tables at varying stakes.

Check out PokerNews’s pimp-out for our version of 1/2 NL/PLO @HardRockPoker here. (Still can’t get the Hard Rock, however, to get behind the rule I’m pushing to allow me personally to use three hole cards instead of two in Omaha. Assholes. They also denied my suggestion to have at least two of our regular dealers pitch the cards topless.)

Anyhow, It seems PokerNews wants to cut in on ride along with our action, and thus they’ve added their own special games to the Hard Rock poker menu:

Wednesday night, PokerNews will host the PokerNews half-kill cash game, which will run weekly throughout the WSOP. This will be a limit hold’em game with a half-kill, with stakes at the behest of the players. Like all the games at the Hard Rock, it’s not limited to Wednesday nights and can be played upon request. Players who log the most PokerNews half-kill hours at the Hard Rock will receive a brand new iPad.

Sundays will be all about sit-n-go’s with PokerNews’ Sit-n-Go Sunday at the Hard Rock. Unlike the PokerNews half-kill, which will reward stamina, Sit-n-Go Sunday will reward results. Players with the most impressive sit-n-go results over the course of the WSOP will also be rewarded with an iPad.

IPads, plural? Great, now I get to listen to my players bitching about “why don’t we get an iPad?” Just friggin zip it, Rex. I give all of you one every time I get it in drawing to two outs for a chop.

You’ll be hearing about more Hard Rock action here throughout the WSOP, as well as a whole litany of special World Series promotions. I’m still trying to learn what they all are … but the coolest one that I know off the top of my head: they’ll be spreading rake-free satellites before each WSOP event. Boo-yah, no?

Also, for you mixed-game posers specialists, Scott Fischman hosts his 7-game mix there regularly. I’d like to play, but I’m scared …

Hard Rock will be running shuttles between their joint on Harmon and the Rio throughout the summer.

The Pokerati Game — which started off mostly as a bunch of media donks and an uber-tight dude named Jackson — also seems to be becoming (as I’d like it to be) something of a must-play for out-of-towners … awesome 1/2 action that you simply can’t find anywhere else in Vegas. Seriously. Go ahead and try. It’s not the same game … And that doesn’t even get into all the promotional perks the Hard Rock has been feeding us.

Three tourists I know today are already gonna be there, which of course draws the vulturey locals who claim to “make a living” playing 1/2, but haven’t yet found enough success to be playing 2/5 or bigger. These Vegas grinders, I gotta say, are an interesting group … they don’t say much other than to call floor, appear to live for comps and free coffee, and may or may not have rent riding on an all-in with top set against the nut flush draw and a wrap … Run it twice!

Anyhow, after playing sporadically beta testing @HardRockPoker for about six months, and running into / working through all the nitty situational question marks that spring up, we’ve finalized and formalized the rules. So now, anytime the game gets going — as it did on its own Tuesday around midnight! — everyone can be on the same page about how we play Pokerati half-and-half at the Hard Rock.

Click here for an updated PDF of Pokerati Game rules suitable for posting on your bedroom wall. Or click below to see more immediately how we play it:

Updated: May 6 May 7 May 8, 2010

RULES
$1/$2 NLH/PLO
min: $100
max: $400

Rebuys:
Max buy-in is still $400. However, the table can agree to let someone rebuy for more; must be unanimous.

Straddle:
Is allowed under the gun and on the button (Hard Rock straddle). HR straddle always supercedes UTG’s desire to buy the last action.

In no-limit hold’em, the straddle is $4. In PLO it is $5.

Run-it-Twice:
Players can agree to run-it-twice in all-in situations where there can be no more betting, . If this happens after the flop, for example, dealers will burn-and-turn, burn-and-turn … then push those two cards upward and repeat … burn-and-turn, burn-and-turn.

With more than two involved in a hand, players decide if they want to run-it-twice only after all possible betting is complete. Players who prefer just one board must either show their hand or muck after seeing the first river to determine if the hand needs to continue.

Example: Short-stack (player A) is all-in pre-flop; two remaining players (B and C) get all-in on the turn and want to run it twice but player A objects. No problem. The first river will determine whether or not player A wins the main pot. If his hand is indeed best, player A gets the main pot, while B and C see a second river for the side pot only. If player A loses on the first run his hand is over, with B and C seeing a second river to determine what happens to the whole pot (main and side).

Or, say a middle stack (player B) doesn’t want to run it twice but players A and C do … the first river determines whether or not there will be a second. If B > C the hand is over, because player B wins the side pot, and the cards speak for the main pot. But if B < C, player B's hand is done, with C winning the sidepot and a second river determining the fate of the main pot.

In a 9-handed Omaha game, when the full board is run twice (all-in pre-flop), the last card in the stub will be used.

NOTE: There is no extra rake on run-it-twice.

Splash pot:

In NLH, the splash pot is simply added to the main pot. For PLO it is held off to the side, and the winner of the main pot gets it. But this extra money is not included in pot-size calculations.

At showdown, splash pots are considered part of the main pot, so even a short-stack who is all-in is eligible for all the added money.

Calculating the pot in PLO:

We round up the small blind, so someone coming in for pot UTG would be $8. With one limper “pot” is $10, with two, $12 … etc.

If someone wants to come in for pot with a ($5) straddle on, the bet is $20. If there is one limper it would be $25, and then $30, and then $35, etc.

Ater the flop, on all hands (regardless whether or not there was a straddle) the dealer will round to the nearest $5 increment for determining the pot.

Extras:

* The game starts with a flip of a table coin to see which game is first. The button position determines where the game switches.

* Cannot be played 10-handed.

* A player is not allowed to be dealt around. If he is absent, standard buying the button rules apply.

* Switching games. Players should not change the game up, nor ask to add any other games into the mix, especially early in a session. Exceptions can be made when it becomes clear that no new players will be joining.

* All PLO. sometimes, especially late at night, players might want to change ito all PLO. This is acceptable in the late hours if unanimous; however, the game will stay listed on the board as NLH/PLO, and if new players want to join the half-and-half game, it will switch back to it’s original half no-limit/half PLO format.

* If a bigger version of the game occurs (2/5 or 5/10 for example) that too will be played as the Pokerati game, with the same base of rules, and betting numbers altered accordingly.

Storied tournament director Matt Savage is stepping back into Las Vegas poker events — for the first time since 2004 — bringing the Las Vegas Poker Series to my weekly donk-stomping grounds at the Hard Rock, August 13-22.

The LVPS will feature low buy-in events ($230-$550), most of which count toward CardPlayer Player of the Year standings … with the Savage-tested deep structures (as opposed to deep stacks) that just about all players except Allen Kessler vigorously applaud. Also a money leaderboard of some sort is in play, though I’m not yet sure if this is about crowning an overall champion or qualifying for a player-appreciation freeroll … more TK as the schedule and other PR info gets released.

IMHO, bringing in Savage, who hasn’t hosted a series in Vegas since his Varkonyi-to-Raymer WSOP run, is a big coup for the Hard Rock, which has seen its games grow since a management overhaul a few months ago … but is still trying to firmly establish itself as a friendly service, professionally run room (despite its inclination toward hard-rocking, trash-talking action) that gives more and better player perks and comps than any other room in Vegas. Fiji water/Shmiji water … I can attest that in my Pokerati game, players seem to love the splash-pots, rakeback, and late-night $40 rebate promotion.

For the LVPS, in addition to seat-added super-sats and the player-appreciation freeroll, the opening NLH event (with multiple Day 1s) comes with a $100k guarantee, and the main event will have $200k guaranteed.

Savage, of course, is the former WSOP Tourney Director (2002-2004) who currently hosts numerous events at the Commerce Casino and elsewhere. (California State Championship about to get underway.) From blind structures to payout scales, his events seem to set a standard for TD’s worldwide … even though at the moment he is currently running his tournaments contrary to popular deeper-and-deeper-stacks theory, which he believes is over-hyped. Savage is also co-founder of the TDA and was the inaugural inductee into the Poker Room Manager’s Hall of Fame in 2003. (Yeow, anyone know where that HOF is?)

Whether this August event at the Hard Rock serves as a WSOP Second-Chance Series or summer poker-hangover recovery festival remains to be seen. But as the guy hosting the Thursday Pokerati Game there … I’m personally excited about Event #8, which I hear promises some semblance of PLO in a $200+30 with a single $200 rebuy. Any typical NLH player who doesn’t learn this game is falling behind the Europeans. And yet at the same time, the Eurodonks often aren’t as good at it as they think they are …

The Pokerati Game at the Hard Rock — 1/2 NLH/PLO, starting Thursdays at 7 pm — is really starting to catch on. People are coming in and sporadically asking about it throughout the week, and I’ve had players from the Bike, the Commerce, and the Borgata all inquire about when their hometown poker room is gonna start spreading it — half-and-half the way we like to play it.

Last week was a particularly fun game, thanks to Dan R, a longtime Pokerati reader from Dallas who happened to be in town for an annual Vegas get-together with friends from Chicago who happened to play NLH/PLO round-of-each in their home game.

They wanted to play bigger at 2/5, but I insisted on keeping it small. (I have my reasons. Will explain later.) They all bought in for the $400 max, and several busts and rebuys later, the stacks were unusually big. Once they ordered their second round of Patron, the Vegas vultures uber-nitty low-stakes locals began to swarm, filling up the interest list. We almost made two tables — were just one or two players short. Oh well, maybe soon …

Anyhow our table was hootin’ it up — not just because of the tequila and numerous x-outers, but more so because of the action created by sporadic pot-splashing. For the next few weeks, the Hard Rock floor guys will continue to randomly throw $50 in the middle (or pulled-to the side for PLO), making this a cash game overlay.

Check out the game’s Facebook fan page for another glimpse of the action.

A typical media showing was present … @MatthewParvis won, @JaKatkin lost, and David Chicotsky (@theMavenVT) made his inaugural appearance pulling a few hundred bucks profit, despite admittedly saying he really doesn’t know that much about PLO. He did bring a new element to the splash pots, however. In one splash-pot sitch, playing NLH, there was a straddled pot, a family of limpers (with a pot-raise somewhere in the middle), re-limps, and when it got back around to The Maven, he made it $200 to go … everyone folded. I saw his cards: 4-7 offsuit.

As the night wore on, eventually frequent Pokerati player @ebhizzle showed up with pro Shaun Deeb. While they waited for seats, Deeb inquired about the max buy-in. I told him it was $400, which seemed a little small to him considering there were a few $1k+ stacks on the table.

“Oh, we let people rebuy for more,” I assured him.

“How much?” he asked.

“$500.”

He laughed.

So that’s how the game is taking shape. We are looking for a little assistance with the logo, however. Don’t want to lose any Pokerati signatures, however, while black block letters on a white square may make for a great T-shirt, it doesn’t necessarily look so nice (nor sexy) on the felt.

If you want to give sprucing up the logo a try — we need color! — you can click the image above for some higher resolution. Free something (dinner, T-shirt, pat on the back?) for anyone who submits something good.

Take a look … The Ivey League $1,000,000 Poker Invitational … coming May 22:

More details in NVG at 2+2.

As twitter followers know, I’ve been hosting a new-ish game at the Hard Rock here in Las Vegas. 1/2 no-limit hold’em/pot-limit omaha. While there are plenty of 4-8 mixed games around town, there are, perhaps surprisingly, few if any low-stakes half-and-half games — and none where players have the option of running it twice. So in an effort to create what Dan personally wants to play top-quality action that serious amateurs, local grinders, and late-night drunks can’t find elsewhere in LV, you can now help your poker evolve by playing:

What: The Pokerati Game: 1/2 NLH/PLO (round of each)
When: Thursdays 7pm-? or upon request
Where: Hard Rock Poker Lounge
Buy-in: $100 min/$400 max
Who plays: Nitty locals, Euro-tourists, Action Junkies, Poker media geeks, loose-aggressive douchebags, off-duty Vegas dealers, disciples of Isildur1

We know you all know hold’em, but if Omaha’s not yet your game, check out this video of how gloriously painful PLO can be:

That comes from F Train’s assessment of poker’s #2 game. And across the pond, where they play it more frequently, our ole Betfair pal Marcus Bateman has his own strategy thoughts on the situational EV of running it twice.

If you haven’t played hold’em with four hole cards before, you pussy should totally try it! And if you think you’ve got an advantage in the Omaha rounds because you read parts of Super/System 2 … come school ‘em on what it’s like to flop the nuts and easily be a 32 percent favorite to win the hand, lol!

OK, I kinda jest. There’s more to the Pokerati Game … Omaha is only half of it, and I can personally attest, even without the results yet to prove it, skill development goes way deeper than just learning to peek at your hole cards without using two hands.

In an effort to make this game as good as it can be, over the past six months, with the help of Hard Rock poker director Troy Evans, we’ve been ironing out the wrinkles … and I think we’ve got it almost all figured out.

We’ve wrestled with: What constitutes pot with X number of limpers? Automatic or optional run-it-twice? Should the Hard Rock rake more for additional turns and rivers? (No.) Allow straddling? (Yes.) And what should be the min and max buy-ins to make it attractive to low-stakes grinders, cautious newbies, and fuggitall gamblers alike? … and what about late-night rebuys?

Stuff like that … Stay tuned, as I’ll post all the details once I type them up.

Again, the Hard Rock now runs 1/2 NLH/PLO at 7 pm on Thursdays. Even if it’s not going, feel free to ask the desk to start a list for “the Pokerati Game”. Once a few people sign up, these tables tend to fill up. (And we’re working on ways players elsewhere can learn about any interest list taking shape.)

I’m also interested in hearing feedback — on the game itself; leave taunting my actual play to someone who isn’t trying to get better — and I hope some of you can make it out so I can take your money … or at least half of it in hands where one or both of us gets it in bad.

Decent structure, too. 12k chips for $250 ($225+25) … with a $100 rebuy or add-on for 5k chips. (I didn’t take it. My starting table was soft.) Seriously, it’s not a huge tourney, but it’s a good one, with good payout possibilities. Starts at 6 pm. Details here.

And, of course, they’re always happy to spread 1/2 NLH/PLO … and they usually have enough people interested in dipping their toes into 4-card hold’em waters to make it happen. Just ask them to put your name on the list for the Pokerati game and they’ll be sure to accommodate. You can always text “pokerati” to 25827 and you’ll get a text whenever this game is running. I won’t be able to make it this week, but next week I’m back in action, so you probably need some practice.

UPDATE: Tournament didn’t make. Not sure where the fine print may or may not come in for “guarantees”.