Poker goes through cycles. Most everyone that plays now is not new to the game. They likely started in 2003 and have been playing ever since. For a while, No-Limit Holdem was the game of choice, after all, that’s what was on ESPN. Players, new players, were TERRIBLE. Money was so easy to be made–both brick and mortar and online. But then, the perpetual losers quit playing. I mean, how long do you play something and lose over and over again until you quit. You either get better or quit. Instead of a chip party with money raining from the sky, No Limit Holdem became a grind. Then, along came Omaha.
I started playing a mix of Omaha and Holdem in 2008, but not on a regular basis. Now, that’s the only game worth playing around here. The Holdem games are weak and small, while the Omaha games are a frenzy. For a while, Omaha was very, very beatable. The winning players that I knew won consistently. And then something happened–a very strange occurrence. Instead of getting better, players have gotten worse?!?! A LOT WORSE! Why? The more you do something, the better you should get, but this has not been the case with Omaha Poker. Theoretically, good players should win if the bad players get worse. However, this is not the case. Winning players that I know have a tougher time. Players have gotten so bad that, collectively, they beat the winning players. And they beat the hell out of them! Hmmm. I deal a lot of poker and I notice this a lot. Perhaps the winning players need to adapt? I have seen that former borderline players (slight winners or losers) have become the big winners in these games. Maybe players are just gambling more and the variance is higher, or maybe the “bad” players have invented a new style of play! Whatever it is, it’s a head-scratching anomaly! With that being said, I cannot wait to play this Saturday!