I love plo, but don't have a big enough roll to reguarly play 2/5. I don't understand why more casinos don't run 1/2 (no bring in) plo? Is it that card players really just don't like plo as much as I thought? What do you think?

I think that people who like PLO like gambling more than people who play NLHE. And the more money on the table the better. Therefore, a small-stakes game wouldn't have much appeal to many PLO players. For them, it's all about high risk and high reward.

Additionally, with standard rake being between $5 and $7 max these days, lower-stakes games are less sustainable than they once might have been.

That's purely based on my personal observation and experience, not on evidence.

I see what your saying man, but what about the players who like to gamble, but don't have that large of a roll yet or your regular recreational player who doesn't have that much money for poker. Idk, I'm just suprised that in Vegas/Atlantic city there aren't lower stakes plo games going on. I know the aria has the 1/2/5 but that game could get really big. A 1/2 straight game should be in a nice spot in between a 1/2 and 2/5 holdem game, in terms of how big it should run and there should be plenty of players to support a game that size in at least Vegas or Atlantic City. I see your point, but am just really, like I said suprised, that there isn't at least one game in America that runs this game on the regular.

Plenty of 1/2 or 2/2 PLO on the East Coast. Becoming a very very popular game here too. MD Live can have as many as 3-5 table of must move 2/2 PLO going on the weekends.

It's simply bc counting pot with $1 chips and having $1 chips in play for that matter significantly slows the game down. People already argue over what pot is over $5, let's not get down to $1 please.

That is why even the low stakes games have a $5 bring in.

As for the games popularity, it's a very odd bird. For example it is one of the main running games in Hialeah Fl, but Isle, a much better run room with more tables, barely ever gets a game. Similarly Hardrock rarely gets a game, but Gulfstream 10 minutes away will consistently have 2 tables.

Where are you located? I've played in a lot of big card rooms over the last year, and 1/2 PLO is pretty common.

He specified no bring in. Most of the low stakes games still have the $5 bring in. I would be interested to hear about ones that don't, I know many home games don't for example.

I think the size of the game is more influenced by the buyin sizes then whether or not you have a $5 bring in. yes in the early stages of the game the pot size may be smaller in games without a bring in (but those early raises are almost always going to be pot sized raises) and pretty soon the betting is as ignifcant portion of a low buy in stacks committing players quickly. This is true with a bring in or wthout a bring in

I'm from NY but relocating fairly soon. I was going to move to DE where they have a 1/2 straight game run about 3-4 times a week, but than figured I'd just head back to Vegas and grind 1/2 till I have a big enough roll for the Aria game. Just checked Maryland Live and seen a game running already and a short wait list, so I'm guessing this game pretty much always goes Ace? Pretty awesome if it does and I appreciate your reply... I never see it running in A/C or Vegas Troy, so I assumed.

I saw 1-2 running at Horseshoe Hammond (Chicago area), Parx, and I thought Harrah's NOLA but may be mis-remembering that one.

I may be mistaken but it seems to me that the max buy-in is a bigger function of how big a game plays than a $5 bring in. I don't know if any of those games require one. Sorry if I misunderstood.

I know one of the tournament series at Choctaw saw $1/2 PLO running in the cash room...it may as well have been $2/5 for what most pots were. If you are only capable of firing a few bullets, you are just as out of your element in $1/2 as $2/5 when it comes to PLO. This isn't meant to be a slight, but rather to just state the reality of what you would likely find.

Really Troy? Sandman mentioned that as well... Borgata about 5 years ago was getting a 1/2 no bringin game going pretty regularly and from my personal experience (which isn;t that much playing live) I thought Arias 1/2/5 game played at least 50% bigger.

Michelle, I'm not to sure what your trying to say, but I'd feel pretty comfortable at a 1/2 plo game with my bankroll. I know it could get crazy though.

I've never understood this either. I would be interested in trying PLO more, but the barrier to entry is just to high. 1/2 NL is by far the most popular game in casinos. It seems like 1/1 PLO would be higher stakes and greater variance than 1/2 NL, yet I've never seen it. PLO with a $5 bring-in seems like it would play at like 5x the stakes of 1/2 NL. So it should be drawing from people who have a bankroll for 5/10 NL, not 1/2, and relatively few casinos can even support a 5/10 NL game.

And I don't buy the argument that the pot is difficult to count in $1 increments than $5 increments. What is easier, counting to 100 by 1's or counting to 500 by 5's? What is easier, multiplying 7 by 3 or multiplying 35 by 3? This argument makes no sense to me.

It's not that counting the pot is the difficult. But very little is gained by letting a player bet 43 instead of 40 or 45. Change making slows the game.

I played in it at something like 8AM on a weekend morning...game had not been an all-nighter. Someone buying in for only $500 was very apt to see their entire stack in the middle BEFORE the river in many hands...

In other words, it played basically like the $2/5 PLO games I have sat in at various places...

A 1/2 straight plo game can have big pots, but never played like a 2/5 game in my experience. But thank you for your advice.

It's also pretty popular at Magic City, and usually plays higher than Hialeah. For example, right now at 7:30pm on a Monday night, there are (2) 1/2 PLO games and (1) 2/5 PLO game running at Hialeah. At Magic City, while there are no 1/2 or 2/5 PLO games currently running, there are (2) 5/5 PLO games going. And just based on my observation every now and then from the NLH game area, there always seems to be much more money in play at Magic City than at Hialeah.

And with respect to the OP's question about low-limit PLO (or at least Omaha, if not Pot-Limit), Hialeah even has a 2/4 Limit Omaha game that runs regularly. I've never seen such a low limit Omaha game before.

The 2 5 game likely has a bigger buyin

So, if the buy-ins were the same than 1/2 would play as big as 2/5? I don't follow.

If they both have small buying then they play similar because the players are getting it all in.

If the games are both really deepstack ed then you see the difference.

Brain fart.

Should obviously read Tuesday night, not Monday.

I have to disagree sandman. A 1/2 no bring in game would play alot smaller than a 2/5 game, even if the buyin was the same in my opinion.

I would agree with this if the buy ins were large enough.

I also think the 1/2 game would attract more novice players who would buy-in more toward the minimum and be more reticent to play very aggressively than a 2/5 game with the same buy-in range would.

I don't get your logic. Even if a 1/2 game without a bring in had a buyin of $1000 and a 1/2/5 game had a buyin of $500 the 1/2/5 game would with out a doubt, play bigger than the 1/2 game the VAST majority of the time.

Going back to my original post though, I'm just surprised there isn't more of a player pool for 1/2 plo without a bring-in and with a buy-in of $200-$500. Maryland Live has one game going and that's it.