Hero Value came upon a fishing gnome sitting on a bus bench on West Las Vegas Boulevard. Hero Value asked, “How can I win a gold bracelet in Omaha-8 with
Q,J,7,9?

The gnome tugged at a pointed ear, looked down, and shook his head in disbelief.
Q,J,7,9???

Next you’ll be asking about
J,6,3,3.

The gnome drooped his ears in a gnome sign of disbelief and resignedly pointed out across the barren desert. “Well… Try this… In two or three weeks, head out across the desert until you came upon a well. Shout your question down into the well.”

“Why should I wait two or three weeks?” asked Hero Value.

“Because for the next two or three weeks it’s your turn to host the well!”
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Thanks for agreeing to host this well, Hero Value. Will you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and your WSOP experiences?

Buzz

Haha. Hey, it was J633 double suited! I won with a club flush.

And yeah, the funny thing about winning the first one, is that the other guy was so short, and was all in about 5 times and survived/doubled every time. So apparently I couldn't win it one of those earlier 5 times with one of the more respectable all-in hands like A566, I had to win it with the QJ79ddd .

I'll write up an intro shortly.

Subbing

What's up guys. This seemed like the best time to finally host this. Hopefully it will be fun and interesting for all!

An intro about myself:
I'm 27. I've played poker for many years. I started taking it more seriously about 7 years ago, playing it part-time professionally since around 4 years ago, and then full-time for around the last 2 years.
I'm a mixed game specialist, and I play/have played basically every game and format possible, MTTs, cash, HU SnGs etc, and I have done for years.
I have pretty much grinded/specialised in many different games at different times throughout my career. Which I believe has made me a more well-rounded player.
I think mixed games are generally more fun, more interesting and often more lucrative.

I am/was also a freelance poker writer. I technically still am, but I just haven't had the opportunity or time to do it in a while.
I worked for Bluff Europe and for High Stakes Database, writing reports and articles, and I also interviewed many poker players, such as Phil Galfond, Matt Hawrilenko and Matt Ashton.
So that's largely why I considered myself just as a part-time poker pro for a while, because I still had some other income from elsewhere, and I didn't play as much as most pros do.
I also do some poker coaching.

I originally studied to do Product Design, and was going to do a guitar performance/music degree, which unfortunately never happened (but fortunate in terms of poker).

Results-wise, most notably I won both FLO8 events back to back this year at the World Series (the $1500 and the $10k), as well as winning my first WSOP bracelet last year in the $1500 2-7. So I'm now the UK's leading bracelet holder (). I also won a $2k SCOOP High title a couple of months ago.
This year was my first WSOP where I stayed for the whole series and played everything. It was my 3rd year in a row going to the WSOP, and on my first year I just bricked everything.

I also travel the EPT circuit a fair bit (with success), which I often look forward to from online grinding. I prefer playing mixed games live, and it's always an awesome social atmosphere.

I'm looking forward to answering some questions

In a high buy-in LO8 event, what type of gameplay mistakes do you see most often from generally solid players?

Thanks for doing this, was great watching you go back to back this summer

Notice you in NVG quite a bit, do you think railing the nosebleed games helped you as a player?
What is your best game? worst game?
What game does 08 experience help the most with?

Thanks bud.
Yes I do. Especially like 5 years ago when I was starting to learn all the mixed, and still had a fair bit to improve on drastically, it was definitely helpful to watch and analyse the very best playing. I've watched a huge amount of nosebleeds over the years, so yes I'm sure it's helped me with quite a few games, however I think at least some of that time would have been better-spent just playing.

My best games now are still probably O8, LHE, and 2-7.
Honestly, it might sound lame, but I don't really have a worst game. With playing and having played so much 8-10 game, I worked hard on each game individually for it. So while the answer to this would have been Stud high or Stud8 1-2 years ago, it's not anymore. It's pretty close/even now.

I don't know if it helps much with any game in particular. It would just be the closest game to it like PLO for PLO8, LHE for LO8, or split pot games in general like Stud8. Though O8 could probably just help a bit in general with board reading and textures etc.

This is kind of tough to answer as it depends a lot on the individual. It might be things like not always properly recognising when they're freerolling and being too nitty with that, or things like badly betting just a bare nut low on the river multiway when they're likely getting quartered etc.
Also not knowing whether they want a hand HU or multiway, both pre and post.

in for GOAT value

what's your general strategy for PLO8 tournaments in terms of early/mid/late stage play, smallball vs gambooling early in higher variance but +EV spots, etc?

what are some key differences to know for big bet O8 tournament players playing in LO8 tournaments?

Juiciest game for cash during the WSOP (game type and casino)?

Thoughts on Big O as a WSOP event/tourney event choice in general (seems like it'd be pretty nitty)?

How long have you been on POG?! It didn't truly sink in to me that a pogger was about to ship two bracelets in a row until someone reminded me. I don't post in the pub tho so maybe there's that

But how much did you lose?

Haha. I basically didn't actually go in the PUB ever until this WSOP. It was fun having all that support in there
I've been in POG for around 2 years I think.

In an "average" full-ring limit O8 cash game from the big blind, can you give a few examples of hands in the very bottom of your calling range when facing a raise? (Maybe a couple when HU vs late raiser and a couple with an earlier raise and a couple calls ahead of you if you don't mind... Thanks!)

What do you think of the recent announcement of a O8/WW bracelet next year?

It depends on the tournament. But I generally presume that I would have a large edge on the field/table, and so I generally take lower variance lines in PLO8, and playing more small ball in quite a few spots. And that pretty much stays throughout lots of the tournament. And try to carefully pick spots to take higher variance vs some opponent or apply pressure etc, depending on stack size (and any ICM) situations.
But there are some tournaments that are exceptions (things like low stakes SCOOP rebuys, huge fields with the big money up top). NLO8 is of course also different.
1 - Don't bluff .
Mostly joking, but also not. People generally just don't fold in it.
2 - Value betting thresholds go up a lot when it's limit rather than big bet.
3 - Expect to go to showdown far more. So pick hands to do so with appropriately.

This is another tough question to answer. For one thing it depends on your skill set. But also I only played cash at the Rio this year, so I can't really speak for other casinos, and I didn't have time to play much cash this year, and just played mixed cash. But for example $10/20 O8 at the Rio is always incredibly soft. I didn't play any Big O this year but I heard that game's good.

It's good, I like it. I think if anything it's the opposite of nitty. People seem to love flicking in a limp with any old bollocks

To be honest, I didn't really want to go into such specific strategy talk in this well, sorry. And that's multiple questions, that would require many specific answers.
I (probably) defend wider than most people, but I'm also no Matt Ashton in defending. He defended something like 355Qds/335Kds in the $1500 O8 this year, and then when someone commented about it after, Matt said - "you couldn't pry that hand away from me" .

I might have to come out of my WW retirement for it.

No sarcasm, I honestly had no idea you were so good (I'm also pretty new to this forum). Congrats on the bracelets. I heard about you but didn't connect real name to screen name.

General FLO8 question: vs a a UTG or UTG+1 open playing 6max, when you have A2xx on the button, when do the xx have to be to 3bet?

Also, do you think Courchevel is an interesting game that should be spread more?

(Potentially) stupid question here: what's WW?

If I put up a sheep tonight, do you promise to enter?

Also, what's your favorite city/area (both for poker and for non-poker)?

Wow, I thought I was on the tight side and defending just about any DS 2 wheel card hand is standard for me.

Werewolf, a common bluffing game we play in POG (puzzles and other games, a forum on this site) that makes everybody hate each other.

Watching any random table full of poker pros playing werewolf would be one of the most intriguing things in the world.

HV, who would you least like to go heads up against in O8 with a bracelet on the line?

Not a stupid question confirmed. Thanks for asking. Wasn't even aware of that subforum.

Well, it was vs an EP opener iirc, but it was an example, and the quote was showing how it's obviously not even close for him, where it likely would be for others.

Well I guess it depends again . In terms of money and the bracelet, it would probably just be someone who's one of the very best in the world at it HU, and extremely tough to play, like KPR16 (Kyle Ray). But in terms of generally disliking playing HU O8 against them, it would probably be someone that's both good, and scummy or that I really dislike, like probably Urbanovich.

Did you know that poker players actually play it live?
It kind of boggled my mind when I first found out. It has to be so immensely different live, like you have to be completely balanced, actually act a lot and not show any favouring emotion, and think very quickly on the fly. I also presume that you wouldn't be able to have any private communication amongst fellow wolves, like you can online via skype.
I saw a group of Russian guys play it live, and it was pretty nuts. They actually played it for money, and one of the games things got really heated. Like at one point a couple guys stormed out in anger after/during a shouting match lol.

Have you been anywhere else in the US besides Vegas?

Where are some other places you have traveled?

Favorites? Worst place ever?

What was wolfchat with CDL and Reddboilaids like?

Thanks.
Generally high cards or 2 way hands, like JT, KQ etc, especially if it's counterfeitable.
Yes, I do. I've always liked it and thought it was interesting (and that people play it shockingly poorly). However I don't think it's something that should seriously be played at high stakes. As people still don't seem to regard it as a very legitimate game.
Though I would like to see it return as something like a $215 WCOOP, or for it to feature in an O8 mix somewhere, like in a $1500 WSOP event.
I assume you were asking about Courchevel 8 here, but also similarly just for Courchevel high to be in a small PLO mix, like in a COOP $27 or $215.

Haha, wow. You remember that far back?! I'm not sure whether to be impressed or slightly creeped out
That was my first and only ever WW game . So it was alright, but I have nothing really to compare it to. They were fine, iirc RB got subbed in for mucks mid-game. But tbh that game in general was kind of a stressful ****storm for me.
When I was ~14 I kind of toured the west coast with my family. Road tripping through places for 2-3 weeks. We went round California, Arizona and Nevada.
I liked it, but generally it was such a shame to only spend like 2 nights in one place and then have to move on. Particularly places like LA that have so much to offer, I would have liked to spend more time in each place.
I have actually been considering going to LA before or after (or during) a WSOP, to spend some proper time there.
But since then I have only been to Vegas.

For poker: Prague, Malta, Brussels, Monte Carlo.
For holidays: Japan, Israel, Barbados, Crete, Turkey, Norway.
Those are in the last ~12 years. I think that's all but might be forgetting one. And also some more of Europe when I was very young.