Hi, just got into online poker. Played for fun and deposited $500 into pokerstars. Just wondering in the long run what game is more profitable and also what game has less variance in long run. My friend is a 100PLO reg and said to learn PLO however I have seen the variance on other threads even from skilled players who have large swings.

Basically what game will be more profitable to a skilled player. Is PLO really mostly luck and is NLH more about skill.

Welcome to the Forums.

I've dabbled in both at the nano-stakes (nothing above $25plo/$25nl). FWIW I'd say:

* both can be very profitable

* at the moment PLO is probably more profitable simply because there's relatively fewer players who understand the game to the extent that good NLHE players understand that game (nobody can possibly know how long that's going to last)

* PLO is most definitely NOT about luck. (Although it can seem like that because it's possible to run so insanely good or bad in the short term.) Both games are highly skilled

* the swings in PLO can crucify you if you don't understand variance and/or you're not properly bankrolled (need a bigger 'roll for PLO, certainly). (The swings are so bad, I'm pretty sure there are more than a few solid winning PLO players who simply give up the game because of that aspect.)

Good Luck

PLO more profitable. PLO more variance. PLO is not mostly luck (though you'll run into some situations where it's 60/40 or equities are close more often than in NLH.) NLH not more skillful, it's just different. As for what you should start to learn, i'd say start with 2 cards, learn the rankings of the hands, how to count outs, pot odds then move to PLO.

Learn nlhe first or youll quit within a few weeks omaha'ha can drive you crazy

I would of suggested putting your roll onto a site and get rakeback for 25 nl and below it can run into a few hundred dollars a month so well worth having.

i would say play both and see what you prefer then specialise

or just play both, a lot of traits in plo transfer to nlhe and vice versa

Thanks for telling me this I am now clearing a bonus at Hollywood and hopefully when thats done move to other bonus sites and clear those.

As others said PLO is much more profitable so far (12k hands 5PLO 14BB/100!) is that a large sample for PLO tho? Pretty much breaking even at 5NL after 10k hands fml...

thanks for all help much appreciated!

12k hands is not a very large sample size, and as the variance is a lot higher in PLO than NLHE then you could be running hot, but it is certainly a great start.

Sadly, no.

Let's face it - it's not even a large sample for NLHE.

My wild guess is, 50K hands is going to give you a decent glimpse of your true winrate.

Obviously, if you have the bankroll to move up and try a bigger game before you've played that many hands, that's fine, but just be ready to move back down again pretty smartish if swongage takes a chunk out of your ass.

The road to PLO mastery is littered with guys who
(a) ran hotter than Hades when they started
(b) moved up too quickly
(c) got served a nasty dose of swongage. Not pretty.

Good Luck.

This

fyp

Yeah, you're probably right. 500K hands for true winrate.

Although it has to be said, after 500K hands someone's game isn't going to be the same as it was when they started (unless they've played like a robot and made no attempt to improve).

Plus not moving up until someone's got 500K hands under their belt is clearly over-cautious.

The key imo is this: if you're going to move up before you have solid evidence that it's justified, you have to be prepared to move down when you start to see evidence that it wasn't justified.