Quote:
Originally Posted by ThaiTime
So why do all the players not agree to just play higher than 4/8?? I mean, if the rake is $6 a hand, why not play 10/20 or 15/30? Why do they all play 4/8? I don't get it. I love LO8B, but finding a game higher than 4/8 is almost impossible. The 15/30 in Houston used to be great, but it's been dwindling lately.
Because most live players, maybe 90% or more, are long-term losers. Let's say at $4/$8 with a $6 drop, someone is losing 0.5 BB/hour: that person is paying $4/hour for entertainment.
If he played the same game at $6/$12 stakes with the same $6 drop against the same lineup, he might lose only 0.33 BB/hour because the effect of the rake as a percentage of the average pot size would be reduced—but notice that he's still paying $4/hour for his entertainment.
However, in reality he
won't play the higher-stakes game against the same lineup. Some of the worst players in the $4/$8 game won't have the bankroll (or cojones) to play bigger, so they'll drop out. And some better, more experienced players who couldn't be bothered to play $4/$8 will now sign up for the $6/$12. So our hypothetical player might actually start losing 0.6 BB/hour—which means he's now paying $7.20/hour for the privilege of playing this game. Ouch.
Not only that, but our long-term loser may not have the bankroll himself to sustain some of the big losses he's likely to experience in a $6/$12 game. If he only has $100 or $150 to gamble with in a given session, well, that's going to last a lot longer in a $4/$8 game.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, Lucky Chances gets three or four full games of $4/$8 Omaha every Tuesday when they double the jackpot. Yet in 2011, when I played there regularly, they couldn't sustain a bigger game for very long. Some of the $4/$8 players would take a shot at $10/$20 (or, later, $6/$12), but when they lost, they'd drop back down to $4/$8 and stay there. Eventually, there weren't enough players to keep the $10/$20 game going, it converted to a $6/$12 game for a while, and then that one died too.
Those $4/$8 regs are actually quite rational. They know they can't beat a bigger game—or don't want to have to deal with the swings that come with trying—so they're chasing the jackpot and other promotions in the least expensive game they can find.
Fortunately, in the Bay Area, there are higher-stakes Omaha games in other rooms—and the winning players play in those games.