Long story short, im heading to vegas for the Big O/PLO8/Limit O8 tourney in a couple days. I've played PLO8 and Big O for almost a decade. I'm fairly certain ill have a decent edge on the field in those games. However, i've only played maybe 3-4 tournaments of Limit O/8 in my life. I'm thinking I might just play the limit portion of the tournament super tight because im most likely an underdog. I'm wondering if anyone has any advice on how to play Limit O/8. What type of hands should I call out of the BB with if there is a single raise to me? What hands play best in multiway pots in limit? Should you ever be limping, or if you are entering always raise? In limit holdem if youre on the button or cutoff you should almost always be 3 betting if youre entering the pot, is limit O/8 the same? Am I ever 3 betting out of the blinds? How do things change as the blinds get bigger?

Thanks ! And where is Buzz when you need him ? (RIP)

I have bad news for you - the dirty little secret of these events is in the early stages of the tournament the big bet games matter more (fish make big mistakes for their whole stack) but in the late stages when everyone is shallow and playing tight and carefully the limit games play way bigger. Not only are the blinds twice the size of the pot limit rounds but the nature of limit poker is once you are in a hand its hard to get out of it postflop.

Your questions are good ones and it's a good sign if you are asking them but unfortunately there are so many that to answer all of them is a bit much for a poker forum. I will try to condense everything into an answer for an overall question for you.

If it's still archived you can go back and read my guide on this very subforum. There's bits on there I honestly wish I still followed (I had more discipline when I was playing back then), and some bits I perhaps was a bit naive when I wrote that.

I think a good general starting point that addresses all of your questions is how the fixed betting structure changes the quality of hand required to continue vs pot or no limit. Once you understand that, the rest of the questions become easier to answer with your own existing poker experience.

Generally speaking in a no limit or pot limit game, having some sort of high hand aspect to your hand is much more important than in a fixed limit O8 game, both in terms of starting hand and postflop.

The reasons are twofold.

Firstly, in a NL/PL setting, the price of being quartered is much much higher, (than fixed limit) and likewise, the reward for quartering or is also much much higher.

Secondly, the threat and indeed common frequency of large pot sized bets or all-in bets on all streets reduces the frequency of multiway pots. In a fixed limit game, you will often see hands where 3-6 players are going to the river, and why the hell not, it's only one more bet to call, right? In a NL/PL game, this is too expensive and so people fold more, so you see more HU pots than in FL games. Obviously in such situations, going for and only getting half the pot is only a somewhat neutral outcome, and yet you will often be faced with the prospect of wagering your entire stack for such a meagre, negative (thanks to rake) or, if you don't hit, non-existent return. The risk of playing for less than a scoop is extremely disproportionate and much too high compared to the reward.

This is not so in fixed limit. If you are drawing to the nuts (doesn't even have to be nuts in some situations such as in shorthanded games), you will regularly have the correct price to draw for half the pot (or backdoor for the whole thing). Indeed, even if you would end up losing a couple of big bets getting quartered heads up, folding instead is often more expensive. The risk is low. The price of failure to connect with a hand is not severe whatsoever - you'll probably only lose 3-5 big bets. The reward is proportionally much higher than in NL/PL because of the multiway aspect - if you have 5 people to the end calling bets and raises, you're going to make a bunch of big bets profit just for half, and you even will profit from being quartered.

In an NL/PL game you have to be in there with hands which punish the hell out of people who want to play for half and avoid continuing in such hands yourself. In an FL game, while hands with good scoop equity are very much superior and will obviously be in your continue range, they are generally not required the game to be profitable for players. There are also hands with high elements (eg pairs etc) you can push much harder in NL/PL than FL precisely because getting HU is much easier (where such hands will much more likely stay the best hand), whereas doing so will be igniting your money in a FL game where you are getting 3+ callers, many of whom will call even if you 4 bet cold on a street and they have not put any bets in yet.

Recognise when you can thin the field and when you can't, whether or not that is appropriate, play appropriate hands for the situation, and you should have long term success (rake permitting).

This admittedly heavily condensed knowledge should shape your behaviour with regards to all of your questions.

Hope this has helped