Posted by Dr Fro 6:35 PM
I actually wrote a long post on this that dissappeared, so I'll take another stab at it:

I recently played with my man Curtis and his friends. I did quite well in the PL Holdem, but we played a little bit of "Iron Cross" on which I lost > $200. Since I netted -$126, I would have clearly been a winner if we stuck to HE. Not bitter, tho, I once won a fortune on this Iron Cross game.

If you dont know the rules to IC, dont worry. It goes on the long list of crazy wild games with a match the pot. These all play out basically the same, so need need to hash over the rules.

I mainly play "pure" poker games. Most purists turn their noses at wild & crazy games, claiming that the element of luck is too much and skill plays little to no factor. I agree and I disagree. I agree that the strategy is sooo simply and intuitively obvious that everyone can easily all play "optimal strategy" and thus it all comes down to the cards. However, my experience is that people dont play optimal strategy. As a matter of fact due to the nature of these "build the pot" type games, a couple poor decisions can have a massively negative EV. Thus, I beleive that if you stick to optimal play, you can win a fortune.

Of course the standard deviation is enormous. This keeps the good player from noticing that he is actually winning in the long run. No biggie. But that also hides from the sub-optimal player that he stands to lose in the long run. Thus it reinforces the bad behavior. IF you think there is irrational superstitious goofy play at NoFoldemHoldem, try one of these games at the average home game!

So, no, I do not turn my nose at these games, nor do I feel as if they are all luck.

BUT...I prefer to not play for a simple reason. After a couple hands, some guys have big stacks and others are stuck big and leave. All the money sitting with the winners tends to stay there bc they tighten up (usually). Thus it becomes very hard to get any of the found money. Put simply, the games are ok in a vaccuum, but they have the effect of ruining the flow of the rest of the evening.

So, I prefer to not play them.

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