O8 till your daddy gets home

In working off the 500 hands at PokerNow so I can start earning rake rebates (and get the $50 match bonus) I have been playing pretty much O8 only. Two tables, about 50 hands an hour.

The reason Omaha is the best game for working off bonuses is that so many people have NO idea what they are doing. While there are FEWER good opening hands in Omaha than Hold Em, more people see the flop in Omaha. Sure they catch their goofy ass 57 straights once in a while, but they end up splitting them with two assholes that quartered their A2.

The idea to play O8 to get raked hands for a bonus occurred to me after reading this from Poker Pro Paul Phillips:

What really had me laughing is “After you play a couple hundred thousand hands, you get over the thrill and learn a grind that is reminiscent of MMORPGs but with a more lucrative outcome for the investment.” I think of all the hours I spent in college waiting for monsters to regenerate so I could slay them and level up, and come to think of it is rather similar to sitting at an online omaha table waiting for the nuts.

I have had some MMORPG experience, but not to that extent. But what I gathered from the statement is that the only real way to win at limit Omaha is to play only the nuts, and patiently wait for them to come. They will come twice as often as in Omaha, so at least that's something. If you press a weak hand you will get creamed. The bonus is that you will ALWAYS get paid off.

Ah, the life of a bonus whore. But I only bought in for $50, am above $100 already and have over 300 raked hands to my credit. Variance would have to kick me in the balls to keep me from getting to the bonus now.