I Got the HORSE Right Here

Because the Kentucky Derby will be run today, it seems appropriate to talk HORSE. Not the thoroughbreds running at Churchill Downs, but the poker game.

I’m going to be contributing a column on HORSE to Poker News that will appear every Saturday, and my first column, introducing me and the column itself, ought to be posted to http://www.pokernews.com/strategy/ later today.

Since HORSE involves alternating rounds of fixed-limit hold’em, Omaha/8, razz, 7-card stud, and 7-stud/8, HORSE really tests a person’s all-around skills as a poker player. You don’t have to be a world beater at any one of HORSE’s component games to be a winner, but you should play all of them reasonably well. And if you do, you’ll see many of your opponents, who might play some games quite well, making big errors in others.

But I’m getting ahead of myself here. For now, I’m hoping you’ll check out my HORSE column later today, and give it a read each and every week. I’ll be talking about each of HORSE’s component games as well as those global concepts that transcend the individual component parts of a HORSE game. And I plan to cover cash games as well as tournaments.

I also want to respond to reader questions and concerns, so if you’ve got a question about HORSE send it to me at loukrieger@aol.com. I’ll try to be prompt in answering all of them, and the best questions will be answered in print too.