The Weekly $215 HORSE ($50,000 GTD) At PokerStars
HORSE is considered to be the ultimate test of skill as it combines a rotation of 5 different variants of poker, thus requiring the player to not only be familiar with each of these games but also highly skilled at each of them if they wish to succeed. The biggest advantage of being completely comfortable with all of these variants and playing in HORSE poker events is that you will find opponents who try to avoid getting heavily involved in 1 variant of the game. The nature of HORSE causes you to spend a much longer amount of time around the same players as they will bust much slower as all variants are limit. Therefore an experienced HORSE player has time to find the levels of ability of all players at the table. He can locate which players might be trying to avoid one variant of the game and make them pay the price.
The weekly $215 HORSE ($50,000 GTD) on PokerStars that starts at 7:45PM ET on Sundays usually reaches the $50k GTD with around 200 players. The field is made up of a mix of pros and strong regular players as well as some players who are weaker, usually qualifying through smaller satellites. The $215 HORSE tourney boasts one of the best structures I have seen, where each variant lasts 6 minutes and the stakes only increase after every 2nd variant. Combining these comfortable stakes with the large (however not deep) starting stack of 3,000, this tournament will really suit patient players who are comfortable with all variations of HORSE.
The popularity of this tournament stems from the fact that it is the biggest HORSE event on PokerStars each week as well as being the biggest HORSE event offered on any online poker software weekly. With HORSE considered to be the most skillful game of poker, this tournament also provides a lot of competition and pride amongst players wanting to be the winner of one of the more prestigious weekly poker events. The betting structure as well as the $50,000 guaranteed also creates interest and a healthy first prize of around $13,000 each week. In a game with a high level skill it is easy to see a greater level of confidence within the players at these events. However, you can use their over confidence to your advantage if you have the ability and skills within each variant of the game.
Compared to Hold’em tournaments (both NL and FL) HORSE still doesn’t attract anywhere near the amount of players you would expect it to. The same buy-in for NL Hold’em is the Sunday Million and that is run at a similar time, getting about 7,000 entrants. The weekly HORSE tournament’s entries look quite dismal at an average 200. However, as poker continues to grow more people will begin to spill over to these other poker games like HORSE. If you take the time to improve at these games now, you will surely benefit in the long run.
Whilst attempting to learn or improve your HORSE game, it is important to consider which variant is your strongest and which is your weakest. In a HORSE tournament you can to use the strong variant to your advantage; however you should be aware of what area you are weak in and continue to try and improve it. It is also important to give strong consideration to how your Limit Hold’em game stands up against quality opposition. Despite what many people think, it is actually Limit Hold’em that has the most significant impact on any HORSE tournament. With more hands being played, the blinds will affect you more as you are forced to be involved in more hands. This is where the quality of your Hold’em game comes into play. If you can succeed at Hold’em you will have a better chance to be more successful in the weekly 50k HORSE tournament as well as other HORSE tournaments that you play. Visit Pokerstars and signup now. Use the marketing code PAWSUB16 for entry into private freerolls and the bonus code STARS50 for a 100% match up to $50 on your first deposit.