HOSE Poker - AKA SHOE Poker
HOSE poker is pretty similar to HORSE poker, only without the R – Razz. It is: Hold’em; Omaha; Seven Card Stud Poker and Seven Card Stud Eight or Better.
HOSE Poker Versus HORSE Poker
When talking about combined poker games, most poker players or those in the know refer to HORSE poker – the poker games listed above, with the inclusion of Razz. But sometimes poker games and tournaments use HOSE Poker, without Razz. Both HOSE and HORSE Poker are mainly played in higher limit casinos. What makes them popular is the skill they take to do well – players really need to be pretty good at all four games to stand any chance of winning.
What Makes a Successful HOSE Poker Player
Basically, HOSE poker players need to be very skilled all round poker players. So someone who is really good at Texas hold’em poker but not so good at Razz, won’t be a good candidate for trying to win HOSE. This means that any mediocre or average poker players will be weeded out pretty early on. To be a success it is worth practicing on line for free, all four games before entering a tournament.
How HOSE Poker Works
What happens in HOSE is that each poker game is played. The number of games played depends on how many players there are – eight players means eight games of each game are played (it can be a pretty long night). The games are played in order of how they come in HOSE, so first it’s Texas hold’em, followed by Omaha, etc. and then returns to Hold’em after the four have been played.
Attempting to Win HOSE
There are no hard and fast strategies to win HOSE, except to say that working on each of the games can give you a good start. But it also a good idea to become familiar with how HOSE poker is played, in terms of rotation and order, etc. Just practice in all ways can always be helpful.
HOSE Rotation
The way the games rotate is decided either by hand, time, or blind levels. The first option is a speedy game in which players have to focus on each hand as well as the poker variant. With time, the game has to change after a pre-determined amount of time, usually five or ten minutes. If a game is rotated by blind levels, the game will change when the blind levels increase. Players should be fully aware of what type of rotation is being used so that they can increase their chances of winning; if you are not aware of this, it can add confusion to your situation which is never a good thing.