EPT Barcelona: T-O-R-S-E, for when you’d rather drop the hold’em
Texas Hold’em reigns supreme in the world of live tournament poker.
Dubbed the “Cadillac of poker” by Doyle Brunson, the two-card variant — which, according to another proverb, “takes a minute to learn, a lifetime to master” — accounts for the overwhelming majority of tournaments, cash games and televised poker shows, both online and off.
But what do you do if you hate it?
A poker festival might not seem like the place to go if that’s the case, but the EPT does offer some refuge for players who’d rather drop the hold’em.
Not only are there plenty of PLO events on the EPT schedule, there’s also a T-O-R-S-E event starting today, which seems to have been cooked up precisely to satisfy players who actively loathe hold’em.
WHAT’S T-O-R-S-E?
Rather like its very similar-sounding cousin H.O.R.S.E., T-O-R-S-E features a rotation of five games, played for a round each. But whereas the H of H-O-R-S-E. represents a hold’em round, forcing mixed-game aficionados to gamble it up for one-fifth of the tournament, T-O-R-S-E pointedly dismisses it.
The full rotation for T-O-R-S-E is:
- Fixed Limit 2-7 Triple Draw
- Fixed Limit Omaha High-Low 8 or better
- Fixed Limit Razz
- Fixed Limit Stud
- Fixed Limit Stud High-Low 8 or better
Hold’em is nowhere to be seen.
More cards, more fun
Naturally, sitting down in a tournament like this is going to mean squaring off against many of the mixed game sharks who swim in these waters. Tobias Leknes and Blaz Zerjav were among the early entrants, and Benny Glaser is in Barcelona too this week.
That said, there’s also the 9-Game starting tonight, precisely nine of which games Glaser is also an expert in. So maybe he’s waiting for that.
For the record, the 9-Game rotation is:
- Fixed Limit 2-7 Triple Draw
- Pot Limit Omaha
- Fixed Limit Stud High-Low 8 or better
- Fixed Limit Hold’em
- No Limit 2-7 Single Draw
- Fixed Limit Stud
- Fixed Limit Omaha High-Low 8 or better
- No Limit Hold’em
- Fixed Limit Razz
so unfortunately there are two hold’em rounds per rotation. Yuk.
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