Planet Mark's Blog. Thoughts, News And Strategy For Poker Tournaments Of All Size

FlopoMania Poker at 888 First Look and Strategy

New poker formats are goldmines. There is a sweet spot of 2 to 3 weeks to fill your bankroll. Recreational players flood in to see what all the buzz is about. ‘Regs’ (grinders) have not yet had time to settle in and develop strategies to beat the games.

This is the reason I logged on to the new game at 888 called ‘flopomania’ early on a Sunday morning to check it out. As you’ll find out, I was not disappointed!

Here is what is below:

  • Initial look, how the 2 variations work, stakes and rules
  • Screen shots from the games
  • Thoughts on strategy adjustments, and the opponents I met so far

This game is exclusive to 888 Poker. This is the 2nd biggest and number #1 recreational poker site (noticeably softer than Stars). You can check out FlopoMania and get a no-deposit bonus over at www.888poker.com

FlopoMania Poker: What is It?

Everyone gets to see a flop, every hand in this online poker variant.

There are two types, regular and 'push or fold':

FlopoMania does not use blinds. Instead, everyone posts an ante. This is 10c in the $5 max buy-in game. After posting, the player to the left of the button is first to act.

Push or Fold FlopoMania takes things a step further (and is more fun!). Here the ante system is the same. If you want to bet after the flop this must be 20BBs. For example, in a $5 buy-in game, you’ll pay 10c ante and then have the option to check or bet $1. If someone bets you either fold or call.

Lobby Shot for the 888 Flopomania Games

FlopoMania Poker Strategy and Thoughts Lobby Shot

The stakes available are between 5c ante and $1 ( $2.50c through to $50 max buy-in). Antes are 5c, 10c, 30c or $1. When you join the games, you are given an option of posting an extra ante, or waiting until you are first to act and then posting just one.

Here is a screen shot of the regular version of the game at the micro stakes level. The guy on my left was betting every pot, though folding to reraises frequently… perfect!

Table Slot for FlopoMania

Flop O Mania Table View

My Initial Thoughts on FlopoMania

Aside from welcoming any new development… I can see some mileage here in solving the ‘suffocation’ problem of online poker, especially at the micro-stakes.

Let me explain.

In FlopoMania the blind pressure is high compared to the stack sizes. In a $10 buy-in cash game you are usually paying 15c per orbit of the blinds. In the equivalent Flop-o-mania game, you’ll pay $1.20c – assuming a full 6 handed table.

Effectively, this forces you to act… if you wait for a top 10% hand (for example), you’ll never make up for this blind pressure.

Back to the ‘suffocation’ thinking.

In many lower GDP countries, $100 a week is a solid wage for someone young. I’m not talking about major cities here. In the Eastern European countryside, small towns in Latin America and most of Russia (just 3 examples), that would be plenty of money to enjoy life with!

This means that – rationally – many young people go online, play a tight, quasi-mechanical strategy at the micros… and make enough from first-timers / recreational players to live comfortably.

I don’t blame them… if you could make the equivalent of $1000+ a week in the same way, would you bother working??!

This has started to have the effect of suffocating the games.

Even when you find a decent game, 5 Russians and 8 Ukrainians will soon be on the waiting list! Since money making nits kill the games. The experience for new players is diminished, as well as their profits. A barrier exists for people moving up.

Ok, long side-track – back to FlopoMania!

With higher blind pressure, this game is unlikely to be too attractive to those nitty types.

Some will work out strategies and become the micro-stakes ‘regs’ of this game. That will start in a few weeks’ time. For now, head over to 888 and enjoy the profits.

Strategy for FlopoMania: Observations

Strategy FlopoManiaToo early for a detailed strategy guide. Here are some initial thoughts / observations.

Let’s start with the obvious, anyone can hit a flop when you are playing every pot 6 handed, with any crazy combination. If you assume that someone hit at least a little, or that there are a couple of decent draws out there – that is a safe starting point.

My initial thoughts are that betting patterns looked very exploitable.

One player… to my left in the non-all-in game, was betting almost every flop. This was effective enough, getting a lot of folds and winning 60c each time in a $5 game is good money! I then noticed that the only times he was checking was when he was strong… Instantly, this guy becomes super-exploitable. Let him build a pot, see others call (especially if you know those opponents raise with top pair+), and then take it away.

Another opponent bet 10c a lot. This worked a couple of times, taking down the antes. He also folded quickly to small reraises when weak or called and checked the turn when stronger… aiming for the big check-raise. Again, what a great opponent to have! Drawing hands became very cheap in position for a start.

In the all-in game, there were some trigger-happy types. One guy pushed 20BBs most hands, and got a lot of bets through. I’ll consider this aggressive strategy more, it would suit my SNG-trained brain. Of course, this was exploitable. Checking to him when strong got a lot of wins… since he almost always pulled the trigger. I’m wondering if there is some variation / frequency of checking behind which could do the trick here.

Wrapping Up – You Have 3 Weeks (or so) to Fill Your Boots – Check Out FlopoMania Now!

After a few weeks, most of the recreational types that want to gamble money in the new format will have moved on… and there will be a lot more regulars in the games.

The sweet spot starts right now. Head over to www.888poker.com and check out the new game.

GL at the Tables,

Mark

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