You can file this one under 'Old man shaking his fist at clouds.'
It doesn't seem like that long ago that every poker variant got its own name. Seven-card stud. Five-card draw. Pot-limit Omaha. We had genera and species, and as far as I could tell, everything was working out just fine.
Then along came Moneymaker, hole cams, and the Boom. The next thing you know, the public perception of poker had devolved to being no-limit hold'em.
Then kids started coming up into the game who had literally never played any other variant of poker. Occasionally, they'd see a bunch of old guys playing some game that obviously wasn't no-limit hold'em. Sometimes there were plaques on the table, indicating which of a mix of games was being played at that moment.
And thus poker was divided into two parts: 'No-limit hold'em' and 'Mixed games.'
Here I present a species of poker that deserves to stand on its own, maybe even a David Attenborough BBC special.
Ten two-card combos, pot-limit, split pot
I'm at the WSOP Circuit stop at the Graton Casino in Sonoma County, California. And damned if there isn't a Big O tournament running as we speak (yes, Allen Kessler is in it).
Big O is, wait for this, five-card pot-limit Omaha, 8-or-better (split pot). It's every beer and pizza poker fantasy you can imagine, rolled up into a single game. The dealers have to stay on their toes to keep track of the pot (the players help), and when hands are tabled, everybody looks closely to make sure that the best hands get their fair share of the pot.
It is, forgive me here, just way more fun than no-limit hold'em. Not least because relatively few people have any idea of what they're doing.
Strength in diversity
Poker is much too rich to be straightjacketed into one species of one genus of the game. Wildlife buffs don't talk about 'Lions' and 'Mixed Animals' – let's give every species of our game its full due.
Starting with that rare colorful beast, Big O.
Additional images courtesy of Lee Jones
