Am i the only one who prefers PLO5? Tougher question, am i the only one who thinks PLO5 is with way less variance ? Yes in theory - more cards = more variance but on PLO5 you often have clear picture where you stand in the hand. In PLO, most often you just have to pick your spots, push all the chips and hope for the best.
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Hi verdant,
It took me a minute, but I figured out you meant 5-Card PLO -- I'm slow, but steady 
I rarely play the 5-Card variety.
I like courchevel hi/lo though...
HiLo is very fun too. A lot of amateurs play it and sometimes i happen to stumble upon someone, who joined the table by accident , thinking it is regular omaha π€£
In PLO, variance comes from both players being able to hit boards strong more often = more all-ins = more variance.
In 5PLO that is the case even more often, so more variance.
The thing is that in normal PLO there are a lot more people who have pretty good understanding how to play that game, and therefore edges are getting smaller. In 5PLO most have no real clue how to play it, as there isn't any material available how to play it. Just like the case was in PLO few years ago.
If you have big edge, variance is lower of course.
PLO5 is close to being the more popular form, that's the case at CoinPoker (low rake), KKPOker (40% affiliate rb), and at PLO200+ at Winamax it regularly is the case. GGnetwork introduced it and half the players went there -- the regular tables' side.
Never played it much, being too reckless and so on to my taste, and it is impossible to get better by playing it at micro and low limits, like it is tough to impossible to get better without fast-tables of PLO. Will need to wait till then, and then put some time in and see how it plays.
How those lower crap tables play, seems they are full of idiots that bet hands on the flop and so on that have no business of being bet, and they try some bluffs more often than the PLO players do, who are more evolved like the NLH players are; where too one makes money by folding.
I think the donkeys like PLO5 as they make hands more often. The best players then like it too! The no-imagination only-cards-matter players might like it also, as no need to have as much feel and play poker. Over 90% of the players haven't played poker at NLH and PLO for years at fast-tables and at any serious tables. They play it like Bridge. Their favourite game is the multideck PLO13.
I think PLO4 offers the optimal balance for card and poker play, as one needs to play the cards, but it isn't enough alone, while NLH is a great gambling game as the cards don't matter, but over 90% of NLH players do not play poker at all, and it is not as possible to read their hands as it is in PLO, there just being a way they play and one adjusts to that (mostly by over-folding when one knows one is beat too often). Will need to see when PLO5 evolves, and will get some real games, how it really is, but as it is now, it is a useless piece of crap-fest.
I love 5 card PLO these days, I've switched to it as my main game, I think it's more variance than 4card from my experience, but the general population is quite bad and overall worse than 4card which can make it very profitable.