I did the Hold 'em & Hit 'em in Houston, TX last January.
I thought it was easier as far as the turn in goes...you don't have to mess with garnish, only 3 categories instead of 4 and you have an hour between turn-ins. So you are not as rushed as you are in a KCBS contest.
That being said, we didn't win anything. I cooked basically the same ribs & brisket as I would in a KCBS contest. The guys next to us were seasoned IBCA guys and they said sweet & salty wins. Of course they didn't have any calls either. Johnny Trigg was at this cook off too. I asked him for advice and he says he cooks the same way no matter what the contest. So take that for what it's worth. I think he ended up getting a call in ribs.
As far as what to cook...it's pretty well laid out I think. Spare ribs only, half chicken and brisket. You have to turn in full length briket slices - in other words you can't trim the ends to fit in the box or get rid of those overly tender flaking off ends if you wrap it. Chicken was a challenge, since I always cook thighs, but it turned out OK.
Judging is different and the one thing I was dissapointed in was not recieving a sheet at the end of the event telling me how I scored against everyone else. Judging in IBCA is set up in such a way, that this is impossible to do (or so I was told). You get a call if you were in the top 10, and they call out your ticket number (not your team name) for that - then they call out the next 10 numbers that made it to the final table. Other than that, you have no idea how you scored.
Sorry for the long response...I guess too much info is better than not enough...sometimes.