The old adage is you have to give action to get action. Explain if he is too nitty no one will juice up pots he is in unless they have premium hands and that will make for minimal wins on nights he does well.
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Advice Requested: New NIT On The Block (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Taxi500
- Start date
OP
OP
Taxi500
3 of a Kind
You're not wrong (although 7/8 guys at the table would light $8 on fire if they had 49o there with 1.8k in front of them) however the only way for me to emphasize my point would be to show you a replay of the night.
Also fair!
Goosefraba
Pair
Nits are Nits so I’d suggest mandatory half bottle tequila chug before he plays and every time he’s on the button bomb pot it up. And if he starts to get socially distant again then another couple tequila shots
doctorchips
Pair
At the end of the day, he's a player willing to put cash on your table.
Let people play their own game and exploit it. If he's a nit nit nit, you should be able to easily bully him and steal so many blinds from him. When he's raising or reraising you know he has it every single time.
Let people play their own game and exploit it. If he's a nit nit nit, you should be able to easily bully him and steal so many blinds from him. When he's raising or reraising you know he has it every single time.
•How many of your games has NIT attended?
•Does NIT play mostly tournaments vs cash games?
•Does NIT play mostly tournaments vs cash games?
Introduce the Nit Game aka Stand Up Game without standing up to the crew.
No.
Then I don't understand what the complaint is. Playing tight against loose/aggressive players is a legit strategy. I do it all the time when certain players are at my game. If he's being a douchebag at the table, that's one thing, but from what I'm reading is they're not happy with his style of play. To me that is absolutely ridiculous.
I bet these same players complaining about him would lose their minds if he played that last hand and sucked out a gutshot on the river to beat the two pair and three-of-a-kind he's up against.
I bet these same players complaining about him would lose their minds if he played that last hand and sucked out a gutshot on the river to beat the two pair and three-of-a-kind he's up against.
What if he hit the nuts and won the last hand? Still his fault?
He came to gamble and took good risks, got lucky, or both.
I'd rather invite him to my games than not invite him because me and my friends were unlucky or dumb enough to give him all our money. That would be on us, not him.
Sometimes our big winners bring a little extra food or drink to share the next time we play. I'd see if he did that and how he treats everyone. If he's not a cocky winner then it's the losers own fault for losing.
Can't handle losing then don't play. That's not how gambling or winning works. That's like a mediocre football team only playing againsts terrible teams to win and get good records. You'll never get better if you don't play teams better than yours.
Two very different situations. I would take that bet, winky face and all: big winner luckbox taking down a lucky hand with any two cards is a better story and better for the game/more fun than big winner locks up several buyins and refuses to chip in for a last hand $8 straddle. My players would not equate those, not sure if yours would.Then I don't understand what the complaint is. Playing tight against loose/aggressive players is a legit strategy. I do it all the time when certain players are at my game. If he's being a douchebag at the table, that's one thing, but from what I'm reading is they're not happy with his style of play. To me that is absolutely ridiculous.
I bet these same players complaining about him would lose their minds if he played that last hand and sucked out a gutshot on the river to beat the two pair and three-of-a-kind he's up against.
Comes back to home poker being a social contract. Hes allowed to do it, sure, and Id agree with you that its ridiculous if the host tried to set a minimum vpip or something, but he wont be invited back if hes not fun to play with. People that play poker to have fun and gamble dont want someone quietly playing like a nit, its just not fun. A last hand straddle with all eyes on him is an easy way to keep favor in his corner. No one is telling him to do $100 flips.
Run your game however you'd like, but nits are boring. If I'm up, I make a point to loosen up a bit especially near the end of the night to make sure the fish have fun and I get invited back. This straddle would've been +EV longrun, ESPECIALLY if he earned his stack by outplaying the table.
Then you and I are just going to have to disagree. I'm there to play poker, not just roll dice and give my winnings away.
(no winky face needed)
Seeking Alpha Social Club
4 of a Kind
When I opened this, I expected a story about a player that was drunk and disrespecting your game and other players, which was a situation that I had to deal with. Trust me, that situation can escalate into a fist fight quickly if allowed to go on for too long.
I don't personally see an issue with your situation. I understand that he had a large stack and others were salivating at the "hope" of taking some of it. I personally think folding was a GREAT call here, but that's just my humble opinion.
We have a handfull of players that LOVE wild aggressive play, and others that don't. The wild children do $100, well somtimes $400, buck ups, while the others fold and go refill their drinks. Everybody gets their rush of choice. As long as everynody is respectful...no issues.
Anyway, just my two cents. Good luck!
JustinInMN
4 of a Kind
Start bluffing him more. The beauty of poker is for every strategy there is a counter strategy. Bluffing is the counter strategy for nits.
People fold hands for $10 in $5-$10 game routinely with this kind of stack. That's all straddling does is effectively raise the BB for the hand and makes everyone's stacks shorter in terms BB.
One player per hand. Each player makes their own decision. If they can't figure out a counter strategy, that's their fault.
JustinInMN
4 of a Kind
Oh so the real complaint comes out a few posts later. This issue is a little different though I am struggling with the concept that red bill drinkers are quiet. Yes, it's not liquor, but still it still energizes people off the wall.
Maybe give him the heads up he's coming off as standoffish, but that's about the ceiling here for me. If you give a group of players too much power over who is in or out, your invite list will become much shorter than you like.
This guy doesn't sound like a nit: he just sounds like the best player at the table. If the other players can't adjust, then that's their problem — not his.
So let me see if I have this right... you're upset because you invited a poker player to your degen gambling night, he won, and to top it off, he wasn't socially engaging? I get the "not socially engaging" part, sometimes it's just not a fit, but, the crux of your argument is that this guy didn't want to put money in on the last hand and got blasted for not doing so, and, that tells me more about your group than it does the new guy. A degen is ok with putting good money in after bad, can give you a long excuse for putting money in with 7-2 off pre flop in a non 7-2 game, etc.
If it truly isn't a good social fit then so be it, but, from the way it sounds it wasn't a glaring "first time guy we knew wasn't going to work within the first 15 minutes" situation...from your description. He's got your money, invite him back and see if anyone is good enough to win some of it back.
If it truly isn't a good social fit then so be it, but, from the way it sounds it wasn't a glaring "first time guy we knew wasn't going to work within the first 15 minutes" situation...from your description. He's got your money, invite him back and see if anyone is good enough to win some of it back.
HiveKueen
High Hand
Based on this conversation I plan to stay away from home cash games cause my poker goals align with playing prudently all the time so that when I go to the casino I don’t have bad habits!
Kentucky
Two Pair
So… the “Nit” had the $8 straddle on? What more do you want?
I play in a home game and to be honest the stakes are a little high for my roll so I’m on the tight end of the table, but I take the chips (of course I do) and I adjudicate the rules, so I get invited back.
These boys like to gamble and enjoy bomb pots. I’m more interested in trying to play “good” poker (whatever that is) and massively multiway pots with loose calls makes me tighten up - though my image does let me get the odd bluff through.
That said I do still flick in the 2.5BB for the bomb pots to join in the vibe and tend to play looser once/if I’m up.
So what does this confessional mean for OP? Vibe is most important for home games. And if someone is killing the mood then you don’t need them. But I’d no more call out a nit for being nitty than I’d call out a LAG for over betting the turn every hand.
Huskerchipper
Flush
This blows my mind. If a player is a good respectable person he is fine at my game. Send him my way. It's up to my players to adjust to different play...not the new guys responsibility to play the way most of the people in my group plays. If you can't adjust to a different way of play you aren't a very good player. I would just play BINGO or something maybe.
Not every player is right for every game. If a player isn’t telling jokes or giving out stock tips, he damn well better be giving action. If he doesn’t do any of those things, it doesn’t matter how legit of a strategy TAG is; it won’t do him any good when he’s not invited.
I agree with the above. Over the years I have listened to people complain. You called me with xx? You folded A/K pre-flop to a 3bet? Yada-yada-yada. I have heard people complain how often so and so wins or how much so and so won. I don't give two shits.
If a player wants to call another players $30 raise in a $1/$2 game with a $5 straddle holding three, five off-suit. Fine! If he hits a wheel on the flop against a player who flops a set of aces and holds, even better. It is poker! We all know what we are signing up for when we take our seat at the table.
I am not going to tell someone how they should play when it is their money. Seriously. All I ask is you show up to the game on time, be respectful and enjoy yourself.
What's next? Shame the nit into flipping a quarter for a hundo?
Only if he's drinking Red Bull and prefers 4-color decks.
I made the nittiest fold of all time this weekend (w/ two PCFers as my witnesses) and dgaf. Hellmuth would've been proud. Someone either vibes with your game or they don't; as host that's for you to decide. You don't need any reason beyond that unless you're actively looking for a particular excuse.
Kid can do whatever he wants.
But he ought to learn the lesson that tossing up $8 at the end of the night to get invited back to a game where you left with $1,500 is not just basic poker etiquette, but good for his long-term bankroll.
Ditto not shutting it down completely once you get up.
My guess is that the money meant a lot more to him than most players, and he just had tunnel vision about protecting the win.
But he ought to learn the lesson that tossing up $8 at the end of the night to get invited back to a game where you left with $1,500 is not just basic poker etiquette, but good for his long-term bankroll.
Ditto not shutting it down completely once you get up.
My guess is that the money meant a lot more to him than most players, and he just had tunnel vision about protecting the win.
I guess just tell everyone griping ‘ play better’.
@Taxi500. I am 10 years removed from hosting an actual home game. Taking on the responsibilities of hosting a cash game at a membership only club last year has jaded me. There is no reward in listening to grown men bitch about how someone played their hand or grouch over asinine little things that occur at the table instead of being civil and moving on.
The frequency with which I said "next hand" or "that was the last hand" shredded all the pleasure I thought I would derive from overseeing the game.
To your original post, every home game I have played in has its own unique atmosphere and expectations of table etiquette from players.
You received some great feedback well tailored to your situation. Two posts in particular standout.
Apologies for the salty response.
The frequency with which I said "next hand" or "that was the last hand" shredded all the pleasure I thought I would derive from overseeing the game.
To your original post, every home game I have played in has its own unique atmosphere and expectations of table etiquette from players.
You received some great feedback well tailored to your situation. Two posts in particular standout.
Apologies for the salty response.
Have you written this experience up elsewhere on PCF? I’d be very interested in that… How the games were organized, not to mention the juicy details of player foibles…
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