Is it a problem to win too often at your own home game? (2 Viewers)

[Highli99]

There is strategy to being good at poker, and then there is the meta game of being at the table. You can't leverage good poker skill if you're not at the table. Nits won't have a seat at most games worth being in. Don't be nit.

Find a way to reciprocate. Give action, be fun, be social. Be helpful, make the game run better, create a good environment. Do those things so the players who win the least are still having fun and enjoying themselves. Do that and your game will thrive.

I do not advocate soft playing, especially in tournaments. In cash games there is a lot more wiggle room for giving action while still playing to win.

 

[Jimulacrum]

Years ago, I played in a game where I disproportionately crushed over a long period of time. The host made some structural changes and cut back the stakes, and it brought people back and reinvigorated the game—all without ever having to demand that I change anything about my play.

That's what I'm going to recommend for you. Not lowering stakes, but amending the structure.

If you're crushing this much, it's probably not just a skill gap, but also structural features of the tournament that enable it, i.e., the tournament favors skill significantly. The best cure for that is to do something to the structure of the tournament to reduce the skill factor and boost variance. A good game should have sufficient gamble that everyone gets to cash sometimes. People who never cash end up leaving, eventually.

Pick structural changes that you specifically don't like. Quietly implement them as just trying something out. Add something that annoys you strategically. Make the game harder for you to crush and easier for a fool to win by dumb luck. Make it less of a skill game and more of a gambling game. If your skill level is that much higher, you'll still come out in the black over time. The challenge may even make you a better player.

For most tournaments, this will mean shorter stacks and/or faster blinds. If you think your group would like it, you can also add gambley features like bounties or random awards (high hand or whatever), or any other fair, even-money bet that will spread the money around. If it makes the game more fun for them, so much the better.

 

[Jimulacrum]

Ah I see the confusion. To clarify, I did take $180 this last time. 6 people buying in at $30/piece plus 1 rebuy ($210 prize pool). I got $140 of the prize pool, knocked 3 people out, and kept my OG bounty for an additional $40.

Second place got $70 prize pool, but no knockouts.

2 others got bounties, so $10 a piece.

And one person got a $30 bad beat.

So in this past tourney, 4 people got some money back. Two people made some profit.

It's good that you have these features. This is specifically some of the stuff I mentioned before I saw this reply. This should help spread the money around better, so no one feels like he's always going home with empty pockets. Winning once in a while is usually all it takes to keep people coming back.

 

[BGinGA]

Nope. The other players need to play better.

^ This.

Offer 30 minute strategy classes prior to tournament start. Give them ways to improve.

 

[maloviz]

^ This.

Offer 30 minute strategy classes prior to tournament start. Give them ways to improve.

"Hey, I noticed that most of you suck at poker so I'm going to offer a 30 minute class to share some of my expertise with you before the tournament."

You give amazing advice on tournaments but I think you missed the mark with this suggestion. I think this would rub off the wrong way with a crowd playing a friendly, social gathering, type of game.

 

[jamesjkim]

"Hey, I noticed that most of you suck at poker so I'm going to offer a 30 minute class to share some of my expertise with you before the tournament."

You give amazing advice on tournaments but I think you missed the mark with this suggestion. I think this would rub off the wrong way with a crowd playing a friendly, social gathering, type of game.

Really? I have found people to be super receptive to this type of help from a better player. I think your assumed approach is the wrong one.

 

[BGinGA]

"Hey, I noticed that most of you suck at poker so I'm going to offer a 30 minute class to share some of my expertise with you before the tournament."

You give amazing advice on tournaments but I think you missed the mark with this suggestion. I think this would rub off the wrong way with a crowd playing a friendly, social gathering, type of game.

Really? I have found people to be super receptive to this type of help from a better player. I think your assumed approach is the wrong one.

Exactly. I've offered 'strategy sessions' and 'dealer classes' in the past, and they were both appreciated and well-attended.

Strategy sessions included basic topics such as starting hand selection, position, bet sizing, poker math, and pot odds.

Nothing wrong or presumptuous with sharing informational wealth with newer players.

 

[ekricket]

Exactly. I've offered 'strategy sessions' and 'dealer classes' in the past, and they were both appreciated and well-attended.

Strategy sessions included basic topics such as starting hand selection, position, bet sizing, poker math, and pot odds.

Nothing wrong or presumptuous with sharing informational wealth with newer players.

Lol do you teach them the “math spell?”

It’s a form of conjuring, where a person holds their finger and thumb out like they are counting, and then make counting sounds with their lips, while looking upward and to the left.

This spell seems to make “the math talk to me “, as after it’s used they typically reveal “what the math says”.

Then they ignore “what the math says” and do the opposite anyway.

 

[BryantRC]

Play to win. Always. Even if it means losing all your poker friends....

 

[BEANO52]

Not in my home game. I've played with (mostly) the same group for the last 10+ years. There are very consistent losers and winners. Every few months a "loser" will sun run and bink and they come back again and again, week after week.

Side note, it's not "big stakes" and the group is a GREAT group of friends. We all have a blast !

 

[biggantt]

I want to play @Natskule or @bergs heads up online or live for heaps…

 

[FestiveKnight]

I want to play @Natskule or @bergs heads up online or live for heaps…

Don't do this. This is a real thread that doesn't need you running it aground.

 

[andrebttx]

I agree with the folks saying always play to win - I think it's condescending to and insulting to do otherwise, and I would hate for others to treat me that way. However, I am certainly splashier and looser at home with friends and family than I am at a casino. Admittedly, that matters more for a cash game than a tournament, but I definitely fall in with the "gotta give action to get action" side of things.

Regarding the strategy or help sessions, I actually have successfully done this with some friends before. As long as you are gentle about it, I think the folks that would appreciate that will participate and not take it the wrong way.

 

[Poker Zombie]

I'm in the "teach them" camp. They're friends first, opponents second.

We have hosted "poker schools", giving strategy classes. We have also held small free games where Mrs Zombie and I turned our cards face up after every hand (and have another one scheduled the day after Thanksgiving). Our friends are also encouraged to ask our top players questions at break for answers like "how did you know what I had".

If you say to your friends "I noticed that most of you suck at poker", you probably don't have enough friends to play poker anyway.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

I agree with the folks saying always play to win - I think it's condescending to and insulting to do otherwise, and I would hate for others to treat me that way. However, I am certainly splashier and looser at home with friends and family than I am at a casino. Admittedly, that matters more for a cash game than a tournament, but I definitely fall in with the "gotta give action to get action" side of things.

Regarding the strategy or help sessions, I actually have successfully done this with some friends before. As long as you are gentle about it, I think the folks that would appreciate that will participate and not take it the wrong way.

See, I think we're in agreeance but missing the words together, because when you say play to win, and then say you're playing splashier and looser than normal, those contradict in my mind. I'm not throwing the game/folding the winner, but I play in suboptimal ways (splashier, looser) to make it more fun and a relaxed atmosphere.

I would never intentionally lose (unless Worm was being way too suspicious with his coolers while playing with civil servants), but I will like you said give action when I otherwise wouldn't. If I hit my gutter? I'll stack the fish, but I know from the way he sat up he's got a set lol, still going to call his minraise.

 

[biggantt]

So serious.

Plz set the game up

Don't do this. This is a real thread that doesn't need you running it aground.

 

[andrebttx]

See, I think we're in agreeance but missing the words together, because when you say play to win, and then say you're playing splashier and looser than normal, those contradict in my mind. I'm not throwing the game/folding the winner, but I play in suboptimal ways (splashier, looser) to make it more fun and a relaxed atmosphere.

I would never intentionally lose (unless Worm was being way too suspicious with his coolers while playing with civil servants), but I will like you said give action when I otherwise wouldn't. If I hit my gutter? I'll stack the fish, but I know from the way he sat up he's got a set lol, still going to call his minraise.

Not that I particularly think of myself as a good player, but I’m thinking more in terms of like, TAG vs. LAG. Opening wider and bluffing more doesn’t have to mean suboptimal play I guess - though, for me, it almost certainly does, lol.

 

[bergs]

I want to play @Natskule or @bergs heads up online or live for heaps…

Online poker sucks.

Live, sure, no problem. $10/10 circus pot limit?

 

[Natskule]

Online poker sucks.

Live, sure, no problem. $10/10 circus pot limit?

Agreed, I'm in.

 

[exodus]

I'm definitely in the play to win camp. It doesn't mean I try to extract max value, but how else am I supposed to buy more Paulson sets?

 

[biggantt]

Down, if it’s round by round,

5/10 NLHE, PLO

Location can be anywhere

Agreed, I'm in.

 

[bergs]

Down, if it’s round by round,

5/10 NLHE, PLO

Location can be anywhere

NLHE is for losers. Man the fuck up, play dealer’s choice.

If you’re a NLHE player, you’re a NLHE player.

If you’re a circus game player, you’re a real poker player.

 

[bergs]

I’d rather buy ridiculously priced Detriot frac Paulsons that I don’t have a use for then play fucking boring ass 2 card/4 card “poker”.

 

[BearMetal]

After this last win, my co-host is concerned that if I keep placing first, it will dissuade others from wanting to come back, and that a tournament host shouldn't win at their own game this often. She wants to find ways to handicap my play. She seems to be the only person to have this concern; none of our players have voiced anything and everyone seems to be having a good time.

We have a similar problem with myself and a few other players who seemingly always win. To make it interesting, we started offering fun bounties on our heads. Like, "If you can knockout Jonathan before 9pm, you get a free buy-in to next week's tournament". But even without that, you play to win. At the very least, you can taunt the sucky players to enrage them and hopefully that will spark their thirst for vengeance against you.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Down, if it’s round by round,

5/10 NLHE, PLO

Location can be anywhere

Sooooo you're down to play the game and stakes and limits that he offered, except different games and stakes and limits than he offered. So you're not down? I'm slow, can't keep up.

 

[pltrgyst]

Since you're playing tournament poker, make it a year-long points competition on top of the weekly tournaments. That's what I did, and everyone still enjoyed it thoroughly.

 

[biggantt]

NLHE is for losers. Man the fuck up, play dealer’s choice.

If you’re a NLHE player, you’re a NLHE player.

If you’re a circus game player, you’re a real poker player.

lmfao im dead. There's nothing left to talk about

 

[biggantt]

I’d rather buy ridiculously priced Detriot frac Paulsons that I don’t have a use for then play fucking boring ass 2 card/4 card “poker”.

You're sound so frustrated in life I don't think you find excitement in anyone/anything.

 

[JMC9389]

You're sound so frustrated in life I don't think you find excitement in anyone/anything.

Incorrect.

I can assure you there was profound excitement about being the slayer of Gematria.

 

[bergs]

You're sound so frustrated in life I don't think you find excitement in anyone/anything.

Biggant: buy my shit, yo
Also Biggant: you don’t buy my shit you frustrated in life, yo

Here are all the times in life I get frustrated:
- Whenever MatB goes runner runner scoop
- When the Philadelphia Eagles win
- When I have to play a NLHE/PLO mix

If you don’t want to play circus, I get it. If you’re scared just — well, you don’t need to say anything, really.