live game strategy?

A lot of weekends a guy I know hosts a cash game at his house with a full ring almost every time. The problem is, everyone likes playing larger stakes than most of them can afford (most buy in with 5-15 bucks when blinds are .25/.50). I usually buy 10 or 15. How should I generally approach this table? Everyone is fairly tight passive except the host who buys in for 25 ish and raises almost every pot.

people are buying in too short for the stakes. 25 bucks is 50bb, so that guy is the most right... I guess. $50 is closer to the appropriate amount for the stakes.
If you get Top Pair Good Kicker you need to get your entire stack in because the stack sizes dont let you do anything else. Any time you raise it should be around $1.50 or $2.00 if you get a caller then its super easy to bet enough to get people in with bad stuff like draws that they should not be paying to chase.

Play tight and aggressive with good hands/strong opening hands/hands likely to hit top pair (KJ,KQ,KT,AT...etc,) Sounds like a lot of bad poker and 10-15 bucks shouldn't be killing anyone's bankroll and if it does they may need to spend time on a second job rather than poker.

Clearly just for fun, so dont worry about the 10 bucks and have some fun.

Just bring alot of booze and women and have some fun.

Buy in for $5 and be a rage-inducing tilt-spewing shove-monkeying short-stacking preflop shove machine. 10bb shortstacking is the bestest.

Here's a link I'm sure to get lots of love for providing

Are the people you're up against aggressively raising with reasonable cards or with any Ace for example? I play in a small game where the players are hyper-aggressive pre-flop, but are totally passive post-flop. They play up big hands, but don't continuation bet or really optimize position...so my steal potential is pretty high. Overall I get in with position and leverage that when possible, which in my case is quite a bit.

Since it's lower stakes, I use it as a testing ground for position plays and bet sizes..go in there with a different personality every week. :P But overall, I agree with peacebrother on this one, just have fun with it.

i would do as the host does...to hell with "its just for fun"...get in their and make a profit...buy in for 30 and become the bully and you might walk home with all the money!!!...im not saying raise ever pot...steal some pots here and there, and wait till you have the nuts and take down a big pot...

cheers and gl
wooter

Only buying in for $15 with 25/50 blinds is really to low in my opinion. U at least need $25. I like to try and play tight at first and figure out the guys at my table. once i have figured them out i like to limp with alot of pocket pairs hoping to flop the set in disguise and trap. Also like to bully a little bit and show aggresiveness when i get a bigger stack.

Sheer the sheep and give action (something too many pure Internet players fail to acknowledge from my experiences) because if you are truly a good POKER player you should have many different gears. Always keep it friendly (you being always welcome and enjoyed at the table is a critical goal) and you will be amazed at how you will eventually move a lot of these players out of their tight/passive modes and into a more loose/weak/horrible style which will yield you more profits over time. I'd even bring a 12 pack of something nice the first couple of times I showed up and make sure I was always seen with a drink in my hand (assuming it's allowed by the host). Oh, yeah, if the host is always winning...avoid pissing contests with him! Remember, he is sharing a gift with you.

This is a great opportunity to open up being a chip redistributor and getting a handle on players ranges while making everyone feel fantastic and like poker super-stars. Once you see people get calm, easy, even cocky... you are ready for steady profits.

These are the type games that you dream of. Hell these are the type games that break-even poker players will clean up in.

Also, what others have said about having fun...CRITICAL. It sounds like a lot of the players might be trying to be serious and focused. Usually these are players that have been playing for a while, know sound fundamentals but lack the discipline to keep them in focus and usually lose in the more regimented casino/card room games. They have maybe read a book (usually just 1) and probably the most advanced thing SOME of them might know is pot odds. Most probably don't acknowledge the different playing styles or what they even are. Probably too engrossed in their own game to even pick up on simple tells (which at this type game will be rampant) and will not have any other gear other than tight ( and to them this is blackjack type hands in any position) or bluff-monkey/idiot. Identifying the easy money shouldm't be hard and most are there to have fun and to them this type of poker is just a line item expense on their disposable income. They are just fine with losing a little all the time and will always be back with another 10 or 20 spot to play.

Good luck and if you can't win here consistently you are either taking your game and yourself too seriously or are a bad player, the latter most likely not the case , I hope.

My .02
Enjoy

Just have fun!

the buy in is $10-15 and apparently this is more than most of them can afford!

Get drunk, have a laugh and you will probably do OK anyway!

thanks, this sounds really helpful and i'll probably try it out.
thanks guys!