Played my first home game today - different experience, heh

roundcat

roundcat

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I went to a barbecue at a friend's house today and after we ate they fired up a poker game and invited me to play. Apparently this group gets together and plays regularly. It was no limit hold 'em, .25/.50 blinds. The typical buy in was $20 but a couple of us only had $10, so that's what I bought in for.

The biggest shock to me was that I had to deal (and deal first, since I drew the ace of spades), and I must have looked like I completely didn't know what I was doing. I've always played at casinos and online, and never had to deal myself. The guy who seems to be the main organizer of the game was really surprised that I've been playing in casinos but haven't ever played a home game... he said he played home games for a couple of years before venturing outside that comfort zone.

They didn't seem like the greatest group of players in the world, but not the worst either. I sat there for half an hour and ended up playing exactly two hands. One was when I was in the small blind and everyone else limped in so I completed. The other was when I was in the big blind and everyone folded around to the small blind, who completed, and I raised 5x the big blind (which was a typical raise in this game). He pushed all in and I called with AQ. He looked surprised and turned over K5 of diamonds, got two more diamonds on the flop, and rivered his flush. I can't feel bad about getting my money in with the best cards, and I did have a good time and will play with them again.

It was VERY smoky, though... much like the poker rooms around here before they passed the smoking ban. Two of the girls at the table were smoking cigarettes and the two guys were both puffing on cigars. :dong:
 
belladonna05

belladonna05

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I have been there and done that. I was completely lost first time I had to deal, had hubby practice before he went first time, makes all the difference in your confidence when you can at least pretend to know what your doing :)
 
oluaris

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the first time i played holdem was in a home game 4 months ago...
i knew the rules and all but have not actually played...
never had the chance play in a home game again...
two months after that i played live in a casino and got hooked...
now, i dont have the time to go play live but i would really love to...
i only play online for now...

i don't think i will really enjoy home games coz i don't like beating my friends nor do i like getting beaten by them...

i miss playing live...
have to hit the casino soon...
 
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Humps

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i really enjoy playing my friends, once or twice a month we play with £10 buy ins. Same as round-cat they aint the best players but they aint too shabby either. great fun and thankfully none of them smoke :p. Dealing, yeah rather annoying and i find it puts me out of my 'thinking pattern' or the zone or whatever ur wanna call it, outa my stride.
 
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stargun

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We have lots of home games with one really big game a year. Usually $50 with re-buys, about 100 people, awesome, awesome fun.....
 
vanquish

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First time I ever played in a home game, I didn't know the rules (thought I hit my 3 high straight with QKA23). We played for like 5c/10c blinds and $5 buy in s that day.
Nowadays its 25c/50c and I usually buy in for ~$60-150 (whatever would make me have the most at the table), with pots going up to a few hundred dollars.
Damn how things change.
 
Crummy

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Was this a cash game or tournament style??

Did the blinds ever increase from the .25/.50?? Sounds like it was unorganized to me. They shouldn't have started out that small unless you guys were playing a cash game.

Were you always the one dealing?? Or did you guys keep it rotating?
In home games, unless you have an extra girlfriend sitting around, or somebody doesn't want to play, you have to deal at one point. Its just the nature of the game.

Sounds like you had fun.

In my opinion at $20 buy-in is good, I have two groups of people that we play with here in town. One group like to keep it small so we have $5 buy-in's with $2.00 re-buys. The other group, we range from a $10-$20 depending on how many people show up.
Then I have a group, that I play with sometimes, we have a $125 buy-in game.
 
roundcat

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Yes, it was a cash game. Blinds didn't change. Dealer rotated to the left. I looked like a big dork when I was in the small blind and didn't know I was first to act after the flop... guess I'm just too used to seeing that little white dealer button on the table. :eek:
 
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LorCat

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The home games we play are usually bet more like stud than Holdem. Everyone antes up then the cards are dealt. More betting...etc. I much prefer tourney style...because you can make your stack last longer. lol. On the other hand, the pots tend to be bigger...and you can really clean up when you get a good hand.
 
OzExorcist

OzExorcist

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The home games I play are usually for around $10 and we play SnG style rather than a cash game - it's for fun more than anything else, we're all friends and I don't think I'd particulalry want to take more than $10 of any of them at a time

Most of us work as dealers in bar games during the week too, so finding someone to pitch the cards isn't much of a problem :)
 
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ocbengtson

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tournament style always seemed the best to me as well, mostly because it keeps someone from turning into a dick head when they get green envy. We do $20 buy in for a 40 chip stack, and the blinds double every every 15 min. When we play on the ship we rarely have more than 6 people and not everyone always has a lot of cash so we play for $5= 30 chip stack and the blinds double everytime someone busts out. We also tend to make the first person who gets busted deal for the rest of the game.
 
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