First homegame

Hello

This is my first post here at CC. First a few facts about me and my game.

-I've been playing poker since 2008,
-I play losing poker
-I know the basic odds and theory
-The biggest problem in my game is playing ***t hands from the blinds.

Now to the matter at hand,

A few of my friends have got interested in Texas Hold'em, and wish to host a home game. There's going to be a total of 5 players, including me. I've played with 2 of these before, and I know that 3 of my opponents have just recently learned the game.

I am anticipating a lot of LAG play, and plan to play only premium hands. They barely understand the concept of 'position', so that's not going to give me the help it usually gives.

So, my plan is to:
- Play real tight until only 1 opponent remains. By that even the most loosest player should know I play tight.
- Isolate opponents, and put them under pressure.
- Switch gear, and expand my range.
- Use the tight player's image to gain a few pots.

By this time I expect two possible situations.

1) Me vs. Really big stack, acquired from early game all-in frenzy.
2) Me vs. Equal sized stack, if I manage to keep the players calm with my own example

Of course there is a change of me dropping before the heads up -phase, or reaching it with a small stack, but these aren't likely outcomes.

I would like to hear your opinion and advice about playing a live home game, and especially playing against new, (probably drunken) unpredictalbe players.

Thank you.

Have fun and keep the stakes manageable for everyone.

You know, a few years after I started playing I sat in on my Dad's monthly game that has been running for 40 years. My dad and his friends had never read a poker book in their lives and were barely aware that there was even such a thing as Hold 'em or on-line poker. Of course I felt confident that with solid tight aggressive play I could run over the table and impress everyone with my mad skills. That's not what happened. Instead I just pissed everyone off and never got invited back. I forgot that they were there to have fun, not win money. Playing in a home game is not like playing in a card room or on-line. They are not serious affairs, they're a chance to get together with friends and have a few drinks and some laughs. Like WVH says, keep the stakes low, give action, gamble it up, have fun and don't worry about your win rate.

Four Dogs said:

You know, a few years after I started playing I sat in on my Dad's monthly game that has been running for 40 years. My dad and his friends had never read a poker book in their lives and were barely aware that there was even such a thing as Hold 'em or on-line poker. Of course I felt confident that with solid tight aggressive play I could run over the table and impress everyone with my mad skills. That's not what happened. Instead I just pissed everyone off and never got invited back. I forgot that they were there to have fun, not win money. Playing in a home game is not like playing in a card room or on-line. They are not serious affairs, they're a chance to get together with friends and have a few drinks and some laughs. Like WVH says, keep the stakes low, give action, gamble it up, have fun and don't worry about your win rate.

Click to expand...

excellent post here...

Just enjoy the game for what it is.. You can play any strategy you like but they will just play the cards and will not consider any position and pot odds. so it will just come down to luck on the day.

Yep - besides with only 5 players playing "tight" means playing 20 - 35% of your hands - so just premium hands will not cut it.
Instead of focusing on starting hands put your energy into reading your opponents and the board. This will serve you better as just deciding to be a nit does nothing to enhance your poker skills.