Playing home games

BrianAddictedToPOker · Apr 5, 2011

Hello everyone!
I play no limit texas holdem freeze out tournaments with my friends. The buy in is $5.00. I play online poker everyday, watch poker on tv, talk to people on poker forums and i take notes. My friends don't know a lot about each position, or betting, EV, 2-4 rule. I try to play like i would in the casino, but my friends bet and call on anything. Does anyone have any tips on how to play a home game like this? All comments are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

ericgarner118 · Apr 6, 2011

Well the general consensus that I've seen is that you want to play a strategy that exploits your opponents. If you have a table full of very loose, very bad players the best way to exploit them is with very solid, very tight ABC poker. you are going to want to bluff very little. you want to play very strong preflop hands. You are essentially nut peddling. Wait to get the good hands and punish the fact that they will be making bad calls and bad plays.

strikeseven · Apr 6, 2011

If they bet/call on anything you have to play very tight. You can also bet your bottom that if you check/raise, they will call. This is a very valuable tool. This way, you can take all of their moneysss.

OzExorcist · Apr 6, 2011

Play ABC, as has been said above. Bluff little, value bet lots, draw when you're getting the right odds. Simples.

Morrissey321 · Apr 26, 2011

I have exactely the same problem when I play home-games at my place. It is really annoying. Like everyone has said, the only thing you can do is play seriously tight.
What I've also done is raise the buy-in to $20. All my friends prefer this anyway, and people take it more seriously and play sensibly

thebigdawg · Apr 26, 2011

I play in a few home games and like what everybody said above me, play tight ABC poker.

When you hit a big hand slow play it, get a pot going.

OzExorcist · Apr 26, 2011

thebigdawg said:
When you hit a big hand slow play it, get a pot going.

Sometimes this is the right thing to do. Other times though (often, in my experience) you'll be playing against people who will call down with one pair or draws or just about anything. In those situations just bet your hand - don't deny yourself value by slowplaying.

jazzaxe · Apr 26, 2011

I don't know how well you can react to the changes in your opponenents, but since you are playing the same guys, you are going to have a tough time selling a raise if they see you are playing ultra tight. I would generally play tight but change gears when they are folding to your big hands and push your decent playable hands in position and see if you can pick up any soft pots. You also might want to advertise if you can get into the small blind cheaply and show down some garbage then play tight and see if you can get them to call or raise your good hands.

BrentD22 · Apr 27, 2011

Live freeze outs... Just learn push/fold and icm. Read Colin Moshmans books.

Otherwise basically play ubber tight and only take really good spots. ABC poker mostly because it works well vs. Bad live players like your up against.

danprince10 · May 4, 2011

Play really tight, check raise if you make your hand and be prepared to be sucked out on haha. Good luck!

fkucdaw0rld · May 5, 2011

yea same goes with the game i play with my friends when we're just fuccing around...they really don't care for things like EV, position, pot odds, or anything for that matter...a gut shot is worthy of going all in with no matter what the board is showing, and any 2 cards are good preflop...i used 2 get frustrated with them but over time i realized that all i had to do was wait until i had premium hands and then punish them with it, no need to bluff or anything at all...the only think that sucks about this strategy is having the patience to wait it out, that can get really annoying.

arkshel · May 6, 2011

Ok dumb question what are freeze out games?

skyin452 · May 8, 2011

That means there are no re-buys, when your chips are gone you are out!!!

BrianAddictedToPOker · May 9, 2011

fkucdaw0rld said:
yea same goes with the game i play with my friends when we're just fuccing around...they really don't care for things like EV, position, pot odds, or anything for that matter...a gut shot is worthy of going all in with no matter what the board is showing, and any 2 cards are good preflop...i used 2 get frustrated with them but over time i realized that all i had to do was wait until i had premium hands and then punish them with it, no need to bluff or anything at all...the only think that sucks about this strategy is having the patience to wait it out, that can get really annoying.

Yeah i hear ya! When i play with my friends everyone is drinking and they could care less about any of that. If i take my time they try to rush me. It's about the same as online poker. I get about 15 seconds to make a decision then after that they start jumping down my throat. The past few games i've been playing i have taken everyone's advice on here and i play really tight, and i won all those games. Thanks for everyone's advice on here!

BrianAddictedToPOker · May 9, 2011

A 'freezeout' poker tournament is the most common kind of poker tournament: you pay your buy-in and get your chips and play until you run out of chips (or win, of course). Players cannot rebuy into the tournament if they run out of chips -- once the chips run out for a player, it's over. Person with all the chips at the end is the winner.

Tom1559 · May 16, 2011

In my experience when people play home games with friends they tend to play a lot more loose than they would play against strangers. Not sure why this happens but it does. The advice above is good. Keep it tight and play and as if you were playing in a major tournamant. I would however throw in the odd bad call / loose call just to give your friends the impression that you are doing the same as them.

ace2daface · May 16, 2011

Tom1559 said:
In my experience when people play home games with friends they tend to play a lot more loose than they would play against strangers. Not sure why this happens but it does. The advice above is good. Keep it tight and play and as if you were playing in a major tournamant. I would however throw in the odd bad call / loose call just to give your friends the impression that you are doing the same as them.

this sounds like a good strategy to me

LizzyJ · May 16, 2011

There is no secret here. Basic, straight forward poker. Nothing fancy, no moves. You are going to have to show down your hand. Lose the minimum when you have the losing hand, value bet when you have the best hand.

RVladimiro · May 16, 2011

Be extra tight be extra aggressive and always bet for value making the pot odds against runner-runners. Get out of the hand quickly if you think you are behind. If they are following you until showdown, you'll get most money.

I've done some (few) home games, only lost in the first one.

Rift · May 21, 2011

I'm learning Texas as well.
I'm not good at it.
Sorry that I can't help.
But it seems that other people have many useful suggestions.
I've learned here.

Playing home games

BrianAddictedToPOker

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ericgarner118

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strikeseven

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OzExorcist

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Morrissey321

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thebigdawg

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OzExorcist

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arkshel

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skyin452

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BrianAddictedToPOker

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