Casino poker vs Home games (1 Viewer)

[D_Nas]

For the people who play poker often and aren’t only chip collectors:

I’m curious to know how many people here play poker exclusively at home games with friends. My enjoyment from poker comes from low stake home games I host with friends where we can have a few drinks and play seriously but have fun doing it. I’ll play in a card room / casino once in a while on my own and a session where I’m up money isn’t even that enjoyable for me. Usually sitting with a miserable bunch that seems like they are there everyday trying to make a living. I like poker for the game and competition, and improving is important to me, but could do without the monetary aspect of it if poker could be played seriously without it somehow. I’m just curious to know if most people here are in it for the game and social aspect of it, and avoid going to the casinos, or don’t mind either way.

 

[soccerdadof3]

I just love playing poker..I like home games for the social aspect but I try to get to the casinos for at least one session a month..I enjoy the challenge of observing and reading unknown opponents and keeping that part of my poker game sharp. So I guess I fall into the don't mind either way group as I enjoy both. I don't play high enough stakes that the financial aspect makes a difference in my decision, I just love to play..

 

[Baxit]

@D_Nas Same here, played online poker for a living but now enjoying relaxed poker with trusted friends: 4 to 6 players, PLO and OFCP with occasional HE or heads-up. Coming from the math+chess bunch, really enjoying the game, but imho one has to go to casinos (or cardroom clubs) from time to time to keep feeling the heat and not end like the judge table in Rounders. Also, since I pledged to buy poker chips here only with my wins, clays are so far out of reach.

 

[BPTDirector]

I play mostly home games, low stakes to most but monthly league $50 buy in freeze outs with some very competitive friends and friends of friends. If I go somewhere like a card room or casino it’s for the same level of tournament, just more varied opponents. Like I said, very competitive, but fun.

 

[DrStrange]

99% home games. No rake, time charges or door fees. Better control of jerks and assholes. All around better time in most home games. Ideally no smoking.

I might feel differently if I didn't have a chance to play two or three times a week in home games. Hard to find much love for paying to play poker. Maybe I'd feel more enthused if the casino option was really close by (and wasn't a smoking venue)

DrStrange

 

[LowerBama1714]

Degen…period.

As long as the chips are cool…

 

[Labrat]

I honestly have zero interest in playing in a casino/cardroom.

 

[Chips523]

I like to play in either. My local Casino feels like a home game to me anyways. Maybe I'm lucky but the players seem to be enjoying the games everywhere I go.

 

[SteveEH]

I come from a background of tabletop/RPG/board gaming. It's about the strategy for me, so I would also play "serious" poker without money. When I realized I could make money, I spent a good amount of time playing 1/2 and 2/5 in the 00s, but it started to feel like a second job cause I took it seriously. Now it's 99.9% home games for me. Also 4-6 players is what I prefer, and our stakes are low (wins/losses for the night are usually 50/player).

We're outliers here, but all good!

 

[D_Nas]

It’s good to see some people share the same sentiment. And don’t get me wrong, sometimes the casino games can be alright, especially a tournament, but I’m starting to feel like I’m going to stick to home games for the most part, and maybe hit the casino when someone wants to tag along.

 

[BPTDirector]

Good thing you asked what you play for and not what do you spend on your setup. That number is quite different for most on here.

 

[GGUK]

(UK) - I used to play in the casino all the time, but since starting to play in private/home games during Covid I have probably only played poker in the casino ~10 times in the last 5 years. Home games are softer, a better atmosphere, I feel safe and mostly the people that operate the home games I go to are reputable.

 

[BigGrizz]

I'm an exclusive home player. Poker is actually a very secindary game with my group. We are primarily a board game club. Poker chips just happen to work amazingly for any game involving currency.

Also I typically stake the poker night and just give a prize to the winner of the most chips. Everyone drinks and goofs off and the winner walks away with like $40-$60 and can buy a new video game. My group doesn't like to gamble but if they put nothing on the line then they are all in. They provide food and drink. I stake the prize. Its a fun time.

 

[Taghkanic]

I would play in casinos more often if the closest ones to me weren't 70-100 minutes drive away. I mostly play at those places for bigger tournaments. At smaller casinos the pool of regs who play cash can be pretty stagnant.

That said, I think (if one is trying to get better poker rather than just have some casual fun), it is important not to restrict play to the same few home or social hall games over and over again.

For my first 10! years in the game, I pretty much only played in one weekly home game, plus some low stakes firehouse/VFW tourneys. Looking back, I can see how this stunted the growth of my game a ton. I made a lot of friends, but my knowledge of game was very narrow.

Really, after the first year or so I was barely learning anything new because I was facing the same villains over and over. My edge was entirely because I was paying closer attention to this limited pool of regs than most, allowing me to profile and target them quite specifically over time.

So while I did get better and better at dealing with those specific players, there was very little new blood; and the cast of characters was not introducing much if any new strategy or theory. If you had read Harrington that was pretty much all you needed to know to be a modest winner.

Once I started playing in casinos, and branching out to tougher home games, it quickly became apparent that my "winning" approach only worked within the limited circles I'd been playing in. Sure, there were plenty of bsd players in these other games, too, but they were exploitable in ways that I hadn't encountered before; and then there were a lot of tougher players I was totally unprepared to deal with.

I do vastly prefer a well-run, challenging home game, as long as the rake is reasonable (or, ideally, non-existent), because I dislike the cheesy atmosphere of almost every casino.

 

[Tarsus4]

I want to feel like I'm always learning and getting better at the game, I play games to try to figure them out. I don't think I can get that validation without periodically playing in a more competitive environment like a casino, plus it adds an element of excitement, like a boss fight =). It's enticing to think I might some day be able to play well in a major tournament.

But for getting practice I'd rather do that in a friendly environment without a rake.

 

[ThrowBack]

To me, poker is about friends, family, and fun

It’s meant to be played in garages, back rooms at bars, and basements.

I haven’t had a game to go to in a while. The last game I played was at the “Dirty money dungeon”. On a plastic table, dice chips, dirty carpet, and a great bunch of people enjoy enjoying a Friday night.

 

[Coyote]

I 'm not going to open a new thread, but I 'd love some strategy advice, especially from @DrStrange
My home game ended up including solely cardroom regulars, some semi-pros among them, most of them wealthy LAGs, for the sole reason that my old friends have lives, including under-age children, whereas my current players, just poker acquaintances, don't have any of that, and are always available.

I 've been trying to contain the game to its nomimal stakes of .5/1E by banning straddles and limiting re-buys to no more than "half the big stack".
Despite this, the game plays more like 1/3E, which I cannot afford.

Sure, in an ultra LAG table like this, you tighten up, but how much can you, unless you end up a "rock", playing just obvious big pairs, which will never get paid.
People open for 10E (10BBs), and when you raise to 30 with a speculative hand, you usually loose to a weaker speculative hand, if not trash hand. I cannot afford to gamble at 1/3.

Is there any adaptation available, or do I have to take the very long and hard path of finding new nice players, competent but not pros, honest and fun people? (probably in another life).

 

[BigGrizz]

How about switch it to a tournament format that you can afford? With a .50/1 game I would assume you are buying in for $100-$200. Just make a tournament at those stakes and you can afford to play.

You can also do a point-game where its just a set time or deal limit and the winners are ranked by how many chips you end up with. This is actually how I run my poker nights. People don't want to be eliminated by blinds increasing so we often just play with a point pool and player with the most points wins. I also do top ups at intervals for everyone so that everyone stays in and the current leaders get pressure.

 

[D_Nas]

I 'm not going to open a new thread, but I 'd love some strategy advice, especially from @DrStrange
My home game ended up including solely cardroom regulars, some semi-pros among them, most of them wealthy LAGs, for the sole reason that my old friends have lives, including under-age children, whereas my current players, just poker acquaintances, don't have any of that, and are always available.

I 've been trying to contain the game to its nomimal stakes of .5/1E by banning straddles and limiting re-buys to no more than "half the big stack".
Despite this, the game plays more like 1/3E, which I cannot afford.

Sure, in an ultra LAG table like this, you tighten up, but how much can you, unless you end up a "rock", playing just obvious big pairs, which will never get paid.
People open for 10E (10BBs), and when you raise to 30 with a speculative hand, you usually loose to a weaker speculative hand, if not trash hand. I cannot afford to gamble at 1/3.

Is there any adaptation available, or do I have to take the very long and hard path of finding new nice players, competent but not pros, honest and fun people? (probably in another life).

I’m only going to chime in on one aspect of your post, and it’s just my opinion:

This is your home game. Set the stakes and rules exactly the way you see fit and comfortable for you. If the players don’t like it and stop showing up, then these are not the right players for your game. And thats completely fine.

This is kind of the reason I started this thread. I like to see which side of poker people are in it for. For me it’s mostly home games that I host, for the enjoyment. I like to keep the stakes low (.25/.50) or $50 buy in tournament at my games personally, and keep the people I invite either friends / family, or people they would vouch for if they want to invite someone. This keeps the games friendly, and nobody gets hurt financially, and if your down a few games in a row it’s not too bad.

 

[DrStrange]

@Coyote

The most important thing in how big the game plays is the stack size and/or buy-in limits. If you want to reign in the big dollar players, limit the buy ins and rebuys. Not to half the big stack, but a fixed buy in - let's say 100bb. No staddles, no blind bets.

If that doesn't work, make preflop pot limit vs no limit. In the worst case prune the biggest offenders from the invite list.

A more radical option - switch to fixed limit or spread limit stakes.

Protect your weakest players from the sharks. You need those players to make the game work. The better players will complain but if you can only cater to one group of the other, cater to the weaker players -=- DrStrange

 

[bmacpoker]

Mixed bag for me, I will say that I vastly prefer playing home games with friends. I'm not the most social guy, but poker I am in my element. Only issue is that within my circle of friends, it's hard to get everyone together and align in stakes and all. We started 5c/10c, but the core of us that play all the time have moved on to playing bigger. So some of the friends that just want to budget like $20 are pushed out and don't seem to have as much interest anymore.

So I've found some local games and they have been great! It's not quite the same and I have to budget more, but they are a ton of fun. Just can't play as often.

Other thing is I'm in SoCal, and notoriously our casinos have strange structures for low stakes. Most LA card rooms are 50bb or even less for a max buy in, no matching stacks, just $80-$120 max for a 1/2 or 1/3 game. It's just sort of hard to get into, but I do still have fun and it's easy to nurse a stack for hours.

The one area I tend to prefer casinos is tournaments, just a more cut and dry environment, big prize pools, etc. Just also a lot more expensive. I do like home game tourneys if they can at least be two tables and they're taken somewhat seriously (whereas in cash games I don't mind it getting goofy).

 

[SteveEH]

I 'm not going to open a new thread, but I 'd love some strategy advice, especially from @DrStrange
My home game ended up including solely cardroom regulars, some semi-pros among them, most of them wealthy LAGs, for the sole reason that my old friends have lives, including under-age children, whereas my current players, just poker acquaintances, don't have any of that, and are always available.

I 've been trying to contain the game to its nomimal stakes of .5/1E by banning straddles and limiting re-buys to no more than "half the big stack".
Despite this, the game plays more like 1/3E, which I cannot afford.

Sure, in an ultra LAG table like this, you tighten up, but how much can you, unless you end up a "rock", playing just obvious big pairs, which will never get paid.
People open for 10E (10BBs), and when you raise to 30 with a speculative hand, you usually loose to a weaker speculative hand, if not trash hand. I cannot afford to gamble at 1/3.

Is there any adaptation available, or do I have to take the very long and hard path of finding new nice players, competent but not pros, honest and fun people? (probably in another life).

Damn that's rough as it's YOUR game.

How about pot limit pre flop, no limit post flop, cap buy ins/top ups to 100 (or 200 if it's within your budget) BBs instead of half the stack.

 

[SteveEH]

@Coyote

The most important thing in how big the game plays is the stack size and/or buy-in limits. If you want to reign in the big dollar players, limit the buy ins and rebuys. Not to half the big stack, but a fixed buy in - let's say 100bb. No staddles, no blind bets.

If that doesn't work, make preflop pot limit vs no limit. In the worst case prune the biggest offenders from the invite list.

A more radical option - switch to fixed limit or spread limit stakes.

Protect your weakest players from the sharks. You need those players to make the game work. The better players will complain but if you can only cater to one group of the other, cater to the weaker players -=- DrStrange

Ya what he said

I love fixed limit but it'll be a hard sell to your players I bet.

 

[Coyote]

Many thanks to all of you.
Tournaments are out of the question, at least for that player pool.
Would a total cap per evening (eg 400E=400BBs) per player work?
Of course, the banker would have to write down how many chips each player buys.

 

[DrStrange]

Sending the losers home early without recourse seems like a poor plan for a cash game. You have already said the players don't like tournaments. I expect they aren't going to like this either -=- DrStrange

 

[bmacpoker]

Many thanks to all of you.
Tournaments are out of the question, at least for that player pool.
Would a total cap per evening (eg 400E=400BBs) per player work?
Of course, the banker would have to write down how many chips each player buys.

That's a tough sell for cash. You're better off capping the size of the rebuys and maybe playing some PL or spread limit as suggested by others.

At a certain point one just has to accept LAGs with money are going to gamble. And really only setting bet limits can throttle that. Because even if you cap the buy ins, or have a reset to a certain stack size (we do this occasionally in our microstakes games if it feels like it's getting out of hand for our smaller buy in friends), you'll almost just encourage shoving with and essentially flips. When people feel short stacked, even 200bb can feel like 20.

 

[TheYeti]

@Coyote

The most important thing in how big the game plays is the stack size and/or buy-in limits. If you want to reign in the big dollar players, limit the buy ins and rebuys. Not to half the big stack, but a fixed buy in - let's say 100bb. No staddles, no blind bets.

This right here is the best answer. However, it is difficult to get that cat back in the bag, I speak from experience.

 

[valleychips]

Is there a way to get your more timid friends to understand that they'll make the most $ off of LAGs? I say this as someone who started timid until I understood the opportunity being presented. Now when a LAG is blasting off, I drool. Be patient til you have a strong hand, and let the LAG do their thing, and just call down. Sometimes they'll have the goods but mostly they won't. Cha-ching. That mindset shift will be key for the tight scared types. Yes they have to understand stack size management (and shove all in PF if they are shallow). But at the start of the game when everyone has even stacks, they can implement this.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Is there a way to get your more timid friends to understand that they'll make the most $ off of LAGs? I say this as someone who started timid until I understood the opportunity being presented. Now when a LAG is blasting off, I drool. Be patient til you have a strong hand, and let the LAG do their thing, and just call down. Sometimes they'll have the goods but mostly they won't. Cha-ching. That mindset shift will be key for the tight scared types. Yes they have to understand stack size management (and shove all in PF if they are shallow). But at the start of the game when everyone has even stacks, they can implement this.

When many of your players are showing up just to have fun this helps but doesn't fix the issue. Yes, playing patient TAG will print money versus crazy LAGs but that requires spending a large portion of my time-away-from-kids/spouse/job folding and not playing which isn't a fun tradeoff for some of my mooks.

 

[Tarsus4]

Some people don't mind losing money as long as they're having fun doing it. Cater to the fish; they keep your game alive more than anyone else.