Mixing Up Experienced and Unexperienced Poker Players (1 Viewer)

[NiceShot]

Note, this post written via phone so formatting may be fun. Please bear with me.

I run a cash game every year for my bday with all my friends where I mix up novice and very experienced players. I run 2 tables but there are less than 25% experienced players. I make the buy in pretty low, around $10 to $20 so folks can re-buy several times without destroying their bank account.

In the past we drew table positions as I have table markers and position chips and people stayed in their position for the most part. Typically we play from 1pm until past midnight but this year I am cutting off the game at 4pm as I am going out after for continued fun.

So my question is, does anyone have experience or suggestions on.
1. A good method to mix up folks between the two tables.
2. A fair way to make it more difficult for the experienced players so the novices don't get completely rolled over.

I was considering maybe changing a few players every so often to encourage mingling, make it a little harder for the experienced players, and give everyone a chance to play on the fancier lighted rail table, which was the main complaint last year.

Welcome "mostly" constructive feedback and thoughts .

Thx,
Niceshot

 

[Rhodeman77]

Random seat draws is best, but that won't really matter as the better players will find the fish no matter what. You are already doing the fish a favor by limiting the buy-in to $20. Is this a .05/.10 game?

The stakes are so low that I think you are overthinking this. If the bad players lose a few $20's for a few hours of fun no big deal. Going out to drink and dinner will cost more.

 

[Poker Zombie]

My players consist of people that still need a card that tells hand rankings, and @Ben (and a few others at Ben's level) . You won't find a more disparate group of player experience.

While we mostly play tournaments where table assignment is 50% weighted based on past performance, we have run a cash game as well. For the cash game I gave players "recommended" tables. This put the worst players at one table and the experienced players at another. You were still able to move if you wished (nobody asked to), and the 2 tables played for different stakes (5¢/10¢ at the kids table and 25¢/25¢ as the Main table. We even took breaks every hour to mingle, get snacks, and to have the opportunity to change tables.

By differing the stakes, your more aggressive players are going to want to play the bigger game, pulling them away from the inexperienced players. Low stakes means the game will be far more sociable than competitive at any rate.

 

[detroitdad]

I think I'm the fish in my game

 

[Trihonda]

Starting at 1p, quitting at 4p. Not a lot of time for the fish to lose big.

Gene, Keep the stakes low. Random table selection. Have fun!

 

[NiceShot]

Random seat draws is best, but that won't really matter as the better players will find the fish no matter what. You are already doing the fish a favor by limiting the buy-in to $20. Is this a .05/.10 game?

The stakes are so low that I think you are overthinking this. If the bad players lose a few $20's for a few hours of fun no big deal. Going out to drink and dinner will cost more.

Yes the low stakes does help immensely. As you guessed we are playing for nickels.

 

[NiceShot]

My players consist of people that still need a card that tells hand rankings, and @Ben (and a few others at Ben's level) . You won't find a more disparate group of player experience.

While we mostly play tournaments where table assignment is 50% weighted based on past performance, we have run a cash game as well. For the cash game I gave players "recommended" tables. This put the worst players at one table and the experienced players at another. You were still able to move if you wished (nobody asked to), and the 2 tables played for different stakes (5¢/10¢ at the kids table and 25¢/25¢ as the Main table. We even took breaks every hour to mingle, get snacks, and to have the opportunity to change tables.

By differing the stakes, your more aggressive players are going to want to play the bigger game, pulling them away from the inexperienced players. Low stakes means the game will be far more sociable than competitive at any rate.

Oooo I like your stakes suggestion. The only issue is if I don't have enough people for the high stakes, but that can be solved by reducing stakes for both tables I guess.

 

[Big Jilm]

INCREASE BUY IN TO $200/buy. FISH = GONE -- BUT SHARKS WILL SHOW!!

 

[NiceShot]

INCREASE BUY IN TO $200/buy. FISH = GONE -- BUT SHARKS WILL SHOW!!

It's for friends to chill, not the fish to go home .

 

[NiceShot]

Starting at 1p, quitting at 4p. Not a lot of time for the fish to lose big.

Gene, Keep the stakes low. Random table selection. Have fun!

Thx Eric! I will.