In our local Michigan games I'd say the biggest losers are the guys who don't show up. Between the food, booze and great friendships we have, not being there when a game is going on is the biggest price to pay in my opinion!
Since the pandemic, my regular group has switched to a weekly $.50/$1 no limit holdem game played virtually at www.pokernow.club. There is a simultaneous zoom conference. It has worked out well and I highly recommend the pokernow site. One player is the banker and he is sent $100 by each player via PayPal or Venmo with payouts later made by him. Most players are either lawyers or accountants, although somehow some local college kids have gotten into the game.
Accountants being accountants, the banker started keeping a spreadsheet of buy-ins, wins, losses, win rates, etcetera since we have gone virtual. One player consistently lost 1-2 buy-ins per game. He'd win occasionally and somehow thought he was a good player having a bad run of luck. I felt badly for him because I think it stung financially. He stopped playing about six weeks ago, although he did pop in 2 weeks ago and limited his loss to $50. He's down $4000+.
As far as I know, video/mic does not work on mobile. You do not need to download it, but I notice it does lag a little bit if you play on your phone.Does the Video/Mic work with mobile platform? Do you need to download an App for it to work on mobile?
Sorry, but I have no clue. Everyone plays on either a laptop, computer, Ipad, or Surfacepro.Does the Video/Mic work with mobile platform? Do you need to download an App for it to work on mobile?
We have a solid group that plays every two weeks. We keep stats and have awards
Looks like 4 out of 5 losing players dropped out by week 12 or earlier... Your game is getting tougher!
The biggest loser in my game is someone I’ve known for 20 years; played cards with him for 10. During that time he went from being a multimillionaire with a mansion who held lavish champagne parties and bought tables at charity events, to someone who went bankrupt and now lives off social security, a small military pension, and driving an Uber.
While he has lost plenty in our game, those losses are trivial compared with the catastrophic business and life decisions he’s made... so I don’t feel bad about the poker part.
And weirdly, he seems immune to regret or shame. He now goes around bragging about losing the wealth he once flaunted, almost proud of it. He’s a bit character out of Dostoevsky.
So what habits and qualities make him such a terrible poker player? They are similar to why he lost his fortune:
* Impatience
* Inattention
* Superstition
* Recklessness
* And a total disregard for basic math
Take any one of these, and you get a losing player. Put them together, and you get someone who almost never even makes the first break of the tourney.
P.S. He crashed his car, so no Uber for a while.
Interesting story. Though I may add that that is just the surface of the story. If your friend was a self made millionaire then I’m sure he has lots of qualities that others may underestimate or completely unaware of. One could make the argument that it’s that reckless personality that contributed to his rise in the first place. We often wonder how poker pros go broke after years of winning big tournaments. They have reckless life styles (sports betting, table games, drugs, etc) that eventually breaks them. But let’s face it. It’s that same recklessness that got them entering huge buyin tournaments that eventually contributed to their rise.
There are players in my game that being down $1000 for the night would almost be considered a win. That being said we all know who the biggest loser but we dont talk about fight club ever =)I have a game of 10-12 players. I run the bank, so I know stats on all my players. The biggest loser is currently down almost $1000, which probably isn't a lot to higher stakes games, but we play 0.05/0.10 and some 0.25/0.25 mostly... Sometimes I wonder if the biggest loser knows they're the biggest loser.
Of course, hosts are excluded from answers, because I know we're all still stuck in the hole from buying chips, poker tables, and beer
How do spread limit games work? I mean, I understand what it means, but I don't understand why, for example, a $0.10-$0.50 spread limit doesn't for all practical purposes simply devolve into a fifty cent fixed limit game, with the smart and knowledgeable players betting as much as possible (and yet still a tiny fraction of the pot) whenever they think they're sufficiently ahead to bother betting at all.We play low stakes, spread limit mixed games.
How do spread limit games work? I mean, I understand what it means, but I don't understand why, for example, a $0.10-$0.50 spread limit doesn't for all practical purposes simply devolve into a fifty cent fixed limit game, with the smart and knowledgeable players betting as much as possible (and yet still a tiny fraction of the pot) whenever they think they're sufficiently ahead to bother betting at all.
The biggest loser in my game is someone I’ve known for 20 years; played cards with him for 10. During that time he went from being a multimillionaire with a mansion who held lavish champagne parties and bought tables at charity events, to someone who went bankrupt and now lives off social security, a small military pension, and driving an Uber.
While he has lost plenty in our game, those losses are trivial compared with the catastrophic business and life decisions he’s made... so I don’t feel bad about the poker part.
And weirdly, he seems immune to regret or shame. He now goes around bragging about losing the wealth he once flaunted, almost proud of it. He’s a bit character out of Dostoevsky.
So what habits and qualities make him such a terrible poker player? They are similar to why he lost his fortune:
* Impatience
* Inattention
* Superstition
* Recklessness
* And a total disregard for basic math
Take any one of these, and you get a losing player. Put them together, and you get someone who almost never even makes the first break of the tourney.
P.S. He crashed his car, so no Uber for a while.
Is he looking for more players???As @DrStrange mentioned, I have done my best to keep the game as friendly as possible, especially now that we have moved online for the whole pandemic. I keep the buy-in caps at 200 BB, and try to encourage the guys to play one stake down because of how many hands get played online. However, the losingest player in my game has gotten his own Mavens instance going, and is running .25/.50 and .50/1 games with a 500 BB buy in cap. As you can imagine, those games play closer to 1/2 and 2/5 because all these guys love to buy in for the max. He is definitely the "gamble" type that DrStrange mentioned, and honestly I have no idea how he is affording his rent with some of these massive losses I have seen.