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!
Who's the biggest loser at your games? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter quintooo
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redeagle
3 of a Kind
The glory player.
madforpancakes
Straight
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.
redeagle
3 of a Kind
Maybe he is relying in the current “no evictions” law?
It is a tough topic as I don’t feel we should be anybody’s babysitters. I’ve played with weekly/monthly groups that host nickel/dime and others where the buy-in is $500 and you go staked for 2 or 3 rebuys. Both groups are friends, just from different social circles. I have a great time at both. I track my own win/loss and play only what I am comfortable to risk.
This is very different from having a player with any sort of addiction to play and getting into stakes that are beyond their ability to sustain. I have not had to deal with that but I think it has to be faced and resolved or it could kill your entire game, along with friendships.
Luckily, those guys tend to play in clubs more than the friends and neighbors home game.
It is a tough topic as I don’t feel we should be anybody’s babysitters. I’ve played with weekly/monthly groups that host nickel/dime and others where the buy-in is $500 and you go staked for 2 or 3 rebuys. Both groups are friends, just from different social circles. I have a great time at both. I track my own win/loss and play only what I am comfortable to risk.
This is very different from having a player with any sort of addiction to play and getting into stakes that are beyond their ability to sustain. I have not had to deal with that but I think it has to be faced and resolved or it could kill your entire game, along with friendships.
Luckily, those guys tend to play in clubs more than the friends and neighbors home game.
viet rounder
Two Pair
Does the Video/Mic work with mobile platform? Do you need to download an App for it to work on mobile?
OP
OP
quintooo
Flush
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.
It's a really nice and clean interface.
I never keep track in the cash games I host. It’s always been cash up front to get the chips and I cash everyone out as they leave. I’ve never written it down anywhere. Tournaments are on TD so I have peaked at it from time to time. We rarely go over $60 buy ins for tournaments (.25/.50 cash games $50 capped) to keep losses to somewhat of a minimum.
Back in our early days, one of our players (a friend of friends) won our “annual championship” and from what I heard then went on to gamble away his condo in a short period of time. Apparently he hit the online sites and/or local card rooms. Friends helped him get back on his feet with the agreement he stopped and got help.
But as far as me hosting I try and keep it low stakes and mostly for fun. And I do somewhat keep an eye out. My home game is a lot of longtime friends and family so it is something I think about often when planning games. That’s why I run seasons throughout the year with one “big” tournament at the end. I try and reward those that show up more often in our points system. And hopefully they win something at the end of the season. But just because they show up to every game doesn’t necessarily mean they win anything in points. LOL!
So...?
It’s important to me to keep it about the event (fellowship) and not as much about the money. At least I try to? But yes, I do know who the biggest loser is at my game, and I’m not telling! LOL!
Back in our early days, one of our players (a friend of friends) won our “annual championship” and from what I heard then went on to gamble away his condo in a short period of time. Apparently he hit the online sites and/or local card rooms. Friends helped him get back on his feet with the agreement he stopped and got help.
But as far as me hosting I try and keep it low stakes and mostly for fun. And I do somewhat keep an eye out. My home game is a lot of longtime friends and family so it is something I think about often when planning games. That’s why I run seasons throughout the year with one “big” tournament at the end. I try and reward those that show up more often in our points system. And hopefully they win something at the end of the season. But just because they show up to every game doesn’t necessarily mean they win anything in points. LOL!
So...?It’s important to me to keep it about the event (fellowship) and not as much about the money. At least I try to? But yes, I do know who the biggest loser is at my game, and I’m not telling! LOL!
Anthony Ferguson
Flush
Sorry, but I have no clue. Everyone plays on either a laptop, computer, Ipad, or Surfacepro.
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.
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.
P.S. During the 10 years I’ve played with this guy, both in my game and others, he once went on a two-month heater. Unbeatable. One reason was the cards he was getting; but the other was that as his confidence level grew, his bluffing percentage went way up. (Normally he plays completely loose-passive.) Eventually he came down to earth, and promptly forgot how much better he did adding in more bluffs.
A mutual friend also once took pity on the guy and sat him down to go through basic odds, and show him some simple ways to improve his results. (Like, not playing 85% of hands, and not chasing every back door draw.) This lesson stuck for a couple games, then he reverted to form.
A mutual friend also once took pity on the guy and sat him down to go through basic odds, and show him some simple ways to improve his results. (Like, not playing 85% of hands, and not chasing every back door draw.) This lesson stuck for a couple games, then he reverted to form.
Looks like 4 out of 5 losing players dropped out by week 12 or earlier... Your game is getting tougher!
viet rounder
Two Pair
That’s not the latest graph. I just gave that as an example since it was already conveniently on my phone. At our game we have 5x regulars, 4x semi regulars, and a bunch of blue moon players. Usually it’s not the money (losing) that stops them from coming back. It’s the wife and kids that forces them away from the felt
viet rounder
Two Pair
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.
He was not self-made. His father started the business. The son ran it fine for about 20 years, and apparently it was a hard thing to screw up as it involved a proprietary technology and services lots of people in a certain industry needed.
But (as I’ve gleaned from 10 years of chatter) he did not adjust with the advent of the web, which started to cut the legs out from under him; and over the next 20 years the business crumbled.
As it did, he did not tighten his belt. Couple a steady drop in revenue with continued lavish spending, excessive borrowing, stupid investments and a divorce which left him with at most half his prior assets... Riches to rags. (Bankroll management? None.)
Once I knew his story (he blabs to everyone about his demise, including strangers at restaurants, so I don’t feel any hesitancy to discuss it), his poker play became that much more transparent.
4SUMERZ
Flush
At my table home game, 8 of us play timed cash games only. We start at 7pm, and finish at 11:00pm, then once around the table.
We then cash in. We pay an initial $20.00 buy in, only 2 rebuys max and $20.00 gets 200 chips. Blinds stay at 1 and 2, so 100 big blinds.
The games are about social, with drinks and light snacks which are on the house. We normally have 3-4 extra buy in stacks.
It usually the same guys that are buying in, because they want to play each hand, no matter their hole cards.
Some guys are duper conservative, and others are super aggressive. It makes for a hood time all in all.
We only play once a month, so not much money won or lost.
We then cash in. We pay an initial $20.00 buy in, only 2 rebuys max and $20.00 gets 200 chips. Blinds stay at 1 and 2, so 100 big blinds.
The games are about social, with drinks and light snacks which are on the house. We normally have 3-4 extra buy in stacks.
It usually the same guys that are buying in, because they want to play each hand, no matter their hole cards.
Some guys are duper conservative, and others are super aggressive. It makes for a hood time all in all.
We only play once a month, so not much money won or lost.
hex
Pair
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
CrazyEddie
Full House
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.
JustinInMN
4 of a Kind
I guess it keeps the early streets cheap, but you're right, a spread limit game with a 5x range when I have played will do exactly what you say.
In Minnesota, the card rooms use spread limit to get around the regulation of a cap of $100 cap per bet and raise. So they have 2-100 spread limit games as an analog to 1-2 NLHE. A 50x spread limit game will usually have bet sizing reasonable to the size of the pot for every street.
DrStrange
4 of a Kind
The spread limit game is an aberration - a legacy if you will. It actually works pretty well. Blinds are $0.25/$0.50. $20 max buy in. Three+ hour session, start at 6:45 go home at 10:00 sharp. We played every Tuesday night.
The preflop range is $0.50 - $2.00
The flop range is $0.50 - $3.00
The turn range is $0.50 - $4.00
The river range is $0.50 - $5.00
The $20 max buy in protects the worst players. And they really need it. This is a once-a-week game. Just guessing, I think the weakest players are losing about $3,000 - $5,000 a year or $60 - $100 per session on average. This isn't big money for the gang who is older and relatively wealthy.
Forgetting how the low hand rules work often will cost you $20. But you could get stacked for the same mistake in a pot limit game. Even though we have played for over a decade, people still get confused sometimes about how the low works. Or forget they have to play two cards out their hand. This happens every week pretty much.
We do have fun -=- DrStrange
The preflop range is $0.50 - $2.00
The flop range is $0.50 - $3.00
The turn range is $0.50 - $4.00
The river range is $0.50 - $5.00
The $20 max buy in protects the worst players. And they really need it. This is a once-a-week game. Just guessing, I think the weakest players are losing about $3,000 - $5,000 a year or $60 - $100 per session on average. This isn't big money for the gang who is older and relatively wealthy.
Forgetting how the low hand rules work often will cost you $20. But you could get stacked for the same mistake in a pot limit game. Even though we have played for over a decade, people still get confused sometimes about how the low works. Or forget they have to play two cards out their hand. This happens every week pretty much.
We do have fun -=- DrStrange
Is he looking for more players???
tabletalker7
Full House
When do we start telling some of these guys this .............
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