Won a 14-player home game this past Saturday (2 Viewers)

grandgnu

A new beginning
Joined
Oct 28, 2014
Messages
1,523
Reaction score
345
Location
Tampa FL
Found a group on Meetup.com in Valrico FL about 10 minutes from my house in Brandon. Typical recreational setup (playing on a dining table, no felt)

The chips weren't walmart dice chips, but were still cheap plastic ones. They didn't have enough purple 500's so they wrote with a sharpie on the light blue 10 chips to make them 500's and just mixed them all together.

Starting stacks were 4,200 chips (yes, I don't get it either). The girl who got me into the game said "oh, these people know how to play" which is always a sure sign that they have zero clue about bet sizing, stack to pot ratios, etc.

It was just a $20 buyin, and then a $5 optional add-on for another 1K in chips (some players would wait until they were busted or near bust and the blinds were higher to add a now insignificant 1K in chips, lol)

Few key hands that stick out where when I had 10 bb's and there were a couple of limpers and I shoved with AT and got called by 56 offsuit? Doubled up there, then another instance with a bunch of limpers, I shove with JJ and get called by THREE players (one had 45 s00ted, another K7 s00ted!) and somehow my JJ holds up and I quadruple up and finally have enough chips to make things happen.

Got heads-up and just kept applying pressure on the girl who kept folding too much. Got her all-in three times where I was the favorite (60/40 spots mostly) and she would win each one. Then she took a slight chip lead, I kept pounding away at her to take the lead back.

Then we got it all-in with my KJ finally holding against her call with QT and I took the thing down. What was nice is everyone in the group was really laid back and friendly. Just people having a good time, no one being an asshat, no fights, etc. It was a pleasant change of pace from the casino crowd.

One funny hand that came up, the board had 5679x on it and three players all had an 8 in their hand for a three-way chop. One of the girls was trying to argue that because she had an Ace kicker with her 8 that she should win the whole thing. Fortunately everyone else realized that wasn't the way it worked, but, uh, just wow?

In the near future I should be hosting this group (and others in the area if you're interested) at my place with the CPS chips and a real poker table, can't wait!
 
Do they play cash games? lol

Not that I'm aware of. I'm trying to see if I can get enough from the group to play $40 buyin tourneys at least. The host usually just does one game/month with a $20 buyin and $5 add-on, and some people that attend are couples so they may have limited budgets to put into playing. I just really want to use my new poker room, so I'll even host a $20 buyin if I have to, but prefer $40-60 so there's at least something to win
 
Congrats. Hopefully you'll be able to get them to yours, I am trying to get some new players at my CASH game so I am hosting a 20 - 40 buy-in, I usually do 40 -100, but the guys I am trying to get play a 20 buy-in tourney once a month.
 
Not that I'm aware of. I'm trying to see if I can get enough from the group to play $40 buyin tourneys at least. The host usually just does one game/month with a $20 buyin and $5 add-on, and some people that attend are couples so they may have limited budgets to put into playing. I just really want to use my new poker room, so I'll even host a $20 buyin if I have to, but prefer $40-60 so there's at least something to win

Patience grasshopper. If you come in right away winning the first tourney and then get people out of their comfort zone by asking to bump up the stakes you may become uninvited.
 
Patience grasshopper. If you come in right away winning the first tourney and then get people out of their comfort zone by asking to bump up the stakes you may become uninvited.

I'm not asking them to bump up the stakes at their regular monthly game. They were looking to host additional events, so I'm offering to make my home available for another event (or multiple) per month. The thing is, they usually do two tables, I'm limited to one table. So bumping the stakes up allows them to play for the same prize pool they're used to.

I'll host for $20, but if people are cool with $40 I'd rather :)
 
So I attended another meetup group that is very close to the first one, and was actually an offshoot of the one I already attended.

This one was almost a mirror image of how things were setup. $20 buyin for 4K chips, $5 add-on for 1K chips, although they allowed a rebuy for $20 if you busted. Everyone was asked to bring something to share (the spread put out was pretty much the exact same as the other game)

Even down to the table setups (one dining table, then another smaller table with an 8-person poker table topper. They had 25 and 50 value chips in play, etc.

Blinds 100/200, girl limps in UTG, I raise in MP to 750 with KQ off. THREE players cold-call the raise next to act, the blinds and the UTG limper fold. 3500 in the pot and the flop comes:

QT7. We only started with 4K, I have everyone covered, obvious shove is obvious. Kid to my left starts complaining about having the best hand in poker, thinks I have a set, then he says he thinks I have Aces. Then someone tells him he can still rebuy and winds up calling. Then both blinds call. The hands they turn up are:

Mr Hem-Haw: KK
Caller 1: AT
Caller 2: A9

KK holds up and he wins a massive pot and I become short-stacked. Blinds jump to 200/400 and I'm down to my last 600 in chips. Guy to my right limps 9T offsuit, I shove AT suited, lady in the BB cold-calls another 200, limper calls. Flop is T67 with two clubs, one spade. He bets her out of the hand and we're heads-up with me having the best of it, until he spikes a 9 on the turn and sends me packing.

The host tells me I can do the rebuy and add-on for $25 if I want, but you get 5K in chips with blinds at 200/400 so what's the point, lol?

oh, and the KK guy was also pre-burning and turning the turn and river everytime he dealt. It was very hard to keep my mouth shut, but no one else was speaking up about it and I didn't want to be that guy in a super recreational game ruining their fun (although I won't tolerate such shenanigans when I host)

Oh yeah, that same kid had a habit of pointing out the board cards (whether he was in the hand or not) when it was paired or flushing, talking about the full house that could be out, etc. There was one hand that came 256 and he had folded 34 and made a big production while there were other players still betting, making it quite obvious he would've flopped the nuts.

But again, had to keep my yap shut because this is a group of players that doesn't approach the game in the same way I do.
 
A bit of advice: when you host these players, don't bust out the best chips the first game. Start with ceramics, or the CPS chips. I don't know if your best chips are Paulsons, or ASM/CPCs, but if you lead a group like that with a custom table and spectacular chips, all you'll get is...

kevin-butler-mind-blown.gif
 
Last edited:

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account and join our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top Bottom