Re: Home game rules - slight rant
 

Actually I think the online boom has led people to expect that there are 'standards' to the game, which was rarely the case before.

Ten years ago and I could often wonder if I was playing the same game if I compared different homegames.

That's how the different versions of the game came to be also, without these variations we probably wouldn't have the poker games we love today.

Re: Home game rules - slight rant
 

[ QUOTE ]
Much of this fixation on rules is generational. I've been playing poker for twenty years, starting in college. Back then, people didn't know Roberts Rules of Poker from Roberts Rules of Order. Nobody knew what a string bet was. If you ran out of chips in the middle of a hand playing limit poker, you simply reached into your pocket for more cash to keep playing. Or you went shy for the hand an squared up when the hand was complete. At least in the games that I played, the games were much more informal about rules.

Home game poker players today are much more rules based.

[/ QUOTE ]

Excellent observation. Good perspective. I think the whole poker boom has led to a greater need for more rules, basically to protect the innocent (new) players.

Re: Home game rules - slight rant
 

[ QUOTE ]
Actually I think the online boom has led people to expect that there are 'standards' to the game, which was rarely the case before.

Ten years ago and I could often wonder if I was playing the same game if I compared different homegames.

That's how the different versions of the game came to be also, without these variations we probably wouldn't have the poker games we love today.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was thinking that online poker has the opposite effect. Online it is impossible to break any rules and there is never a dealer error so there is no need to know anything. Nobody can make a mistake. Transfer these players to a live game and problems start happening.

Re: Home game rules - slight rant
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Actually I think the online boom has led people to expect that there are 'standards' to the game, which was rarely the case before.

Ten years ago and I could often wonder if I was playing the same game if I compared different homegames.

That's how the different versions of the game came to be also, without these variations we probably wouldn't have the poker games we love today.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was thinking that online poker has the opposite effect. Online it is impossible to break any rules and there is never a dealer error so there is no need to know anything. Nobody can make a mistake. Transfer these players to a live game and problems start happening.

[/ QUOTE ]

You probably get a bit of hassle from people who are not used to counting the pot, and maybe betting out of turn etc, the things that the online software does for them automatically.

But I think you'll also get much'standard' versions of the table games, fewer funky houserules and betting standards will probably be more standardized too.

You probably won't end up in a 6-stud game where the Q of spades is wild, where the ace of diamonds automatically takes a quarter of the pot, where the wheel is the nutstraight and there is a messed up PL betting standard with a cap. Not as much as before anyway. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: Home game rules - slight rant
 

SmallFry,

Lots of people who play in home games have no idea that there are standardized rules such as Robert's. Most have never played poker in a casino before. They see Hold em played on TV and decide to try it. Or they know how to play Stud and Draw from way back. When I first joined my now defunct home game last year I was surprised to find that the button was first action. Seriously. After I explained to them why this wasn't a good idea they agreed and we started playing.

The average poker player and many people who come on this forum couldn't tell you what to do if the dealer exposes the turn card before all the action is through. Or if the dealer exposes 7th street for the 2nd player dealt in stud.

House rules exists to make it simpler for people playing for fun to avoid disputes and for people playing for money to know what they are getting into. So long as everyone is consistent there shouldn't be a problem.

Re: Home game rules - slight rant
 

[ QUOTE ]
House rules exists to make it simpler for people playing for fun to avoid disputes and for people playing for money to know what they are getting into. So long as everyone is consistent there shouldn't be a problem.

[/ QUOTE ]

What people playing in various home games have to remember (and it's hard for we rules junkies) is that the point of playing in a home game is to play "POKER", not play "cards by the 'rules'".

Re: Home game rules - slight rant
 

Rottersod is correct, most players in simple home games are just that and that alone, home game players. they jumped into the game for small stakes with poor strategical knowledge because it is popular during the current time period. that's all. Clearly, there will be many rules/etiquette violations in small home games, and you shouldn't expect these players to be familiar with Roberts Rules, or any uniform line of thinking. Simply deal with it as best you can, and try and teach them along the way - apply some patience and you ought to be fine.