Home game controversy
Am I understanding gambling theory wrong? My best friend and I have been discussing poker for the last six or seven years and we've both fared well playing. Every now and then we get together and play for ministakes (blinds 0.05 and 0.10 [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]). This particular game was three handed.
I get KTo in the SB after the Button has folded. I raise it up to 0.55 total and my friend moves in for 2.25 more. He is a tricky player but I figure him to have:
a small pair (88-22): 40%
a K or A with a small to intermediate kicker: 40%
a premium pair or AK/AQ/KQ: 10%
rags: 10%
He would have position on me and I know he likes to play after the flop, that's why i rate the probability for him having a good hand so low.
Now I am counting. Against a small pair i would be a 46% underdog and against an Ace with a small kicker I would be about a 40% underdog. The pot is giving me 2.25:3.35 odds and I think it's close but call anyway.
Now my friend (turning over 85o for the raggedy hand I should have assumed he had as he had been catching nothing all night) starts berating me for making the call, saying that I have to look not at the pot as such but at the amount I had already invested and should have laid down my hand. I said I don't think so, Yoww mamma. I built my case by equating this situation to a coinflip where the gambler didn't have to pay 50% of the pot, but 40% instead. He retorted that I knew no whereof i spoke, that he obviously couldn't convince me and that he would bury the hatchett now and say no more of it, or of my playing style. Now this rhetoric is idiosyncratic to his particular character and we did let it go. But the question remained with me: am I missing something?
By the way, I understand that seeking out these particular edges inflates my variance greatly, but as the usual stakes I play at lay much higher ($400NL 6max) this game was more of an excersize in handreading and won't hurt my bankroll as much. Although I must say that I would probably look up these edges in my usual stakes games also.
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