the most ****** up med stakes home game EVER

[cardshark]

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The strategy of a disciplined poker player requires the player to know when to fold a hand...

...by the same logic, the strategy of the same disciplined poker player also requires the player to know which games not to get involved in, in the first place.

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Not true, these are still numbers games and it is about being disciplined and not committing too many of your chips unless you know you have the best of it.

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I'm afraid I also have to respectfully disagree and have to stand behind my statement that it does very much matter which games you choose to play in.

Just as a extreme example, if you play with a rowdy crowd that tends to go all-in pre-flop all the time, you are forced to adopt that style, if you want to play at all.

So, the games with an overwhelming frequency of pre-flop all-ins are just gambling games, i.e. the element of skill has been reduced and the element of chance has been increased. You do not get the opportunity to use some of your skills to trap your opponents as much and you would in games that actually allow for situations to develop. I do agree that you can chose to go all-in pre-flop on favorable pre-flop hands (which is an element of skill), but the moment you push that stack of chips into the pot you are waiting for random cards to be dealt out on that board. So, that kind of playing style changes the nature of the game completely because it greatly limits the set of skills you even get the chance to use throughout the evening of play.

Specifically what I most dislike about the game described above, by SykoraG, is the "dealer's choice" element. That is just not the same as a rotation game. The dealer's choice structure just screws-up the overall balance of the game. Dealer's choice games are usually just gambling games where people toss money into pots to see what happens. One of the problems with such games is that your opponents do not "play" but rather "gamble" and often force you to do the same.