Playing with friends in cash games?

[[Phill]]

Due to lack of tables offered - i will quite often find myself playing on a table with my housemate and good friend.

We have never played each other differently from the point of view of being a friend - though obviously we adjust since its rare we arent the two best players on the table.

The fact i know his game so well, and visa versa, means we obviously do things against each other that wouldnt wash with the normal players - from a bit of needling to making good solid read based play.

We never colluded and i never would.

I dont consider it unethical to avoid pots with a friend - but i have no second thoughts about stacking a friend too. Last time we played live together i won £320 and he lost £350 - a large chunk of which he lost to me in a couple of our encounters. But its swings and roundabouts and no one can ever claim we softplay each other [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Fwiw - ive seen friends agree to chop a pot preflop after squeezing out another player. One had AA, the other KK. They were both regulars and ive played them a lot since but whilst i know its within the rules i believe stuff like that goes against the spirit of the game and in many ways could sour it for a recreational player who is there to just splash around.

One of them said they would have split the cash later anyway which im 100% fine with - but if it happened tonight instead of two months ago when i was pretty new to live poker id have said a fair bit more. Ironically if they hadnt shown their cards it would have never been remembered and no one would have thought anything about it there.

[GiantBuddha]

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Fwiw - ive seen friends agree to chop a pot preflop after squeezing out another player. One had AA, the other KK. They were both regulars and ive played them a lot since but whilst i know its within the rules

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Actually, it's not. It's completely against the rules and splitting the money later is even worse.

[[Phill]]

GB (or someone else),

Really? Its my impression you can chop at any point if everyone agrees. Also its probably key to note the hands werent shown till after they agreed.

Im not entirely sure why splitting the cash later is wrong too.

[Mygtar]

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Im not entirely sure why splitting the cash later is wrong too.

[/ QUOTE ] This would be sharing the same bankroll, so therefore we would effectively have twice the opportunity to win. Isn't this how real collusion works? You and me split the winnings at the end? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[goldtoes]

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1) When you are with friends, do you play at the same tables with them?

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Only if we have to.

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2) If so, do you just play with them like you would anyone else?

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We do not shy away from pots with each other, although we do play a very straight forward game against each other heads up.

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3) Is it considered unethical to avoid pots with them?

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I wouldn't think it would be that unethical to simply just avoid playing pots with them.

[mikeca]

I have seen friends playing together at the same table all the time. Last Friday I was at a table for several hours with a young woman. After a couple of hours, her boyfriend table changed to our table and she changed seats to be next to him. No one complained. I’m not sure they ever ended up HU against each other. She was a very loose, passive calling stallion and was doing pretty well. She was one of the players making it a good table, so I sure didn’t want her to leave. Her boyfriend was tighter, but kept having to rebuy.

The bad thing to do is to play stupid, hyper aggressive poker against your friend. It will look like you two are team players and trying to drive everyone else out of the pot. That could bring complaints from other players. I was at a low limit table in Vegas a few months ago where two young men, probably bothers, were playing hyper aggressive poker, frequently capping it pre-flop and on the flop. They left the table together and one of the players observed that they combined their chip stacks to cash out. He made loud complaints to the dealer about team play by these guys, although it was not clear what the dealer could do, since they had already left the table.

Capping it pre-flop with 64o because your buddy 3-bet is probably not a good move, even if that is the way you play against each other in home games.

[PantsOnFire]

I would play at the same table as my friends for the fun factor but I would play my A game against them as opponents including any reads I already had.

If I skinned them for some cash, I'd buy dinner and drinks afterwards.

[bearwiredpair]

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I would play at the same table as my friends for the fun factor but I would play my A game against them as opponents including any reads I already had.

If I skinned them for some cash, I'd buy dinner and drinks afterwards.

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I totaly agree with POF.

Also make sure your buddies are on the same page.

My wife and I try to sit at different tables but sometimes we cant. She has no problem taking me to the cleaners but she often makes it up to me later [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[Javanewt]

My bf and I sit at the same table if we have to, but we try not to. When we do play against each other, we have no problem playing our best. Unfortunately, my best two hands in Vegas were agaist him, and I took his stack both times [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] I'll admit I would have rather taken someone else's money, but I had no problem taking his!

I agree that not playing your best or agreeing to split pots later is collusion. I'd hate to play against people who were doing that.

[cardshark]

Never play cards with friends.

Always play cards with strangers.

One thing i never do with friends is take money from them. If I want to take money from someone it can only mean they are not my friend(s).