On being a "poker snob"

[Mook]

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Make a big last longer bet with your friend and play the home games. Solves the problem, imo.

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I don't know why this hasn't been given more airtime. This is a great solution, IMO, and I employ it all the time with a friend of mine (we're about equal skillwise as well) whenever we play in bar freerolls, $.25-.50 home games with old buddies, etc. This depends, of course, on your friend being rolled enough to want to make this bet for enough money to make it "worth your while".

Myself, I love playing with different circumstances and people almost regardless of the stakes, as it can be good practice for "real money" game conditions that might never occur at your "regular" game but might crop up unexpectedly when you're in different situations, locations, etc. For instance, the first time I sat down at a summer weekend Trop pink chip game, I found myself thankful I'd logged all those hours of hyper-LAG no-fold-em quarter-ante poker with my college buddies. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Mook

[jakrpanda]

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The money doesn't matter a bit to me, it's losing itself. I hate losing in poker, regardless of the stakes. I especially hate losing to inferior competition. They may be taking the game for fun, but I guarantee you someone at that table is thinking "[Insert random HG donk] never plays and just beat AC who plays all the time".

It sickens me to even think that might occur. Don't ask me why, it's like a switch I can't turn off.

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Can't play poker with this attitude. You will lose sometimes.

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Agreed. The very best odds in poker will still means someone will get their cards 1/6 of the time when you completely "dominate" them. Thats over a huge number of cards too, where the numbers even out. Add in the true randomness of how the cards fall in the short term and you'll be doing a lot of losing. The only thing that should get to you is bad play on your part. That should make you mad because you knew better and made a bad decision anyway.

If that wasn't the case opponents would never even sit down. Would you play heads up chess vs Kasparov (or better yet Deep Junior) for money?

grunch
I say do whatever it takes to keep your game sharp and play in games that are worth it to you. As an analogy I work in the computer field, software. So when I get a call from someone needing assistance with a computer I tell them to call support, it's not worth my time. Not trying to be a dick, but my time is valuable to me. But if it's something that rewards me, like a relationship, then yes I'll do it. It's all about motivation. If it's joe schmoe neighbor having a problem tough [censored]. If it's girl next door with doe eyes, well that's a different story.