My home game is finally evolving!

[mugatu668]

Yesterday we finally bought Rounders (awesome movie!) after I got dealt my first royal flush (FLOPPED IT IN SPADES!) live. After Rounders, we played for 6 hours (only 3 handed, we play poker a lot with each other so it's still fun). One of my friends finally learned how to bluff, another learned how to overbet (make it look like a bluff) with a good hand. The play has gotten much trickier and it has made it much more interesting. I got called on a few bluffs by very low pairs which I was very impressed with. I also called quite a few bluffs. The other player is normally a big winner (it's a miracle because he chases every single draw and manages to get it on the river, or stays in with [censored] and gets trips on the river etc) because he plays very aggressively. He's lost 30+ over the last 2 days though (we play a 5 dollar buy-in). Anyway, his brother came to play with us for 2 hours and we played a hand of five-card draw where there was a full house over full house! The guy who usually wins a lot also got dealt quads twice (hmm...he was the dealer both times). It's probably just because he plays in so many hands, but he does seem to catch a lot of cards (I'll start keeping track of what he gets while dealing). I can't imagine how he would be cheating though, short of looking through the deck at the cards that will come up.

Anyway, I hope that I can introduce them to the importance of preflop raising next time we play. I had a lot of fun yesterday.

[i am run]

get them to read a poker book, perhaps discussions about it will arise in your next game..
also, other people cutting, using cut cards, 100%plastic cards.. etc.. take the necessary precautions so you wont have to worry about cheating.

[nawhead]

So you flopped a royal flush and got so excited you went out and bought the movie Rounders? That is awesome, man. Epic.

[pfapfap]

Nice!

[mugatu668]

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So you flopped a royal flush and got so excited you went out and bought the movie Rounders? That is awesome, man. Epic.

[/ QUOTE ]
LOL, yep! My friend's hosting a poker tourney this week and it should be a ton of fun.

[philr]

"I am run" is right you should get them to read a poker book. Phil Gordons Little Green Book is a really fast read, he covers all of the basics in a fun style that will bring you buddies up to speed in no time.

[tminus]

thats great man, i share your enthusiasm. a buddy and i started studying this game two years ago and since then a week hasnt gone by without either playing or discussing poker with him.

i love the fact there's a continual learning curve. whenever i step up to a higher game there's something to learn. even more interesting is how its added to skills at the office like negotiations and reading people.

it really is the best game ive ever played.

[mugatu668]

I was thinking of how to bring up discussing strategy with them. Wouldn't it be cool to spend 30 seconds at the end of every hand with everyone saying what they were thinking during the hand and offering criticism? We would know each other's games so well in a month's time and we would all be so much better.

I'm REALLY pissed though. I had suspicions about one of my friend's cheating a few months ago. The realization came true today. He was down 10 bucks and bought in again for a dollar and ran it up to about 15 and down to about 5 again. I found it odd that he always starts off with a huge stack, it dwindles down, and he rebuilds it. I had never really dismissed the fact that he had cheated, and I had always been on low alert. We play with two decks (4-handed this game) so the person opposite him gave him the deck to deal for the hand after the next. So I was dealing, and he folded so that he would have more time to fix the deck. He was acting suspicious and said some joke to make us more relaxed. I was watching him out of the corner of my eye throughout the hand as he put cards in awkward places of the deck, looking nervous. He won the hand with QQ. The next time he dealt, he didn't have enough time to fix the deck. The time after that, he gave himself AA. He still lost 13 bucks, LOL. But it's so frustrating. I honestly don't know what to do. He's a really good friend of mine and it would be just as awkward to confront him about it as it would be to stop playing cards with him.

We nearly caught him (I flopped the nut flush and he was burning random cards while we were distracted. I said "wtf are you doing, I flopped the nuts and you're [censored] burning random cards?" [he was searching for a card he wanted] He said "I already folded! I already folded!") a few months ago and we should have acted then. This is really, really upsetting. Looking back on it, it's amazing he ever won any money. He chases every single [censored] draw (even gutshot straights) and then says "it didn't come" on the river. Grrrrrr!!!!

[mugatu668]

[ QUOTE ]
"I am run" is right you should get them to read a poker book. Phil Gordons Little Green Book is a really fast read, he covers all of the basics in a fun style that will bring you buddies up to speed in no time.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks man, I'll check it out!

[mugatu668]

[ QUOTE ]
thats great man, i share your enthusiasm. a buddy and i started studying this game two years ago and since then a week hasnt gone by without either playing or discussing poker with him.

i love the fact there's a continual learning curve. whenever i step up to a higher game there's something to learn. even more interesting is how its added to skills at the office like negotiations and reading people.

it really is the best game ive ever played.

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree! I've got a lot of work to do with tells. I'm actually quite good at recognizing betting patterns which is how I usually call bluffs and figure out when to bluff, but not so good at physical tells. Sometimes I can pick them up, but I have no idea what they mean.