Is it unethical to direct money to the uberfish?

[Luke]

I play in a weekly home game where I am easily the best player at the table each and every time. We've played together for about 50 hours and I've won at a rate slightly over 5 BBs/hr. While I don't think I can keep up that rate, I would put my expected win rate in this game (at the players' current abilities) at 3 - 4 BBs/hr.

In addition to winning, I should note that I supply the chips and cards. The fact that I've been winning and seem the most "interested" in poker, has not gone unnoticed. Players are starting to make frustrated comments like, "I never get good cards", "Luke always wins", "of course he wins - their his chips, his cards", etc.

There are a couple players that I believe have shown a profit since we started and they don't really appear frustrated too often. What I'm concerned about is the worst players getting fed up and quitting the game or just playing more sporadically. I don't think the hit to their pocket hurts as much as the embarassment of losing. These players for the most part are nice guys and fun to play cards with. They really seem to like playing but I fear they might not be able to handle the losing much longer.

While I like winning some extra pocket change each week, I really just enjoy playing in this game and would like to see it survive. I've tried pulling some of the weaker players aside and giving them strategic advice but this has only helped marginally. So my question is, would it be unethical if I were to manipulate situations to allow the worst players at the table to win. For example, I could isolate these weak players, only to fold on the turn/river when they bet. You get the idea. This way, I could win a little less and inflate the losing players stack (and ego). Would doing this be wrong and unfair to the other players?

Luke

[NoTalent]

That's a tough one.

There are a few things going on here.

1) You want to keep the game going because I'm assuming these are your friends and you enjoy it. So from this point of view--it would seem OK to give them a bit of help, or isolate against them with a marginal hand and hope they win. This would give them enough of a reason to come back the next week.

There are two things wrong with this. a) You are giving them a false sense of playing the game. Do you think they would go out and play somewhere else if you let them win? If they learn these bad habits, they will lose much more at other places. b) Can you keep losing to them to make them happy? Can you still keep your 3-4 BB/hr and let them win too?

2) If you actually could pull this off--what do you think the other players (that can acutally play) will think? They have probally picked up on your play and know you won't fold on the river for no reason. You don't want them to suspect you of collusion with one of these players you are trying to help.

So in the 'ethical' sense of it--you shouldn't help them out to keep them there because you are not being fair to the other players. Is there any other way that you could keep them there? I know you want to win money--but maybe letting them read WLLHE and getting some sound advice would make them come back without any help from you.

Well good luck on this
Regards,
-NoTalent

[slavic]

You can play every hand for fun if you want to show a loss. You can become a call station and show a loss. However what you are proposing looks a lot like collusion to other people sitting at the table.

[Jezebel]

If you are not willing to take their money, you probably shouldn't be playing with them. Once you start to take the game serious, it becomes hard to play kitchen table poker "just for fun" with friends. Poker is meant to be played aggresivly as I'm sure you are aware. If your friends are going to hold a grudge about losing then you need to find a different game if you want to keep them as friends. Comments about the chips and cards being yours would lead me to believe that they are half joking/whole in earnest hinting that you are cheating since in their minds poker is just all luck and no one can be that lucky. If you start dumping hands to the fish and someone catches on it really will confirm their suspicion. Bad plan. Find a new game if possible.

[Stew]

Have you ever thought about playing tournament style instead of ring-game style? This same thing happened in our annual home game, myself and two other sharks were gobbling up the fishies monies and they were frustrated. We played .50-1.00 limit hold em. Now, we play No-Limit tourneys and they seem to enjoy that more as the luck factor is more prevalent over a given night. Granted, 3 of the 4 winners have been the guys showing good profits in the ring-game, but the fish have monied every once in awhile and that keeps 'em happy!

[brad]

simple answer really. increase the luck element in the game.

add some antes to holdem or increase bringin/ante in stud, whatever.

in a wide open game anthing can happen, avoid split games, etc.