dealers choice games

[anduril]

i occasionally play a home game with some friends and acqaintances on a weekly basis. About 6-8 of us buy in for generally about $10 with a 25 cent ante and a $1 max bet/raise(ya wasn't my decision). After 3-4 hours of play I usually come away with somewhere between $20-$40, but I feel like I should be coming home with more. We play HE, draw, stud, O8, chicago, and baseball. If anyone knows all of these games pretty well, any strategy suggestions/tips for bringing home a few more bucks?

[Wake up CALL]

With a 25 cent ante coupled with a $1 max bet it is incredible that you win this much. I cannot imagine how you could do better without widening the gap between the ante and maximum bet.

If they allow you to deal 7/27 or some variation you will be able to make more within this structure but not likely with the games you mentioned.

Wake

[hutz]

If you can stomach it and it won't chase the fish away from the game, play 7/27 each time. It is the ultimate position game.

On the other end of the spectrum, 5-stud or 7-stud are not attractive games. A Chicago variant is even worse because half the pot is distributed on the basis of pure luck. Stud gives you no positional advantage as the dealer. Unless you have an overwhelming skill advantage in stud as compared to the other choices, I can't imagine any good reason for choosing that game when it's your turn to deal.

[Nottom]

[cottonmather0]

http://homepoker.com/nonpoker.html#727

There are ample opportunities for suckouts and bluffing, hence its popularity, but to win all you have to do is just sit around all night and wait to be dealt a pat 7. Then jam the hell out of the pot once you do get it and fold if you don't get it. Maybe a bit more complicated than that if you're slightly more experienced, but otherwise it can end up being very expensive if you ever decide to draw towards anything.

It's always the game at our house that tends to have the biggest pots, and thus, if you know how to play, can be the most lucrative.

[James Boston]

I don't care for 7-27 (or 2-22, we play both), but I'll play it. I either go for low or both (AAX). So many players chase the high. Waiting for a pat low hand and betting the hell out of it seems to win most of the time.

[LetsRock]

Man I hate that game. The only way any of my money sees the pot in that game is a pat 7 (or other obvious pat low).

It's just not poker, but of course niether are most of the games that get called at our social game - makes me crazy, but it's all about hanging out with the guys.

[BogeyWan]

Yeah, we play that one a lot too. It really is a great game to make money on. You just have to fold if you do not get a pat low or close. I don't know what it is but most of the guys I play with will chase the high like crazy. The funniest is when everyone else is high on the board and you are the only one with even a possibility of a low, and there are still 3 or 4 calling every bet and taking cards. /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[BogeyWan]

Oh yeah, one other note. I have in fact gotten the golden AA5 hand once. It was a beautiful thing. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[prairieboy]

The best strategy is to play some silly "pot" games (Guts, Kings & Little People, In Between etc.). After a couple of rounds with someone winning (and of course losing) huge pot bets, going back to quarter ante feels kinda silly. Inevitably, someone calls "$1/2 stud" and things just escalate from there.