Winning too much....
 

I play in a friendly home game once a week. Everybody knows everybody. $10 buy-in for .25-.50 hold 'em, with some Omaha and 7-card stud thrown in.
I consistently win at least $5, usually $10-15. (Not a lot of money, but it's huge considering the stakes). I've only lost money once -- about $5.

Do you ever purposely play badly in a game like this, so as not to upset your income stream?
I'm not trying to brag, the competition is ultra-weak, just wondering what you would do....?

Re: Winning too much....
 

The answer is yes, you do if the stakes are significant. But in this game, it wouldn't bother me if I got kicked out, so I would play my best at all times.

Generally, if you are playing in a home game populated with awful players, you loosen up quite a bit on the early rounds. This gives the illusion of action, but also does not hurt you all that much, since many of the trash hands you will be playing are marginally profitable (or close to profitable) with such a wretched crew of players.

-Mike

Re: Winning too much....
 

Yes, if you're playing with friends and winning that regularly, you should definitely give something back. You can buy some refreshments and bring them. Say doughnuts or beluga caviar. Or you can play loosely for a bit and give some money back and make the game more exciting. If you're playing with friends it's about having fun and cameraderie.

Re: Winning too much....
 

This is the place where I'd purposefully play loose, just to get more experience being in bad places, which may be useful to me at later, more serious game. If I was going to keep playing hard, I'd do something good for my karma, like bringing some good beer to the game.

That being said, I play for reasons other than winning, so what's right for me may not be right for you.

Re: Winning too much....
 

i have a similar home game with my friends too. i can't even recall the last time i lost. the game has run for about 4 years.

i play the way i play. they don't know. they don't care. when they get good hands, i tell them 'good hand'. it's the least i can do.

sometimes i call instead of raising.

i one time dropped an O8 hand on the flop because there was Waaaay too much action for my non-nut draws. turns out if i had stayed, i would have scooped the pot and made about $50!

Re: Winning too much....
 

Hey, play the clock. Switch your 'real' game and a more 'social' game up every half hour or so. They're your friends, practice and compete, but don't wage war. If you have another game going, practice unfamiliar strategies at the social/ friendly level, run plays etc.

Without home games like this, there would be fewer players to
 

Without home games like this, there would be fewer players to graduate to casinos or online real money games...do whatever you can to encourage the people to enjoy poker...who knows, someday they may become rich and powerful, or even president, and help to make the laws about gaming and taxes more reasonable.

Re: Winning too much....
 

Once I got invited to a 50c-1.00, 2.00 on the end home game. It was my first time there, most of the people were new faces to me. After three hours I was winning almost $200, an enormous sum in such a game. I dumped about half of it back playing really loose so they'd invite me back again.

al

Re: Winning too much....
 

i think i'll try and dump my $10 buy-in this week, just so i can point to that awful week i once had [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Re: Winning too much....
 

This happened to me just the othe night. I left a $1-$2 with $94 after about 3 hours. Some of my friends didn't care, but a few were extremely upset. I think they were just upset because they lost, not because I won. I also felt like they wouldn't have cared had they not know I read poker books. I didn't know what to say. I'm not bad company. I don't make the game unpleasant. I just win. I asked them, "Should I have lost on purpose?" They didn't have an answer. I went back a couple days later and threw $25 away. No one seems mad anymore.