"Playing" a friend.

[iash]

Just got back from a 3 day Vegas stint, was awesome..truly did nothing but hold 'em & the occasional club. I'd like some opinions on the following:

2/4 no limit game at Mandalay Bay. Playing at a full table with a good friend & a bunch of strangers. One hand, I had pocket Aces. My friend is in early position with pocket Queens. He raises, I re-raise, he calls. Flop is rags, he raises, I re-raise, he calls. The final two steets I simply call his bets. The pot ends up being 200-300 dollars, and I take it down. (This is a fairly large amount of money for my friend.)

Similar situations occured with this friend of mine throughout the next few hours. It just so happens that I was on the winning end of these hands. I would say I played them aggresively, as I would have played them against anyone else.

At one point in the session, a few players criticized me for playing so cut-throat vs. a friend. I have mixed feelings on this.

From one perspective, I'm there to play cards and i'm not going to let up, no matter who i'm playing. And what if I did ease up, say checking or calling when I normally would have bet or raised, and then I get outdrawn? Then I'd be extremely pissed off.

Anyway, a little later on, I ended up feeling bad, and folding pocket Jacks to a pre-flop raise of his. It turns out I would have flopped a boat, and won a $500 pot which my friend ended up losing anyway.

On the flip side, our friendship is worth more to me than a few pots or getting beat or outdrawn or whatever.

In the future, is it ok to let up on friends? What if it comes down to us heads up, can I tell him my hand? Is this ethical? Is this frowned upon? Just curious as to what others would do, or have done.

Hrm, looking back on this post, it reads more like a Dear Abby letter than a 2+2 post, but any advice would be appreciated anyway [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Thanks in advance for any input.

iash

iash