Good game this week, I won $85. That's a bit below my average in this game, but a win is a win. And most of the winnings came on 3 big hands. I had the nut flush twice, slow played it both times, got bet into both times, and had my large check-raise called both times, once by a small straight and once by trips. Also had pocket 4s turn into a full house, 4s over 2s with someone else holding trip 2s. The rest of the night was spent folding, either before or after the flop. I did make one bad bluff attempt that got picked off. All in all, a pretty good night.
My brother continued his 3 week drought, losing about $80. He's lost nearly $300 in the last 3 weeks, and he's not playing badly at all. He's just getting outdrawn or taking good hands up against slightly better ones. Adding it all together, I'm up around $2000 in the last 3 months of poker. Hope it continues.
Also played in a very poorly run local tournament last weekend, and we're thinking about hosting a weekly tournament here this fall and winter. I think we could get close to 100 people to show up every week to play. With a $55 buyin and $5 going to the house, there would be a $5000 prize pool and we would essentially get a freeroll at it every week.
I'll be playing for my first time (in a group of other newbies) early next week. I'm really looking forward to it.
Since we're all new, what stakes do you recommend we play? .50/$1 ? Or something less? I just have no idea. Assume everyone brings $100 to play with.
(Of course all the money will be play money only if the laws of the state in which we play prohibit such gambling, which I don't know.)
Since we're all new, what stakes do you recommend we play? .50/$1 ? Or something less? I just have no idea. Assume everyone brings $100 to play with.
If everyone is buying in for $100, you could play as much as $2/$4 reasonably. The rule of thumb is that the buying should be 20 times the largest bet. The stakes really depends not on your experience (since you're all inexperienced), but on your financial well being. To someone who makes $100,000 a year, playing for "low stakes" has a different meaning than someone making $25,000 a year. Our weekly game is only played for $1/$2 blinds, but it's a pot limit game, so the bets go up substantially during the hand if someone wants to push it up. I would recommend playing $1/$2 with that as the maximum bet while you're learning the game, then if the group feels comfortable later you can move that up, or try pot limit or no limit. Good luck!
Thanks. It sounds like $1/$2 with a $2 limit is a good place to start.
BTW, I've been mostly losing on the internet play money site I've been practicing on. But I stay in a lot of hands I know I should fold just to get experience watching the cards and other peoples' moves.
BTW, I've been mostly losing on the internet play money site I've been practicing on. But I stay in a lot of hands I know I should fold just to get experience watching the cards and other peoples' moves.
No one plays the same way for real money, so that's no big deal. As a general rule, I'd say play fairly tight until you've got a good handle on how the other people play. If everyone is inexperienced, then most are not going to adjust their style of play as you make adjustments to them. I'm always amazed at how many people play the same way all the time, regardless of how the people around them are playing. This is especially true of what I call macho players - typically young male players who play with their egos instead of their brains and think they need to dominate the table by betting and raising on virtually every hand. They will continue to play that way even when the other players at the table have countered that strategy effectively, and won't stop firing away until they're low on money.