Throughout the years I’ve played in some serious high-stakes home games in Los Angeles
and Las Vegas. And I have certainly seen my share of crazy antics, angle shooters, and
hidden opportunities for profits. Based on those experiences, here are my top 10 things
you need to know before playing in live home games.
What is a Home Game?
A Home Game is
a private game played outside of a casino, typically at one’s home. “I’m inviting some
people over for a home game Saturday.”
The legality and restrictions on home games
differs from state to state and from country to country, depending on the area’s laws
on gambling.
1. What is the rake?
If you are going to play poker, enjoy the atmosphere,
and have fun then this isn’t hugely important.
If your goal is to make money then this
is one of the most important things.
Most games are going to be 3-10% with a varying
cap on how much they can take out of each pot.
In general you want to shoot to play in
games that are 5% capped at 4 big blinds, at the very most.
If your game happens to be
incredibly wild you may be willing to be more lenient on the rake you are willing to
pay.
My advice is if you do choose to go ahead and play in a game with really high rake
play very conservative preflop. All of the hands along the borderline of profitability
preflop are now likely unprofitable due to rake.
2. Who’s running the game?
If you are
going to be playing in a game and risking your own money you should know who’s in
charge and what their story is.
Your best bet is to do some research ahead of time. Ask
whoever invited you to the game and anyone that might know anything about it. A quick
google search is also a quick and easy way to gain some more information.
3. Who’s
playing for the house?
Often times games will have either prop players or staked
players that are there to create action.
If for instance I’m running a game and I have
seven players willing to play, but need 9 for a full game, I might decide to stake two
players so that the game can run.
There’s nothing wrong with doing this, it is
important that whoever is running the game is transparent and lets you know what’s
going on.
4. How are the buy-in and cashout’s handled?
This is huge and a 100% must
know before sitting down in any game.
In every home game at some point there is going
to have to be a certain element of trust. Trust that the game isn’t rigged, that you
won’t be robbed, and that you will be paid if you win.
You definitely want 100% clarity
on this issue ahead of time. Are you playing on credit? When will you settle up if you
win? Should you bring cash with you? Are they going to pay you by cash/chip/check/wire?
If someone stiff’s the game will you still be paid?
Clear these things up ahead of time
of you know exactly what you are getting into.
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5. How much
notice do you have to give ahead of time when quitting a winner?
This is surprisingly a
big deal to many players, especially recreational players.
Chances are if you are in a
game where someone would take it personally that you won money and quit that you want
to be invited back.
Ask whoever is in charge ahead of time what good guidelines are,
then give as much notice as possible when you are ready to leave.
This may be the
difference between being invited back and given the cold shoulder.
6. Security
.
Sometimes home games are robbed. You will want to reach out ahead of time and ask
whoever is in charge if there is security. Where is the game being held?
Has it ever
been robbed?
Is there a security guard on staff?
7. Get to know the dealers.
The
dealers in these games often times have all the gritty details of the goings on of the
game. While they work for whoever is running the game they also work for tips. If you
tip them well and make conversation chances are you can get answers to some important
questions.
8. Strategy
In general, largely because of the rake, you want to play in
home games that are very loose preflop and splashy postflop. You basically want to play
in games where people are just spewing money away.
The best way to capitilize off of
these players is to play tight
By betting big and driving value with strong hands
preflop you are going to give yourself a big edge.
9. Reraise as many hands as possible
preflop.
If you really want to capitalize on playing with players who are too loose
preflop and don’t play well postflop, you want to 3-Bet them preflop.
By 3-Betting
Preflop you:
Offer yourself the opportunity to win the pot preflop with no rake at
all.
If there is a flop the rake will be smaller as a % of the entire pot
You are
playing a bigger pot with a hand that is stronger than your opponent range
One of, if
not the biggest problems amateurs face at the table is dealing with 3-bets and playing
in 3-bet pots postflop.
Honestly this is really the dream. If they play too many hands
preflop and ESPECIALLY if they are unwilling to 4-Bet preflop you are leaving tons of
money on the table by not 3-betting them.
One thing to keep in mind: In most cases
3-Betting aggressively will come across as giving action, though some players may take
it personally and could cause you to not get invited back. Just be aware of this and
tread lightly.
10. Don’t be too sure in your opponent’s abilities.
I once played the
following hand in a high stakes home game:
BlindsR$50/$100
I raise [AQ] in the CO
toR$300.
BTN and BB call
Flop [Ad-7s-5h] (PotR$950)
I betR$600 on the flop.
CO
calls.
Turn (PotR$2,150)
I betR$1400 on the turn.
CO Raises toR$3,200
I call.
River
($8,550)
I check, he betsR$5,000.
At this point in the hand I am thinking to myself,
this is really the worst hand I have here. I would check [AT] and worse on the flop and
I would have given up all of my bluffs on the turn. Not to mention it looks like I have
AT LEAST trips, if not a full house, yet he just bet a very modestR$5,000 intoR$8,550
on the river, which my first instance lead me to believe he was begging me to call.
I
thought about it for a while but decided I just had to know what he had.
I called and
he flipped over…
[99]
I was shocked. He said “Gah, I thought you had [KK]”
The take
away here is that some of these players are really just very new to the game. They
might not realize the impact of the line you are taking.
When I bet the turn I am
basically saying I have trips good kicker or better or a bluff. This is definitely not
the range of hands you want to raise [99], a hand which makes it less likely I have a
hand like [98] or [T9], and then follow up the river with a medium sized bet once I’ve
called.
This is a perfect example of when a player folds trips vs someone who is only
mildly acquainted with poker strategy.
Don’t fold a big hand to a crazy line unless you
are 100% lock sure he’s got you beat.
