Just wanted to post on the dilemma in my mind over the state of my home poker game. I've been running games once, sometimes twice, a month now - and they have been going great. Especially the tournaments; they are low buy-in, low-key, low -drama and primarily social events where players of all skill levels enjoy an exciting evening of no-limit play.
Periodically, I throw a cash game into the mix; it's always a nice change of pace, and allows for a lot more maneuvering and skill to come into play. As of just recently, I've settled into a pattern of hosting a tournament in the first half of the month, and then having a cash game towards the end of the month. I love this idea, and as I've been reading two spectacular books on how to properly play cash games ("Professional No-Limit Hold-em" by Flynn, Metah and Miller & "Harrington on Cash Games" by poker author legend Dan Harrington) I'm really excited about expanding my cash game prowess.
Here's the problem though...my dilemma as it is. A low cost, low pressure tournament structure works great at home - I get all skill levels and all kinds of happy people showing up, AND I get to really benefit from playing; as the skill level and the techniques I use apply very much to card club play. When I semi-bluff as the bubble approaches in my garage, I'll likely be able to do the same thing down at Hollywood Park Casino or in Vegas at a tournament.
But a cash game is a different story. In order to keep the same low-pressure and jovial atmosphere in a cash game at home, I find I have to have VERY low stakes. Probably, too low. A $20 buy in and fixed limit betting. As I've been playing under this structure for years, I've only recently recognized that I don't get much out of it - other than a highly enjoyable splashing around of chips and shooting the shit with my friends and fellow card lovers.
For a cash game at home to be useful, as far as practicing and building skills for casino play; both the limits and the betting have to have some teeth. To put it concisely, I really need to have a No-Limit/Pot-Limit cash game at home. Wacky poker, micro-stakes poker, all of that is good stuff. It's fun, it's social, it's silly. It in NO way expands my poker knowledge and chops.
But here's the rub; I love that my home game is nearly entirely tension free. If someone misdeals, or miscounts chips, it really doesn't matter. We all know it would be ridiculous to angle shoot. We are all careless about keeping track of chips and cash, typically when people cash out there is a discrepancy; usually the house ends up getting extra dollars.
I know that the moment I raise the limits at all, not only will I lose a certain number of players entirely, but the ones that remain will have to take the game, and the entire evening, more seriously. I will have to step up and actually be banker, we have to be exact in cashing in and out. Also, as wytrabbit correctly pointed out in my e-mail correspondence with him, for NL and PL to work properly - a player has to have potentially his entire stack at risk on every hand. This is not a $10 buy-in with re-buys. This is a players actual cash, upwards of $50 to $100 probably, in front of him. Rabbit also pointed out correctly, that if a player loses this stack, he's going to want to have a chance to get his money back - I can't limit the number of times a player can reload. By the same token, I can't limit the amount of money on the table. The best I can do to save players from themselves is to simply have a scheduled end time for the game.
If I do run the game I have in mind; a $50 buy-in with blinds at 25c/50c; a player could possibly win or lose upwards of $300 in an evening. A very different, and very serious scenario - as opposed to the "monster" swings of $60 or even $80 that we've had in my cash games so far.
I know I play tight in cash games, and I'm unlikely to have swings of more than $100; and I'm confident that most nights I would come out ahead. I'm ready for it, and I'm ready to start playing what everybody plays in the poker world. Fixed limit is it's own skill set, but it is such a boring grind sometimes. As my tournament game has evolved, I've become pretty exasperated with people calling me down to the river chasing a gut shot - and of course hitting it, with no weapons in my arsenal to truly punish them for chasing.
Of course, the other side is - why try to make more money from your friends and poker buddies? Well, I really feel that money isn't so much the issue. As my game has stepped up, I've come to see that for poker to be viable, as POKER and not just as a purely social evening, it has to sting a bit. There has to be consequence, and there has to be reward for those with more skill.
That is what's so great about a tournament, it really is the best of both worlds. We've had prize pool's upwards of a $500, which leads to great excitement and fun - and yet the tension and angst stays very low, in large part because individual players generally only drop $20 to maybe as much as $50 apiece; not very much risk for a potentially hefty reward.
But for a cash game, a $10 buy-in (aka Nickel/Dime/Quarter dealer's choice) simply put, is NOT poker. It's gambling; which can be fun in it's own right - but I'm not addicted to gambling at this point in my life. I am addicted (as if you couldn't tell) to this test of skill called poker. I play real poker at my home tournaments, I want the real thing in my cash games too.
The great secret to all of this of course, and it eludes me how to achieve it; is to put on a "real" cash game, whilst still holding on to as much of the good vibrations (mellow people,no drama, etc.) as I can. I've always prided my home game as a safe and friendly place where people can come and enjoy pleasant competition. I know if I make the leap to a real cash game, there will be nights when someone gets their ass busted.
Sigh. It's a dilemma. But I think I'm going to give it a shot. But I'm going to try following a few rules for myself to help make the transition easy for everybody.
First, I'm not going to cap the number of players anymore. Typically on a cash game night, I try to limit it to a single table; this helps keep the event much more manageable and gives the wife a break from the bedlam that is a tournament night.
With two tables in play, one table will be the usual buy-in and stakes; the other will be the $50NL table.
Eventually of course, the goal is to have the cash game be entirely $50NL, but I think I have to ease people into it. (I would also include in this, Pot Limit Omaha and O8, as well as $1-$2 fixed limit stud games; but these both can be just as pricey as NL).
As an aside, a few months back Rabbit was my guest from the bay area, and I managed to have a second NL table of six people- I lost $40 and Rabbit lost over twice as much - but it was still great fun; and I felt pretty comfortable. I even had players at the table who were happy and excited to be there, that I didn't expect. Both only semi-enthusiastic poker players, and both typically very frugal. They had a blast, and even won a bit. The two remaining players were serious poker enthusiasts, who typically don't bother with my cash game; they had heard that I was spreading No-Limit and they showed up. One made out like a bandit, the other pretty much got hammered. They both had a good time.
My second rule will be to still encourage a low key vibe, as much is as possible. I recognize that I will have to be much more stringent on money issues - and misdeals, and other rule infractions; but I plan to do it in the friendliest manner possible, whilst still maintaining firm control on the game and the cash.
Thirdly, I'll have to recognize the reality of my players. I think a lot of them can't imagine putting $200+ at risk in a single evening - though of course a big bar tab in LA can dwarf that, not to mention a concert or other event. I will encourage and promote this thought, as well as the very important concept of everyone setting a limit for themselves. I plan to stop playing once I'm out of $100. I don't expect this to happen often, but I know it probably will. When it does, I'll be dealer for the evening.
I'm ready for real poker. Tomorrow night, we'll have our usual low limit luckfest; I'll be floating the idea of a second higher stakes NL table. I'm sure many will not want to join in; but I know for a fact I will gain others who don't usually bother to show for my cash games.
I'll keep the 2 table concept going for as long as it will last, and I may have to revert to the old lower limits permanently; but somehow I think that when most of the guys get a taste of real poker - that is, poker with pain, poker with consequences, they are going to be hard pressed to go back to the chip splashing dance of kiddie poker..
That's what the tournaments are for.
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