Enlightened

Great cash game last Friday night at my house. Two medium sized fish, five decent players and one shark. I was in the middle group.

Ordinarily, there are some uber-fish that show up for cash game night, alas none could make it. I would have to make due with a fairly tough table, save for the two minor minnows.

I don't have a draw for seats at my cash game, people are free to sit where they like as they arrive - and naturally the two weaker players plopped down to my right while the tougher ones basically queued up to my left.

I was hoping at best with this bunch to turn a small profit - at the very least break even, a small loss was a possibility. So was getting stacked.

I don't know if there was a full moon out or what - but I proceeded to read everyone at that table about as well as I ever have in my entire life.

I actually called out hands on three separate occasions, and was spot on before the cards were flipped.

At least 4 times, I bluffed just the right amount to get the better hand to lay down. There's something to be said for a slightly better, and not God awful player - someone who can actually use their brain and put you on a hand (albeit the wrong one) as opposed to someone who only knows that the two cards in front of him must be good.

I am certain that 2 of my biggest bluffs worked effectively, because each time the mucking player conceded the pot, they showed me their hand before mucking!

In return, I would show the bluff. Overall, I showed a lot - which I know I've said many times, on this blog and elsewhere, is a generally a bad idea. I've also ranted and raved recently in this forum about how much I've tried to stay "mum" about poker when I'm at the table. Well Friday night, I definitely had a change of heart about this and even a little enlightenment.

Marc F., one of the aforementioned decent players at the table, made an offhand remark that struck me as pretty profound. To paraphrase - "I don't mind talking poker here, because we're all friends, this is low stakes and I always learn something about the game when I do."

What a beautiful thing!

It is true - my home game is a "safe" place for poker players. It's low stakes, not so low as to be meaningless, but well low enough to avert hard feelings and losing mortgage money. And we all know each other and like each other. Really, it's what every home poker experience should be.

So what are the downsides of talking poker at the table in such an environment?

I might give too much away and affect my results. But how much? Really?

Honestly, I think I'm as good as the best in my game - and better than the rest. Whatever I give away in information and results, I suspect I gain back much more by what is revealed to me. Both in the hands that other players show, and in the hands that they talk about.

I gave away a ton of info on Friday night, and still managed to book a win. The previously mentioned shark gave away zero information - but finished down for the night. The same can be said for another good player at the table, who kept mum on the hands, but still got tilted and ultimately felted.

But even more important than potentially affecting my results - talking poker is fun. Yes, fun. Ultimately, if all I cared about in poker was money, I wouldn't bother to host a home game, or even play in one for that matter. Nope, my first priority at the table is to have FUN. True, a part of this fun is being successful = making money. But only a part. Conversely, I play my best when I am able to disassociate chips from cash -and not fret over making the bubble or losing a buy-in. I play best, when I have fun.

So I think it's okay, and possibly even beneficial - to talk poker at the poker table. Not in a card room, where I don't know the people and they don't know me and the buy-in is $100 and up. But in my garage, or in someone else's living room - why not showski once in awhile, or speculate out loud? It's fun! I enjoyed myself immensely the other night, chatting it up about hands, showing my nastiest bluffs and not worrying about concealing and not revealing. Plus I finished up over $50 in profit, not too shabby for a game with fixed limits and a $40 buy in!

So I guess the ground rules for me will be - in a cash game at home I can yuck it up and talk all I want about teh pokerz. Especially when it's a table full of people I respect AND also has people that I really like. On Friday night, the two big fish are two really great guys; I honestly take pleasure in opening up a bit with them; and they aren't so terrible that it would be a dreadful mistake to educate them a bit.

In my tournaments, I'll have to be a bit more tight lipped - too many calling stations and uber-donks, I don't want to be educating them more than is necessary. It's simply far too profitable to smile and stay silent with them. But if I slip, and say out loud "well I'm getting 7 to 1, I have to call" or some such innocuous but ultimately illuminating remark, I'm not going to beat myself up. I'm going - to have fun.