It has been a long time coming, but our home game has finally returned. There will be some new faces, some new reads to make and tells to pick up on, but the core group from my old home game (read: “the addicts”) will all be present. The stakes are a teeny bit higher than we used to play back in the day, but still micro enough that we aren’t all playing scared poker against each other. It should be a really fun game.
I’ve been waiting quite a while for this. I got so excited, I bought all kinds of new poker crap. Before Billy even moved back to LA, I had already bought a poker table setup, and I recently picked up new chips, racks, cards, chairs … all that good stuff. I think I’ve spent more money setting up the game than I’m likely to make from it, but at least the experience will be as much fun as possible. I’ve been aiming for the “Casino Away from the Casino” feel, and I think it’s starting to come together. I’ve played in a lot of home games in the Los Angeles area, making the rounds, and once the ball really gets rolling on this, I can say with only just a little bias that it will likely become one of the better home games in town.
But we’ll see what happens. Tonight’s inaugural session will likely feature six players, perhaps seven. Billy and I would like to see that average get up to a regular seven or eight guys. Six is a good number to start with, though. It’s a high enough number that if someone goes bust the game isn't automatically over, but low enough that everyone should get to play a decent percentage of pots.
This home game should also be good for my overall game. I was chatting with Billy the other day, and I feel pretty sure that I identified the cause of my recent poker slump. We basically agreed that I had been focusing too much on my own cards, and not using my hand-reading ability as much as I should. I was playing medium-strength hands as if they were monsters, refusing to lay down top pair, etc. Not even bothering to gauge opponents’ relative strength any more. I had just been relying on aggression and intimidation to get me paid off when I had it and to get people out when I didn’t. As you can surmise from my last post, this hasn’t been working. Tonight, I hope to change that. Since we’re adding a few players to the mix that I don’t often play with, I should get the opportunity to flex my poker muscles a bit and play more skillfully than I have been.
I couldn’t be more excited. I’m not sure if we’re going to keep stats on how well people do and all the other things Billy and I mentioned before, but a part of me doesn’t really care.
I just want to play poker.
I’ve been waiting quite a while for this. I got so excited, I bought all kinds of new poker crap. Before Billy even moved back to LA, I had already bought a poker table setup, and I recently picked up new chips, racks, cards, chairs … all that good stuff. I think I’ve spent more money setting up the game than I’m likely to make from it, but at least the experience will be as much fun as possible. I’ve been aiming for the “Casino Away from the Casino” feel, and I think it’s starting to come together. I’ve played in a lot of home games in the Los Angeles area, making the rounds, and once the ball really gets rolling on this, I can say with only just a little bias that it will likely become one of the better home games in town.
But we’ll see what happens. Tonight’s inaugural session will likely feature six players, perhaps seven. Billy and I would like to see that average get up to a regular seven or eight guys. Six is a good number to start with, though. It’s a high enough number that if someone goes bust the game isn't automatically over, but low enough that everyone should get to play a decent percentage of pots.
This home game should also be good for my overall game. I was chatting with Billy the other day, and I feel pretty sure that I identified the cause of my recent poker slump. We basically agreed that I had been focusing too much on my own cards, and not using my hand-reading ability as much as I should. I was playing medium-strength hands as if they were monsters, refusing to lay down top pair, etc. Not even bothering to gauge opponents’ relative strength any more. I had just been relying on aggression and intimidation to get me paid off when I had it and to get people out when I didn’t. As you can surmise from my last post, this hasn’t been working. Tonight, I hope to change that. Since we’re adding a few players to the mix that I don’t often play with, I should get the opportunity to flex my poker muscles a bit and play more skillfully than I have been.
I couldn’t be more excited. I’m not sure if we’re going to keep stats on how well people do and all the other things Billy and I mentioned before, but a part of me doesn’t really care.
I just want to play poker.
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