Reader Mail: Home Game Poker Gets Wacky
READ MORE: Home Game, Poker
Faithful reader “Tyler” saw our post yesterday on a home game Pineapple variant and emailed us with a game he and his boys play called “Cross.” Read how to play it—AFTER THE JUMP.
“The dealer deals everybody four cards and then deals three down in the middle with another card dealt down at top, bottom, left and right like a cross, or plus-sign. From here, its a high-low game (think high-low Omaha), and you have to play two out of your hand… Once the cards are dealt to the player and the cards are dealt face-down on the board, you bet pre-flop, turn over the three cards in the middle and then have another betting round. Then turn over any of the four cards around the flop. Bet again, after the first single card is turned, then turn over the next cards either clockwise or counter-clockwise around the board with betting rounds in between. Once the second outside card is flipped, players can “buy” a card, then turn the third card. Declare “high,” “low,” or “both” after the fourth outer card is turned. Use any three in a row on the board, plus two in your hand to make your best poker hand.
There are two ways that we play this. Either “Wide Open” where anything can win for a high or low or “Flush and a Seven” where you have to have at least a flush to win the high and at most a seven high to win low. In flush and a seven, its possible for a high or low to not be available, and the remaining players after the fourth singles cards betting round that are left get the hand dealt again and play the game through again with new antes and bets on top of the existing pot. The players that have folded before the original game is over are not eligible to play in the rain out game.
If a player goes both ways and loses one way, the player loses both ways. If the player ties one way, that way is split.”
So it’s high-low, but when you declare both you can lose both and maybe have to show down in the rain out game for a chance at a double pot with five guys chasing miracle draws all the way down? Doesn’t anyone just play Slap-Jack anymore?
Previously: Mix Up Your Home Game: Call Columbine [Oddjack]
Throw Your Home Game A Curve Ball
READ MORE: Home Game, Poker
Our home game rotates between Hold ‘Em tournaments and cash games. We prefer playing cash games to tournaments, mainly because it takes some of our usual crew out of their comfort zone. Dale Blasingame from WOAI San Antonio makes the case for cash game poker:
“Chances are your weekly, Friday night game is played tournament style…meaning everyone buys in for a certain amount of chips and all start off with the same amount. Last man or woman standing wins. But as your games get better, you might start to think about hosting a cash game.
“It’s a completely different monster.”
Blasingame’s advice is pretty standard fare. Sit out the first orbit or two and watch, play loose if the table is tight, tight if the table is loose, and be judicious about showing hands you don’t get called down on. We’ve got a bit to add. Aggression is often rewarded in Hold ‘Em, so don’t be afraid to throw your chips around. You’ve got to disconnect the chips in front of you from the money it took to buy them. If this is difficult, only play table stakes that feel cheap to you. If you walk into a $100 buy-in game with $110 in your wallet and a $20 cab ride home, you’ve got issues. A $20 game under the same circumstances? You’ll mix it up without remorse.
Help Your Home Game Not To Suck
READ MORE: Home Game, Poker
There’s a home game around town here with a group of guys who play a tournament once a week. Great guys, terrible tournament. It’s not for a lack of talent at the table - in fact, most of these guys are pretty solid players. It’s that they start the game at 9PM on a weeknight, and want to be wrapping it up within a half an hour of midnight. With fifteen to twenty players on a regular basis, they adopt what can be generously called an “aggressive” blind structure to accelerate the game. Turns the tournament from a poker game into a lottery within the first hour. So what’s an agreeable blind structure? Otis from Up For Poker muses on the topic:
So, given that we know the casinos have little interest in tournaments outside of the cash game lure and the minute amount of juice they make, we can easily figure out what kind of structure is best for the casino. Fast. Speedy Gonzalez fast.
What is fast? Any live tournament with blind levels less than 30 minutes is too fast. Simple as that.
Many of the low buy-in tourneys in cardrooms these days have 20 minute levels. Some get as ugly as doing 15 minute levels. Twenty minutes is rough. Fifteen minutes is an insult to your intelligence.
If this sounds like your home game, maybe you should re-think your structure, and either budget more time for your tournament or mix in a cash game so people can actually play “poker” instead of “push your chips in with any Ace after 90 minutes.”
Tournament Structures Good and Bad [Up For Poker]
|
|
One day, everything will be a wager, from a hand of poker to the likelihood you'll be struck down by a bioterror attack before the next brain backup. One day. For now, there's Oddjack. It's a sneak peek at the future of gambling.
