The Dreaded Home Game

One thing that I have come to accept is that all poker rules and odds do not apply in the vortex that is my Home Poker league.

I started a poker game one Saturday night back in December of 2005.  Nine players showed up many of them playing live for the first time.  Since that time we have grown to a 24 player limit 30 player Poker Club.  Once a month we gather and play two freeze out NL Texas Holdem Tournaments.  We have a year end points fund, a web site for tracking points.  Honestly, I organized and ran this league and I am very proud of the results.

Except....

This is the hardest place for me to consistently finish high in the standings.  Not because the players are so good, but because they are so bad.  Honestly I think there are 2, maybe 3 players that understand the game of Poker.  The rest of the players are just out for a good time, we have a nice food spread and they all bring some adult beverages to drink, so they are just there to play cards.

It has become so brutal I have come up with a name for the bad beats.  I call them donkey bites.  If they have a 3 outer, their card is in the window on the flop.  If I shove with kings, the big blind calls with Ace two...  That's right ...  Ace Two.. And hits the ace on the river. 

Last night was no exception.  I was knocked out in the first game when I was in the big blind and the button shoved all in.  I look down at Ace Queen suited and called.  The button sheepishly turns over Queen Jack, the first card I see on the flop was a Jack so now I'm crippled.  I get knocked out 2 hands later when I go all in with Ace 10 and get called by king nine and my opponent turns a King.

Look, I do not consider myself a Poker Pro, but I understand, position, starting hands, outs, and pot odds.  Many nights I get into a hand and I take a minute to calculate pot odds and my outs before I make a call and they laugh at me because I'm "Doing all that math crap again."  I can go to a casino and play in a tournament and do well, but at my home game donkafest I suffer 3rd degree donkey bites.  And boy they sure do whoop it up when they bad beat me.  I really understand why you can't have weapons at the poker table.  The brief minutes for temporary insanity sure could be fatal.

Well on the bright side I did win the second tournament last night and that makes two tournament wins in 10 tournaments.  I'm 3rd in money won, but I'm only 10th in season points.

Well I get one month to recover and then back to the felt to battle the donkeys again.  There must be a way to consistently wade though this crew, but I haven't found it yet.