How home games will ruin your poker skills

By Michael Morris
8-13-06

All poker players have their beloved home games, and aside from providing an evening of distractions and fun, but at the cost of a player’s personal game. As all good players know, playing your cards is only a fraction of proper play. Making bets according to the table and the flow of the game is a major contributing factor in the success of cash and tournament play. It is for that very reason that home games tend to do more harm than good.

As most home games become a frequent congregation of the same players, the ability to read a table becomes overly clear. For practice reading players, you should visit FullTiltPoker.net today and learn to play poker for free. One begins to gradually realize all the other regulars tells and betting patterns. In turn, your ability to read other players who are complete strangers becomes more of a challenge and liability than an asset. As much fun as the weekly (or more often) get together of you and your fellow cohorts is, your personal game tends to not really grow or evolve. Humans are creatures of habit, and as far as poker goes, most people play with a certain level of consistency, regardless of how erratic or spontaneous they may seem to be. The finest players in the world are those people who can pick up on other players’ consistencies and exploit them.

Unfortunately, home games can lead to the loss of your own consistency. Home games provide the perfect breeding ground for loose play. Cards that you would fold nine times out of ten, unless you were in the big blind, look a lot better in a home game, particularly in a short handed game. (Say 6 players or so) That Jack/Six off suit is not well suited for tournament play, but when sitting around with your buddies, becomes as pretty as pocket aces. Calls that you may normally not make also become more prevalent. You consider it charity, good form, or simply an opportunity to give your friend a chance to stay in the game – the same you would hope to get, should the situation be reversed.

Home games can also combat any potential gains and strides in game play good poker players make every time they sit at a table. Poker is the ultimate game in which growth and evolution are paramount in building a dominating style and table presence. But when you are not being put to the test on/with unfamiliar players, it is very easy to become complaisant and growth becomes stifled. Home games can also lure players into a false sense of “table security” which can easily evolve into a near panic state when sitting down at a table full of strangers in a casino far from home. Sufficed to say, such panic can then shore up a loss of funds and ensure an unproductive and unhappy trip to the casino.

As much damage as regular home games can cause, it is still a potential pay out for any player willing to play. It is also a more comfortable environment to practice and try new strategies and styles, as well as an excellent social gathering with you and your regular poker buddies. Just be weary of that monster of complacency, it can move in quietly and establish itself as a plague on your poker game. So until next time, the guys will be here soon, and I have a tournament to host.