home game

Got the old home game going last night after a 4 week (for me) absence. We ended up with 6 players. Our home game is probably 50% Texas hold-em, 25% Omaha, and 25% "other". Last night we played a few hands of Kings and Little People (it was nice to flip over my cards and see 3 kings, a nine, and the Jack of Clubs - that's a royal flush for me!), 2 hands of night baseball, one hand a 7 card stud, and 2-3 hands of Tahoe Holdem, and one hand of of Andover Holdem, a concoction we made up that makes the river card wild.

Stakes are small - most games are quarter ante, and 1 or 2 bucks max bet depending on the game (holdem is $1/$2 for example).

I was ahead for awhile until my personal nemesis CS showed up. CS likes to see showdowns, and if I'm in the hand with him, his cards at the end will almost always be better than mine. Last night's example, I raised preflop with A8. He called. Flop came A42. I bet, he called. Turn came a King. I bet, he called. River came another king. I bet, he raised. I knew he had a King, but I had to call anyway. He had K6.

All told, I was down $4 on the night. Considering my recent online run and Mountaineer disaster, I'll take it. I played solid poker, even as the beers went down (the home game is the one event where I'll drink - it's as much a social event as serious cards). We have a "no checkraising" rule to keep things neighborly - so playing weak or drawing hands out of position is basically useless - I usually fold everything below KQ in the first two positions, and then make up for all those folds by playing all kinds of crap in late position (remembering that nobody in front of me can checkraise me, either).