Some of my co-workers have a small home poker games every other Saturday. The stakes aren’t very high, someone may lose up to $40 or win $40 or $50 bucks. Since, the there is a $0.50 bet limit, there isn’t much bluffing.
Since I work on Saturday nights (I am at work right now), I go over and play for about an hour on my dinner break. Every time I have played this year, I have won some money. (tonight, I made a $28 profit.) The other players will play for about 8 to 10 hours. Needless to say, they are starting to get mad at me. I win their money and have to leave. That led to this debate.
On on hand, by playing more hands, (playing 8 to 10 hours) I have a better chance of catching good cards throughout the night.
Or by playing an hour, I don’t have time to catch a lot of bad hands.
Or does it matter how long I play. The cards are random at every deal?
Any poker player who really knows how to play will tell you that it’s all one long game. In other words, after enough hours have passed all of the luck evens out and the better players will have the most money. “Enough hours” is about 100 hours or so.
Statistically speaking, it doesn’t matter at all how many hours you are playing in any given session. If the guys that you are playing with do not understand this very basic concept, they are hereby invited to play with me any time.
In a casino, you are free to leave at any time. Most home games have rules that if you plan to leave early, you have to announce that fact at the start of the game. It’s rude to get up and leave only when you are ahead in a typical home game unless you have made it clear from the outset that you will be leaving at a specific time, win or lose.
If you’re able to pick up $20+ in an hour playing 50 cent limits, then more power to you. If the other players are so terrible that they can’t beat you (or if you’re so good that you can’t be beat), and if they know going in that you can only play for an hour, they’re getting upset at the wrong person. They should be pissed off at themselves for letting you take down the number of pots you must be taking down and for staying in with crap hands. Yes, bad beats happen (and I’ve posted a few of mine in various MPSIMS threads) but they don’t happen every hand. It sounds like the poker pals are making poor opening hand selections, overbetting their hands and not being able to figure out when to muck losers. Sucks to be them. Maybe next time you can bring along a case of beer paid for out of your winnings to soothe the hurt feelings.