Can't crack the win in home game

[Rorgg]

Hey, folks. First off, I appreciate the site. I found it just before going to my first serious MTT, and a lot of the advice hit home. I ended up about 23rd out of 100 even with horrendous cards all night long.

Anyway, I do most of my playing at a small stakes ($30) NLHE home game once a month or so. Some of the players are complete fish and others are fair-to-middlin', but there aren't any great players. We have 10-12 players a session, starting with two tables of 5/6 and cementing down to a single table of 5-6. In the six games we've had since starting this, I've been out early twice, then won the "loser" table both times, third once, and second three times.

It's driving me nuts. I think I'm clearly the best player in the group but can't bring home the win.

Last week, I rode fairly good cards to a nice chip lead going into the final table of five. I sat and watched as the two smallest stacks evaporated in a few hands, then started pushing on the other two. After an insanely bad beat (I called a 34o all-in with A4s and watched him hit a straight), I got the biggest fish out, then went into heads up play with about a 2.5:1 chip lead.

I pushed him hard and he buckled. Finally I got him down to something like 6000-300 with 100/200 blinds. He started going all-in in desperation. I called. And lost SIX all-in showdowns. Four were "coinflips" in his favor, one was a coinflip in my favor, and one I had him dominated but he still pulled it out.

Am I leaking somewhere, or is this just the tide of fate washing me to sea?

[MasterShake]

I had the same problem early on in my limited experience of live NLHE. I had read some theory, played some hands, and i've always had an aptitude for both reading people's behavior and number crunching-- i thought this poker stuff should be a breeze, considering i was playing against (primarily) drunk socializers noticing only their own cards.

I usually found myself in the final two or three, but never the champeen.

Well, many months later (and two months of steady winning/2nd at much higher calibre tournies) i look back on those first experiences and can offer this (hopefully it applies to you and can be of some help):

1) Unbeknownst at the time, I had done most of my research on ring games and did grasp the wide gulf between the two (probably not an issue of yours, but it certainly was for me)

2) I understood only the out-of-the-gate dynamics of the game and didn't adjust accordingly as players dropped and stacks grew. I either remained static or adjusted very little or, more often, overcompensated, and played too loosely and too agressively. I thought that because i had all those stacks in front of me, i could "afford" to lose some on an ill-time bluff or stupid call.

3) I had no friggin clue how to play heads up. Heads up play is all about playing your opponent and has very little to do with the cards.

Realizing these things certainly improved my play; hope it can afford some positive results in yours as well.

[aokrongly]

You just got unlucky in that example - the first couple of AI bets. Once he got to half your stack you probably should have slowed down. I don't know, I wasn't there.

The right thing to do, in my opinion, is call the micro-stack with anything. Any 2 will do when you have the chance to knock him out and a loss isn't much of hit. So he goes from 300 to 600 to 1200 to 2400 in 3 hands. Whoa! Time to slow down and either fold or see a flop.

You have time. Give away some blinds. If you call and he goes AI to steal then fold and use his agression to your advantage. If you have gr8 cards, call and let him bluff you.

There are alot of heads-up dynamics that come into play. They can't be taught as much as experienced. You may want to try to cheap $2 online no limit 10 player tournaments, there are some $2.50 5 PLAYER tournaments on Pacific Poker, that you might like.

After you've played a dozen heads up situations you'll start to get a feel for when to push and when to retreat. You can try some slow play techniques and get a feel for the ebb and flow.

For your particular situation, there's also something to be said for folding until you have quality cards, calling on SB instead of pushing, and look at a flop, etc. Different situations call for different tactics. The only way to get a feel is by playing heads up more.

It sounds like you're doing well in the home game, though. I hate playing home games because people are beyond fishy, they are drunk and stupid.

[Rorgg]

Thanks for the tip, aok. Due to your other post, I actually signed up for Pacific Poker this week, and just got my sawbuck, so those $2.50 tourneys sound like a good start.

I think you're right, when he got closer to being even, I should have slowed down a bit, but I think the stuff I was playing was still solid for heads up. At that point, he was the one going all-in consistently (why not? He couldn't lose).

[Tenny]

I learned this lesson about playing in home tournaments. Don't bluff the unbluffable. I play with some guys who have no idea that they shouldn't be in the hand and will call down bets with bottom pair. Once I stopped and just played hands with them when I had the nuts, I broke them and started winning consistently