Here is a recap of the home game I hosted friday night, and some background on it

I wanted to start a once a month home game. i have a lot of freinds who are just getting into poker and sme who are in to it but don't get to play a lot. My idea was not to take a lot of money off of my friends but it was to get a rotating group of about 20 people who were interested and play once a month, that way someone didn't feel pressured to be there every month

really the worst thing that could happen is for me to win big and everyone else not too in this game

The interest in this game was good, I had 15 people interested and I had a list of ten with a five person waiting list. I decided to do a cash NL hold em game, $10 Min, $50 max buy-in
.25 cent and .50 cent blinds

so the day before the game a few people drop out and we are down to 8, the waiting list people are all busy or can't make it, well 8 is good, of course Friday morning a buddy from Wisconsin can't make it because his brand new car broke down, DOH!

so 7 it is, here is a list of players

ME

Tim; Tim is a loose passive player if there ever was one. He will call down the board with A high or a full house and maybe never raise you. He plays TONS of pots but when he catches he destroys a table

John: I hadn't played with John but he was a tight decent player. He is just getting interested in cards in the last year or so but he has all the tools to be a good player, he is aggressive when he is in pots, all in all John played the very well in this game

Lee: Lee is a lot like John, only a little looser and can be tricky when he has too. My only fault with lee's game is he will often bet a weak hand strong, which is fine but when someone else has a decent hand he has trouble letting go of his cards

Evan: Evan is very new to poker and mostly only has played home tournament games. I thought Even played very well, he did a goo job reading the texture of the table as the night went on.

Mike; Mike is shawn's best friend, I never played with him but he was tight and somewhat passive

Shawn: Shawn is a very interesting poker player to me. When he first started he was VERY loose aggressive but as he has played more he has really doe a good job refining the LAG style. He plays a lot of pots and is very aggressive. He will shove in with nothing or quads, you just don't know with him. He will call you down with a gut shot and bust you as well. Very fearless, I really respect Shawn's game.

SO we get going. Everyone is playing and having a good time,

very first hand i am in the SB with AA, yep


a couple limpers and i raise to $2
Tim calls, and a coupe others

the board is ragged so I bet, TIm calls

hmm well he could have anything

turn comes I bet, he calls

ok, river comes and puts a 4 card straight on the board (Tim would need a 3 to make a straight) I check, he bets, I laugh and say "Tim your the only one here who would have a 3 I fold" I show one A and Tim shows me the 3.

Tim donked off a few chips here and there with some marginal hands (most of them going to shawn). then a few hands later I get 72 in the BB

I check the flop comes 9[d] Q[d] 4[c]

Shawn checks, I bet the pot, Mike folds Shawn min check raises me, i call

turn is 5[d] Shawn bets, I raise, he calls

river is 8[s]
shawn checks, I bet about $10, he calls, he flopped top two and i take it down

Shawn spends the next hour pushing everyone around, he puts Tim, Lee, and Evan all-in each once. He is slowly building a monster stack. There is a re-buy here and there but not too bad.

A few hands Later i raise to $2 with TT

Tim calls

flop comes 4 K 8 rainbow. i bet the pot and tim calls
Turn is a 8, I bet the pot tim calls. Now this may seem reckless but Tim could literrally have anything here, he could have a 4 an 8 a K an underpair or even A high,

River is T I put Tim all in, he is short stacked somewhat. He calls, I take it down, he had A4

Now I am slowly building a monster stack. I take a hand off John later with a set of 8's but don't get too much out of him

then comes the hand of the night. Shawn has about $130 in front of him. he is just shoving the table around and he is doing great
I have about $140 in front of me, I am playing tight but to be honest I am catching cards like you wouldn't believe. So it's more cards than me really

so I raise to $2 with QQ and get 4 callers, that's right. I am in the BB Shawn is to my right on the button

The flop comes 5 6 Q rainbow. normally I wouldn't check here but this flop is about as uncordinated as they come and I am hoping to tap someone in.

everyone checks to Shawn who bets, I smooth call as does John

Turn is a A completing the rainbow

I check, and John checks, shawn bets out about $10, I check raise shawn to $25, John folds. Shawn calls

river is a 7

I bet about $40 into about a $70 pot, Shawn pushes me all in

Now I was really agonizing here. Against anyone else at the table I would insta-call but against Shawn there is a SLIGHT chance he cause a straight on the turn or river. 34 on button is definately i his range as is 89 and in the past he has called bets with those hands (though not this game) Now I was fairly certain I was ahead here but we were both really deep stacked. i struggled then finally called, shawn flipped over 55, I set over setted him.

everyone at the table sort of just got quiet, this was about a $300 pot. wow

so the night goes on, Shawn re-buys and actually ends up making a great comeback

John was VERY unlucky. He raise preflop with TT

Lee called, the flop came T 8 4 or something. he checked, Lee checked

turn was a 6 or 9. John bets, and they end up getting all in, the free card gave Lee a straight! Oops, that is why i hate slow playing sets, so john doesn't improve

Later he would bust with top two against QQ

of course the board pairs tens on the turn and river to conterfiet John's two pair, just shitty luck on his part, which is too bad because he payed very well

Evan did the same thing, he played very well but got unlucky on a J high flop (he had JQ, Shawn had J4 and spiked two pair)

Shawn ended up making a huge comback and for the night he actually made money
which really impressed me

all in all in was a fun night, the cards totally ran me over and I crushed the table but in a lot of ways I would have much rather not done that. My goal was to make a fun regular game and I hope I didn't drive anyone way for futur games, I really thought everyone played well with the exception of Tim but that is sort of his game and I really hope next time someone else takes home the big money!

I finished the night at $300

I donked off about $50 in the las thalf of the night just playing loose and having fun

My brother and I used to play a group of guys every friday or saturday in a little tourney. Sometimes 15 would show and sometimes it would just be 6 to 10. My brother and I would win about 8 of 10 tourney's and they stopped inviting us. I understand how you feel about not wanting to take that much money off your friends. You almost have to dumb down your poker if you want everyone to have fun. Anyway, nice job regardless.