Looking for More Knowledge About Where to Play Legal Poker – Reed the Knowledgebase

The number one consideration, from the point of view as an attorney, is whether or not the game is legal. Laws vary from state to state in the U.S., in many others the game is legal as long as ALL of the money goes to the players. If a non-player is getting a fee for hosting, dealing, promoting, or arranging the game, you may be in trouble. And don’t give me the old, “What are the odds of getting caught?” The last thing I want toward the end of a successful night is a visit from the not-so-friendly neighborhood sheriff, who will give me a summons, confiscate all of the money, and send me home as broke as the losers!

Next, think long and hard about whether you will be playing primarily for fun or for profit. Of course you want to have fun either way, but the stakes, players, and types of games may not suit both objectives equally. For example, sometimes I play in a Friday-afternoon, No-Limit Hold’em, single-table tournament with business contacts.

On the other hand, you may see the home game as another source of income. If so, keep these principles in mind:

Games with wild cards or too many cards increase the luck factor, so they are bad from a profit-seeking perspective. From time to time, my usually conservative home game degenerates (generally late in the evening and at the urging of one or more players who are losing) and someone deals “Lotsa Pasta.” For those who haven’t yet had the displeasure (or call it something else), this idiotic game is played like Omaha hi-low, but with each player receiving 6, 7, or even 10 cards, depending on how many participants there are. Generally, the first cry of “Lotsa Pasta” is my signal to head home. The readers who play a lot of Omaha know what a river game it is, but in Lotsa Pasta, quads and straight flushes are downright common.

Don’t play for profit with people with significantly less regard for the dollar than you have. That means people who are much wealthier, as well as people who typically gamble for much higher stakes. You won’t be able to bet them out, but they may be able to bluff you out when they raise or re-raise the maximum. My home game went through a rough stretch when someone (we haven’t yet been able to convict the guilty party)invited a guy who convinced a majority to raise the stakes significantly, then raised the new maximum as often as he could. Yes, sometimes his bluffs were called, but occasionally he had the goods and people were going home much more down than usual. He was an “empty-nester,” with plenty of disposable income, and our $10 and $20 bets were chicken feed to him (rumor had it that he often bet $1,000 on a single football game). Finally, common sense prevailed, we returned to our former betting limits, and he thankfully lost interest and stopped playing.

Play in a secure location, and have everyone agree not to talk about the game too loosely. Nothing draws thieves like cash outside of a bank with no cop in sight. Some thieves are stupid, but most can do elementary arithmetic. In a $10-$20 game, each player will probably bring $200 to $1,000. A thief who sees eight cars knows that no matter who’s winning or losing, there’s between $2,000 and $9,000 in cash on a table inside, plus watches, rings, etc., and probably no security cameras. Think it can’t happen? Consider all of the convenience store heists you’ve heard about, even though those stores DO have security cameras, and the usual policy is to keep no more than $50 in the register.

Don’t be afraid to leave when you are ahead. If you initially decided to play for profit, take your profit and go home to enjoy it. We all know that no matter how good you are at poker, the luck element always exists. Whether you will admit it or not, generally you have gotten at least a little lucky on a profitable night, and luck tends to flow around a hand.

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