Quote:
Originally Posted by DGAF
scenario:
You've been playing at a local casino recently that typically only gets a 1500 buyin game going as their biggest game most days. However, with your insanely spazzy play/behavior + blasting the board girls and floor men with tips you've been able to get a bigger game going almost every time you've shown up (getting bigger games than normal to run is incredibly valuable- for a few reasons). But you know it's all pretty fragile/smoke and mirrors...
One of the recs who will consistently start a bigger game so far isn't terrible by any stretch, but he will battle with you in a very friendly, competitive way and you do not want to F that up (you love battling and you like your side). It turns out this guy is also salt of the earth (at least relatively speaking) and last time you played with him baseball came up and you mentioned that you wanted to take your kid to a game soon. He offered to get you 2 really good tickets for free (~$300 value total if I had to guess, maybe way more if he's super baller). He told you to look at the schedule and let him know next time you play what game you are targeting...
Do you take him up on his offer? Or do you avoid the friend/favor zone and buy them on stub hub or whatever instead?
(keep in mind you play v v hard- too hard probably- against him and pretty much everyone else)
thx
Speaking as a rec player who plays with other rec players who are all friends of mine and match your description, I would say that you won't see a drop in action. You might even see more action.
For instance, when we play each other we are much more willing to go to war. But the less we know someone, the more calculated we become. I see it whenever we go to casinos together, we'll sit at a table, and the other players will scratch their heads watching us blow up the pot trying to beat one another.
We (rec players) also don't really have a reason to soft play. We look at the game as a game, like a sport (is it a sport?). I couldn't imagine soft playing someone in basketball or monopoly, so why poker? It's not like (most of us) will have a change in lifestyle if we win or lose. We will have less fun if we soft play.
My suggestion is to take him up on his offer. Use this as a chance to build a friendship for real. I guarantee he makes friends in his business. And it could pay off for you like any other friendship in business. And follow other post advice about giving him something nice in return as a gesture (he won't expect anything of equal value- but would appreciate a bottle and a genuine thank you).
I enjoy my relationships with poker pros because I can talk real strategy with them, which I can't do with my other friends. And the pros I know the
best, get the most action from me, ainec.