I have 1 pro I let play regularly (because he's very polite and considerate, recruits donks, and goes so far as to give up his seat for a fish and wait to get back in), 3 that I have banned, and at least 3 more that would play if I let them. The games they otherwise play in are 1/2 degen/pro (some of them are pros when they're running good and dealers when on the books) and 1/2 well heeled donks (at best). My games are 80% well heeled donks. Trust me they want in.

I guess it depends on the definition of "pro."

If someone actually plays poker to pay all the bills (1k NL?), I'd be surprised if they'd give up a good night to play in a 1/2 game, unless it was unusually deep and donkey.

What's your buy-in range?

5/5 300-1000 and 5/10 500 uncapped

Bump

Thanks for the bump Aidan. Good info.

You're right, any "pro" and I think that term is used loosely, is not going to play in a low staked games.

You're wrong on internet players though. Any winning internet player is a big favorite in any random home game.

+1

Eh. Maybe on one night. But unless the online player has learned how to adjust to the drastically different style of play, and be friendly and gracious doing so, then he's not going to be invited to many games.

At the WSOP this past year, the online players were great at the betting and triple range merging and all of that. They also had VERY quiet tables. Except when they all ended up at the same table in a tournament, then they talked poker non-stop. The older professionals talked about everything EXCEPT for poker.

When the online studs were in cash games, softer money would often pick up and find another table. One time I saw four casual gamblers leave a table full of kids within 20 minutes. Then the players asked the dealer to find some fish for them.

It doesn't matter how good you are, if you can't attract people with a lesser skillset to play with you.

This is true but just because a player is an online grinder doesn't automatically make them a doosh hole @ the live table.

As someone who played exclusively online pre black friday and now plays only live i have not had much trouble making the adjustment. I am not a person most people would call friendly but i am polite and don't offend people.

Doosh holes ruin live tables and scare the fish away not online players.

For sure, true that. I didn't mean to come on so strong.

It's a self-selecting group. The online grinders who haven't figured out how to socialize are going to make sure you know they're online grinders. Those who are both successful online and know how to play in live games generally don't advertise their online activities.

If you end up recruiting more new guys, watch out for the situation where two or three new guys who are friends with each other want to try out your game. I know this is counter-intuitive, but new guys should be solos. They can bring a friend after they have played a few times and established themselves as okay.

Last month I let a guy play in my game who I know from the neighborhood, but had never played poker with or been around him when he was drinking. And, I stupidly let him bring a friend that I had never met. Well, they both got very drunk and obnoxious, and eventually I had to (as politely as possible) throw them out. Think about it this way: one lone guy is less likely to get all sloppy, arguing with everyone and refusing to play by the rules. But, when his boy is there by his side to back him up, the dynamic is very different. At one point I was legitimately concerned that it was about to get physical, and I just can't imagine one guy getting so far out of line if they weren't there to feed off each other. Never again.

NOT this. Don't change your game to recruit people or you'll end up recruiting people who want to play a different game than you, and you'll never get it back on track.

He's right in the sense that less than 10% of "internet players" are winning internet players, and the rest do tend to be not very good at all.

If you want to say that winning poker players are winning poker players, then that's a true and fair statement. But it's a bit ldo, ldo.


These are my experiences as well. We've successfully recruited from local casino poker rooms. I keep harboring hopes that my wife and I can scour the local "bar leagues" to find some folks that'd fit in with our home crowd, but we've never actually done this.

Two of our favorite regulars come from internet recruiting (we staged a few meetup games just to screen folks for our regular game). We probably had 25 different people come through via meetup to end up with 2 regulars. It wasn't really efficient time-wise, but good regs are hard to come by, so I suppose it's a bit of a wash. We won't be repeating that process again, however.

Then change my statement to break even/slightly losing internet players and it still applies.