Technology lets us do strange things.

Last night I got invited to join a very soft home game in the USA. With our governor telling everyone to shelter in place, everyone in reality was holed up in a different home. But we were connected by Zoom video conference software, showing everyone's faces and enabling both audio and text chat.

The actual game, meanwhile, unfolded on Poker Maven software. So everyone had two screens open -- Zoom for atmospherics and Poker Maven for the game.

Most of the play was mixed limit games, but an attempt was made to play about 15 minutes of a $1/$2 NLHE ring game. With a $30 buyin. Please don't judge. It was a very soft game.

With the Zoom connection, it felt almost like a genuine live game, in terms of banter, establishing images and relying on physical reads as much as ranges. Small example:

I'm dealt T9 on the button. Nine players. A couple are timed out because software or because kidneys.

V1 limps from UTG+1. He is the one solid player at the table.
folds to V2 who limps too.
folds to me on the button. I call.
SB folds (!) and BB times out.

Flop is
26T

V1 bets 2
V2 calls
Action is on me

I have top pair, rancid kicker. I look at V1 on the Zoom monitor and he does not look happy with this hand. I put him on Ax, or a weak draw.

I don't spend much time on V2, but he is as loose passive as they come. It's likely, for now, at least, that my hand is good.

Best line? Would you make the same play in a casino? On the internet?

I can't say that I buy the future of "live" games are 15BB buy in caps, and playing over video chat.

As far as the actual hand goes, I have little to no experience playing 15BB effective, so I don't feel experienced enough to give any advice.

Need effective stacks to judge here. I do think this style is the future of home games for a couple of months, and they will likely play just like regular ones, or maybe even a bit wilder since people are stir-crazy.

Generally, I raise any "same bet" with ATC, so having a decent hand to do it with is nice for balance, and I also don't want the 6-out overpair draws to actually have odds. I would raise about 3/4 pot with 100bb stacks. If we're still $30 effective, I might shove and hope it looks FOS.

Jam pre. You're 15bbs deep and people don't typically protect their limping ranges in these kind of games.

this meme needs works

T9s is a standard raise pre but you are 15bbs deep so lol

Actually, I've been hoping for a long time that this would be the future of online poker. You should be able to see your opponents. It also greatly lessens the odds they are a bot.

Thanks, all, for the feedback. On the hand itself, aggression at any point gets the job done. I raised the flop to $8, got a fast fold from V1 and an agonized fold from V2.

+1 on everything Garick says, but no reason to argue with the other lines. It's such a janky version of a home game that we can probably leave it there.

Glad to hear from Dream Crusher and Garick that taking these sorts of rec games into online/video makes sense. There's enough of a social element that soft players can keep coming back. Blinds get posted with no scolding, misdeals don't happen, etc.

I wouldn't say it was a great experience -- relative to the best that online, casino or a well-run home game can be. But it was surprisingly solid and straightforward. If "social distancing" sticks around a while, or comes back periodically, we may have to make peace with this approach.

This sounds interesting. I dont know why youre at 15BB but I could see this kind of game getting popular. Being able to see people while playing online sounds awesome.

As played I prob play it the same. With 15bb and a super soft table Id be looking to limp in when possible with hands like this and raise/3betting pre and shipping on most flops