Quote:
Originally Posted by RiverDonkey
@angrist what are your thoughts on home games vs playing at the casino in terms of expected winrate? I've been invited to some private games that have a lot less rake, plus perks like food, massages, drinks etc but I'm not sure that the game will be soft enough to justify playing there.
Sorry if this is a little bit too off topic for this thread.
That's a great question. There are a lot of factors that go into it too. I'll try to keep it on topic.
I find home games to be much more hit-or-miss in terms of day to day consistency. Sometimes you've got a whale or two drunk off their ass and spewing chips (I know some guys that straddle $100). That's extremely profitable, moreso than if you ran into him in the casino where he can wander off to blackjack. Other nights only a few people show up and you might end up playing short handed with "decent" regs where everyone knows each other's tendencies well and there's no table to change to. This can be awful for your winrate depending on how the dynamic goes. Should still be able to beat it and have fun doing it though. On average it's probably about as soft as a casino, maybe a little softer. But this is going to depend a lot on who's on the invite list.
A lower rake at a home game should help your WR relative to the casino. Getting "free" drinks and food is hard to quantify in terms BB/hr, but if your casino charges for drinks and comps poorly then the home game should be better for your wallet (although you won't see it in your cash in/out results). One thing to watch out for is drinking too much and having it trash your ability to play.
A home game can also be closer and easier to get to, so you save time, gas, and maybe even get in hours you wouldn't otherwise be able to play. Of course this is dependent on how far away your casino is.
FYI the "massages" available at some home games are of the very fun but possibly very expensive kind. Can be -$EV and/or +lifeEV depending on if you're into that kind of thing.
Overall I think home games are more profitable than casino (or our local Michigan charity room) games. But the bigger gap between a good game and a bad game means you have to know when to either go home, or cash out and BS with people instead of playing.