Hello,

I am not sure if its the right place to ask such question, please refer it to the right place if its not.

Anyway, Short backgroun about me - 22M from Lithuania, living in Denmark, used to play online poker for living until 19, went to study in Denmark and kept it as a hobby that makes money or smth like that. So I would say I am slightly below avg to avg reg(25NL cash;small-mid stakes MTT).

So throughout the years I have started building up relationship with various people in finance world(im Finance student), and some of them make a very big $$$. They have invited me to some home cash games (200NL-500NL) with some other dudes in the industry and they were really bad, like really really bad, i have never played live poker, but i just spotted its a very good opportunity to make some extra $$.

Eventually, i built more and more relationships like that, where it came to a point where i consciously started trying to hide the fact that I used to play a lot online, just so I could potentially make money off them with the hope to raise the stake at some point with some richer dudes.

Some of these people are my future co-workers, my bosses or managers. Some of them are just rich kids studying finance. I wonder how bad is it that I am hiding this fact from these people, even tho some of them i consider pretty close to me. Is it morally bad?

From my perspective as a host, if someone came and started crushing the game to the point where people quit playing, I wouldn't invite that player anymore. So don't crush too hard and I think you'll be fine.

My great-grandfather saved his farm by bootlegging and 5 card stud, and he passed on to my grandfather this lesson: "You can shear a sheep many times, but you can only slaughter it once."

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I have been reading 2+2 for a couple years and have never posted before, but seeing your post made me think I could add $0.02.

The guys you are playing with make 6 figures or more. Losing a couple buy ins at 2/5 (and I assume 200/500 means $2/5, because if you actually mean $200/500 you can afford more as a student than I ever could) means nothing to them. Were I on the game, and I lost to you, I would say to the wife “I held my own.” If I won, I would tell the wife “I beat a poker pro for XXX.”

Finance guys are usually alpha males. They know you are a student and have limited funds. If they lose to you, they will come back next week looking to get it all back to prove themselves. If they win, they have additional bragging rights.

I think that telling them you were an online pro for a few years will get the competitive juices going and could be profitable for you in the short term. If you really dominate, reel it in (see the judges game in rounders) and leverage poker into a job after you graduate.


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The key is this: make it fun for them to lose to you. As long as they have a good time, there won't be an issue.

Enjoy!

$200/$500 NLH ? That is a fairly large stakes level. And you are a student? Good luck. I would tell them nothing out right. I would also tell the truth if asked.

I'm assuming min buy is $200, max $500.

If they are playing 200/500 blinds, they probably don't care if one of the players was a break even small stakes online player.

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I agree that not telling them is fine -- unless they ask flat-out -- and then you can just answer directly w/o going into detail. (I believe in Karma, so I try not to lie.)

Ditto. Bring some beer, have a good time, play a more loose / fun style than your normal grind (just ensure you are still beating the game), don't crush the game too hard. Nothing wrong with keeping your poker background to yourself as long as everyone at the game is enjoying themselves.

Maybe so! Buy ins rather than Blinds. That would be lots more in line for a young student.

I read $200 NL as $1/$2 blinds with a $200 buy in and $500 NL as $2/$5 blinds with a $500 buy in.

I have played cash game poker for 40+ years / thousands of sessions of home game poker [no rake / no fees / no seat rentals] . No one has ever asked me this question in my life.

Be good for the game. No hoodies / ear buds / sun glasses. Try to socialize. Make yourself a positive part of the game for the host.

The implicit deal I find works for me is I make the game fun, give people all the -EV action they want. I make my share of the profits and the losers have a good time. Obviously I have a losing session sometimes - that works too. be gracious when losing. Don't make an issue of the likely bad play that won the villain a big pot. Down play your wins.

No one is likely to ask about your on-line poker life. And even if they do ask - saying you win at $0.10 / $0.25 poker means less than nothing to the typical home game player. We might know that on-line NL $25 is far tougher than much bigger live cash games, but the typical cash home game player doesn't know that.

DrStrange

If someone asks "I used to play online for low stakes" If they ask for more details "I made a little, but I'm still a broke kid in school. Pretty sure I could take down Phil Ivey though" Enough to say you played, but also ease them to realize you arent some super high level pro. Bonus pointa if you can get them to laugh about it.

Thats all IF they ask. Which I dont think is super likely.