When Friends Play Cash Games Together

Today in a cash game at The Commerce two "friends" got into a verbal altercation while playing the 10-20 No Limit game, so I thought I would take a minute and talk about playing cash games with friends.

Playing with friends can be trying at times. So many times you are sitting in a poker room and there are a couple of guys at the table that are friends. When they are in a hand together they "check it down" or soft play each other. This brings up some interesting questions. How do you handle friends at a table, and is it good for the game, that is does it protect the integrity of the game. I remember when I used to play in home games that were about guys hanging out together, eating pizza, drinking beer and watching a fight on TV while we played 1-2 limit poker, and I mean $1-2 not $100-200. If you got killed you lost $30-40. So now you are playing in a bigger game with a friend and when you are heads up with them how do you handle it? My first thoughts on this when I first started to play higher stakes was to soft play friends. I quickly realized that this can lead to trouble. One or the other often times feels they are getting the bad side of the deal, and those other players in the game can be offended by it. Sometimes with certain friends I think I may play extra hard, just like playing basketball against one of my brothers where pride is at stake. This is usually a bad choice long term. Other things that can happen is lets say you flop two pair or a set and check it down and a straight gets there, you lose a hand you would probably have won against a stranger, which can cause some hard feelings. At times you will hear friends at the table arguing about it where one says "last time I took it easy on you and now you went at me."

The solution I have worked out which works for me is to play friends just like anyone else, although I will value bet less and not make moves, keeping in mind I only occasionally do this anyway. The exception to this is in a tournament where I WANT EVERY CHIP AT THE TABLE.

The Oracle

http://www.cardplayer.com/players/results/Roy-Winston/36778