Alright, so you want to play poker but either A) Don’t want to host at your own home or B) Can’t host at your own home. No worries this little strategy guide should help you find a home game to sit in on.
Start with your friends. Your friends will most likely not be worried about whether or not you cheat at cards (unless you brag about cheating at cards or have been showing them card tricks for the past year) and will be willing to let you sit in on their game. Thanks to television almost everyone has at least one friend who either hosts or sits in on a home game on a weekly / bi monthly / monthly basis. And since it’s your friends the game will be much friendlier and you will have an easier time getting a read as to what hands they hold because you already know them.
If none of your friends play poker you still have quite a few options, one of which is the internet. Do a quick search of the internet to see if there are any poker websites in your area posting games. Some cities (such as Portland, Oregon) have many websites set up specifically to invite new players to home games. A good place to start your search would be http://www.meetup.com which offers meetup groups for you to search through. There are quite a few meetup groups for poker in a good number of cities. All you have to do is join the group and possibly make an e-mail or phone call and you’re in.
Another way to go on in the internet is through subscription home game sites. For a fee these websites will tell you where the local games are and they’ll e- mail them to you. Currently we do not have any websites bookmarked for such sites but are on their mailing lists (we didn’t pay any money though so we only receive bits and pieces of information, how to get there or contact are not included for free).
Depending on your cities laws the classifieds may be the way to go. Some players may place classified ads to attract poker players to their home games. This is a bit risky but if you haven’t been able to find a home game thus far this may be the way to go.
Finally you can hang out in bookstores, bars, and pool halls. Don’t ask any random person if they play cards in a bookstore head over to the magazines and pick up a copy of Card Player or Bluff and start reading it then wait for someone else to pick up the same magazine and strike up a conversation about one of the articles and work your way from there. Or head over to the poker books section and do the exact same thing. Bars and pool halls are another story. A good portion of people playing pool will (most likely) also play poker. The two games pretty much fall into the same category of people who enjoy smoking, drinking, and gambling. Everything God fearing Americans dislike but we sinners enjoy.
If you do find a home game to sit in on make sure you thank the host for allowing you to play and bring some food or refreshments. No one likes a cheapskate and the best way to be invited back is by not making any enemies. Also if you do not smoke or drink and the host allows smoking and drinking at the card table don’t complain. Everyone hates complainers and this is the quickest way to make sure you are blacklisted. Keep your opinions to yourself. After all you’re there to play cards, not tell someone that smoking causes cancer or drinking destroys your liver. Smokers and drinkers already know that. They’re smoking, drinking, and gambling because they don’t care. They’re risk takers and they live for the moment. So have fun and don’t make any enemies. You can definitely win their money, but make sure you do so in such a way that everyone is not offended.
pokermoneyclips.com and its affiliates do not condone drinking and driving. if you drink never drive. if you do drink, drink responsibly. and just as the non drinkers will not give you a hard time for drinking do not give the non drinkers a hard time for not drinking. if you drink too much and become offensive toward other players don’t plan on being invited back to the game.
