(originally posted here∞)

My friends and I mostly play silly games like Follow The Queen, Fiery Cross, Roll Your Own, Midnight Baseball, Pass The Trash, etc. with some occasional standard five-card draw or seven-card stud, though usually with wild cards. My newfound poker expertise has helped here some, but it's mostly luck.

We always end a session of poker with Guts (2-3 games if it's boring). We cap the matching amounts at $3, though (about 3 pots @ 0.25 x 5 people) -- most I've seen anyone win or lose was about $18. Still a major nerves game considering most of us bring well under $20 to a poker night.

The strange thing is, we all watched Rounders together and enjoyed it enough that we quote lines to each other. ("...the last time I stick it in you!" is a favorite) Nonetheless, I can't get them to play Hold'em consistently, if at all. I love it, my increasing study of the game aside, because you get your initial cards for free, whereas most games cost you money at the outset even before you consider the potential sin of waiting for wildcards. However, the people to my left hate it because they get screwed whenever I want to play, but I can't convince them that their logic is circular: if they simply dealt the same game, they'd give themselves the best position. Oh well, I make far more in an hour of online play than I lose in a night of social poker, and the beer is usually on someone else.


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