Truth be told I haven’t seen as many poker home games that operate under regular old cash game rules (minus the rake of course, as that would be illegal) but they do happen. The first thing I want you to realize though is this won’t be like your usual cash game at your favorite card room, casino or online poker site. When you’re playing in a licensed card room you have the option to stand up and walk away whenever you’re up. When you’re playing amongst your friends at a home game, well, you’re supposed to be playing for fun first and winning their cash second so there are some different rules and expectations for you.

Yep that’s right, now the object of the game isn’t to win a ton of chips then walk away, no the object of the game is to play until the clock runs out. It may be a 3 hour session, 2 hour session, or even a 6 hour session. The length of time is really up to the host. You’ll also be playing at the same blind level structure the whole time, unless you talk everyone else into raising it at some point during the game. But there is one thing that will be working in your favor – everyone’s best friend alcohol. In casinos you can get drinks if you so desire but the more serious players are less likely to drink. In Indian Casinos the act of drinking is more difficult, as 18 year olds are welcome inside. But at the home game everyone can drink as much as they want (those who drink too much will hopefully be taking a cab home, or car pooled with their designated driver) which means your game can become very loose very quickly.

In most cases this will work to your advantage, maybe even more so than playing against drunk college kids online. Why? The algorithms that operate the “random card shuffler” online can only compute so many different variations. Don’t believe me? Go read some info written by computer and php programmers trying to figure out how to perfect the mathematics behind a “human shuffle.”

However, with humans shuffling you may also have an inaccurate version of a true “random shuffle” as most people are incapable of achieving such a thing. Paying attention to what you were holding, what the flop was, and what your opponents turned over can help you predict with some degree of accuracy what the next cards will be (that’s a fairly black hat poker strategy for live home games, but hey it’s not exactly cheating or rigging the deck as it’s other people’s inability to shuffle that allows you to count cards) which gives you a better idea on whether or not you should be chasing or folding.

Try to outlast the clock, that’s the best you can do. Some players don’t have the mental ability to pay attention for that long a period of time. Others want their action faster, as they’ve become accustomed to seeing 120+ hands per hour at a single table (240 if playing 2 tables, 360 at 3) so that may play to your benefit. If others become bored faster than you, you have the opportunity to start taking chips from them.

Overall, just have fun at your home game. You want to be invited back in the future. Respect the host, and just play your game. Who knows, you may make a new friend.