[Pokerbros] Discussion thread

Would like some feedback on a weird spot that isn’t specifically linked to PB but might be due to the nature of the straddling on the app. I’ve been playing poker for 20yrs 12-13 of which were mid-high stakes professionally. I’ve seen most stuff in this game but I’m no longer a pro.

I’m a very cynical and distrusting person by nature and usually decline these sorts of invites but I got invited to a PB private group with 20-30 ppl in it, by a local degenerate gambler, who I know irl loosely. Only a maybe 10 ppl of that 20-30 play with any volume, and 2 are the organizers of the game/group, who are clearly not playing with their own deposits and are using the house bank. Every single person is a rec, not one person has even the slightest idea about how to play. They all seem to know each other loosely. So why would they want to invite an ex pro and some of his friends to play with them? ‘They like to gamble’ ‘they are only interested in the rake’ bla bla. Anyway over the course of a few days I won, and then I started to lose but started to notice the games tightening up, play styles differing to what I’d seen prior, and before the loss means even an iota to me (like ive lost next to nothing) I’ve quit because I am seeing some odd stuff. I was prepared to be cheated originally because I thought at the very least you’d need to understand poker/equities etc and I’d still win as this is literally the dream spot.

One of the ways I felt cheated was with straddles. They would allow straddle from any position, then between 2-3 of them they would straddle to 3-4x meaning you’d either have to straddle to end up playing very short eff stacks or all in or you’d be capped out of action, or you’d just have to fold to not be involved. I couldn’t quite figure why they would do this meaning if someone straddled to 64 in a 1/2 game I could wake up with aces or anything remotely and be in a great spot. The same person could continue to straddle. Perhaps it was a way to nick the blinds. I did find myself card dead unfortunately over a few k hand sample. But I’d find I’d end up ousted out of playing lost hands because of This strange straddling. I’d also find myself multiway in nearly every pot, every 3b or 4b would be called, 3 or sometimes 4 handed. So you couldn’t play effectively as they would all be in the pot.

I’m not entirely sure if I’m right or they were just a bunch of morons and I could be super paranoid but it doesn’t make sense and feels too good to be true which is when alarm bells should be ringing, so something tells me I was right and quit.

Have any of you heard of this type of stuff on PB - straddles and multiway pots specifically being a tool.

Cannot comment on the specific private games you have been invited to, but in general many Pokerbros players love to straddle and gamble .

Double Boards and Bombpots are somewhat popular poker games but in Pokerbros in most clubs , Omaha tables are with either one or both.

Not to mention the app has introduced Triple Board games, exactly because players love to see many flops and to complain about bad beats online.

With that being said its entirely possible you were victim to collusion, especially since its small clubs and the guys knew each other. Better to play in more established clubs.

I like the pineapple variants on Diamond union and play them often. But there's a problem with the regular pineapple.

Before any action, it goes around the table and everyone mucks a card. Then, the action starts under the gun as in hold em.

The problem is... you should just be able to fold! Only the people who are going to the flop need to bother with the discard. Because of this flaw in the programming, or maybe as an additional flaw, there's no little box to pre-fold your lousy hands, even after the discard. I wish they'd fix this, as it makes it very difficult to multi-table this game.

I have wondered, though, if going through that process causes rec players to get a little more attached to their hand...

I’ve seen this dynamic on clubGG and PB as well recently - was baffling. Same guy straddling every hand, but is playing weirdly good/tight postflop. PPL straddling to 64 in 1/2, getting cooked over a small sample.

Yes exactly this - tight post flop, I didn’t have chance to jam over a 64 because of card distribution. I wasn’t getting cooked per se, as I was just card dead over the few sessions. But it felt odd. It was a couple of guys who were friends too, I’m pretty certain it’s some weird colluding trick.