Is gambling(texas hold'em) w/ friends for money illegal in CA?

Question

me and my friends were thinking of playing and was wondering if its illegal

Answer 1

  Yes . Home games are illegal . Many people have been busted and fined for it , so I if you are planninng on having a home game , keep it low key !  

Answer 2

Generally, most states are okay with friends playing low stakes poker in a private place, as long as there is no 'house' raking the game.

In other words if you play for nickles, dimes, or quarters (or chips representing those kind of stakes).  You all know each other, and hang out for reasons other than gambling (ie you are not strangers), and profit is not being taken from the game (such as the host taking a fee in some way.  Then you are going to be fine.

Even in states that are specifically against gambling, this kind of thing is generally ignored.

Now if you are playing high stakes and large amounts of money are changing hands, you will certainly get busted in many states for that.

But for what you are likely to be doing, I really wouldn't worry about it.  There are thousands of poker games going on in every state every night of the week.