Cash Game 5c/10c/200BB vs 25c/25c/100BB (1 Viewer)

[TheLemursReturn]

I'm still working on slowly introducing my players to cash games. We've only played a couple 5c/10c so far and many players were absent for them. But we did have some fairly loose players (regularly opening preflop for $1+).

Our current tourney is a $25 buy-in. As with most crowds, some people are very happy to rebuy for that and some are unlikely to.

I'd like to nudge up the cash stakes over time. But 25c/25c/200BB would be a $50 buy-in and I think that could shock a few players. So I'm considering 100BB to keep us at $25 (while of course allowing rebuys, probably to $50, to satify any unshocked splashers). But I also researched here a bit and saw some people hating on 100BB.

Please commence the bickering. Am I risking turning people off somehow with just 100BB? Is it kinda a wash?

 

[nlhenerd]

Don't take advice too seriously. At best, someone's strong opinion here is a general guideline and not specific to your group. Experiment and adjust your game over time

Unless these are seasoned pros, the buy in size will drive the action much more than the blind levels. Remember that a lot of the people on this forum are poker degens and not your casual friends who probably play considerably less poker.

I'd probably start with 25c/25c $20 or $30 max and ask people after the game 1:1 (to avoid social pressure) how they'd feel about bumping the max another $10 next week. If there are 2-3 people you care about at the game that don't want the stakes to go up, realize you may lose them if the stakes go up and they lose a few few weeks in a row.

I personally run 25c/50c $60 max as a very friendly neighborhood game because the neighborhood where my game resides is pretty well-to-do and no one will take a $20 max game seriously. The better players are always pushing to raise the blinds, but I've seen games fall apart over time as the stakes go up and up until the casual players all leave, then the good players that wanted the higher stakes move on to another hunting grounds.

 

[TheYeti]

My game was 100BB buy-in for many years and folks seemed to enjoy it. We only recently bumped it up to 200BB and didn't lose any players, although a couple still buy-in for the original 100B and have no problem with the higher max.

If you have a large enough player pool, you could consider hosting both low-stakes and high-stakes nights.

 

[Mojo1312]

Without knowing the breakdown of your chipset, I would opt for .10/.20 cent blinds $20 to $40 buy-ins with $40 max re-buys.

You can adjust over time as the game grows.

 

[davislane]

Whatever works. there is no hard and fast rule. just what works for your playing group. I play in a 100bb-500bb buyin game and people are wanting to buyin for 1000bb at the end of the night to match the big stacks.

 

[Beakertwang]

Odds are the game will play about the same either stakes. A lot of it will come down to what guys are willing to risk. If they open to 50¢ pre at 5¢/10¢, they'll probably open to 50¢ at 25¢/25¢. If they don't like $3 bets on the river at the smallest stakes, they probably won't like $3 bets on the river at the next higher stakes.

 

[TheLemursReturn]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. Sounds like 100BB shouldn't be a huge problem and I just have to try it. Will probably give 25c/25c a shot, to try something new and consider nixing nickel chips.

 

[LeLe]

100 BB is a good starting point.

Your game might evolve into a bigger starting stack in the future or you might want to spice thing up a bit by messing some 200 BB starting stack in some of your game.

The limit you allow on the rebuy is only to determine how much your end game cash on the table will be.

For a causal game, I will suggest 100 bb starting stack, 200bb first rebuy or match half the biggest stack

 

[springbox]

More casual players tend to care massively more about the total BI amount, then the starting stack in terms of BB. Ditto for betting/raising, they care more about the amount it is then how many blinds it is. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a 100BB starting stack. If people are consistently opening large (20BB as you said) it's probably a sign you should raise the blinds.

I am curious, are people upset if you have a big range in buy-ins? I like to have it at anywhere from 50-250BB (and match the stack re-buys) but I find some players think buying in for the max is 'bullying' people who buy in for less.

 

[rcamp014]

Ive hosted cash games for a while I have found that my players love $25 buy-in and we play both 25/25 and 25/50.

No one complains on the amount of big blinds

My chip break down is 25¢-$1-$5 12/12/2

Plenty of chips for every player and normally people do 3-4 rebuys.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. Sounds like 100BB shouldn't be a huge problem and I just have to try it. Will probably give 25c/25c a shot, to try something new and consider nixing nickel chips.

My newbies are limpaholics, so 5/10 vs 25/25 saves most of them $1 each rotation. I prefer this for a cheaper crowd, but to each their own. This allows some of them to play bingo while others raise to isolate when they want.

 

[Schmendr1ck]

My rule of thumb for home game stakes is this:

Figure out roughly how much your players are comfortable losing in one night. Set your buy-in at about 1/3 of this amount, then adjust your blinds accordingly.

You'll probably end up with a range rather than a single number (e.g 20 min, 50 max).

 

[maloviz]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. Sounds like 100BB shouldn't be a huge problem and I just have to try it. Will probably give 25c/25c a shot, to try something new and consider nixing nickel chips.

How did this go for you? I was thinking about doing pretty much the same exact thing you're describing in this thread.

 

[TheLemursReturn]

Worked just fine. In fact, we went back to 5c/10c at one point and it felt pointless. Raises to 50c were generally called all around. Back to 25c/25c we go.