Blinds increase to $1/$1 from .50/$1 to avoid .50c chips - implications? (3 Viewers)

[Dann1215]

I run a home game where I’m considering eliminating the .50c chip and raising blinds from .50/1 to 1/1. The rational is avoiding the purchase (and change out) of the .50c chips as I look to upgrade my set (just waiting on the Apache majestic restock).

Max buy in is $100 with rebuys/add ons to match highest stack.

I like the try to keep my game friendly and not have stakes be too high.

If I bump up the blinds, do I need to raise the buy in also? Does anyone have experience with how this might effect gameplay?

Thank you!

 

[dkersey]

No real implications or impact. I did the same. It does eliminate 1 chip to cash out and manage so really it's a net benefit.

 

[RagingAZN]

As you’re keeping the BB the same, the game will play exactly the same as it does now. The 50c chip is largely redundant in a 50c/$1 game.

 

[RocAFella1]

Are your players nitty enough to fold from the SB for 50c? If not then it will be no difference at all.

 

[Machine]

Also depends on the game, PLO stacks can go in every hand.

I wouldn't change it, it will likely inflate the preflop bets.

 

[jayfiggy]

The change shouldn’t affect play too much. I wouldn’t really think you need to increase buy-in.

I think the biggest question you need to ask, is are your players OK with it?

Even though it doesn’t change much, people may not realize that, and jump to conclusions. I would just recommend running it by your group before making any changes.

 

[upNdown]

It probably should make the game play a bit bigger. But I’ve played enough different games at these and similar stakes to know that a game it going to play as big as the players want it to play, regardless of stakes. So if you make this change with the exact same players, it may not change anything.

 

[ashetoother]

Thanks for this. I have been toying with the same idea so interested in the feedback. We play 0.50/1 and my crew DESPISES my 0.25 chip. They berate me constantly. I don't want to invest in a 0.50 so was thinking of going 1/1.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

What's a normal preflop raise? Are people raising to $2 or $2.50, or is $3-4 standard? Different games play differently.

25c/50c to 50c/50c would be a smaller jump in my mind because people still associate the smallest chip as just the blinds. If you eliminate that quarter/50c, it makes the $1s seem smaller. Just spitballing, interested to see how it goes. Answer is it shouldn't matter much to the game but people are weird.

 

[chippitydoodah]

Sounds like you're group wants it already so do it. Some groups need to hear that "$.50" to feel the game is cheap. Kinda like buying an item for $9.99 but never if it was $10.00

 

[LeLe]

Frankly, 50c/$1 and $1/$1 generally played the same, effective stack is what makes the differences

Also, you don’t need to buy many 50c for 50/$1 stake. You only need maximum to allocate 4 per person so you only need 36-40 for a full table.

 

[upNdown]

We play 0.50/1 and my crew DESPISES my 0.25 chip. They berate me constantly.

This is odd. Many of us get frustrated that our players don’t care about chips at all. Do they just hate the fact that it’s a .25, and that they have to use two of them? Or is there something about the physical chip that they don’t like?

 

[allforcharity]

Congrats! You just saved a lot of money on future chip set purchases because fracs can sometimes be the most expensive part of a cash set.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Frankly, 50c/$1 and $1/$1 generally played the same, effective stack is what makes the differences

Also, you don’t need to buy many 50c for 50/$1 stake. You only need maximum to allocate 4 per person so you only need 36-40 for a full table.

I play in a game, $50 buyin gets you

20 50c
20 $1s
4 $5s

Lot of chips which is fun, but piles of 50c chips end up in one stack or another. Its bananas, but its an older crowd and the pot will sometimes have a 50c ante from all 7, then another dollar with half the crowd paying in 50c pieces for some odd reason. Boom, we see 4th street with 13 fracs in the pot!

 

[exodus]

There will be a marginal difference in the game with 50c more being in the pot now. Buyins and rebuy rules are a much bigger factor in keeping the game friendly. Sounds like you made the right move.

 

[Taghkanic]

I second the question about bet sizes.

If no one ever opens for fractional amounts like $2.50 or $3.50, then it should not make much difference.

If people do use such amounts, it probably changes things a bit. My guess is that those opening to $2.50 would make it $3 instead, and $3.50 opens would become $4, rather than those bettors rounding down instead.

That means that reraises are also going to be bigger… And flop bets too, in relation to a generally larger pot. Plus further magnifications of those larger flop bets on the turn and river.

There would also be slightly more incentive to try to steal the blinds, if your players think about such things.

My guess is that you would want to increase the max buyin to more like $150 as a result, unless you are OK with a somewhat shallower game that leads to more shoves.

Most 1/2 games seem to make the max buyin 150BB ($300) so $150 or even $200 might make sense for 1/1.

 

[chippitydoodah]

Just have .25 & .50 and play "however da fahk" they want.

 

[mdt11]

If you allow match the stack it’s likely already playing on the larger side for a $0.50/$1. Based on your description it doesn’t seem like there will be much difference (and you will save a lot on chips).

 

[Kensco]

Max buy in is $100 with rebuys/add ons to match highest stack.

I like the try to keep my game friendly and not have stakes be too high.

Try running a game with only a $1 Big Blind to see if it fits your crowd.

Buy-in / re-buys & betting should remain about the same, the only difference should be that the BB won't net anything on a walk.

 

[davesilver88]

Thanks for starting this thread / convo again.

I also host a 50¢/$1, $100 max game. I’ve historically been team moar fracs, so my starting stacks have been:

25¢ - 20
$1 - 20
$5 - 15

Last game we had a full ring. And I gotta say, the game felt very slow when people would go all in, counting all their quarters.

I can’t really contribute to how to solve this endless dilemma of the 50¢/$1 game. But I think either getting a 50¢ chip and have 4 of those in the starting stack, or just going $1/$1, are the two best options.

 

[Taghkanic]

Thanks for starting this thread / convo again.

I also host a 50¢/$1, $100 max game. I’ve historically been team moar fracs, so my starting stacks have been:

25¢ - 20
$1 - 20
$5 - 15

Last game we had a full ring. And I gotta say, the game felt very slow when people would go all in, counting all their quarters.

If they keep them in stacks of 20, how much counting really has to be done?

 

[philhut]

1/1 should see a more lively game statistically with two big blinds essentially. The pots should grow given that any other player playing or raising to the flop will be betting out two big blinds who have more added value to play. While the mathing is simple I'd recommend going to 1/2 and raising your buy in to $200. The staggered amount small/big blind will play better overall.

 

[Booshme]

I run a home game where I’m considering eliminating the .50c chip and raising blinds from .50/1 to 1/1. The rational is avoiding the purchase (and change out) of the .50c chips as I look to upgrade my set (just waiting on the Apache majestic restock).

Max buy in is $100 with rebuys/add ons to match highest stack.

I like the try to keep my game friendly and not have stakes be too high.

If I bump up the blinds, do I need to raise the buy in also? Does anyone have experience with how this might effect gameplay?

Thank you!

I really like being able to raise to 2.5 big blinds, it hits the sweet spot, too many folds from tight players when I bet 3bb, too many calls when betting 2. That’s the reason I got nickels for my baby games instead of running it .10 / .10

So for my setup I give half a barrel tops of .50 chips to each player, only for the small blind. It’s not enough to give me a huge headache when cashing out.

I wouldn’t worry about raising the blinds if you go the 1 / 1 route.

 

[davesilver88]

If they keep them in stacks of 20, how much counting really has to be done?

They don’t! My game is more of a social event to most than about cards.