Cash Game What do yall think is a good buy in for a home cash game? (3 Viewers)

[snake01gt]

Hey guys I am having my first home cash game we are finding it hard to choose a max buy in without feeling like we are losing to much money what do yall recommend?

 

[BKisback]

Less than about fifty big blinds offers too little playability. I prefer closer to a hundred. If you want to limit how much someone loses, tweak the blinds, games, etc. A .25/.50 NLHE game with $20 starting stacks will see players needing to rebuy quickly, so you'd be better off with $40-$100 each or simply playing something like .10/.20.

 

[merkong]

Hey guys I am having my first home cash game we are finding it hard to choose a max buy in without feeling like we are losing to much money what do yall recommend?

Without knowing the stakes it's difficult to weigh in. We play a .25/.25 cash game with a $25-40 initial buy-in and anytime top-offs up to the big stack. We seat 10 to start the session and commonly bank $1000+ at this weekly game..

 

[suchj0sh]

.25/.50 with a $50 buy-in has been comfortable for my group of working class guys. We usually get 3-4 total rebuys. Not a weekly game, though.

 

[dinosaur]

Howdy.

How much is your group willing to play for? My group is pretty new to the game and we're comfortable at $20. We play 0.25/0.25 blinds and our buy in is $20-$50 with most people buying in $20-25 for the first buy in.

We started with a $20 buy in to play 0.10/0.20 (100bb) but people eventually just feel like a dollar is a dollar and any raise under $1 was the same and thus we moved to 0.25/0.25. This also seems to fit with the most efficient break down for sets around these parts.

 

[QuailValley]

We are a fairly casual group and play 0.25/0.25 blinds with $30 buy in. Generally speaking you want at least 100 big blinds in the starting stacks to keep the game moving. We used to do $25 buy ins but I moved it to $30 to help fund the bad beat.

I've looked into and talked to my group a lot about raising the stakes and the buy in but my group is not comfortable doing that. $30 is pretty easy to clear with the wives, $50 just seems/feels like a lot more.

 

[fsupolo]

Another vote for 100x the BB

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Wildly depends on group. Some people play weekly for $200 and dont feel it, others play monthly for $20 and thats enough. Are you students? Trust funders? We dont need expense reports but context usually helps. Weve found beteeen $20 and $50 is usually a sweet spot.

 

[Schmendr1ck]

My rule of thumb is to figure out what your players are comfortable losing in one night, then divide that by three and make it your buy-in. That way everybody has a couple of rebuys and the game will last longer than if everyone fires once and goes home.

I've found that .25/.50 with a $50-60 max buy-in seems to be a good starting spot, but if losing $150 is too painful for your crowd, take it down to .10/.25 or even .05/.10 with 100-200BB buy-ins.

 

[Labrat]

Without knowing the stakes it's difficult to weigh in. We play a .25/.25 cash game with a $25-40 initial buy-in and anytime top-offs up to the big stack. We seat 10 to start the session and commonly bank $1000+ at this weekly game..

You average over 25 rebuys in a night??

Edit: Doh, talk about bad math. So ~$600+ in rebuys. That's still upwards of 15 rebuys a night.

 

[fishandchips]

My rule of thumb is to figure out what your players are comfortable losing in one night, then divide that by three and make it your buy-in. That way everybody has a couple of rebuys and the game will last longer than if everyone fires once and goes home.

Beat me to it, I was going to say exactly this.

My tourney players were happy with £20 a night, often suggesting we have a bigger tourney eg £50.

So for my cash game I took the approach that losing £30 would be OK with most, so we'd play £10NL (10p/10p). I allow initial buyins £10 or £15.

 

[merkong]

You average over 25 rebuys in a night??

Starting stacks are $40. Players can refresh at anytime for any amount up to the big stack. Player A has $100 in front of them and a player with $40 could add on $70. The session runs from 7pm until around 2am. Player has $250 in front of them, any player can add on any amount to make their stack match the big stack. We've had nights of around $1500 not uncommon. They're not really rebuys, they're players "freshening up" unless a player has busted completely. Then they would have the option of stacking in any amount from $25 all the way up to the biggest stack.

 

[BKisback]

It's not unusual. I've been in .25/.50 games with $60-100 buyins and they played bigger than many $1/$2 games.

 

[Labrat]

Starting stacks are $40. Players can refresh at anytime for any amount up to the big stack. Player A has $100 in front of them and a player with $40 could add on $70. The session runs from 7pm until around 2am. Player has $250 in front of them, any player can add on any amount to make their stack match the big stack. We've had nights of around $1500 not uncommon. They're not really rebuys, they're players "freshening up" unless a player has busted completely. Then they would have the option of stacking in any amount from $25 all the way up to the biggest stack.

Yeah, that's why I said "average," I was lumping all the "refreshes" in under that category.

While we don't disallow it, I've never had anybody just keep adding on to keep up with the big stack all night.

 

[Labrat]

It's not unusual. I've been in .25/.50 games with $60-100 buyins and they played bigger than many $1/$2 games.

Which never made any sense to me. Why not just play 1/2?

At any rate, to each their own.

 

[merkong]

Nobody just adds on repeatedly to keep up with the big stack... The option to add on up to the big stack exists. Again, to clarify, our drawer runs right around $1000 each week.

 

[BKisback]

Which never made any sense to me. Why not just play 1/2?

At any rate, to each their own.

Agreed. I think there's something psychological about it for some folks. It all depends on the players and their mentality.

 

[merkong]

Which never made any sense to me. Why not just play 1/2?

At any rate, to each their own.

Well, a $1/2 game would essentially require a buy-in range of x-$200 or it's moot. Secondly, if a game plays larger than the stakes, then increasing the stakes only keeps moving the goalposts and one of two things will happen; the game will play larger to the enjoyment of the players or the game will play larger and it will become too big for some.

I've always said, players can leave my game because it's not big enough but I will do everything in my ability to keep people from leaving because it's too big.

 

[emunster18]

My game is monthly, and in the same boat as most in this thread. My goal is a casual, friendly home game. We have found balance in the 0.25/0.25 for a $25 buy-in, 0.25/0.50 with $50 buy-in and $50 tournaments.

A couple times a year, we'll bump the cash game to $100 buy in with the same blinds. Anything north of that with my group is too much gamble for the bunch.

 

[TheRealTeddyKGB]

My rule of thumb is to figure out what your players are comfortable losing in one night, then divide that by three and make it your buy-in. That way everybody has a couple of rebuys and the game will last longer than if everyone fires once and goes home.

I've found that .25/.50 with a $50-60 max buy-in seems to be a good starting spot, but if losing $150 is too painful for your crowd, take it down to .10/.25 or even .05/.10 with 100-200BB buy-ins.

+1

 

[RadicusScout]

I have our game at around 200x BB per buy in. We used to play 5c/10c but recently moved to 10c/25c and people have been buying in at $40 a session. That usually carries us for the entire session.

 

[Labrat]

Well, a $1/2 game would essentially require a buy-in range of x-$200 or it's moot. Secondly, if a game plays larger than the stakes, then increasing the stakes only keeps moving the goalposts and one of two things will happen; the game will play larger to the enjoyment of the players or the game will play larger and it will become too big for some.

I've always said, players can leave my game because it's not big enough but I will do everything in my ability to keep people from leaving because it's too big.

Yeah, I get it.

I'm looking at it from my table, I guess. We play .25/.25, pretty much everybody buys in for $50 and we have maybe 3-4 rebuys at a table of 6-8 (usually the same LAGs every time) with standard 3-4 bb openings.

It would never appear to anybody watching that we were playing 1/2.

 

[RocAFella1]

100-400 big blinds

 

[sonic242]

We do 100x the BB, but late in the night when we see some super deep stacks we allow the rule to fade away.

 

[merkong]

Yeah, I get it.

I'm looking at it from my table, I guess. We play .25/.25, pretty much everybody buys in for $50 and we have maybe 3-4 rebuys at a table of 6-8 (usually the same LAGs every time) with standard 3-4 bb openings.

It would never appear to anybody watching that we were playing 1/2.

Sounds about like here at GFC. Standard opening bet is probably $1.25 ("buck on top") to $1.75. Typical bet after the Flop with 2-4 callers is a "Toboggan"; $6.25. Sometimes a wee bit more. 2 or more callers after that and a small stack of $5 plaques are coming out. The Executive Game has never been called sticky.

 

[4SUMERZ]

A general rule of thumb is 100 BB as the starting stack, and rebuys of starting stack or 1/2 the biggest stack once your stack gets to a certain level, meaning you don't have to go bust before a rebuy.
It also depends on the serious nature of the game. If it's all friends, then make it so no one loses a mortgage payment in the session.
It will also depend on the length of the session. We play 4 hours + once around the orbit. We have maybe 4-5 buy ins during a session.

Good Luck

 

[snake01gt]

Without knowing the stakes it's difficult to weigh in. We play a .25/.25 cash game with a $25-40 initial buy-in and anytime top-offs up to the big stack. We seat 10 to start the session and commonly bank $1000+ at this weekly game..

We thought of starting at .05/.10. $10 max buy in so approximately 100BB

 

[merkong]

We thought of starting at .05/.10. $10 max buy in so approximately 100BB

Sounds like that’ll work for you guys. Just have to decide when and how much players can reload for. I’ve never liked the “gotta be broke” rule. I’m also a fan of being able to add more than the initial buy-in.

Looks like you’re on your way.

 

[snake01gt]

We thought of maybe a winner takes all tournament 10 player so someone 10x their initial buy in, so the payout is good and the people that didn't win only lost $10 some people don't want to lose more then that lol

 

[Beakertwang]

It will really depend on how much your group is willing to lose. And you have to balance the guys who want to play for higher stakes with the guys who just want to enjoy a social game for less money if you want to maintain a game long term.

I play in two home games. One plays 1/1, $100 max (rebuys end up being $200-300). We'll have guys lose $600 in a night, sometimes more, but most will bail after $200. The other plays 5¢/10¢, $20 max. Someone might lose $50. It's the most fun game I've ever played in.