How big of a float should I have? (1 Viewer)

[crake420]

Hey all,

Moving my home game from tourney's to .25/.50 cash games and wondering how big of a float you'd recommend having on hand for cash outs? Also, how many rolls of quarters, dollars, fivers etc.? Usually we have about 8 players, $50 buy ins and max 2-3 rebuys. Would love any additional tips you have for running a smooth cash game

Thanks!
Neil

 

[Shaggy]

My players round cash outs to the nearest dollar... generally rounding up and I eat the difference. A few of my players buy in with $100 bills. A few buy in with $20s. I buy in with $20s and 4x$5 and 20x $1s. Rarely do I have an issue that the kitty doesn’t cover. In those situations, someone can usually reach to the wallet to make sufficient change.

If you're set on having an extra stash of small bills, I’d recommend $30 in fives and $20 in ones.

 

[TheDuke]

I keep about $20 in dollars in the cash box. As host, my buyin will be with small bills to aide in cash outs.

Round down to the closest buck for players cashing out throughout the night.

For the players who play until the game breaks - round down to the closest $5. The remaining amount that was rounded is awarded to a player in an Omaha hand flip.

 

[Jonzee]

.25/.50
We round the cash outs down if you leave early as well. First buy in is $40. Players can re-buy for up to $100 if they want. That gives them a chance to win their money back, and the extra cash on the table loosens the game up a lot. Usually the last players at the end of the night don’t care about which way you round it as those guys have tripled their stacks by that time. I personally always buy in $40 in ones to make sure we can break it down however necessary. I usually cash out at the end of the night with as many of the $1’s as possible so I don’t have to go make change before the next game.

 

[MrCatPants]

Would recommend as others have, getting your players used to cashing out whole dollar amounts - don't mess with the quarters.

You'll need to have a ton of ones and fives handy - they'll get depleted over time. I usually keep like 60 or 80 dollars worth, but that's because I don't want to have to go to the bank frequently. Also, I'll usually I'll ask a player cashing out for say 104 if they have a dollar bill, so I can give 105 rather than having four more ones walk out the door.

 

[Shaggy]

Hasn't been mentioned yet, but in actuality... most of the time the odd amounts don't even get to cashout. As players are counting their money (at the end of the night), players with an oddball quarter ask the other players "who's short." They'll give that quarter or 50c to other players to get themselves down to whole dollars and to get the others up to whole dollars.

To get that trend to become the norm... just start doing it yourself. They will catch on. No one wants to deal with quarters.

 

[toothpic]

Definitely agree on having extra 1s and 5s around for cashing out. Depending on your crew, maybe ask them to bring some small bills to buy in with to help. 1s, 5s and 10s are great to have on hand.

 

[toothpic]

Hasn't been mentioned yet, but in actuality... most of the time the odd amounts don't even get to cashout. As players are counting their money (at the end of the night), players with an oddball quarter ask the other players "who's short." They'll give that quarter or 50c to other players to get themselves down to whole dollars and to get the others up to whole dollars.

To get that trend to become the norm... just start doing it yourself. They will catch on. No one wants to deal with quarters.

With the left over small odd amounts that don't get donated to even out another player, we like to just have the remaining players draw 5 cards and whoever has the best poker hand wins the whole remaining pot. It's usually just around 20 bucks, sometimes less. Fun and quick to do.

 

[turboj623]

Hasn't been mentioned yet, but in actuality... most of the time the odd amounts don't even get to cashout. As players are counting their money (at the end of the night), players with an oddball quarter ask the other players "who's short." They'll give that quarter or 50c to other players to get themselves down to whole dollars and to get the others up to whole dollars.

To get that trend to become the norm... just start doing it yourself. They will catch on. No one wants to deal with quarters.

That is what I typically do for my home games. most guys aren't going to sweat a quarter or 50 cents. I say most because we had one guy who would not budge on it lol.

 

[pltrgyst]

.25/.50
...First buy in is $40. Players can re-buy for up to $100 if they want....

Hmm. And you actually have players who'd agree to play under that rule? Wow.

 

[toothpic]

Hmm. And you actually have players who'd agree to play under that rule? Wow.

View attachment 711074

$40 buy ins at that stake seem pretty common

 

[Talrem]

It’s been a while dealing with change in cash games. Back when I played .25/.50, the guys with .50 would run an open hand and the winner got the dollar. Guys with a quarter usually flipped it to the .75 guy.
We didn’t nitpick over the change.

If you’re still considering a small bank, keep a couple of rolls of quarters, (20) $1s, (10) $5s, and (5) $10s. Replenish every week or so, depending on frequency of play.

 

[jpietrella]

I've started running one game as Venmo/PayPal-only buy-in and cash out and it's changed my life.

 

[toothpic]

I've started running one game as Venmo/PayPal-only buy-in and cash out and it's changed my life.

Same here. Some guys still have cash in our group though so we mix between cash and Venmo. The only downside to Venmo is that the more I drink the harder it is to keep track between writing down the buy in amount, giving chips and then figuring out totals at the end of the night. Normally the math is really easy!

 

[natumes]

I have $100 in small bills that I use to buy in with when I host. Usually 25 $1s and the rest in $5s maybe a few $10s. Quarters are just rounded down, don't bother with them. A friend does a change pot at the end of the night at her game, but I've never had any issues with rounding out the quarters.

 

[upNdown]

I’ve played maybe hundreds of .25/.50 cash sessions and I’ve never seen anybody messing with quarters.

 

[Rhodeman77]

I keep about $5k on hand for players that want to Venmo/PP me money for rebuys. We use a dealer most games so most players tip the dealer with the odd dollars when they cash out, more so if they are up. I keep plenty of $1’s and $5’s on hand just in case. $10’s I don’t bother with because $50’s can be used for that and I always get some of them and have some in the $5k as well.

 

[quintooo]

if your players are fussy about quarters and dollars, this is the mathematical way to determine how many quarters/dollars you need:

the most quarters you can cash out for is 3 quarters, so for 8 players, you need 3*8 = (24) quarters or $6 in quarters.

similarly, for dollar bills, most you can cash out for is 9 dollars, so 9*8 = (72) dollar bills

alternatively, you can use a combination of 5 dollar bills and 1 dollar bills (each player will at most cash out (1) 5 dollar bill and up to (4) 1 dollar bills). You'd want (8) 5 dollar bills for $40 total, and 4*8 = 32 dollar bills for $32. This adds up to the same amount of dollars above, $72.

 

[PPLUSCLINT]

Same here. Some guys still have cash in our group though so we mix between cash and Venmo. The only downside to Venmo is that the more I drink the harder it is to keep track between writing down the buy in amount, giving chips and then figuring out totals at the end of the night. Normally the math is really easy!

Ditto on this, I keep an excel spreadsheet on my ipad handy and keep track tho, makes it super easy, but I’m a nerd.

 

[TKEUofM]

Hasn't been mentioned yet, but in actuality... most of the time the odd amounts don't even get to cashout. As players are counting their money (at the end of the night), players with an oddball quarter ask the other players "who's short." They'll give that quarter or 50c to other players to get themselves down to whole dollars and to get the others up to whole dollars.

To get that trend to become the norm... just start doing it yourself. They will catch on. No one wants to deal with quarters.

We do the same, or we will have everyone throw their odd quarters into a pot for a showdown. You really shouldn’t have people botching about 25 or 50 cents.

 

[warma]

I usually have one or two people bust out, which makes it easier.

 

[pltrgyst]

$40 buy ins at that stake seem pretty common

It's not the stakes. It's allowing someone who busts out to rebuy to a larger stack than people who have been playing and increasing their stacks the hard way.

A smart player either wouldn't play this game at all, or would go all in every decent hand from the git-go until he stacks up to over $100 or busts and can rebuy.

 

[toothpic]

It's not the stakes. It's allowing someone who busts out to rebuy to a larger stack than people who have been playing and increasing their stacks the hard way.

A smart player either wouldn't play this game at all, or would go all in every decent hand from the git-go until he stacks up to over $100 or busts and can rebuy.

I thought it was more about the 40 starting stack being a requirement. Our 0.25/0.5 games are 20-100 buy in, capped at 100. Most of our group buys in for 40 initially so I didn't find the 40 buy in usual. Poker clubs around here also let you buy in up to the size of the big stack at some stakes so it wasn't too unusual to me, but I understand what you're saying.

 

[Chawks45]

Before any .25/.50 games at my place, I stop by my bank the day before and withdraw $100 in:

- 30 x $1
- 8 x $5
- 3 x $10

I use that as my buy-in, so the bank has plenty of denoms for the end of the game.

Now, for the quarters, I keep a container of change in the poker room. Can I get a witness @Grandmasturkey, @Chester Copperpot and @tdccarpenter? I don't like dealing with either rounding up or down at the end of the game or anyone saying they want .50, so prefer folks cashing out with their exact amount.

That's probably just me, though. Other .25/.50 games I've played outside the comfort of my home does a change pot.

 

[upNdown]

It's not the stakes. It's allowing someone who busts out to rebuy to a larger stack than people who have been playing and increasing their stacks the hard way.

A smart player either wouldn't play this game at all, or would go all in every decent hand from the git-go until he stacks up to over $100 or busts and can rebuy.

It is a stupid rule. That doesn’t mean a guy can’t play a short stack and still be smart, but that’s neither here nor there.
It’s a cash game, people!

 

[upNdown]

Poker clubs around here also let you buy in up to the size of the big stack at some stakes so it wasn't too unusual to me

I think the problem is that anywhere that lets you buy in up to the size of the big stack, will also let you add on at any point, to the size of the big stack.
Theres nothing wrong with buy-in limits, you just have to let rebuys and addons hit the same limits.
It’s a cash game, people!

 

[Jonzee]

It's not the stakes. It's allowing someone who busts out to rebuy to a larger stack than people who have been playing and increasing their stacks the hard way.

A smart player either wouldn't play this game at all, or would go all in every decent hand from the git-go until he stacks up to over $100 or busts and can rebuy.

OK...
1) Its a friendly .25/.50 game where everyone is drinking and bluffing a lot. If we were taking it serious we’d go to a casino and play some $1/2 or $2/5 smh.
2) My post said up to $100. If somebody busts in the first hour, they generally don’t come in for a hundo. We’re all friends and have respect for our game. The later re-buys where others are sitting with big stacks is typically when that happens.
3) We play a monthly game with 8-12 people and no one ever complains about more money coming on the table. Someone buys in big and plays loose, adjust accordingly and you’ll probably get their money. It gets pretty deep stacked at the end of the night around $1000 on the table which is a lot for a .25/.50 game.
4) You can play however you choose. That’s just our game and it works for my crew. Have fun tripling the big blind to .75c all night pre-flop.

 

[toothpic]

Don't mind Larry. He's just our neighborhood cloud yeller

 

[CrazyEddie]

It's not the stakes. It's allowing someone who busts out to rebuy to a larger stack than people who have been playing and increasing their stacks the hard way.

A smart player either wouldn't play this game at all, or would go all in every decent hand from the git-go until he stacks up to over $100 or busts and can rebuy.

Smart players are delighted to see other players being able to buy in for as much as they want, because that's more money for the smart player to win. Smart players wouldn't alter their game play just to try to get felted; that's a money-losing proposition. Smart players would be delighted to play in a game where they can rebuy for large amounts.

It's a cash game. Stack sizes don't confer an advantage; they only determine the effective stakes you're playing for.

Smart players know they have an advantage over the other, weaker, players and want to see as much money on the table as possible - whether in their stack or other people's stacks - because the more money on the table, the more money they will win in the long run.

 

[JustinInMN]

I keep $50 of quarters, singles and fives in my bank for cash-outs. (if you are interested in the breakdown about $5 in quarters, $25 in singles, and $20 in fives, and then I make my first buy in using tens and twenties to help out.) Most players round down to help the house, but I still find it presumptuous not to be prepared to cash out precisely.

Also, I do also keep a few hundred hand to cover venmo/paypal/etc... But I only pay cash out.

My concern about paypal/venmo is that the kind of activity required to cash out poker would get flagged. But it occurs to me, would having two separate accounts make sense? Receiving in one venmo account and paying out of another might help avoid such issues?