Cash Game How many workhorse chips do you prefer in a single table cash game set? (1 Viewer)

How many workhorse chips do you prefer for a fun single table cash NLHE /PLO?

  • 200

    Votes: 18 15.8%
  • 300

    Votes: 33 28.9%
  • 400

    Votes: 39 34.2%
  • 500

    Votes: 9 7.9%
  • 600

    Votes: 5 4.4%
  • 700+

    Votes: 10 8.8%

  • Total voters
    114
It's a little off topic, but you know who doesn't worry about these "How big the game plays related to the big blind and the buy-in" issues?
Tournament players.
Boom!
 
If a 25/25c game has a $25 max buy-in it will play very differently than a 25/25c $100 max game with a match the big stack option for rebuys. In the $25 max game 25c and $1’s are probably are that are needed with maybe a few $5’s for rebuys. In the second game lots of $5’s will be in play and will used more than the $1’s.

This is why many game are referred to by the buy in amount and not the blinds when being discussed i.e. NL25, NL100, NL500.
This is so true!! A slim majority of the players in my game (including myself) wanted to raise the blinds from .25 /.50 to .5/$1 keeping with our traditional 100x BB buy in / top off. However the guys in the minority didn't feel comfortable with the increase in blinds so as a compromise we kept blinds at .25 / .5, BUT changed the buy in / top off amount to 200BB. Without knowing it at the time the slim majority got exactly what we wanted (which was for the game to play a bit bigger) and the other players stuck around too (which was important as it's a friendly game). I really lucked out into a win - win!

Also having a 200BB buy in seems like a sweet spot to boot.

We only use 200 $1s and it seems to really work for our game. However, never played with more $1s than that so maybe I'm missing out?!?
 
I wonder if this is to help prevent angling? As in, if nobody has $100 chips, then they can't be buried somewhere in stacks of $5s
I think it's more security. The closest casino to me in Wendover, NV doesn't allow $500 chips in the poker room. "They're too easy to grab and pocket." They don't keep many $100 chips up in the poker room either. I suppose you could go downstairs to the cage to buy some, not sure how that would go over since they generally do all of the buy ins up in the poker room itself.
My view - and I don't have much experience here, so don't listen to me - is that what matters first is the buyin, and that you should set the buy-in (either via rules or social expectations) so that people are comfortable losing a few buy-ins in a night (or numerous buy-ins, if that's how your players play). And then second, set your blinds so that people's stacks are as deep as you want your game to play, whether that's 50bb or 500bb. And then third, and this is the secret trick: play pot-limit pre, so that the blinds actually mean something and people don't open-shove their entire 100bb stack just for grins and giggles because they're rolled for a game ten times the size they're actually playing in.
I have toyed with the idea of pot limit preflop. I think I'm going to start doing it. This last Saturday night preflop opens were getting up to $6-10 within the first hour instead of the usual $2-3. Half the players I invite are looking for a $50 buy in game, and when they only have a pot sized bet on every flop that's a problem for them. They can't help but call all the time so they've got that going against them too, but ya know..
 
We play $.50/$1 at my games but no one will play more than a $100 in a night. So it’s safe to have just 2 racks of $5s in my set (rarely) but wish I had friends with deeper pockets and a rack of $5s for each player Lol.. one crazy night we made it to $1,200 in the pot but I want a minimum of 4 racks at my disposal for that one day I host with people that like to play deeper. Love seeing multiple barrels at play here on the forum
 
I have toyed with the idea of pot limit preflop. I think I'm going to start doing it.
It's an idea with some traction - there was a TV poker show that adopted it, I forget which one...

I'd be curious to see how your players take to it. My guess is they'll hate it, because everyone hates anything different from what they're used to.
 
Way back I changed my games to pot limit pre/no limit post flop and it worked well.
I’m trying to think how differently that would play.
For .25/.50, if the first guy in wants to pot, that’s $1.75, right? So the pot is $2.50. If the next guy wants to 3-bet pot, that’s $6, right? So it’s probably not that different than how a regular non-crazy NLHE game would play. I don’t love it, but it isn’t awful.
 
I’m trying to think how differently that would play.
For .25/.50, if the first guy in wants to pot, that’s $1.75, right? So the pot is $2.50. If the next guy wants to 3-bet pot, that’s $6, right? So it’s probably not that different than how a regular non-crazy NLHE game would play. I don’t love it, but it isn’t awful.
the main thing it takes away is the donk shove or super strong shove all in pre. gives people more of a chance to see a flop and encourages more post flop play
 
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the main thing it takes away is the donk shove or super strong shove all in pre. gives people more or a chance to see a flop and encourages more post flop play

I have found, paradoxically, that pot limit games play much bigger than no limit.
 
One reason pot limit games play bigger is that the games themselves - Omaha, circus games, etc - have closer equities on every street, so a) there's less incentive to fold (because the odds are more in your favor because the equities are closer) and b) the right bet size is pot size or bigger (because there's less incentive to fold so you can bet bigger and still get called by worse).

That's not the case for hold'em, so playing it pot limit probably won't make it bigger than playing no-limit. Then again, with people not getting pushed out pre-flop, there might be more action and bigger pots post-flop.

Would love to hear some actual results from anyone who actually does this.
 

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