Cash Game .25/.50 NLHE cash game help (2 Viewers)

[Lieability]

I’m trying to set up a .25/.50 game and thought I’d induce action for this small stakes game by allowing uncapped Mississippi straddles as well as regular straddles. I’m also thinking of adding payout bonuses from the table such as $2 per player if anyone wins a hand and shows 7/2 off. This might make the game feel more like a 1/1 but I feel like people with smaller bank rolls can still get in on the action. Thoughts ?

 

[detroitdad]

I don't mind straddles. They don't get crazy at my game. However, my .25/.50 game plays like a big 1/1 game anyways. Some days the five dollar chip is the workhorse lol

Anyways, the "smaller" bankroll players probably won't like unlimited straddles because it will affect how many hands they get to see/play. If its 4 bucks or more per hand before the action even gets to them, then this could cause them to have a crappy time. It will affect how many hands they get to see/play.

I don't mind the 2/7 gimmick. If someone wins with that hand, then have everyone give them a buck? Does it have to go to showdown? or if they win the hand pre flop, can they roll it over and still get paid? Make sure your clear with your rules.

 

[Rhodeman77]

Are you having a max buy in?

Personally I don’t like an unlimited straddle and feel it will hurt most home games long run. A UTG straddle is more than enough to juice the game up. If you have a bunch of action players the game won’t need straddles. If the game is a bunch of nits nobody will straddle and it won’t matter.

 

[detroitdad]

Yep, listen to Adam. I allow unlimited straddles (but no Mississippi straddle). My game rarely has more than two.

 

[bsdunbar1]

We also only allow 1 straddle UTG, otherwise like @detroitdad said if you get a seat where your blind gets multiple straddles every round and you don't want to play that loose it can get to be no fun.

This is our rule -

 

[Lieability]

Max buy in is 100 at the start and matching biggest stack after. Min is 20. The 2/7 gimmick is for anytime a player wins regardless if it’s preflop or showdown, bluff or not. At that point every player on the table has to give the 2/7 holder $2 as a bonus. I was considering also adding a $5 bonus payoff from each player if someone wins with a royal flush. So maybe I should allow either unlimited straddles or limited button optional straddles ? I feel like most decent players would be incentivized to straddle the button

 

[detroitdad]

You have to be careful. If you try to force a "bigger" game you could be at risk of losing players. Ultimately you know your players better than us.

What games do you play? If its only NLHE. How about slowing introducing mixed games into the mix? HOPE is a fantastic rotation. NLHE, PLO, Crazy Pineapple, and PLO8.

 

[Lieability]

That’s a good point, I’ll leave it up to vote for my players. I’d rather have limited straddles with Mississippi option

 

[detroitdad]

matching biggest stack after

You didn't ask, but I'm not a fan of this rule. At my place, we usually do 50% of the big stack. Another guys house I play at dos 75% of the big stack. The reason I don't like it is, the deep stack has earned the right to have everyone covered. I don't anyone should be able to buy into any amount equal to the deep player.

Do many of your players take advantage of this? Most at my game are fine just rebuying for the 100. Only me, and a few others will actually buy in for half the deep stack.

 

[ruskba]

Don’t force the gimmicks. Leave it up to the group, and if everyone agrees then do it. If someone doesn’t want to, then don’t. Royal flush bonus makes no sense, I’d leave that out. If you want to do a high hand jackpot or something, then maybe, but even then I don’t really see a point for it in a casual home game.

 

[Rhodeman77]

I was playing in the regular casino PLO game last night. It allows button and UTG straddles up to $15. There was 1 guy who straddled the full $15 every time both UTG and on the Button and would pot it every time. There were 1 or 2 other players that would also Button straddle most of the time to $15. So for 2 hours the game was $1/2/15 most hands and was at least $75 and usually over $100 to see a flop.

I folded every. single. hand. during those 2 hours. I saw a lot of players go broke during that time too, including the main guy straddling. It was not much fun, and fun is what keeps people coming to a home game.

I was able to wait out the crazy play and was able to finally play some hands. If that was a home game and knew it would be like that, I doubt I or many casual players would come back.

 

[timinater]

The 2/7 gimmick is for anytime a player wins regardless if it’s preflop or showdown, bluff or not. At that point every player on the table has to give the 2/7 holder $2 as a bonus.

I'd go $.50 preflop and $2.00 post-flop. After a couple times someone raises and takes it with 72 you're going to have some frustrated players. Scale it a bit to the difficulty of winning w/72.

 

[Shaggy]

You didn't ask, but I'm not a fan of this rule. At my place, we usually do 50% of the big stack. Another guys house I play at dos 75% of the big stack. The reason I don't like it is, the deep stack has earned the right to have everyone covered. I don't anyone should be able to buy into any amount equal to the deep player.

Do many of your players take advantage of this? Most at my game are fine just rebuying for the 100. Only me, and a few others will actually buy in for half the deep stack.

I agree with @detroitdad on this, but not for the same reason. My initial buy-in is $100. I have since updated my rebuy option to largest stack up to a max $200. So if the largest stack is $150, the max rebuy is $150. If the largest stack is $300, the max rebuy is $200.

I don't do it because I feel the big stack has earned the right to be big stack. I had one player that was more seasoned than most of the other players. He played aggressively and would stack off on big semi-bluffs. He would then rebuy for the largest stack. This intimidated a lot of my other players. They didn't enjoy the game. I created the rule above to mitigate the situation. My players a much happier because of it.

Regarding the straddles... you know your players best, but it sounds to me like the smaller buy-in guys are not going to like it. With the Mississippi straddle (most should do it), the game will just play bigger. The shorter buy-ins are going to be in flop shove mode and may not like playing that way.

 

[toynoob]

The 7/2 is fun but a few of my players that were down on the night originally agreed to it but after it winning twice in 3 hands they got frustrated and said no more. Just be aware people will change their mind after they lose a few dollars to it.

 

[jcooper911]

I run a 50c/50c game every other friday, so thought i would add in my 2c...

1) we do not do straddles. Usual buy ins are 60-100 and rebuys usually 100, so game plays big enough and we usually have 1500-1800 on the table by the end of the night, which is enough for a good competitive game but not too much to drive away casuals.

2) we do the tekashi 69 game, which is the same as 7-2 game, with $2 from each player to the winner. gets some good action and banter.

3) we have a high hand jackpot for each game - $5 from each player and best hand of the night wins the lot. All you have to do is show the best hand anytime after the flop and win the pot, so if you flop quads you still get paid if everyone folds.

4) i have 24 players on my text message thread, and usually book the game up a week in advance - key is growing the game and mixing in regulars with more casual off-off-in players.

I would say at this level, its about competitive fun, not harcore grinding nor hardcore gambling... so keep it casual and I have found the above rules help with both objectives. happy to answer any further questions...

 

[Lieability]

I was playing in the regular casino PLO game last night. It allows button and UTG straddles up to $15.

How does that work if it’s PLO, wouldn’t the straddle be capped at the pot?

 

[Lieability]

I run a 50c/50c game every other friday, so thought i would add in my 2c...

1) we do not do straddles. Usual buy ins are 60-100 and rebuys usually 100, so game plays big enough and we usually have 1500-1800 on the table by the end of the night, which is enough for a good competitive game but not too much to drive away casuals.

2) we do the tekashi 69 game, which is the same as 7-2 game, with $2 from each player to the winner. gets some good action and banter.

3) we have a high hand jackpot for each game - $5 from each player and best hand of the night wins the lot. All you have to do is show the best hand anytime after the flop and win the pot, so if you flop quads you still get paid if everyone folds.

4) i have 24 players on my text message thread, and usually book the game up a week in advance - key is growing the game and mixing in regulars with more casual off-off-in players.

I would say at this level, its about competitive fun, not harcore grinding nor hardcore gambling... so keep it casual and I have found the above rules help with both objectives. happy to answer any further questions...

I noticed you’re also from the Ny area. How long did it take for you to have a core group of 18+ players?

 

[jcooper911]

I noticed you’re also from the Ny area. How long did it take for you to have a core group of 18+ players?

Had 12 off the bat, probably got to 20 after about 2/3 months and now add a few and lose a few each month...

 

[Rhodeman77]

The opening bet without a straddle is $15 so that is the max straddle.

 

[DeeVee8]

Starting up a .25/.50 cash game with my tournament players. Dragging kicking and screaming would be more accurate. I was going to do a modified bomb pot. At the top of each hour, all players put in 1 or 2 bucks, then no more betting and the hand is dealt out, in full, with two boards. Winner of each board splits the pot. My players like to play tourneys, so they're not exactly riverboat gamblers. I think this might nudge them into the shallow end of the pool.

 

[Mike Wells]

UTG 2x only at my house. But the next player can double straddle, triple straddle, etc. Sometimes gets a little ridiculous towards the end of the night.

 

[jcooper911]

oh yeh we also do bomb pots every 40 minutes - $2 each. also great for action and dont decimate stacks if you whiff (like I do every single time...)

 

[detroitdad]

We do double board pillow pots every 30 minutes, or if you use a make it a double poker chip

 

[Lieability]

Thanks for the feedback guys, I appreciate the responses and I will definitely keep in mind to be more inclusive for the casuals that are always necessary even if it’s just for volume

 

[Alex Lundstrum]

I've hosted a few .25/.50 cash games with inexperienced players. Not sure if it applies to OP, but figured others might come with that situation. To increase the action, I did the following:
1. No straddles, max buy-in never changes - the new players want to play for the stakes they were told, no more.
2. Introduce 7-2 game - people seem to like that they get extra rewarded for this bluff. I always did $2/person.
3. Introduce button game - 25 or 50¢ added to button every hand until button wins the hand. Players like the towering stack of quarters and also helps to teach new players the value of opening their range on button.
4. Add rounds of PLO to liven action.
Once you've hit all of the above is when I'd say to allow straddles.

 

[Riomaa]

Depends on your players. One game I play, you'll never see more than a few straddles the entire night. A different game I play, we were getting triple straddles sometimes. We even once had a quadruple which ended up in a family pot. $320 pre-flop with 10 players was insane but fun. No game I play bothers with Mississippi straddles. Most people don't even understand what it is or see any benefit in using it.

7/2 is super fun but only if every player agrees to it. It's really tilting for someone who isn't into it. There was a High Stakes Poker game or maybe Poker After Dark game where Tom Dwan kept pushing for 7/2 until Doyle Brunson finally gave in. You can see Doyle lose most of his interest in the game after that.

 

[RichMahogany]

Starting up a .25/.50 cash game with my tournament players. Dragging kicking and screaming would be more accurate. I was going to do a modified bomb pot. At the top of each hour, all players put in 1 or 2 bucks, then no more betting and the hand is dealt out, in full, with two boards. Winner of each board splits the pot. My players like to play tourneys, so they're not exactly riverboat gamblers. I think this might nudge them into the shallow end of the pool.

That’s not a bomb pot, that’s a flip

I love doing single board PLO flips for $5 a player