Cash Game Ante chips? (1 Viewer)

[Quad Johnson]

Just curious what everyone does for betting rounds when doing mixed games. I'd like to introduce some other variants to my players and I've been trying to determine how to handle the betting without ante chips. We usually do 25c/50c and I have no nickel chips that would work for antes.

What does everyone here to do? Do you improvise a different betting setup or does everyone have ante chips?

 

[Payback]

Button antes for the whole table. Makes it really easy to keep track of who is posting.

 

[Quad Johnson]

Button antes for the whole table. Makes it really easy to keep track of who is posting.

I love it. So simple. Thank you!

 

[Quad Johnson]

Next question, sorry for the noobness.

For stud games, is the "bring in" just the small bet of 25c? Technically the bring in would be the ante amount, or the bet is completed to the 25c.

Do you just bypass this entirely and go straight to the small bet amount?

Thanks!

 

[ruskba]

We would just use the small bet amount, it wasn’t a problem.

 

[Payback]

For a 0.25/0.50 NL game we might have the dealer post a $2 ante (quarter a person x 8 people) and then the bring in would be $0.50. If you wanted the antes at $1 then do a $0.25 bring in.

 

[BGinGA]

Generally, the bring-in amount is less than the minimum bet amount, because it's a forced bet. Think of it as a small blind for non-button games -- you're forced to bet, but you aren't required to put in a full bet.

 

[moose]

The blinds in a pl/nl game don't equate to the limit in limit poker.

If you are running .25/.50 blinds for nl, I would start with something like $2/4 limit. .25 ante (each, so if using a button ante, then $2 total), $1 bring-in, $2 to complete. Generally you want the bring-in to be about 50-100% of the total of the antes and the bring-in about 50% of the complete. I think @Payback's ratios for the bring-in are far too low.

If the limits feel too low after a while you can bring up the action by adding a half or full kill.

 

[moose]

I'm not a super huge fan of the button ante, because 1. There isn't a button in stud so you are introducing something artificial to track who has to ante and 2. We tend to let players get up and take a smoke break or whatever whenever they want so it becomes problematic if they miss their button. 3. If two or three people are away do you lower the button ante or keep it the same which changes the dynamic of the pot size relative to the bring-in and the number of players dealt cards. If everyone antes then the ratio of the ante to the number of players remains consistent.

 

[Payback]

I'm not a super huge fan of the button ante, because 1. There isn't a button in stud so you are introducing something artificial to track who has to ante and 2. We tend to let players get up and take a smoke break or whatever whenever they want so it becomes problematic if they miss their button. 3. If two or three people are away do you lower the button ante or keep it the same which changes the dynamic of the pot size relative to the bring-in and the number of players dealt cards. If everyone antes then the ratio of the ante to the number of players remains consistent.

We used to skip people away from the table and just hit them at the end of the orbit for the missed hands as thr order in which people pay them doesn't matter just that they pay them.

 

[JustinInMN]

I agree with moose, use bigger limits if you are mixing limit and no games. Even doing 1/2 would be good. With 1/2 you can do .25 ante, .50 bring in. With 2/4 .50 ante, 1 bring in is good

 

[abby99]

We used to skip people away from the table and just hit them at the end of the orbit for the missed hands as thr order in which people pay them doesn't matter just that they pay them.

I can attest that this works well in real life.

Using the button during stud rounds of mixed games makes sense when the game changes every orbit, even if it doesn't function as a button in the traditional sense.