Cash Game First Ever Fixed Limit Night (1 Viewer)

[rjbf65]

Have a group that has played a .25/.25 NL Holdem game for years. Looking to give fixed limit a try for a night. Here's my thoughts on setting it up.

$1-$2 betting limits.

Each player will buy in for $50 and get a rack of 50 cent chips. Anything over that will be $10 chips. That way one $10 chip equals a barrel of .50 chips.

Games
_________
Holdem
Omaha 8
Razz
7 Card Stud
7 Card Stud 8
2-7 Triple Draw

For the 3 games with blinds they would be .50-$1

For the Stud games the plan is a $1 dealer ante, and a .50 bring in.

Does this look like a good setup? We've never done a limit night before. My buddy has a non denominated set and has 600 of one color. I know a true FL set has around 1000 chips in it, so hopefully this will work.

Anything more to keep in mind when doing a limit night?

 

[upNdown]

I can never remember, because most of my limit play happens online, where you don’t really have to keep track of these things, but what is the standard raise limit per street? Is it 3? And is that 3 on top of the first bet? So the early streets would be capped at $4 and the later streets would be capped at $8?

 

[OfficerLovejoy]

Looks like you have all your bases covered!
I like the structure and limits compared to your NL game.
A two chip game should work fine with 600 workhorse chips. More are always better but this gets more important when you have a 3 or 4 chip game going.

 

[rjbf65]

I can never remember, because most of my limit play happens online, where you don’t really have to keep track of these things, but what is the standard raise limit per street? Is it 3? And is that 3 on top of the first bet? So the early streets would be capped at $4 and the later streets would be capped at $8?

I forgot to include that in the OP but my thoughts were a bet and 3 raises to cap it. So $4 total on small streets and $8 max on big streets.

 

[SteveEH]

Looks good and from my experience (and others) 8x your NL big blind is a good starting point for your big bet in fixed limit.

My group does .50/$1 and we buy in for $40 for the night. Avg win/loss is about $20 for the night. One time a guy lost $35, and on the other side of that a guy won $45.


Fixed limit dealers choice is so much fun!!

 

[warma]

Love it. Should work well. I started with HORSE to get them used to the different concepts. Razz was universally despised (I love it). I added other games each time we met, expanding the pool of options. Has worked out for me.

 

[Machine]

I wouldn't spread anything less than a 2 / 4 game for fixed limit.

 

[rjbf65]

Love it. Should work well. I started with HORSE to get them used to the different concepts. Razz was universally despised (I love it). I added other games each time we met, expanding the pool of options. Has worked out for me.

I listed the HORSE games and threw in 2-7 Triple draw as I really want to play it. Probably the game I'm looking forward to the most.

 

[rjbf65]

I wouldn't spread anything less than a 2 / 4 game for fixed limit.

I'm hoping to work up to that eventually. This group has played together forever and we have always kept the stakes pretty small.

 

[moose]

I listed the HORSE games and threw in 2-7 Triple draw as I really want to play it. Probably the game I'm looking forward to the most.

HORSED

I'm hoping to work up to that eventually. This group has played together forever and we have always kept the stakes pretty small.

Add a kill.

Any scoop is a kill in split games. Two hands in a row in the non-split games. Kill posts $2 and the betting limits go to $2/4. In STUD games the killer is the automatic bring in and can bring in for $1 or $2. Everything else remains the same.

You can count pots and use a minimum pot size for the qualifier, we like to just say as long as you see a flop, or 4th street in Stud games, then the hand is eligible for a kill. ie. no minimum pot requirement as long as the hand isn't folded without seeing any streets. Avoids counting every pot.

 

[grebe]

Game looks good, but be aware people tire of Razz pretty quick. Everything else looks for a successful night!

 

[Legend5555]

I wouldn't spread anything less than a 2 / 4 game for fixed limit.

I've run .50/1 with success for those that don't know the games and are uncomfortable losing more than $30-50.

 

[Legend5555]

Game looks good, but be aware people tire of Razz pretty quick. Everything else looks for a successful night!

Razz gets a bad radio IMO. I'm not saying I'd want to play it for multiple orbits. But there is more to razz than people think. Plus it's an easy game to understand.

However, it's better as Razzdugi.

 

[grebe]

Razz gets a bad radio IMO. I'm not saying I'd want to play it for multiple orbits. But there is more to razz than people think. Plus it's an easy game to understand.

However, it's better as Razzdugi.

Now we are playing mixed games!

 

[ArielVer18]

Good starting point. $0.75/$1.50 is also an option (with 25¢ and $5 chips instead of 50¢ and $10) if you like the pots to look a little bit bigger.

 

[upNdown]

I've run .50/1 with success for those that don't know the hand and are uncomfortable losing more than $30-50.

Hundred percent. I thought that $2/4 comment was odd. Like a $2/5 guy dismissing a .25/.50 game.

 

[Dugthefish]

Looks good. For a 1/2 limit game, I would say figure .25/player for dealer ante. In my 2/4 game, we do a dollar for every two players. Pretty sure I got the ante:limit ratio off PokerStars many years ago lol

 

[rjbf65]

Looks good. For a 1/2 limit game, I would say figure .25/player for dealer ante. In my 2/4 game, we do a dollar for every two players. Pretty sure I got the ante:limit ratio off PokerStars many years ago lol

Wasn’t planning on having a .25 chip in play.

 

[upNdown]

Wasn’t planning on having a .25 chip in play.

He just meant .25 per player, as a way of calculating the dealer ante. So if you have 4 players, dealer ante is a buck. Six players, it’s a buck fifty. I guess if you have 5 or 7, you can round up or round down. But I don’t think he was sugggesting you use an actual quarter.

 

[Dugthefish]

He just meant .25 per player, as a way of calculating the dealer ante. So if you have 4 players, dealer ante is a buck. Six players, it’s a buck fifty. I guess if you have 5 or 7, you can round up or round down. But I don’t think he was sugggesting you use an actual quarter.

This. We always round down....4-5 players $2, 6-7 players $3, 8 players $4

 

[rjbf65]

This. We always round down....4-5 players $2, 6-7 players $3, 8 players $4

I see. My mistake. That definitely makes sense!

 

[Legend5555]

I see. My mistake. That definitely makes sense!

Stud ante - bring in - small bet ratios are fuzzy. And when you have to do a single player ante, you have to just use a rounding solution you like. What you always want to think about though is how the ante and bring in size affect your starting ranges and bring in defending ranges. When the bring in is half the small bet, you can defend pretty wide unless the ante is tiny. And most times the ante is not tiny in stud.

The somewhat "golden ratio" for stud is:

1-2-6-12 for ante - bi - SB - BB

 

[rjbf65]

Stud ante - bring in - small bet ratios are fuzzy. And when you have to do a single player ante, you have to just use a rounding solution you like. What you always want to think about though is how the ante and bring in size affect your starting ranges and bring in defending ranges. When the bring in is half the small bet, you can defend pretty wide unless the ante is tiny. And most times the ante is not tiny in stud.

The somewhat "golden ratio" for stud is:

1-2-6-12 for ante - bi - SB - BB

So if we wanted the limits to be $1-$2 we could get closer to that "golden ratio" if we used .25 chips. Could still do a .75 dealer ante (if we have 6 players works out to around 12.5 cents on average. A bring in of .25 and then $1 and $2 from there. Gets pretty close to that ratio. Or if we dropped the limits to .75 and $1.50 we'd have it right on.

 

[upNdown]

So if we wanted the limits to be $1-$2 we could get closer to that "golden ratio" if we used .25 chips. Could still do a .75 dealer ante (if we have 6 players works out to around 12.5 cents on average. A bring in of .25 and then $1 and $2 from there. Gets pretty close to that ratio. Or if we dropped the limits to .75 and $1.50 we'd have it right on.

I'm all in favor of perfect ratios, and I've admittedly never played a 4 chip 8 chip limit game, but it just seems ridiculous to me. So if the later streets are capped, people are pushing in 32 chips? How is that tolerable? This is a serious question. I freely admit that the only live limit games I've ever played have been 1 chip 2 chip or 2 chip 4 chip, and both of those have seemed totally fine to me. I just can't imagine enjoying the time it takes to re-stack a raked pot that has 200 chips in it, every time I win a hand. Especially god forbid if we're playing stud and I have to try to watch all the cards that come out as I'm trying to stack.

 

[warma]

I follow this advice from @BGinGA and find it works well.

In a 2-chip/4-chip limit 7 stud game: 1 chip as the bring-in, with a dealer-posted table ante of 4 chips (7+ players), 3 chips (5-6 players), or 2 chips (2-4 players). Fixing it at always 3 chips (regardless of table size) also works fine, imo.

 

[Legend5555]

I'm all in favor of perfect ratios, and I've admittedly never played a 4 chip 8 chip limit game, but it just seems ridiculous to me. So if the later streets are capped, people are pushing in 32 chips? How is that tolerable? This is a serious question. I freely admit that the only live limit games I've ever played have been 1 chip 2 chip or 2 chip 4 chip, and both of those have seemed totally fine to me. I just can't imagine enjoying the time it takes to re-stack a raked pot that has 200 chips in it, every time I win a hand. Especially god forbid if we're playing stud and I have to try to watch all the cards that come out as I'm trying to stack.

It's definitely ridiculous. Some people think it's fun. I do too an extent. I fondly remember a 4/8 half kill LHE game I played at the Orleans in 2007. It used $1 chips. I bought in $200 and cashed out for $900. The tower I created was impressive. Hauling my racks to the cage? Not so impressive.

 

[grebe]

2 chip 4 chip is the way for home games. Simplify the antes in a good manner where it is not a burden on the game and gets in the realm of fair. Remember, the beauty of limit games is in the simplicity and efficiency.

People will argue on here ad nauseum about the best is 3/6 or 4/8 chip games, because the action is so much better with all those huge pots! And they may have a point....however....

I have never. ever. ever. not once. been in a live limit game thinking, "you know, these guys are a bunch of nits! I wonder if there is a way to slow the game down, cost me more money, AND make them call more often?" Hmmmmm....

 

[ChipJunkie]

Good luck on your first limit game. I'm hoping to have a game in a couple weeks. 2-4 or 3-6 Limit. Round by round.
Hold'em 2 rounds because it goes so fast
Omaha High
Omaha 8
Stud 8

My players love the games. The pots get pretty big on split games. Usually we'll start betting with red chips to make it easier when the pots get big. Some of my players used to be dealers so they start stacking or chopping the pots when there's a low to keep the game going.

 

[Bacon Dad]

I've run .50/1 with success for those that don't know the games and are uncomfortable losing more than $30-50.

I know this thread has some age, but I want to transition from no limit to limit hold’em. The 0.50/1 are the small and big bets, right? They are not the blinds.

 

[SteveEH]

I know this thread has some age, but I want to transition from no limit to limit hold’em. The 0.50/1 are the small and big bets, right? They are not the blinds.

Correct. If .50/1 are the small and big bets, your blinds will be .25/.50.