Has inflation caused you to change stakes? (1 Viewer)

[MrCatPants]

We often discuss on here the risks involved with adjusting stakes.

I've noticed with inflation the last couple of years I've been getting more asks on upping the stakes. I don't think this is the right move for risk of driving away players (other than maybe for my tourneys)...but have any of you been having discussions in your game in this regard?

 

[ChipTalker]

Our 1/2 game changed to 1/3 about 18 months ago. I never really attributed it to inflation as we did so to match our local casino that we frequent. But the casino had recently changed from 1/2 to 1/3 so maybe they did so because of inflation and we did so because of inflation indirectly. We never really discussed, it was just easier so people did not throw out wrong blinds either in our game or at the casino.

 

[LowerBama1714]

Yup…

 

[AK Chip]

It hasn't had an effect on our games, but I would have thought higher cost of everyday goods would mean less disposable income and drive home game stakes lower?

 

[MrCatPants]

It hasn't had an effect on our games, but I would have thought higher cost of everyday goods would mean less disposable income and drive home game stakes lower?

It's more the opposite that I'm hearing in my game. Like guys who would have a moderate winning night and would buy breakfast for the office the next day, now it doesn't cover it anymore so the "value" of the win is not the same.

E.g. what was cheeseburger stakes is now half a hamburger stakes.

 

[DrStrange]

Going to be hard to parse the effects of economic prosperity from the effects of inflation.

One would think that high inflation, absent paired wage growth, might lead to lower disposable spending in real dollars which would lead to players needing to cut back on game frequency or adjust the stakes lower. But that isn't what the original post implies.

A request for higher stakes could be the players are getting older and more prosperous. Maybe inflation is somewhat negated by wage increases / COLA adjustments. That might mean people a making a "pure" adjustment for inflation. Maybe the players are getting jaded and need higher stakes to get the same excitement from the game.

None of that has happened in my game. We play at the same stakes as we did a decade ago. -=- DrStrange

 

[ChipTalker]

It likely depends on how the stakes compare to the groups incomes. We keep the stakes just high enough that people care about winning and losing but even a bad night or a bad string of nights is not going to affect anyone's life. Too little and nobody cares so the poker is bad like an online freeroll. Too much and people get hurt and that is just not cool either. Does inflation have an effect on that balance, yeah probably it does a little but likely not enough for it to be a main factor at least in my area. Different parts of the country can be very different in that regard I would assume.

 

[doublebooyah85]

Is there straddling allowed in your game?

 

[AK Chip]

One bonus to higher stakes we won’t have to spend all our time trying to find a frac to go with our sets!

 

[Josh Kifer]

Yup. We have gone from .25/.50 cash to now 1/2. And our 20 dollar tourney that normally maybe had 2-3 rebuys now often has 8-10.

 

[surfik]

Yes
Lowest stakes games used to be 1/2
Now 5/10, sometimes 5/5

This is in PLN

 

[MrCatPants]

Going to be hard to parse the effects of economic prosperity from the effects of inflation.

One would think that high inflation, absent paired wage growth, might lead to lower disposable spending in real dollars which would lead to players needing to cut back on game frequency or adjust the stakes lower. But that isn't what the original post implies.

A request for higher stakes could be the players are getting older and more prosperous. Maybe inflation is somewhat negated by wage increases / COLA adjustments. That might mean people a making a "pure" adjustment for inflation. Maybe the players are getting jaded and need higher stakes to get the same excitement from the game.

None of that has happened in my game. We play at the same stakes as we did a decade ago. -=- DrStrange

I think I have players in all camps.

Some who have had the value of their income or actual income decline and are tighter on disposable income and so I imagine would be resistant, unless they fall in the last camp.

Some who don't feel that pinch for various reasons/are affluent enough where it's negligible and just feel like the stakes mean less than they did ten years ago.

Some who just want to up the gambol/rush as one always has.

 

[MrCatPants]

Is there straddling allowed in your game?

You have to win the rock to straddle. So no.

 

[MrCatPants]

One bonus to higher stakes we won’t have to spend all our time trying to find a frac to go with our sets!

Even on here I feel like fracs were a crazy commodity when I joined. Now, not as much in comparison to other racks.

 

[tabletalker7]

Inflation did have something to do with it. But inflation isn't the sole reason for it. My pre-COVID group and my post-COVID group is vastly different. Now that I am actually thinking about it, pre-COVID my group was a mix of everybody, while post-COVID it is all (myself included) union workers. The non union guys are struggling in my area, while union guys got new contracts that negotiated a pay increase to help deal with inflation.

 

[doublebooyah85]

You have to win the rock to straddle. So no.

Introducing an Utg straddle may be a good start.

 

[JMC9389]

No, but I get some side eyes from some of the invite list when I announce 0.05/0.10 dealer's choice nights because some others won't play higher

 

[RadicusScout]

Even on here I feel like fracs were a crazy commodity when I joined. Now, not as much in comparison to other racks.

That's a really interesting indicator.

 

[Mojo1312]

Our 20 dollar tourney that normally maybe had 2-3 rebuys now often has 8-10.

Along the same line, players in my group are willing to put a greater amount of money at risk than in the past. We had a player cash out $1700 up in our weekly $1/$1 dealer's choice NLHE/PLO game last month.

Hundreds are the new twenty.

 

[Labrat]

If anything I would think inflation would lower stakes because it cuts into discretionary spending for people since income isn't matching inflation. Well, it certainly isn't for me. Our grocery bill has easily doubled. My salary, however has failed to respond.

 

[LeLe]

Inflation = Not

Desire to get more chipping fund make me move up the stake, also make me take more time during the free hour to review hands that I had played, mistakes that I had made.

I was 10/20c live stake player 3 years ago and now I am playing $1/2 or $2/2 live stake and 10c/25c NL online stake

I planned to try take a shot at $5/5 by end of last year before a downswing haul the stepping up.

 

[ekricket]

One bonus to higher stakes we won’t have to spend all our time trying to find a frac to go with our sets!

lol, all the old chips sets coming out of the depression eras don’t have fracs

 

[mike32]

lol, all the old chips sets coming out of the depression eras don’t have fracs

Many games were spread or fixed limit back in the day. That could be part of the reason. Old schoolers often play with actual quarters as well.

 

[bmacpoker]

Ours has changed but not due to inflation. Started playing with my current group a few years ago, we're all friends and friends of friends, hung out for non-poker stuff. Started just playing little $5-$10 tournaments. Tournament stakes went up a bit, I started suggesting cash so we could have same buy ins but come and go as we please.

That turned into a regular 5c/10c game. I've now taken these people to casinos and gotten used to higher stakes, so those comfortable do 25c/50c, if we bring in less experienced we'll do 25c/25c.

Next step is making mixed games a more regular thing. My degen influence is spreading.

 

[Taghkanic]

I’ve been playing with much the same core group since ~2009. In those 15 years we progressed (in tournaments) from $30 to $50 to $100 to $140… and in cash from 1/2 to 1/3 to 2/5.

A lot of these bump-ups had more to do with players’ incomes increasing as they hit their 40s and 50s, less than inflation IMHO. But hard to really say for sure over a longish timeline. Probably some of both.

 

[Highli99]

The live games I play in are still .25/.50, but in the past few years way more people are good for 4 to 10 buy ins. Also, matching half the big stack is common and done by many players. So in effect the games play crazy early and then settle down after everyone has $300+ in front of them. So the gThe game is really a 1/2 Game esp with straddles.

Our area is a prosperous one and the player pool seems comfortable with the stakes. I also think that experienced players become okay with bigger swings over time. So rather than “increase stakes” we just let the game play deeper. A handful of players do buy in shorter and play really tight, but the rest of us play around them, essentially. I treat it like a 6 handed game even though 9 people are there. Every once in a while a short stack nit will double up, but more often their aces get cracked by a LAG.

 

[DirtyTIVA]

PCF probably has resulted in raised stakes for many games.

 

[bmacpoker]

The live games I play in are still .25/.50, but in the past few years way more people are good for 4 to 10 buy ins. Also, matching half the big stack is common and done by many players. So in effect the games play crazy early and then settle down after everyone has $300+ in front of them. So the gThe game is really a 1/2 Game esp with straddles.

Our area is a prosperous one and the player pool seems comfortable with the stakes. I also think that experienced players become okay with bigger swings over time. So rather than “increase stakes” we just let the game play deeper. A handful of players do buy in shorter and play really tight, but the rest of us play around them, essentially. I treat it like a 6 handed game even though 9 people are there. Every once in a while a short stack nit will double up, but more often their aces get cracked by a LAG.

It's funny, I didn't realize how big microstakes could get until a couple years ago. Our little 5c/10c games started getting a little big, but that meant more like someone would go down $80 and we really only expected to be in for a couple buy ins.

Then I played someone else's 25c/50c match the stack game, and I bought in for $50, left with almost $1k. The guy running bank and chips would always match largest stack, so it was exponential when I felted him 3 times.

 

[Machine]

Like guys who would have a moderate winning night and would buy breakfast for the office the next day, now it doesn't cover it anymore so the "value" of the win is not the same.

This very much seems like circular logic to me, do you think these guys would travel for a higher stakes game? Asking for a friend

 

[allforcharity]

Yes and no. Regardless, I have a hard cap on my nightly bankroll.