Cash Game Have you ever hosted an uncapped home game? (2 Viewers)

[dmoney]

Anyone done this? I’m wondering if a lower stakes (let’s say 25c/25c or 25c/50c) game that is uncapped might be interesting to try instead of a game with higher stakes.

- Have you/would you play in an uncapped home game?
-What impact would this have on experienced and inexperienced players?
-How much bigger do you think an uncapped home game would play? How many bbs would you buy in for?

 

[madforpancakes]

I have seen an uncapped .25/.50 game play like 1/2 or 3/5. I have also seen it play like .25/.50. It all depends on the players and how much they are willing to buy in for and how deep they rebuy.

It definitely hurts the less experienced players - deep stacked it's easy to make expensive mistakes.

 

[HaRDHouSeiNC]

My 1/2 game years ago was like 2-5-10 at times
I think all games should be uncapped
Go hard or go home

 

[JScott]

I wish. I had guys bitching yesterday AGAIN about my unlimited rebuy cash games.

 

[Highli99]

I am a huge fan of small blind, deep stack poker. Having 400+ big blinds forces players to turn off auto pilot and actually think. There is so much more room for plays and mistakes. It is far and away better than 100BB games where decisions can be pretty automatic.

That said, for game sustainability you still want the buy ins to make sense for your group. A player ready to be In for 2000 blinds can beat a player in for 200 blinds simply by surviving one more coin flip.

That’s why I am a fan of limiting rebuys to 1/2 the big stack. Deep pockets can’t get an instant advantage.

 

[cosmokramer]

My own game as well as the 3-5 other games i attend regularly are completely uncapped. You wanna sit down with 5000bb, knock yourself out.

To be honest, i don‘t like capped games, unless it‘s at least 400bb, but i wouldn‘t go so far that i don‘t attend as a matter of principle. At least its poker.

And yes, usually uncapped games play (way) bigger, but as already said, it really depends on the players.
For example:
- my second to last game the 2 biggest stacks at the end were 1.600 and 2.800bb with the largest rebuy at 1.000bb, average opening raise 6-8bb (let‘s say there were a few gamblers present )
- last game, 50% different crew, biggest 2 stacks were 800 and 1.100bb with the largest rebuy at 300bb.
Blinds were both only at 0,25/0,50, but we only play every 3rd orbit NHL, and PLO, NLO, SOHE etc. tend to raise the average pot a lot.

that game grew over 10 years, and i never had complaints about uncapped rebuys, although one good friend and regular isn‘t too happy with the (inevitable?) increasing stacks and mentioned that a few times.

IMO the often heard statement that uncapped/deep pockets favor the better players isn‘t true, from my experience the better player will prevail one way or the other. But i gotta admit with equally bad players there‘s an edge for deeper pockets.

 

[grebe]

Uncapped takes the games out of friendly poker and in to serious poker. Doing this at a home game, I feel, is taking the "home" out of the game.

 

[Seeking Alpha Social Club]

Uncapped takes the games out of friendly poker and in to serious poker. Doing this at a home game, I feel, is taking the "home" out of the game.

++1 this ^^^.

My game is .50 / 1, but generally plays more lile a 1/2, or even a 3/5 (if we have the right people show up. Most players buy in for 40 to 100. We had a guy that would show up and buy in for at least the total of all the other buy ins at the table (or $100 per player at his table, $800 to $1000 total). He would then proceed to simple raise or re-raise 3x to 6x the BB every hand he was in on every round of betting. After 2 games dealing woth that nonsense, I implemented a $200 max buy in. He lost interest and doesn't play with us anymore, which is a good thing.

Completely unrelated side note, but interesting. His poker was as bad as his investing. Lost $1000s at both. He invested $40k in a triple beta short S&P ETF fund in 2009. Essentially, he was betting the S&p would decline. Well...the S&P was up over 20%. Since he was triple the mkt move, he lost over 60% of his 40k to margin calls.

 

[OfficerLovejoy]

All my games pre covid were uncapped 5ct/10ct nl he. It was usually our whale buying in for 500bb and me matching his stack. The rest of our players usually bought in for €10, refused to top off on €1.25 left and maybe rebought once for another €10 if they bust before 10pm.

It's a nitfest, not great poker and yet I always really enjoy it. Can't wait for live poker to return in germany.

I just spent €900 on building a new table and several thousands more on two cash sets and I'll still be fine with most of my players being hesitant to shell out more than €20 in gambling money per our monthly poker night.

I do have plans to host a bigger game though. We'll see who's up for it.

 

[cosmokramer]

++1 this ^^^.

My game is .50 / 1, but generally plays more lile a 1/2, or even a 3/5 (if we have the right people show up. Most players buy in for 40 to 100. We had a guy that would show up and buy in for at least the total of all the other buy ins at the table (or $100 per player at his table, $800 to $1000 total). He would then proceed to simple raise or re-raise 3x to 6x the BB every hand he was in on every round of betting. After 2 games dealing woth that nonsense, I implemented a $200 max buy in. He lost interest and doesn't play with us anymore, which is a good thing.

Completely unrelated side note, but interesting. His poker was as bad as his investing. Lost $1000s at both. He invested $40k in a triple beta short S&P ETF fund in 2009. Essentially, he was betting the S&p would decline. Well...the S&P was up over 20%. Since he was triple the mkt move, he lost over 60% of his 40k to margin calls.

We have one player that did exactly the same the first 2 times he showed up. Combined with the firm belief he’d have an edge in skill as well. After losing about 1.400bb and 1.800bb those 2 nights, he came to realize it might not be the most efficient strategy. Ever since, he adapted to „normal“ play.
He‘s a good to very good player, but actually so are (almost all) the others.

And I have to disagree on the taking the home out part, our game is still as friendly and fun as it has been, there are still guys who max buy/rebuy 200bb.
I‘d say it really depends on your crew.

 

[natumes]

I feel the blinds should match the stakes everyone is comfortable playing. I play in a .25/.50 home game that plays more like 1/3 which at first was frustrating, and sometimes still is. If all players understand the game is going to play larger and bring appropriate bankroll, sure. Maybe convey that with a high minimum buy in. A few other home games I've played struggle to gain or keep players because the host and up to half the players want to play for higher stakes and end up straddling and raising preflop to 25-50% of what some other players brought total for the night.

 

[Seeking Alpha Social Club]

We have one player that did exactly the same the first 2 times he showed up. Combined with the firm belief he’d have an edge in skill as well. After losing about 1.400bb and 1.800bb those 2 nights, he came to realize it might not be the most efficient strategy. Ever since, he adapted to „normal“ play.
He‘s a good to very good player, but actually so are (almost all) the others.

And I have to disagree on the taking the home out part, our game is still as friendly and fun as it has been, there are still guys who max buy/rebuy 200bb.
I‘d say it really depends on your crew.

Totally agree on the last sentence, but IMHO, I also believe the impact on the game could depend on the size of the blinds. I realized that when reading @OfficerLovejoy s post right before yours and seeing that 500bbs is $50. Totally agree in that size game.

Do you mind me asking what blinds you play? Also, the last part, "max buy/rebuy 200BBs" makes it sound like do have a max cap (yes/no?). Our max is 200bb. Not disagreeing, just sincerely curious if the size of the blinds makes a difference in people's perspectives. Thanks!

 

[cosmokramer]

Totally agree on the last sentence, but IMHO, I also believe the impact on the game could depend on the size of the blinds. I realized that when reading @OfficerLovejoy s post right before yours and seeing that 500bbs is $50. Totally agree in that size game.

Do you mind me asking what blinds you play? Also, the last part, "max buy/rebuy 200BBs" makes it sound like do have a max cap (yes/no?). Our max is 200bb. Not disagreeing, just sincerely curious if the size of the blinds makes a difference in people's perspectives. Thanks!

We play 0,25/0,50€ most of the time (€ is pretty much as $), sometimes 0,5/1€ rarely 1/2€.
I gotta admit, total money on the table is more or less identical for 0,25/0,5 and 0,5/1.

Oh, my mistake, i see how one can misread that.
With „max rebuy“ i meant, we still have a few very valued (and good) players that never buy/rebuy more than 50€/100€ at once, meaning their personal max buy/rebuy is 100/200bb. The game itself has no cap/max at all. Although we never have someone buy in significantly more than aprox. biggest stack. But you could if you wanted to.

 

[JustinInMN]

I think you should always set the cap such that most players in the game are comfortable buying in 2-3x per night.

If your game is uncapped estimate the "typical buy-in."

If you don't do this, you will be facing too many one-and-done players and some early nights.

 

[MatthewTreeTree]

If you don't do this, you will be facing too many one-and-done players and some early nights.

and some possible side-bets to be made on a late-night backyard boxing match

Edit: +1 for setting limits

 

[JustinInMN]

and some possible side-bets to be made on a late-night backyard boxing match

Edit: +1 for setting limits

Every cloud has a silver lining .

 

[surfik]

Start small and let players decide, it will come naturally. Downside is tha you may lose players with limited bankroll

 

[PlayerADK]

Sometimes it's fun. I've got a few games that'll be 1/1 but it's rare that you see the flop for less than $20

And then there's people that complain about the $50 tournament

Do whatever you want to get a game together. If people like the uncapped, great. If you lose people, maybe switch it up.

 

[FlopSetTurnBoat]

I live in central Illinois & run a game twice a week. Monday night is PLO & it’s $500 max Thursday night is NLH & we allow the players to buy in for the big stack. As a game runner we want our game to run consistently. If you set your buy in limits too high players can go broke & you could find yourself short on players.