Cash Game Help a noob with some mixed limit games and rules (1 Viewer)

[saleen121212]

Back story - we only play nlhe and I'm ready to mix it up sometimes. I just ordered 1000 black 8vs and have plenty of other to use as value chips. My crew currently plays 25c/25c with 20 min buy in and the typical for a night being 50 to 60 total each if losing.

So I'd like to do a mixed limit game with 25c/50c blinds. 25 min buy in gets 100 black quarters.

What I need to know.

1) how many different games is too many?
2) what limits to use for each?
3) which games will make a fun night without overwhelming?
4) any other advice or tips...

Here are some cards from the resources I saved based on what sounds fun/funny and I had seen others playing on here.

 

[BGinGA]

Scrotum Hi/Lo is the greatest split-pot game ever. Plays very well as Limit, Pot-Limit, or tournament (either variation), and can be played either 4-card or 5-card (my personal preference). No mixed-game home rotation should be without it.

 

[saleen121212]

Scrotum Hi/Lo is the greatest split-pot game ever. Plays very well as Limit, Pot-Limit, or tournament (either variation), and can be played either 4-card or 5-card (my personal preference). No mixed-game home rotation should be without it.

I didn't include the high/low variances as there would be a million cards in the op, but this is the info I'm looking for.

I am hoping to do limit everything except regular holdem.

Running game list:
1) full rotation of nlhe to start the night and get everyone a few drinks in them
2) start mixed games (dealer choice or orbit)
3) scrotum high/low8 with 5 hole cards
4) maybe some double board variation?
5) I'd like to atleast play thermonuclear armagedon pineapple a few times because it sounds funny and fun as hell

 

[saleen121212]

Would these limits be OK? 4x small blind preflop and after flop and 8x turn and river? So 1 dollar pre/post and 2 dollars next two streets?

How does raising work? For instance I open to max 4x preflop = 1 dollar, can the next person raise or is that the total limit pre?

 

[Shaggy]

I think easing into the circus games is the way to go. I think diving in to all of the mixed game cards would really slow down the night (explaining games and what not).

I recommend playing one or two preselected non-Hold’em games for an hour or so prior to your normal Hold’em game. Alternatively, host a small buy in tournament of one of the less circusy games (plo, razz, plo8). This will get your players accustomed to playing non Hold’em without the confusion of so many wild games.

I eased my players into non Hold’em games this way a few years ago with a plo tourney. This transitioned into plo cash for the first two hours of my 7 hour monthly game. Then came introducing HORSE games (one at a time) for an hour to start my normal Hold’em game. Once we had played all of the games once (over several months) I then hosted a HORSE game. I have since followed this process to introduce a few more games... SOHE, 2-7 Triple Draw, Badugi, Short Deck.

We just had a ten game fixed rotation mix last night. Went well.

 

[saleen121212]

I think easing into the circus games is the way to go. I think diving in to all of the mixed game cards would really slow down the night (explaining games and what not).

I recommend playing one or two preselected non-Hold’em games for an hour or so prior to your normal Hold’em game. Alternatively, host a small buy in tournament of one of the less circusy games (plo, razz, plo8). This will get your players accustomed to playing non Hold’em without the confusion of so many wild games.

I eased my players into non Hold’em games this way a few years ago with a plo tourney. This transitioned into plo cash for the first two hours of my 7 hour monthly game. Then came introducing HORSE games (one at a time) for an hour to start my normal Hold’em game. Once we had played all of the games once (over several months) I then hosted a HORSE game. I have since followed this process to introduce a few more games... SOHE, 2-7 Triple Draw, Badugi, Short Deck.

We just had a ten game fixed rotation mix last night. Went well.

Good point. My nits barely know holdem. They just like gambling so I figure some mixed action randomness might be right up their ally. We have one guy who ends the night going all in blind until there are no takers or his stacks is gone no matter his much he has left. With him we might as well be betting on a coin flip sometimes.

 

[JustinInMN]

I would agree with staying off the circus of they already on the nitty side. Every game is a variation on hold'em, stud, or draw.

I think the simplest rotation is hold'em-stud-omaha.

I would say .50/1 limit would be the equivalent risk level. (Blinds of .25-.50 or .25 ante, .25 low force in stud). So have your value chips stand for quarters and have some 5 dollar cash chips for color ups.

If this simple rotation is scary then I doubt they will get to circus games.

Good luck!

 

[ranger764]

Following

 

[power13]

Sounds like your group doesn't have much experience outside of holdem, so I would agree that taking it slow is key. They may like to gamble but if they don't understand the games they may lose interest pretty quickly and pressure to go back to holdem. So I wouldn't recommend jumping in the deep end with SOHE and stuff that builds on other games that may be unfamiliar. Crazy pineapple isnt my favorite but I think it's the best first step - very easy for holdem players to grasp. Double board holdem is also good for introducing that variation and the concept of split pots. Then PLO and once everyone is accustomed to that you have the building blocks for most of the other games.

 

[v1pe]

Don't rush the games, if these guys haven't even played Omaha you have to start with the basics. Start with limit hold em so they get used to the limit betting structure and start to understand that it's more of a drawing game than NLHE.

Mix in some limit Omaha and/or 7 card stud next (I recommend Missippi Stud because there are fewer rounds of betting and there is no open pair big bet option on 4th street). Play at least a few orbits of each of these games.

Hold'em, Omaha, and Stud are the foundation for the majority of mixed games (draw poker too, but I think most people are pretty familiar with draw and pick it up quickly). I might even suggest you stick to flop games only (no stud or draw) on your first foray. There are plenty of Omaha and hold'em variations to keep things interesting and they are more familiar to the hold em mind.

You also need to work slowly into the hi/lo split games. Hi/lo is a very foreign concept to most hold'em players and can take some time to fully understand.

HOPE is a good starter rotation for a limit game IMO. Hold'em, Omaha, Pineapple (usually means crazy pineapple), and Omaha8 (hi/lo).

 

[saleen121212]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think I'll start with some holdem and maybe a few hands of something random then teach them plo for a building block (need to learn pot limit rules myself)

@k9dr @detroitdad I think you guys play lots of mixed games right?

 

[detroitdad]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think I'll start with some holdem and maybe a few hands of something random then teach them plo for a building block (need to learn pot limit rules myself)

@k9dr @detroitdad I think you guys play lots of mixed games right?

yes sir

 

[saleen121212]

yes sir

Any tips on your favorite game and teaching them? I'll be printing the cards and laminating them from the op. I'll also send them to my friends soon to study and see what they think.

 

[detroitdad]

I normally host .25/.50, 100 max buy in. Rebuys are 100, or half the deep stack. The main other rule is all games are played either Pot Limit or No Limit. Oh, and also no wild card games.

I don't "like" all the games that get called. Its dealers choice night, so fuck it. I'll play about anything that falls within the parameters from above.

Some of my personal favorites are Scrotum hi/lo, SOHE, Big O, Draw2maha, and Double Board PLO (I mean, hell, I had custom double board chips created lol).

Some of the games that I don't like, but get called frequently is 3-2-1 and Pitch and Roll Tahoe.

NLHE hold'em usually gets called once during the evening. We mostly play pot limit games.

 

[moose]

Your limits are too high. .25/.50 blinds is .50/1 limit which is too high for $20 buyins.

Go with your standard .25/.25 blinds and .25/.50 limit.

 

[saleen121212]

Your limits are too high. .25/.50 blinds is .50/1 limit which is too high for $20 buyins.

Go with your standard .25/.25 blinds and .25/.50 limit.

Thanks moose and Detroit. I'm concerned if I limit betting to 25c they will get bored. We play 20 dollar buy in nlhe 25c/25c and the preflop bets are 3 dollars almost every hand with some pots getting to 40 plus constantly. It's hard to please everyone but 3 of my guys make a ton of money and are barely interested in quarter blinds. They just call everything because "it's only a dollar or whatever" then we have others that don't want to lose 50 or 100 a week (including me). Finding the balancing point to keep. Everyone interested with limit is going to be tricky.

 

[JustinInMN]

Your limits are too high. .25/.50 blinds is .50/1 limit which is too high for $20 buyins.

20 dollar buy in is 20 big bets at .50/1 limit. It's equivalent to buying into a 2/4 game for 80, which is enough to maneuver. People buy into 3/6 limit (not me) for only 100.

Really I think the risk is closer in equivalency by going .50/1.

 

[saleen121212]

20 dollar buy in is 20 big bets at .50/1 limit. It's equivalent to buying into a 2/4 game for 80, which is enough to maneuver. People buy into 3/6 limit (not me) for only 100.

Really I think the risk is closer in equivalency by going .50/1.

Good point and the min buy in for this would be 25, with most probably doing 40 or 50.

 

[saleen121212]

One thing I still haven't figured out. If the pre flop limit is 1 dollar. Guy in front of me bets 1 dollar. Can I raise or only call? I'd I can raise another dollar, how many raises per betting round do we allow?

 

[DoubleEagle]

I think the simplest rotation is hold'em-stud-omaha.

Would love it if my group would do this!

 

[JustinInMN]

In fix limit usually the limit indicates the amount of each bet or raise and a max of either 3 or 4 raises.

So if you play .50/1 limit. The bets and raises are .50 before and on the flop and 1 on the turn and river. (In stud the small limit applies to 3rd and 4th streets and the big limit on 5th and beyond.)

So it's .50 preflop to call or a raise to 1. After a raise to 1 subsequent players may call or raise to 1.50, and so on. In a 3 raise cap then 2.00 stops all raising, in a 4 raise cap it stops at 2.50. All of this doubles after the turn.

 

[churlbut18]

One thing I still haven't figured out. If the pre flop limit is 1 dollar. Guy in front of me bets 1 dollar. Can I raise or only call? I'd I can raise another dollar, how many raises per betting round do we allow?

First of all, if the pre-flop limit is $1 as you state, then you’re playing $1/$2 limit. In $1/$2, all bets and raises pre-flop and post-flop are in increments of $1 (small bet). Then after the turn and river all bets and raises are in increments of $2 (big bet). So yes, if the guy in front of you bets $1 in $1/$2 limit pre-flop, then you can raise to $2. Raises are usually capped at 3 (maybe 4) per betting round.

 

[v1pe]

One thing I still haven't figured out. If the pre flop limit is 1 dollar. Guy in front of me bets 1 dollar. Can I raise or only call? I'd I can raise another dollar, how many raises per betting round do we allow?

Typically each street is capped at 4 bets, unless heads up and then it's uncapped.

So bet-raise-raise-raise...meaning the max bet/call per street would be $2 preflop and on the flop, and $4 on the turn and river, assuming 50c/$1.

For clarity preflop and flop would go bet 50c, raise to $1, raise to $1.50, raise to $2, now 4 bets are in and no more raises can be made.

 

[ReallyGoodUsername]

Thanks @saleen121212 for creating this thread. I'm in the same boat and will definitely be bookmarking this!

 

[churlbut18]

My group plays strictly limit. $2/$4 or $3/$6. Here is the simple rotation we absolutely love and works great for those who are used to playing only Hold’em.

Hold’em
Double-Board Hold’em
Omaha
Double-Board Omaha
SOHE

Start with Hold’em. Then introduce double board to get a split pot variation. Then introduce Omaha to get a 4 card game in the mix. Then double board that. And then throw in SOHE which is just Hold’em and Omaha at the same time. Easy. I stay away from hi-lo games and stud variants.

 

[DoubleEagle]

My group plays strictly limit. $2/$4 or $3/$6. Here is the simple rotation we absolutely love and works great for those who are used to playing only Hold’em.

Hold’em
Double-Board Hold’em
Omaha
Double-Board Omaha
SOHE

Start with Hold’em. Then introduce double board to get a split pot variation. Then introduce Omaha to get a 4 card game in the mix. Then double board that. And then throw in SOHE which is just Hold’em and Omaha at the same time. Easy. I stay away from hi-lo games and stud variants.

I’m in!

 

[v1pe]

My group plays strictly limit. $2/$4 or $3/$6. Here is the simple rotation we absolutely love and works great for those who are used to playing only Hold’em.

Hold’em
Double-Board Hold’em
Omaha
Double-Board Omaha
SOHE

Start with Hold’em. Then introduce double board to get a split pot variation. Then introduce Omaha to get a 4 card game in the mix. Then double board that. And then throw in SOHE which is just Hold’em and Omaha at the same time. Easy. I stay away from hi-lo games and stud variants.

Do you play with a kill?

 

[churlbut18]

For those not familiar with limit, I’ll simplify, using $2/$4 Limit as the example.

In $2/$4 limit, you would typically use $1 chips which represents a 2 chip, 4 chip structure, which is much preferred over a 1 chip 2 chip structure like $1/$2 with $1 chips.

The small blind is $1 (half of a small bet) and the big blind is $2 (1 small bet). The small bet is $2 and the big bet is $4. All bets and raises pre-flop and post-flop are in small bet increments ($2). All bets and raises on the turn and river are in big bet increments ($4).

Typical buy in would be 25 x the big bet, in this case $100 (25 x $4).

Ideal starting stacks would consist of 100 chips ($1) per player ($100 buy in).

Betting rounds are typically capped at 4 bets (unless heads up).

All of the above will apply to different limit stakes. You just need to adjust. $0.50/$1, $1/$2, $2/$4, $3/$6, $4/$8, and so on...

 

[churlbut18]

Do you play with a kill?

Yes, always! We play $2/$4 limit with a half kill to $3/$6 rather than a full kill to $4/$8. And because we hate counting pots, our qualifier to activate the kill is simply having the same player win 2 pots in a row where both hands at least see the flop. And the kill stays activated until another player wins a hand. Adds some excitement.

 

[saleen121212]

For those not familiar with limit, I’ll simplify, using $2/$4 Limit as the example.

In $2/$4 limit, you would typically use $1 chips which represents a 2 chip, 4 chip structure, which is much preferred over a 1 chip 2 chip structure like $1/$2 with $1 chips.

The small blind is $1 (half of a small bet) and the big blind is $2 (1 small bet). The small bet is $2 and the big bet is $4. All bets and raises pre-flop and post-flop are in small bet increments ($2). All bets and raises on the turn and river are in big bet increments ($4).

Typical buy in would be 25 x the big bet, in this case $100 (25 x $4).

Ideal starting stacks would consist of 100 chips ($1) per player ($100 buy in).

Betting rounds are typically capped at 4 bets (unless heads up).

All of the above will apply to different limit stakes. You just need to adjust. $0.50/$1, $1/$2, $2/$4, $3/$6, $4/$8, and so on...

Wow. Lots of good info and now I need to learn what a kill is lol. So to take what you said.. We could do 50c/$1 limit with 25 buy in? Blinds would be 25c/50c? Am I saying that right?