How strict are you with your re-buy/re-load rules? (1 Viewer)

[TheYeti]

At the .25/.50 NLHE game I host, the max buy-in is $100 and you can re-load your stack up to $100 at any time you are not actively involved in a hand.

It's happened a few times now where a player will be down to like $26 and only has $20 bills so he asks "Can I just add-on another $80?" making his stack $106. I've always thought this wasn't a big deal and I say "yeah, that's cool". I figure it's just easier than taking time out of the game and trying to make change from the bank. As long as it's +/-$10, I'm pretty OK with it.

What do you guys do? Are you real sticklers when it comes to re-loading? Or, do you bend the rule a little to make it faster/easier?

 

[CraigT78]

We have a match the stack rebuy rule for our $1/$1 circus game and it's always an estimate. I look at the big stack and usually round down to the nearest $100.

Not at all a stickler, but not allowing someone to buy in for $600 if the big stack is $516

 

[CraigT78]

At the .25/.50 NLHE game I host, the max buy-in is $100 and you can re-load your stack up to $100 at any time you are not actively involved in a hand.

It's happened a few times now where a player will be down to like $26 and only has $20 bills so he asks "Can I just add-on another $80?" making his stack $106. I've always thought this wasn't a big deal and I say "yeah, that's cool". I figure it's just easier than taking time out of the game and trying to make change from the bank. As long as it's +/-$10, I'm pretty OK with it.

What do you guys do? Are you real sticklers when it comes to re-loading? Or, do you bend the rule a little to make it faster/easier?

In your example, I'm doing it the same way. I don't want to waste my time counting a stack to the nearest $1. And I also don't want to fumble through the bank bag looking for exact change. I'm rounding to the $20 here, all day, every day.

 

[cpac54]

We have a match the stack rebuy rule for our $1/$1 circus game and it's always an estimate. I look at the big stack and usually round down to the nearest $100.

Not at all a stickler, but not allowing someone to buy in for $600 if the big stack is $516

We play .25/.50 and .50/1.00 and also do big stack matching. As a host, I do it the same as you.

 

[Highli99]

In my online game it’s a strict $100 max enforced by the app. In my live home game I always allow generous rounding and also play up to half the big stack, which also is rounded generously and to make the buys easier.

If a guy is stuck $600 I am not going to count down a winners $1kish stack to see if he can rebuy for $462 or $500. I just let him in for the $500. Those decisions are based on the experience of the players in my game and their comfort with the stakes and typical win/loss situation. If your players are at stakes too high you’ve got to protect the game.

 

[toothpic]

For our smaller social game, we generally follow the guidlines on buyings but we ballpark it closely. We won't take it down to the individual dollar but also won't let someone go grotesquely over. It's a 0.25/0.50 game but we let people match half the big stack.

Same rule applies for the 1/2 game we get once in a while.

 

[ArielVer18]

Pretty strict. My max buy-in 300bb, which is high enough that a few extra chips over shouldn't make much of a difference. However, not everyone on the table would agree, so the default ruling is to strictly enforce the max buy-in.

For the player in my crew that habitually wants to buy-in more than the max, no, you cannot take the excess off the table. That's how I end up with missing chips.

 

[AWenger]

At the .25/.50 NLHE game I host, the max buy-in is $100 and you can re-load your stack up to $100 at any time you are not actively involved in a hand.

It's happened a few times now where a player will be down to like $26 and only has $20 bills so he asks "Can I just add-on another $80?" making his stack $106. I've always thought this wasn't a big deal and I say "yeah, that's cool". I figure it's just easier than taking time out of the game and trying to make change from the bank. As long as it's +/-$10, I'm pretty OK with it.

What do you guys do? Are you real sticklers when it comes to re-loading? Or, do you bend the rule a little to make it faster/easier?

For something as minor as this, you could ask the players at the table -- if no one at the table objects, then modifying the rules here is fine. If there's any objection, though, stick by the original rules.

 

[MatB]

1/2 or match big stack seems typical.

I typically buy in for the minimum fold a lot and play candy crush on my phone until the pizza shows up.

 

[CraigT78]

1/2 or match big stack seems typical.

I typically buy in for the minimum fold a lot and play candy crush on my phone until the pizza shows up.

Short stacks?

 

[MatB]

Short stacks?

Don’t summon the pancake king !

 

[jcooper911]

My game is a little different when it comes to this.

Our initial buy ins are $100 and all future buy ins must also be $100, with adding on of $100 if your stack is under 30 bucks.

I do it like this because if a lesser player runs up a bigger stack, I don’t want the better players all buying in super deep to stack him in one hand. Keeps the casual game flowing and helps players who sometimes don’t win keep their victory some nights.

To be fair, people often run their 3rd/4th $100 buy in up to the big stack, cos we play a splashy game, but figured I’d share our way!

 

[Nine_high]

At the .25/.50 NLHE game I host, the max buy-in is $100 and you can re-load your stack up to $100 at any time you are not actively involved in a hand.

It's happened a few times now where a player will be down to like $26 and only has $20 bills so he asks "Can I just add-on another $80?" making his stack $106. I've always thought this wasn't a big deal and I say "yeah, that's cool". I figure it's just easier than taking time out of the game and trying to make change from the bank. As long as it's +/-$10, I'm pretty OK with it.

What do you guys do? Are you real sticklers when it comes to re-loading? Or, do you bend the rule a little to make it faster/easier?

.25/.50, I allow $20-$100 buy ins all night. I don't count someone's stack down to the quarter if they want to add on, as long as it's within a few bucks no problem.

My guys rarely add on, they are more likely to felt then rebuys a whole new stack. So I'm pretty much enforcing it on myself

 

[surfik]

very

 

[Machine]

If they are under $10 bucks I’ll let it play if not I’ll ask them to put the plaque on the rail, it’s not been a big issue- but 2x the buyin isn’t happen

 

[JoeBGo]

Buy in for whatever you want, add to your stack anytime you’re not in a hand for whatever you want, rebuy for whatever you want.

 

[merkong]

 

[LeLe]

As a banker, I allow a rough estimate to the nearest $50 or $100 because it way easy to account for the money when people are buying in for

$100 ,$300, $450 as compared to $104, $287, $442

 

[upNdown]

My initial answer was going to be “probably not strict enough.” Because although my .25/.50 has a $100 max or half the big stack rule, it tends to be loosely enforced, especially later in the night.
But I pay attention to what happens and what’s happened. And I try to talk to players afterward, privately, if I’m concerned about the amounts of the rebuys. Honestly, even if you stay within the half-stack rule, the rebuys could still be too much, depending on who’s involved.

In my live home game I always allow generous rounding and also play up to half the big stack, which also is rounded generously and to make the buys easier.

If a guy is stuck $600 I am not going to count down a winners $1kish stack to see if he can rebuy for $462 or $500. I just let him in for the $500. Those decisions are based on the experience of the players in my game and their comfort with the stakes and typical win/loss situation.

I think that’s where I’m at.
I’ve been lucky so far with my mix of players. They guys who tend to play with bigger stacks don’t tend to use those stacks to bully. And the guys who tend to play with shorter stacks seem to be comfortable playing their games.
But I try to keep paying attention and watching for problems.

 

[Hot Nuts]

Pretty simple in my game. We play for low stakes. $.25/.$50 max buy in 100 big blinds = $50. Rebuy up to half of big stack. Most will buy in or rebuy for $40. Never announced the amount for rebuys. Maybe I should start. Chips stacks with higher denoms in front which I "try" to enforce so folks should be able to tell stack sizes regardless if announced or not. Shouldn't everyone look at stack sizes before betting anyway?