Cash Game Lowering stakes based on buyin tendencies? (1 Viewer)

[Regularjohn]

Even tho I'm not running any games right now....but was thinking about this today.

I usually run a .25/.50 game, and half of the guys buy in for 25. Because of this I was thinking about lowering the stakes to .25/.25 and keep the min/max buyins the same (25 and 50). Would assume the avg raise would turn into $1 as well.

anyone have experience with this?

 

[RichMahogany]

I’d raise the stakes so their $25 buy in would be that much shorter, but that’s just me

That’ll teach em!

 

[RichMahogany]

Jokes aside, have you talked to your group about it? Seems worth a shot

 

[Eloe2000]

My standard weekly game is .25/.25 $40 8-10 players beer league type game. It seems to play well. Seems like .25/.50 $25 is a bit short stacked to me. I would either change the blinds or buy-in. If you are seeing heavy action and a lot of rebuys then its time to raise the buy-in. Otherwise I would drop the blinds.

 

[JMC9389]

For whatever my opinion is worth, any starting stack under 100 big blinds in a cash game is not enough. Those games that start below that tend to devolve into shove fests pretty quickly and doesn't really reward skill over the long stretch.

If your players are comfortable only buying in for $25, run a 0.25/0.25 game. The buy in goes further and the game is a lot more fun and skill based.

 

[Pinesol13]

Only way to know is to try it and see how it goes. I did this, had a 25c/50c game but I knew a few guys were right on the edge of being uncomfortable at that level. So I hosted a 10c/20c game and it was a lot of fun. The guys who like playing 25c/50c did not care about going down in stakes (your results may differ), they did play a little more loose than normal.

Pre covid I was hosting regular 10c/20c and 25c/50c games, with the occasional $1/$2 game.

 

[TwoHomie]

Unless people have a specific commitment to playing those stakes, I’d definitely advocate for lowering them to .25/.25. Deeper stacked poker is more fun and generally promotes looser play. Allow and encourage a straddle to .50 for people that want to keep the stakes higher

 

[Coyote]

For whatever my opinion is worth, any starting stack under 100 big blinds in a cash game is not enough. Those games that start below that tend to devolve into shove fests pretty quickly and doesn't really reward skill over the long stretch.

If your players are comfortable only buying in for $25, run a 0.25/0.25 game. The buy in goes further and the game is a lot more fun and skill based.

This^^^
If people are not willing to buy-in for even somewhere close to 100BBs the stakes are too high (again, lowering them, risks making every pot a family pot and, hence, a lottery).
An intermediate solution which is hard to achieve in the US, because of the curse of the 'quarter' is playing 1/3 dimes, with buy-ins ranging from $20 to $40 (66.6 to 133BBs).
By the way, I never allow straddles in my house.

 

[Shaggy]

One issue you may encounter when you lower the blinds... is that pre flop raises may still be to the same amount they were when you played 25c/50c... effectively negating your attempted fix. I find that people tend to get accustomed to certain bet sizes regardless of the blinds... to a certain extent. You won’t know until you try it... definitely talk to your players first.