I'd probably start out with a $2 or $3 rock for your $0.50 to $1 game.
As for what physical 'thing' can be the rock, I've seen all of the following:
- an actual rock -- that game used smooth, somewhat flat, river bed type rock that was bigger than a poker chip, but smaller than a playing card.
- several cheap plastic chips superglued together to make a 'thick' poker chip
- small figurine or toy of some sort.
- A casino chip in an air-tite case
And I found an
older post of mine about games that have used a rock.
Yes. The rock is a mandatory straddle, and it represents a dollar value. (it could be $5 in a 1/2 game, or $10 in a $1/2, $1/3, or $2/5) The rules of "the rock" depends on the house rules. I've seen different variations. I've seen both of the scenarios above.
I've played in a couple 1/2 and 1/3 'home' games with a rock where a straddle was allowed either UTG or on the button, and the player who won a pot with the rock can choose to wait until either of those positions to post the rock, but the rule was he had to post it by 1 complete round, or he had to pass the rock to the next player.
The Aria Casino used a rock in a 2/5 PLO game, where the rock was an actual $10 chip in a round air-tite plastic case on the table. It was mandatory straddle each and every hand, and it basically just increased the game stakes to 2/5/10 PLO. The player who won the last pot would put the rock out, then pre-flop betting action started left of that player.
In the first scenario, the game stakes only increase once or twice a round, on average, because the rock is only used in the UTG and/or Button straddle. The rock could end up being used more often, if players in early position win the pot, then they need to post it by their BB. If the UTG+1 player wins the pot 3 hands in a row, you could have the rock being used 3 times in a row UTG, but this is rare.
It does juice up the action and can be fun. Some players even add chips on top of the rock to make the straddle even larger. I recall one player would commonly add any spare $1 chips he had to the rock, which was usually between 1 and 4 chips, but a couple times he had about 15 to 20 $1s chips, and they all went out with the rock as the straddle.
