NLHE blind structure ?

I have a question regarding NLHE a blind structure for a home game. Right now the plan is minimum $75 buy-in, blinds $1-2. Personally I would like to see the blinds at $0.50-$1 or $1-$1, I feel 1-2 is a little high for the size of our stacks; I expect 4-8 players to be in the game. What do others think? Those playing in this home game do not have much experience in designing a structure for the game. Comments are welcome and appreciated.

The UB .10-.25 allows for a $25 buy-in. The .25-.50 allows for a $50 buy-in.


So sounds like 1-2 is high.


.50-1.00 may work fine.


Ken Poklitar

We play $.50/$1.00 blinds with $40 per buyin. It works fine. Higher blinds may be better, but it's not like that structure is a disaster.

I first started playing with $20 buyins and $1/2 blinds heads up or 3 way. Took quite some time to stop playing so aggressively when i moved to lower blinds and bigger stacks. Not necceasrily a bad thing though. However i would say 50c/1 or 1/2 is fine, depending on the number of players.

may I suggest that 3 blinds are better than 2 for at least 3 reasons---that means that there are 50% more players left to act after the button, which is a small reduction to his advantage---it means that one more player is somewhat more apt to see the flop because he allready has some money envolved (thus more action)---it means that there is a little bit more in the pot to start with, making it more worth tring to steal (more action)---and a fourth reason will be found in what I have to say below.


but before I go to next point, let me say that I strongly believe that the majority of players want to play in a game where there is action....that you don't want a game where they just sit there till they get AA for a hand. If you agree with that, then you will see the value of the next suggestion.


blinds of .50 & 1.00 & 2.00 would be great....the more it costs a player to just sit there waiting for the BIG hand, the less likely he is to do so!! thus more action!


apart from all of that, a big blind of 2 is not out of line with your buyin.


good luck with your game

I agree with you. You need to lower your blinds to have a REAL no-limit game. By real, I mean a game where implied odds are there for drawing hands and where everyone will still have a good stack after a reasonable preflop raise.


Ray Zee said a couple of weeks ago that the minimum stack one should have is 100x the BB. That's for the money to be deep. If you are planning on having a minimum buy-in of 75$, I think 0.5-1.00 blinds are the biggest you can go. 1-2 blinds are way too big for stacks of 75$.


Think of it this way, with 1-2 blinds, say there are 3 limpers and you want to raise, you should probably make it 15$ to go or the like. If someone wants to repop you, he practically needs to push his whole stack in, since he'll be committed to the hand anyway. Sure he could reraise to 45$, but he'll only have 30$ left so he's committed.


A poster made a good point about the fun in the game. You'll need to consider this. Players get excited when pots are big. You'll need to decide what is best for your game. Are the players serious players? Then I'd go with 0.25-0.50 blinds so that the stacks are deep and that you get a real feel for the game. If players are going to get bored then 0.5-1.00 blinds sounds ok.


1-2 are too big for NL fun, IMO.


Nicolas Fradet (ThePrince)

To Quote Paul Philips:


In PL (and to a lesser degree in NL), the first raise preflop is meaningless, the second raise has little meaning, but the third raise scares the hell out of me.


So looking at this from a PL perspective (which will generally be the size of a NL raise anyway). The first raise in 1-2 blind game will be to 10 (or 7 if you dont round), the second to 40 (again an estimate). The third raise is all in, and not even a complete raise!!! Lets say you have AK (or QQ) how can you raise, and call a reraise to see a flop when 4/7 of your chips are already committed. You cant ever fold!!! This is where the above quote comes into play. Many people make the second raise as a "move" with a small pair or suited connectors. That play is all but gone in your game, you become pot stuck once you make it. So the result is a socond raise ONLY with a big hand. Not much play there.


This is a huge problem. I think you need to lower the blinds or increase the stack sizes. I like the ldea of lowering the blinds and having 3 of them as someone above stated.

Oh what do you know Mr. Tough Guy Train Driver student at the UW Madison:) You are defintley right. Lets go .50-.50-1 blinds with the first .50 on the button. Sound good Jeff? See ya Friday!


Sheck

based only upon my experience in the various pot limit or no limit games played in Houston


most of the players go to the games ready, willing, and able to make multiple buyins...which means that after the game has been going for awhile there is apt to be a substantial increase in the number of chips on the table


if this is reasonable, then why the great concern about getting the blinds so low in relation to a single buyin????if it was a tournament with no rebuys, then I could agree

this is interesting, when thinking back on the very small no-limit i have played. it has basically been in low-buyin tournaments. the structure started everybody with $200 in tournament chips and blinds of $5/$10. is it that those blinds were too high? or is $1-$2 about right? i think 1-2 is ok, personally. .50-1.00 is ok i guess.