No limit cash game

[ansky451]

Most of the poker I play, is a HE no limit cash game, 40 dollar buy in, 2/4 blinds. I've tried to do some reading on the game to get better, but all i can find about cash games, is for limit poker, and all i can find for no limit, is tourney poker, is there any literature that i can read to improve my game? /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[DcifrThs]

supersystem by doyle brunson.

but 2/4 $40 buy in is nothing. you need to be playing with a bit deeper stacks than that.

what is the normal buy in for that game?

what do YOU buy in for?

i would buy in for $500 at least. 125 bb's. then its kinda a nl game.

-Barron

[ansky451]

I see your point, but im a college student, so im not exactly a high stakes poker player (not yet), and most buy in for 40-100 bucks, so im really not sure if SS concepts apply completely.

[DcifrThs]

well then my friend there are two types of poker you can play:

1) pick good spots and try to get it all in preflop and flop. this will be high variance and good judgement is required.

2) limp alot from late position and make bets when you have it against a loose field on the flop.

3) bet big in late position preflop and follow up if checked to post flop based on reads.

WATCH ALL PLAYERS EVERY TIME THEY DO ANYTHING!! this will give you the necessary info to play as instructed above. clearly i'm not a great nl player but its a start. sorry if it confuses you or if im an idiot.

-Barron

[luqui]

Ugh. I'd never play a $2/$4 NL game with a $40 stack (Well, considering my skill, I wouldn't play a $2/$4 NL game at all, lookin to fix that though). But still, $0.25/$0.50 is the biggest I'd play with that kind of bank. Find yourself some more money or a different game, or suggest different stakes.

[ansky451]

Why is 2/4 too high for 40?

[Eihli]

because you'll only last 7 rounds and if you aren't playing with a full 10 people, that's not very many hands at all. not only that, but a single raise is a large portion of your stack and you'll be going all-in with a pot-sized bet on the flop quite often. $40 with 2-4 blinds just doesn't allow you enough movement. i'd at least try to get them to play .5/1 blinds, but would be much happier with .25/.5.

[Scottnyce]

You only have 10 BB. You should lower the blinds to .5/1 and play with $100 in front of you, it will help the better players in the long run.

Think about this you post the BB for 10% of your stack, so if 5 orbits and don't play a hand you lose half your stack....thats crazy....

Even the party NL/PL games give you 50X BB and its still not enough.

If you think your one of the better players in the game def bring the blinds down.

[fsuplayer]

The blinds are way too high compared to the buy-in for this game.
If the standard preflop raise in NL should be 3-5BB's then with a $40 stack, you raise to $25?!? /images/graemlins/confused.gif
Might as well go all in.
That is why those stacks are way too shallow, there is no room to play, it is probably just all in preflop or on the flop.
If you want to keep your buy in the same ($40), change the blinds to $.25-50, no higher.
BTW I play in a bi, sometimes tri-weekly college game of NLHE and we just moved to $.50-1.00 blinds and the average buy in is $80-$100.
Lowering the blinds should be alot more fun and give the better players more room to manuver (sp.)
FsuPlayer

[turnipmonster]

keep in mind there is no law that says you have to have a small blind and a big blind. you could use a 1-1 or .50-.50 blind structure. if you really want to have a fun NL hold 'em game with a $40 buyin, I recommend .20-.20 blinds.

--turnipmonster

[Scottnyce]

I have a question based off this post....

What if the game stayed with 8 ppl playing...blinds 2-4, 6 ppl buy in for the $40 and another buys in for $60. How much of an advantage would you have if you sat down with lets say $200. Would this be lessened because ppl would just push in their stacks when facing a big raise (ie 3-4X BB)?

[Huskiez]

[ QUOTE ]
is there any literature that i can read to improve my game? /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I ordered it a few days ago, but according to many posters on 2+2, Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker by Reuben and Ciaffone is the best NL book around.

Also those blinds for that buy in are absolutely ridiculous.

[DcifrThs]

still not a big advantage. read jay! vs. diplomat's post for a small idea of what a NL hand should look like.

10/20 blinds, 2000 buy in. 100big blinds. bets of 60 preflop, check check. turn bet of the pot 120, called. check check the river and an unimproved AK (presumably) wins. for a better idea, go read RAY ZEE's post about his AKs adventure in, i think it was, an $18,000 pot against a decent UTG player and a maniac who ends up winning with a q on the river lol, for almost $20,000.
-Barron

[turnipmonster]

well, it doesn't matter if you have 200 or 61, right? covering the table is covering the table. your edge in big bet is how well you read other players, and your willingness to back your read with your money. so if you can read your opponents well enough to make some big calls when they push, you should have an edge, although you'd prefer that they had more money.

the short stacks don't have to be able to play the turn and river well, only preflop and the flop, because they'll never have enough money (as a short stack) to make any meaningful decision. either they are pot stuck or allin by the turn. so assuming you play well postflop, your edge is signifacantly lessened by them not giving themselves enough money to make a big mistake.

when the blinds are high compared to the stacks, it starts to feel like a crapshoot (or a tournament /images/graemlins/smile.gif ) with people going allin preflop with 66 because the blinds are that valuable. this comes up all the time in tournaments, but hardly ever in cash games, where no one really cares about stealing the blinds. of course it comes up a lot in the game the orig poster desccribed, because the blinds are worth something, whereas usually they are of dubious value.

--turnipmonster

[Lunamondo]

No-Limit Texas Holdem by Brad and Tom (the new players series) is the best book for people starting on big bet holdem. It's partly tournament oriented, while their Championship Satellite Strategy book is a tournament book, but as your opponents play with such small stacks it looks to me good (too) but I don't have have it so not sure. You want to know how to play in a game with small stacks. It looks from much part like a move-in game, but I have no experience of such and I am not sure it's even big bet poker.

The game skill might be in picking the best hand and know when it's the best, has the edge, and move all-in, after limpers. Suited connectors and smaller pocket pairs might all become unplayable, until it's a loose game and one gets in cheap, with the pocket pair, while I would prefer to move all-in after limpers with an unsuited slick hand rather than call with it, but that depends of the exact stack sizes. You might find the 1-table tournaments forum somewhat helpful.

Super System is another necessary book for cash games, but it will not fit to your game at all. It has big big stack sizes and is about playing against other top players. But still useful book for cash players when ever one is against such (or a tight) opponent.

Then I have Tom's and T.J.'s Championship No Limit & Pot Limit Hold 'Em that you might find hard to digest but is the third necessary book for cash players.

Pot-Limit & No-Limit Poker by Reuben & Ciaffone has 25 pages of big bet holdem by Ciaffone. Nothing that is not found from the above books. I have no idea why people here think this is worth something.

There is some new book by Reuben, pot-limit holdem. I haven't read it.

Super System 2 will be there at the end of the year and might have something to teach, though I don't expect it.

The theory of poker is of course part of the education about general poker theory, while it wouldn't hurt to have a limit holdem education also as one needs to learn to read flops, boards, situations, hands, opponents, general holdem, general strategy and there's a lot of stuff out there about limit holdem; I think the Middle Limit Holdem Poker by Ciaffone and Brier is good here, though too many examples for my taste.