Need Help Setting Up A NL Ring Game

[jtnt1096]

A friend of mind suggested we setup a small stakes NL ring game in addition to our weekly $20 NL tourney.

We are thinking of having the blinds be .10 and .20 with a maximum buy-in of $20.

My question is this. When can players rebuy? Do they have to wait until they have nothing or can they rebuy at any time up to the max? For example: If a player is at $10, can he rebuy back up to the $20 maximum or does he need to wait until he has $0 to do it?

Also, beings the maximum buyin is $20, I am assuming the only time a player can be above $20 in chips is if he was winnings that put him above the $20, is that correct?

I apologize if these are basic questions, but we usually don't play ring games and just want to be sure things go smoothly and correctly.

Thanks.

[fimbulwinter]

in a cash game you can rebuy to the limit whenever you want. some casinos have rules against this, but in general, you are entitled to have $20, or whatever, at the table if you so desire. to get over 20 you'll have to win it.

fim

[Brothernod]

I would reccomend .25/.50 over .1/.2 as in my home game no one respected a $.40 rent and every hand was a family flop.

we do $10 - $20 buy in .25/.50 which I keep saying is a bit short stacked, but the reality is we'd lose to many of the bad players if they could drop $40 in a hand. They don't feel as bad dropping $20 and rebuying.

As far as rebuys, make sure it's stated you can't rebuy in the middle of a hand. That's an obvious no no.

I also personally like to have a leaving in an hour declaration to make sure someone doesn't win a big pot and leave. I would reccomend some sort of minimum time to leave after declaring you wanna go. It just makes things a bit friendlier in the long run.

[phil_ivey_fan]

[ QUOTE ]
I would reccomend .25/.50 over .1/.2 as in my home game no one respected a $.40 rent and every hand was a family flop.

we do $10 - $20 buy in .25/.50 which I keep saying is a bit short stacked, but the reality is we'd lose to many of the bad players if they could drop $40 in a hand. They don't feel as bad dropping $20 and rebuying.

As far as rebuys, make sure it's stated you can't rebuy in the middle of a hand. That's an obvious no no.

I also personally like to have a leaving in an hour declaration to make sure someone doesn't win a big pot and leave. I would reccomend some sort of minimum time to leave after declaring you wanna go. It just makes things a bit friendlier in the long run.

[/ QUOTE ]

agreed on all points...especially keeping the buy in low to attract the bad players.

[messenger309]

If you don't want to go as high as .25/.50, consider .25/.25 blinds if there are fewer than 7 people. That's what I do for mt game. My game is a $25 max buyin NLHE but I am thinking about doing away with the max, it doesn't seem to matter much, the blinds control the stakes.

BTW, players in my game feel free to win big and go home. Preventing someone from cashing out is kinda odd.

Rob

[jtr]

I agree with Rob: let the guy run home with his big score if he wants. He can run but he can't hide: it's all one big game anyway.

[DavidC]

Hey J,

I suggest blinds of .05/.10 rather than the .10/.20, so you get super-huge stacks in relation to the blinds. It makes for better poker.

I also suggest that you say that you can buy to the max at any time. The only reason to avoid this is to gain experience playing small stacks. However, since you play in the tourney, you already get tons of short-stack experience.

You're right about the person with $25 having won the $5 (as a minimum, assuming no rebuy), given a max buy-in of $20.

The best poker experience is set blinds with no max buy in, with minimum buy in being 50xbb. However, it becomes a pretty serious game when you do that.

There's no such thing as "going correctly": you just have to adapt to the game rules as they're set, and "going smoothly" is much more important with friends.

Take care, and have fun.
--Dave.

[DavidC]

I've never seen anyone leave after winning a big pot, unless they said upfront that they were leaving before the hand was dealt. Never. Most people feel kinda obligated to stick around for a bit when they're winning.

[Brothernod]

Depends on the environment. I play at my college. So we have about 20 people that randomly make up our 10 person games. Some of these people play maybe once every couple weeks or less. And some of those people do that cause they can't afford to lose.

I'm just saying it's extremely frustrating when you get a bad beat for your stack from a bad player......... and then he gets up and leaves.

If you have an open game you can't control the types that come to sit, so I don't see the harm of having a leave declaration rule, just the benefit.


And as far as .05/.10. It only makes for good poker in theory. I haven't played the .01/.02 tables on stars but from what I hear people make 200x blinds bets like it's nothing. Point being that the bets have to have value. Everyone will call a 10 cent blind... that's not good poker. Unless you have a group of players who are serious about playing poker to play poker in which you don't even need money.

[DavidC]

The key isn't making the blinds big enough that people won't limp... the key is making the blinds small enough that your raises take on more value as a portion of your stack against the blinds that you have to play.

Playing with low blinds means that you can limp in with a lot of hands, look for a read, and exploit it, as a good player.