NL hold em home game with antes not blinds
 

I just got invited to a NL home game by a friend of a friend. The game will be 6-8 handed and use antes instead of blinds that increase as players get knocked out. I have never played without blinds before but this appears to be a fun/profitable game. Has anyone ever played in a tourney like this before? Should I be raising more preflop with this setup? Should I treat a late raise with more/less respect because of this? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Re: NL hold em home game with antes not blinds
 

You have to raise more PF because people will have odds to call with a lot, in late position limp with just about anything.

Sounds like these pots could get huge, if the antes aren't miniscule.

-d

Re: NL hold em home game with antes not blinds
 

sounds interesting. Is it a tournament? what do you mean by "knocked out?" My first guess would be that this will be a loose game b/c of everyone getting antes+bet/raise:1 to call. If it's a tight game, try to steal the antes. I don't know, I've never played HE this way so you'll probably just have to feel out the table texture and structure. One thing i would do is stay away from min. raises b/c there is already pretty much 2:1 to call for the person behind you, the antes effectively become a coldcall at that point and give odds to call.

Re: NL hold em home game with antes not blinds
 

It is indeed a tournament. One thing I left out but have now learned is that it is winner takes all as well. I agree my guess is that they moved to antes to play more hands so the action will probably be loose. I also agree about the min raises. It looks like people start with $100 in chips and the antes start at $1 and double after a player is eliminated. The min raise would be $1 but the pot will be $6 already so that seems pretty useless. The pot size would be the same as $4 big blind if there are 6 players so I was going to try to base my raises off that.

Re: NL hold em home game with antes not blinds
 

The other differences will be
1) there is no BB to "defend". Since everyone only has a $1 invested, you may be able to steal a little more. From the button you should think about stealing every time since everyone (include what should be the blinds) have checked an no one is getting a discount to call.
2) The opposite side of this is (I'm assuming it is not bet or fold), when 5 people check you have 5 potential slow players. Normally you only have to worry if there are limpers.
3) You may get some "family pots" when no one raises PF.