Party NL Tables

[grouchie]

I've been playing the $25NL tables at party for a month or two and have been doing good, but of course there is a constant frustration in see'ing what kinds of hands others are playing and winning with on occasion.
People calling $3+ raises with things like A4 just because it's suited and winning with two pair.
Being that it's a low buy-in you are going to have these things though so if i lose my stack to things like that I just shrug it off and eithor reload if the table is good, or find a new table.

MY question is, are the bigger buy-in NL games different? DO you find less bad calls and bad plays as you move up to the $50NL and $100NL games?

what kind of differences are there as you move up.
any othere differences I should be aware of as I take a stab at moving up?

thank you for your time

[Richie Rich]

At the lower limits, your opponents tend to play more passively with a wider range of hands.

At the higher limits, your opponents tend to play more aggressively with a smaller range of hands. But at the same time, their hand reading abilities are also a bit better.

If you decide to play NL50/NL100, you should have AT LEAST 10 buy-ins to work with. 20 would be even better. Even though the suck-outs and bad beats don't happen quite as often when you move up to the higher limits, they still happen.

[spentrent]

Richie -- you advocate 10 to 20 buy-ins. Is it better to think in terms of buy-ins rather than big blinds? I made my rule 300 big blinds for NL but that doesn't even come close to 10 to 20 buy-ins.

Should I rethink this? I always play the max buy-in at PokerStars, which is double that at Party Poker. Reading your post, I'm now questioning my confidence in my 300 big blind rule...

[LokiV]

300bb is 6 buyins on pokerstars. I started that way and still do it, but be aware you may swing down past 6 buyins if your style leads to high variance.

It is important to know if you can reload your bankroll or if once that's gone you're effectively done. From that you can determine if you're fine with someday losing that bankroll. Ironically (to non-poker minds) the less you want to lose that bankroll, the bigger it should be.

[cornell2005]

[ QUOTE ]
300bb is 6 buyins on pokerstars.

[/ QUOTE ]

300 big blinds is 3 buyins at pokerstars, and 6 at party.

yea richie is right, you need 10-20 buyins.

[LokiV]

[ QUOTE ]
300 big blinds is 3 buyins at pokerstars, and 6 at party.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was referring to BIG BETS, which according to pokertracker is 2x the big blind.

The 300bb rule refers to BIG BETS. Correct?

[Sephus]

you really should have at least ten, if it will be a problem restoring your bankroll should you lose it all, that is. you should expect to have a ten buyin downswing eventually.

[spentrent]

BAD MOJO BAD MOJO!

[Richie Rich]

spentrent- Sounds like you're confusing limit with NL. In limit, the general rule of thumb is that you play with at least 300BB at any given level. In NL, however, we're always speaking in terms of buy-ins.

[fimbulwinter]

[ QUOTE ]
spentrent- Sounds like you're confusing limit with NL. In limit, the general rule of thumb is that you play with at least 300BB at any given level. In NL, however, we're always speaking in terms of buy-ins.

[/ QUOTE ]

with respect to buyins or blinds, they both are relevant variables to consider:

if we're playing $100 NL with 10 and 20 dollar blinds, i'd like a much bigger BR than 10 buyins. conversely, if the blinds are 5c/10c, i'm quite fine playing on just one.

All this discussion of bankroll requirements is much less absolute in NL than in limit; in general the best play in limit poker is known- in NL it's not. If you style is like mine, you will be trading a lot of small pots and winning the occasional big one, so you won't need as big a bankroll (in fact, when i got back into NL after apps, i played with one buyin at interpoker). conversely, if you're playing full ring and nut-peddling, the swings can be much worse (as you play fewer hands for larger pots) so you'd certainly like to have 10+ buyins behind.

The real fact of the matter is this: in general a bigger bankroll will allow you to not play scared thereby taking advantage of slightly +EV situations which carry huge variance that you wouldnt want to get involved with on a short bankroll. if you're ok playing conservative poker, then 5 buyins in a party-like structure is fine, but if you want to push every edge, you'll need many more.