Foxwoods 5/10 & 10/20 Kill Pot

[Charlie V.]

I'm a regular low-limit player at Foxwoods making my way up to the mid-limit range. At Foxwoods, the 5/10 game has a kill when the pot reaches over $100, changing the limits to 10/20 until a sub-$100 pot is won. I've been a regular 4/8 player for quite some time and looking for any advice on this 5/10 - 10/20 kill game.

I own the majority of the 2+2 books, but was surprised to not see anything written about kill pots. Any advice on this type of game before I sit at the table? Should I sit with a 10/20 bankroll? Or somewhere in between 5/10 & 10/20?

Thanks for any input.

Charlie

[AviD]

Sit with enough to cover the 10/20 play. Nothing worse than getting the nuts in a huge pot and not having enough to cover the streets, right? It's the same game, just different limits and as many will say here...the FW games are good, very good. The 5/10 kill is a really good game, especially if you want to feel out the higher 10/20 limit and get some experience at it.

My advice, just play your game...5/10, 10/20...with the average FW crowd, it doesn't matter...don't let it phase you. The caliber of player at those levels isn't different by much at all if anything, and in this game you are playing with the same people. Don't sweat it, enjoy it.

Good luck! [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[mosch]

The game is fantastic, and has the added bonus that you'll get used to playing 10/20.

I'd suggest you just buy-in for a rack and go from there. If you're doing fine in the 4/8 game, you'll hold your own at the 5/10.

[Rulnick]

The games are usually very good and once in a while you will play on a table where the kill button never seems to leave, making it for all intents and purposes a 10/20 game with 200+ pots on almost every hand. With these kind of pots just stick to your game and you will do fine in the long run.

As I'm sure you're used to playing 4/8 you will start to see the same faces on the 5/10 tables as you play and this helps to adjust your game to the given table. I have played this game where the kill button doesn't appear for an hour and as mentioned before when it never leaves.

Hope to see you on the tables, I'm there every Monday and Friday.

[bobbyi]

I used to play that game pretty often. I think that kill structure (particularly the fact that it is based on pot size) creates some interesting situations. As an example, if I am on the button and have a drawing hand that is borderline between raising and calling behind several limpers, I would be much more inclined to raise in that game than in a game with no kill. The raise is about neutral EV-wise, but it will vastly increase the chance that the next hand--where I will still be in late position--will played at double stakes. Making the games higher stakes more often when you are in late position is good for you and is a good way to ease into getting comfortable playing $10/20.

[Charlie V.]

Thanks guys for the advice... This is exactly the kind of info I needed. The thought of raising to make the kill when I'm in late position (assuming the play is statistically even) didn't even cross my mind. I've been a comfortable winner at 4/8 the last year or so... looking forward to playing this game. I'm there almost every Friday all night. Hope to see some of you there sometime. Thanks!

[bobbyi]

Here are two other pieces of advice for this game:
A lot of people play differently during kill hands than non-kill hands. Some people play looser during the kill hands because they salivate at the thought of winning one of those giant pots (especially if it will get them even, turn this session into their biggest win ever, etc.) but are able to maintain their discipline during non-kill hands. Other people play tighter during kill hands becuase they are scared of the stakes. They are wiling to make a loose call on the turn for $10 hoping to hit a lucky river card, but loose the nerve when it costs $20 even if the pot they will win is twice as large. You should figure out how each player plays during both the kill and the non-kill rounds. Effectively, you should be keeping two profiles for each player in your head rather than one.

If no one has yet entered the pot except for the killer who has checked his option, you should often raise. When a bad player limps, you often raise to isolate. But the situation here is much more attractive than an ordinary isolation scenario. First, even bad players usually have some sort of minimum requirements to limp, but the killer truly holds random cards. Not only that, he probably has worse than a random hand since he declined to raise. Second, your chance of knocking out the remaining players is very good, especially if the game hasn't been killing much. It will be $20 to see the flop, which feels like a lot of money to people who came to play $5/10. Finally, your chance of eliminating the blinds is much better than usual because they aren't getting much of a discount. It is $20 to go and the small blind is only in for 10% of that; even the big blind is only in a quarter of the way. They will frequently fold and you will often get it heads up with position against a guy with random cards. There are few situations better than that.

Good luck.

[Kooch]

I sit with a rack of red in this game, and have never been close to the felt. $500 is my standard buy-in for 10/20 as well (though I've had to rebuy once or twice there, though [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] ). The pots killed only when someone wins 2 pots > $100 though, isn't it? That's what the kill button is for I thought - mark the first pot (or maybe that's the beer cap in my home game). I haven't been to Foxwoods in a few months, though...

[etizzle]

nah, just one pot >100 is all it needs to be a kill.

[Nick709]

God are these games great, it almost makes up for Foxwoods being such a poorly run poker room.
Sit down with a rack like everyone says, in the games I sat in it was on a kill most of the time.
One question for everyone else:
One time the kill was in the in the BB and I was UTG and I wanted to stradle( feeling frisky) and I asked the dealer if I could go to 20 on a stradle, he had to call the floorman who just looked confused and said he had to go look it up, but never got back to me. Anyone know a ruling on this type of situation?