Introducing No Limit
 

This may sound odd but at our home game we never play no limit. It's always $3 max raise ("spread limit") hold 'em, omaha, omaha hi-low, stud ("follow the queen") - or some variation of guts ("bama guts" "bloody 7s" - don't ask me about "booray").

A while back we switched all chip denominations to 50 cents each to simplify and to help out the one color blind guy. I really do like it, it makes things easy. Cash plays.

We also play unlimited stakes (not table) so when you run out of chips, you reach to your pocket or you can say you're all-in in a poker game if you're really done for the night. In guts you get stuck with debt...

We do call Pot Limit from time to time but it gets nutty. The lack of clarity on how much you can raise ("whatever is in your wallet") just messes it up even further.

I'd like to play PL or NL but can't seem to get agreement on how to do it. We tried "strict table stakes" last week which ended up having about $1k on the table when everyone emptied their wallets under their stacks. Not what I intended. Also the blinds were stuck at .50/$1 due to the high chip denominations. I shouldn't complain as I did fine but really don't want to lose $500 a week on a bad run, my wife will kill me.

I think I know some of the solutions to this but I'd like to hear suggestions anyway, maybe so I can forward the thread on to some of these guys so they'll listen to me. (capped buyins, start using quarter chips). We play fairly unconventionally and are just fine with it so any suggestion is fair game.

Re: Introducing No Limit
 

A quick suggestion, try a capped buyin say Max $100.

Playing unlimited stakes and not table stakes seems to be the problem. In that case, eveything that is in the wallet is really in play so Im sure you have more then 1k in play there.

Re: Introducing No Limit
 

If you're playing NL or PL, you absolutely must stick with table stakes.

Cap your buyin at $100 (or the smallest stack on the table, whichever is bigger).

Also you may consider two 50c blinds instead of 50c/$1.

You should strongly consider investing in more chips and eliminating cash on the table. You cannot play NL with only 50c chips and cash. Buy chips with different edge markings for the color blind guy. You should get at least quarters, dollars, and fives. Allow $20s on the table if you run out of chips. No 50c chips.

$1k on the table is a below-average night at my game. We play 25c/50c and 50c/$1 NL.

Re: Introducing No Limit
 

Maybe we should go back to .50/$1 limit, those were the good ole days, you could play all night with a $20 buyin.

Thanks for the 'differing chips' suggestion pfapfap, never occurred to me. We could even use plastic chips for large denominations if necessary. He can differentiate some colors but I think blue/green look identical to him.

Re: Introducing No Limit
 

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We could even use plastic chips for large denominations if necessary. He can differentiate some colors but I think blue/green look identical to him.

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Get some samples and run them by him- sure he's appreciate it.

Re: Introducing No Limit
 

Hell, blue/green are hard on ANY poker table. Chips need to be starkly different.

Re: Introducing No Limit
 

"You cannot play NL with only 50c chips and cash. "

Why not? As long as you're willing to put up with the "how much do you have?" questions every 3 minutes...

Re: Introducing No Limit
 

I think we'd be fine if we capped at $20 or $30 with .50 chips. I can't figure out why the guys won't tolerate this, I guess they think it's chump change. For some it is but for others $20 a week is too much. But this isn't a 'player can't afford to play' thread...

Re: Introducing No Limit
 

How many players do you have? $30 is not nearly enough for a .50 chip game, especially not if blinds are .5/1. If most want to play at higher stakes, why not? It sounds like you're the person uncomfortable with the stakes of the game.

If there are enough players, why not make two games at different buyin and blind levels? If there aren't enough players for this, find some so that there are. That's what we do here, and it works very well. People who do well at the smaller game can take a shot at the bigger game, and people not doing well or off their game at the big table can step down.

Re: Introducing No Limit
 

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But this isn't a 'player can't afford to play' thread...

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oh, yes it is.... and if you don't get this settled soon (assuming you're running the game) your game risks breaking up.

I repeat what others have said- with no table stakes rule, it doesn't matter WHAT your blinds are- this is a big game.

My suggestion- "overs" buttons. Set the max buy-in, and the resulting blinds, based on what will work for all of the players in the game currently. Add a table stakes rule and decide what the max rebuy is: 1 1/2x the capped buy-in? 1/2 the biggest stack? Higher?.

Now, for the big playahs, they can each get an overs button. How this works: Once the hand is down to ONLY the players who have overs buttons, there is no cap AND no table stakes, if that is what they want.... but ONLY to complete the rest of this hand.

If anyone remains in the hand until the showdown, who isn't playing the overs, then there ARE no overs and table stakes applies. If they're that desperate to drive up the stakes, they can bribe out the non-overs players on each hand.

Until you get enough players to have two tables (thus, two different limits), that might work?

You'll probably have to make some rules, to avoid having someone take an overs button until they're ahead, then returning it to protect their profit...