Stud noob ? about ante & bring-in

[Ralph Wiggum]

When's an ante (and bring-in) too big or too small & in what way does it affect the game? In AC, they have a 5/10 game w/ a $1 ante, $2 BI. Online, there's a 3/6 game w/ a .25 ante.

I imagine a huge ante (but how big?) makes it a crapshoot, while a small ante (how small?) makes it a nitfest.

I generally play low stakes LHE or NLHE.

[tuds38]

The size of the ante should basically dictate how loose you are playing. A higher ante means you will have better pot odds to enter so you should be playing more hands, while a low ante encourages tight play since it is cheaper to wait for a big hand and you have worse odds to come in. Theory of Poker says a small ante is 5% or less of a small bet, while a large ante is 15% or more of the small bet. For example, a 50 cent ante in a 10-20 game would be 5% and considered small. 2-4 stud on FTP has a 40 cent (20%) ante with a 50 cent bringin, putting $3.70 in each pot to start at a full table (assuming the bringin doesn't raise). 2-4 stud on Stars has a 25 cent (12.5%) ante with a $1 bringin, putting $3 in forced bets. You should obviously be playing more hands at the FTP game since you are getting better odds to play. With the smaller bringin, you are getting over 7:1 if you are the first to enter the pot on FTP, compared to only 3:1 at Stars.

[Poker CPA]

Assuming your UTG "tuds38", what borderline hand would you be playing on FTP and not Stars. Or does position not matter?

[Brad1970]

[ QUOTE ]
The size of the ante should basically dictate how loose you are playing. A higher ante means you will have better pot odds to enter so you should be playing more hands, while a low ante encourages tight play since it is cheaper to wait for a big hand and you have worse odds to come in. Theory of Poker says a small ante is 5% or less of a small bet, while a large ante is 15% or more of the small bet. For example, a 50 cent ante in a 10-20 game would be 5% and considered small. 2-4 stud on FTP has a 40 cent (20%) ante with a 50 cent bringin, putting $3.70 in each pot to start at a full table (assuming the bringin doesn't raise). 2-4 stud on Stars has a 25 cent (12.5%) ante with a $1 bringin, putting $3 in forced bets. You should obviously be playing more hands at the FTP game since you are getting better odds to play. With the smaller bringin, you are getting over 7:1 if you are the first to enter the pot on FTP, compared to only 3:1 at Stars.

[/ QUOTE ]

While Tuds is technically correct, the ante/BI structure in no way dictates hand selection. Just because one site has a higher structure does not give you a license to play any three cards. If you do "gamble" more with inferior hands just because of the antes, you are making a fundamental mistake.

[cmurl904]

Out of curiousity, which 5/10 game in AC has a $1 ante ?
Last time I played, Taj & Trop have a .50 cent ante in the 5/10 games.

[Ralph Wiggum]

cmurl904: sorry, u're right, it's 50cents.

brad1970: although i agree that u can't play any 3 cards. it makes sense to me that with a 15% ante, u'd play hands that u wouldn't play for a 5% ante. I'm curious as to what some of those hands would be.

[Brad1970]

[ QUOTE ]
cmurl904: sorry, u're right, it's 50cents.

brad1970: although i agree that u can't play any 3 cards. it makes sense to me that with a 15% ante, u'd play hands that u wouldn't play for a 5% ante. I'm curious as to what some of those hands would be.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure what that range of hands might be either, but most likely it's fairly small. If your cards aren't live, it really doesn't matter though does it? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[tuds38]

Well, higher antes definitely dictate that it's correct to steal more often on 3rd. You're risking the same amount to pick up more. If you're raising more often with weaker hands that you would fold with a lower ante and lower profit from stealing, you're playing looser.

[sevencard2003]

i hope all of u agree that the 50c ante in the $1-3 game at FOXWOODS is WAY TOO HIGH for 1-3. its fine for $5-10 but certainly not for $1-3 and most definitely needs to be eliminated. who all agrees??

[Sevenfold]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
cmurl904: sorry, u're right, it's 50cents.

brad1970: although i agree that u can't play any 3 cards. it makes sense to me that with a 15% ante, u'd play hands that u wouldn't play for a 5% ante. I'm curious as to what some of those hands would be.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure what that range of hands might be either, but most likely it's fairly small. If your cards aren't live, it really doesn't matter though does it? [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, you might insta muck 4K4 at stars with a K out, yet play it at Tilt.

or 567 two suited gets mucked at Stars, but I'd peel one at Tilt.