a newbie's thoughts fixed buyin NL games

[newber]

i play a lot at hawaiian gardens in LA county

im usually a 2/4 limit player

ive been dabbling in the $20 fixed buyin NL game
the blinds are 1/1

ive found it quite annoying when i call a few $4 raises and have to fold when i flop nothing.

but then when i hit a nice hand, i only got like $10 left and basically double or triple up to $20 or $30 bucks.

if there was a max buyin of like $100 that's what i'd probably do, call a few raises and when i hit my hand i'd stack them. with only $20 to start with it's basically all in preflop or on the flop, there's practically no point in callin the flop cuz once i do that i dont have enough money to protec thte pot on the turn.


i dont think im going to ever play fixed buy in NL games again.

[monkeymaps]

Most fixed buyin games are fixed at 100bb some more, the 20BB fixed buy in is odd I have never heard of anything like that before 100bb is enough to play with. In the game u described I might just with push AI if I was going to play a hand. Though I would'nt play in that game doesnt give good player much of an advantage IMO.

[Cactus Jack]

Wow, a game worse than the Luxor. I didn't think that had been invented yet.

Don't play it. Sucker's game.

[steamboatin]

Why would anyone play in that game? Ever since I heard about the coffee enema fad out there, I have suspected that people from California were crazy. This pretty much confirms my suspicions.

I can't imagine you could find enough people willing to play this game for it to continue.

I know exactly why you are having trouble with this game. You are trying to play poker at a Bingo game. the game you describe is push or fold preflop. Trying to call a raise and catch a flop won't work for the very reason you describe.

If you are going to silly enough to play in a game of this structure, wait for two good cards and limp raise all in preflop. If you can't push preflop, don't play.

[Dennisa]

Welcome to LA. At least the Hustler has 25BB in its 1/2 game.

Just looke up Chris Ferguson's 1-20K strategy. Its good to start out that way, its easy to get a few double ups in this game and then you can play normal NL strategy. And yes the games are very loose.

Friend and I were at HP on Sunday and this one guy was calling all ins with any two cards every single hand. Went from 40 to 260 in about 3 hands. Just play solid and its a goldmine.

[Rottersod]

[ QUOTE ]
i play a lot at hawaiian gardens in LA county

im usually a 2/4 limit player

ive been dabbling in the $20 fixed buyin NL game
the blinds are 1/1

ive found it quite annoying when i call a few $4 raises and have to fold when i flop nothing.

but then when i hit a nice hand, i only got like $10 left and basically double or triple up to $20 or $30 bucks.

if there was a max buyin of like $100 that's what i'd probably do, call a few raises and when i hit my hand i'd stack them. with only $20 to start with it's basically all in preflop or on the flop, there's practically no point in callin the flop cuz once i do that i dont have enough money to protec thte pot on the turn.


i dont think im going to ever play fixed buy in NL games again.

[/ QUOTE ]

The problem is that the HG $20 NL is not going to be able to be played like any other NL game. It's for the truly inept and the people simply out to have a good time with their friends. When you sit down and start with $20 it should all be going in the pot as soon as you pick up anything decent, or if you decide to push blind. At which point you'll get 3-4 callers so if you win you have $50 - $80. if you lose you simply rebuy and start the process over. Or, you can play opposite and wait till someone moves all in, 2 callers and play your 64s. Either way, it's simply throwing money in and hoping for the best.

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
i play a lot at hawaiian gardens in LA county

im usually a 2/4 limit player

ive been dabbling in the $20 fixed buyin NL game
the blinds are 1/1

ive found it quite annoying when i call a few $4 raises and have to fold when i flop nothing.

but then when i hit a nice hand, i only got like $10 left and basically double or triple up to $20 or $30 bucks.

if there was a max buyin of like $100 that's what i'd probably do, call a few raises and when i hit my hand i'd stack them. with only $20 to start with it's basically all in preflop or on the flop, there's practically no point in callin the flop cuz once i do that i dont have enough money to protec thte pot on the turn.

i dont think im going to ever play fixed buy in NL games again.

[/ QUOTE ]

Look. This is a party fest game fueled by mucho alcohol and free flowing rebuys. Since the buyin is only 20 times the BB plan on making as many as six to ten rebuys (if the fixed buy was 33 to 60 times the BB 5 to 3 is enough). Play good cards and try to double or triple up. Don't waste these rebuys, it's nice if you don't have to use more than one or two. Give it time and your stack approaches the average stack since despite the drop a rebuy (from some player) goes in almost every hand.

Once you get stacks of about 60BB now you're playing medium stack NL holdem. You have a chance to play well and if you double through or gobble some smaller stacks you get to let's say 110BB. Now you may have one of the three big stacks at the table. AND NO DECENT PLAYER CAN SIT DOWN AND MATCH YOUR STACK RIGHT AWAY. Play well against the other deep stacks (often they just got lucky) and now you can have a game where you rule with a stack size of 200-300 BB and you adjust your game to playing against the effective stacks which should be smaller than yours. MEANWHILE NO DECENT PLAYER CAN SIT DOWN AND MATCH YOUR STACK RIGHT AWAY. That's the beauty of highly restricted fixed buy baby NL games. Your donkfest is protected from the danger of decent players taking a spot in your fishbowl.

~ Rick

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
Definitely play it. Outrageously profitable game.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you don't want to play higher and don't mind the swings. You're a limit player so it should be a good transitional stage toward deeper NL games. Read Miller (GSIH and his blog) until you can't stand him any more.

A uSNL thread on this game

[AKQJ10]

Rick,

At first I thought you were saying that the big stack confers an inherent advantage. But on a more careful reading, I agree with what you're saying, I think. The psychological benefits of the deep stack are nil (no one's going to avoid a pot with you to avoid losing 20 bucks), but a deep stack is certainly beautiful if you get another deep stack to pay off your set or something. And if the decent players stay away because of the limit buy, well, good.

[AKQJ10]

[ QUOTE ]
Or, you can play opposite and wait till someone moves all in, 2 callers and play your 64s.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think 64s has 25% equity against 3 random hands, does it? Its advantage is postflop (GSIH strikes again!) which is nullified in this game. I barely even think 64s is worth limping on the button if pots aren't being raised in this game.