Suggestions for NL home games...

[Hotrod0823]

Played in a very loose 20NL game with .25 blinds and reloads allowed up to the amount you were stuck. Made it a very action heavy game.

After we were done we were discussion if this is the best structure. 2.00 raises were getting 4-5 callers making for some huge pots. It really made post flop poker a push fest. Not a bad thing if the cards are falling for you but makes for a long day if they aren't.

Can anyone suggest a NL buying/blind stucture that will make the game less of a push fest?

Don't get me wrong it was a fun action packed game but it may drive away some of our players.

Most guyes were in for between 40-120 bucks by the end of the day.

I think a 40/100 with .5/1.00 blinds may be more appropriate.

Comments?

Hotrod

[frsdchts]

If your buy in is 100x your big blind ($25 buy in with, say, .10 and .25 blinds), you should have more than enough starting cash to play solid poker. If that's not enough, it could just be a characteristic of your game, and you should maybe tighten up to profit against the loose players. Maybe try the game pot-limit? Hope things work out.

[smoore]

If you're trying to limit the losses of the fish, make the buyin $10. It worked for us. The good players quickly rise to $20+.

Once the fish want to be able to contest the sharks, you can make the buyin $20. Everyone is happy, they can drop that at either the bar or Pier1 in 20 minutes.

After that, make the max $50 but keep the stakes .25/.50... most will still produce a $20 from thier pocket to play.

[jtr]

[ QUOTE ]
Played in a very loose 20NL game with .25 blinds and reloads allowed up to the amount you were stuck. Made it a very action heavy game.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can you be a bit more specific here? Did you have two equal blinds of $0.25, or $0.25 / 0.50, or what?

[icemanjmw]

I'd suggest figuring out what amount each person is willing to lose, then dividing that in half to make the buy-in. This gives you big enough stack sizes to make implied odds and post flop play important, while still allowing everyone to buy back in at least once if they take a bad beat for their whole stack.
So if everyone is willing to lose 50-70 bucks, make the buy-in $20-25 and just play two blinds both 25 cents. This gives everyone 100 BB to play with.

[Lottery Larry]

[ QUOTE ]
Played in a very loose 20NL game with .25 blinds and reloads allowed up to the amount you were stuck. Made it a very action heavy game.

After we were done we were discussion if this is the best structure. 2.00 raises were getting 4-5 callers making for some huge pots. It really made post flop poker a push fest. Not a bad thing if the cards are falling for you but makes for a long day if they aren't.

Can anyone suggest a NL buying/blind stucture that will make the game less of a push fest?

Don't get me wrong it was a fun action packed game but it may drive away some of our players.

Most guyes were in for between 40-120 bucks by the end of the day.

I think a 40/100 with .5/1.00 blinds may be more appropriate.


[/ QUOTE ]

If total losses are a concern, then your proposed solution is worse- much lower BB:SS ratio, with a higher buy in as well.

However, your group either is starving for action or doesn't subscribe to the 3-5BB opening raise concept (8BB as an opener?) so maybe they'll like the higher action as it is currently set.

You could change your blinds to .10/.20 and cap the rebuy amount to $40, with your current $20 buy in. That might keep your players comfortable for now, until they are ready to move up.

Or you could treat the chips like tourney chips- Instead of $20 worth of chips, give everyone T2000. Blinds can be T5/10, divide chips by 100 at the end of night to cash out (rounding to the nearest quarter). That give them the feeling of betting with big stacks without a huge cost.

Let us know what you decide and how it goes over

[nuts]

play pot limit?

[crackhead]

[ QUOTE ]
...Can anyone suggest a NL buying/blind stucture that will make the game less of a push fest?...

[/ QUOTE ]

Allow for an UNrestricted buy-in - no MAXIMUM. That way the deeper stacks can sit back and actually play poker vs. "push & pray".

[bacats32]

make the buy in for $100 and still make the blinds the same. Ppl will definatley slow up when they get broke off $100 by pushing their top pair.