Buy in.

[little mac]

I normally play limit poker but want to take a shot at NL.
I will be starting out at 2c/4c as this is the lowest limit run on my site. After reading the faq's i know i need an $80
BR. My two questions are...

1. Do i buy in for the maximum ammount or do i go for 5% of
BR? (an expert on t.v. said this was a good strategy).

2. When my stack starts to get low do i reload or play
untill i am bust and then reload? (assuming i think i have an edge in
the game).

I realise they are probably basic questions but i want to try and get the BR management side of things correct so all i have to worry about is improving my game.

Thanks guys.

[Dave Coulier]

Ive never heard of this 5% rule, but whatever it is ignore it.

If you are just learning NL, then I would say buy in for half. The last thing you need is getting stacked for full buy-ins while learning NL. With half a buyin you still have a chance to C-bet successfully and push people off hands if possible at this limit.

If your stack gets low id just reload to half the buyin. Playing till you are bust and then reloading will only hurt you when you get a big hand but barely win anything cause you hadn't reloaded.

[RobinX]

"...Playing till you are bust and then reloading will only hurt you when you get a big hand but barely win anything cause you hadn't reloaded."

Therefore you should just buy in for full. Ignore this crap about shortstack playing. It will cause you to play worse poker. There is some nice post about playing shortstacked from Pokey. Someone might give a link.

Keep 15-20 buyins and buy in for full. You're ready to go!

[AliasMrJones]

Generally, if you think you have a skill advantage over the competition, you should buy in for the max (or at least as much as the biggest stack if that is lower than the max) and always maintain the max buy-in. The reason is if you hit a big hand you can get paid off for the max amount. You must be able to lay down hands like top pairs. If you get stacked at .02/.04, it's only going to cost you $4 so it won't cost you that much if you do get stacked a couple of time.

There is a short stack strategy in Getting Started In Hold 'Em by Ed Miller. I haven't read it, but you might want to check it out if you're worried about buying in full. It won't help you become a better deep stack player, though.

[darth.bilbo]

1) The 5% rule applies to never having 5% of your bankroll in play at any one time. That means if you decide to multitable in the future, you only have 5% in play across all tables at once. Chris Ferguson used this strategy in his $1->$20,000 experiment. If he ever had approaching 10% in play at once, he'd get up from the table.

Different people say different things about how many buyins you should have in your bankroll to play 'comfortably'. I like to have around 30 full buyins to play NLHE ring games.

2) If you actually DO have an edge in the game, you should keep the full buyin at the table, you always want to get full value out of your big hands. Go watch the free video at cardrunners.com. you'll see Green Plastic continuously rebuy for small amounts to keep the max on the table.

With that said....keep track of what you have invested and use a stop loss. If I buyin at .05/.10 for $10 and lose $2, i'll buy in for $2 and make note that I have $12 in play and I keep that in mind. I know exactly how much I'm allowed to lose in any one session and never get above that number.

Here is a good article on BR mgt.
Fox BR Management

Since you are new to NL, play the smallest game you can. Play tight and read a lot of books. Limit and NL play quite differently.

-db

[jmillerdls]

by the way, ignore what this guy says about the 5% rule. Not that he's endorsing it, but what he described it as.

You don't need a larger bankroll to multi-table. Your bankroll requirements are the same if you 1-table, or 10-table.

[Phytopath]

I recommend buying in for the max if you are really serious about learning. The guys at this level are not going to be very good and are probably just learning themselves. If you are not sure about the table sometimes I buy in short (25bb) play for an orbit or 2 and see if it is worth playing the table or not, if not I leave if it looks good I top up.

You should usually top up when you get to 90% of the original buy in, or another number that you can realize you are low.

[checkmate36]

Thanks for the link to the fox article Darth.

Im wondering what types of numbers you guys use for your floor and ceiling numbers. Thanks for any ideas.

[King Spew]

Unless I have reads before I sit, I will almost always buyin at 1/2 Max and play a few cycles before raising to max.

If I am joining a table of unknowns except a fish I'm after, I will buyin to cover fish.

Remember what others have hinted at..... you should try and always play at max <font color="blue">IF</font> YOU HAVE AN ADVANTAGE.

[Shoot59]

Read Pokey's great post on the topic!

I think I link to this article more than any other.