Another Cash Game Help Question

[Sir Folds A Lot]

I am going to try and get a cash game going with my SNG regulars. I've played it a few casinos and B&Ms, but I see something different each time. Some have the limits as betting ranges, like you can bet anywhere between 3&6 in a 3-6 game. Others were you can only bet 3 at a time pre & post flop and you must bet 6 on the turn and river.
I liked both formats equally, but I'd like to hear comments on both.
Also, I don't have a cash set with 1000s of one color, so I may have to use markers, where a chip= 1 unit. I want to play something like .10/.20, or so. I have:
300 Red
200 Blue
100 Green
50 Black
How would you break this chip set up for about 10 buy ins of $10? I'll allow a minimum buy in of $5, and a max of $10, and you may only reload when you bankrupt.
I've considered using blues as .20 chips and red as .10, but I don't have enough, so I thought of throwing a few greens in to count for another amount. How might that work.

[JackInDaCrak]

You're on the right track with the chip breakdown - just use a pencil/paper to figure out amounts based on the number of players you plan on having.

.10 - red
.20 - blue
1.00 - green
5.00 - black

That way you can always color up if stacks get deep; this should be enough to cover your whole game unless there's more than $400 on the table.

[Small Fry]

So you want to play limit rather than NL (no limit). Piece of cake. For typical limit, 1/2, 2/4, 3/6.....pre flop an flop are the lessor amount and the betting doubles to the larger for turn and river. BB = the smaller amount (in 3/6 bBB is 3) and the SB is typically half BB. the other version is called spread limt and just like the name implys the bet is a spread so 3-6 you could bet anywhere bewteen 3 and 6. I'm not sure if the spread stays the same for all betting rounds or increases. I'm sure somebody else can clarify.

For a .10/.20 game, I assume this is the betting levels and not blinds. You can make every chip worth a nickel. Color doesn't matter. You need the nickel for posting small blind. So all bets will either be 2 chips or 4 chips.

For limit buy in amount is also, generally a non issue as you can't go all in like No limit. Most you can bet with a 3 raise cap on all rounds is 12x big bet. In your case this is $2.40. So as long as you have $2.40 worth in front of you your covered (Personally I've never seen every street capped)

I don't get the reload requirement. IT's a cash game. Reload anytime. Heck I'd let a guy bring a roll of dimes and play them if he wanted.

Can you borrow chips as you are correct that you don't have enough to use all nickels. Any kind would do the trick. Although at this level a $5 buy in is sufficient so it would work for 5-6 players .You've got $32.50 if they're all valued at .05


If thats not an option then I'd go with nickels and then a .20 chip. If you follow the standard for chips in your tourneys the red is 5. I'd now make it a real .05. Make all the rest worth .20

Assuming 10 players that means 30 reds for $1.50. And 35 of the rest at .20 for $7. Everyone could buy in for $8.50.

Whenever I play limit I my preferred buy in is 25x big bet. If I played in this game I'd typically buy in for $5, so I think $8.50 is plenty.

Lastly, cash on the table stays on the table and plays. This means if a player has $1.00 in chips and a $5 bill then he's got $6 to play. He cannot get all in ($2.40 max remember)He might need to cash the $5 in for chips n the course of the hand but this is how it should be if you want to do a cash game. Also if a palyer is low and want to get $2 more in chips, he can buy them from one or two players but the cash stays on the table.

Good Luck

ps. if you meant your blinds will be .10 and .20 then everywhere I say a nickel or .05 replace it with dime or .10. Everywhere I say .20 replace it with .40 and you should be good.

[MikeTheGeek]

Spread limit is awesome - wish more casinos did it. We play 1/2 blinds and then $3 max raise (50c - $3) on all streets. It is a little annoying to get raised 50 cents (1 chip) but we usually give the raiser so much flak it is rarely done. Actually, the only time it is done is to purposefully annoy, which sounds bad but in reality gives us a lot of good laughs. I have suggested to the group that we 'play like the casino' with fixed betting but they won't have anything to do with it and we have other reasons that we don't want to do no-limit (we mix the games up all over the map, ie non-poker gambling games).

[psandman]

The thing about a spread limit game such as you describe is that with $1-$2 blinds its not unreasonable to think that almost all betting will be $3 bets. and what this means is that at the later stages of a hand a player can't really make a bet that is meaningful in relation to pot size.

Thats why if you are playing spread limit I prefer a larger spread ($2-$10) or a system where the spread goes up in later stages. In Vegas there used to be a very common game (1/4/8/8) this meant preflop and after the flop it was spread limit $1-$4 on the turn and river it was spread limit $1-$8.

[pfapfap]

I really like spread limit games, but I've found them not to be workable at a home game for microstakes. As psandman says, everyone will bet the max every time, as the stakes aren't meaningful enough.

Something I've played in Tahoe that I enjoyed was 3/6/12. Not spread limit, just on the river, you could bet 6 or 12, as if everybody had over buttons. Also, five bets was the cap on all streets. Made for some nutty action.