I just moved to Iowa and went to visit a local casino yesterday. I've previously played in live games in AC and Vegas and had not encountered this situation.

The casino is pretty small and when I got there they did not have a 1/2 nl game going but had a 4 person interest list. I signed up and waited until they got another player to start the game 6 handed. The min buy-in was 60 and the max was 300. I bought in for 300 as I have every other time I've played live. The other players all bought in for 60-100.

I consider myself to be a decently tight player and moderately aggressive.

A couple of the players commented about my buy-in, one player commented about it a few times. I didn't feel like anyone played hands differently against me than they played against anyone else (they were all pretty passive).

I plan to go back on a regular basis and would appreciate your feedback. Should I buy in for a smaller amount to avoid attention? Should I continue to buy in for the max if other players are buying in short?

Thanks for your advice.

If you feel like you have a competitive edge over the other players I would buy-in for 300 to maximize potential value. I wouldn't really concern myself if other players were commenting on it.

You might want to limit your buyin if you're newish at a home game and trying to fit in. In a public casino game buyin max unless you think all the other 300 deep players are better than you /have position on you

Just buy-in enough to cover. If everyone is buying $60-100, then $150 is enough. Effective stacks will be $60-100.

Top off if/when needed to cover others.

I would just consider buying in enough to consistently cover the other players, but avoid being gratuitous. My personal preference is to fly under the radar in games though. Plus, in such a small poker environment, I wouldn't want to risk killing the action if the other players seem uncomfortable.

I always buy-in for the max. Even if effective stacks are short I don't want to top off later and slow the game down unnecessarily when someone doubles up or a new player sits down with a full stack.

+1

Get $300 in chips from the cage but only buy in to cover everyone. You can always top off with chips in your pocket if someone else sits with $300.

Day game thing. Won't always be like that. Buy in for $200. Keep rest in pocket.

you just answered your own question... it don't matter. do your thing. within 2 days, it will be a non-topic.. in fact, it may even encouraged others to join you.

I actually usually get 3 BIs at the cage. Just get like 200 in $5 chips and the rest in $25 and/or $100 chips and throw them in your pocket.

It also helps to speed the game up if someone busts but wants to rebuy, you can sell them your chips- it stops them having to wait for chip runners or could help prevent fills, depending how the casino handles rebuys

Thanks all, this is very helpful. I think I'll continue to buy-in for 200-300 and evaluate if it is killing the action. If it is I'll adjust. Thanks for the feedback.

I thought of another idea no-one has mentioned (post #9 said a similar thing) A lot of people here seem to think that we should only match effective stacks. Wouldn't it be a shame if someone came in that goes by that rule and we only have 50BB instead of 150BB?

I don't think it's uncommon to "go with the flow" by buying in for about what other people are playing. I'd expect when we buy-in full other newcomers might follow suit as well.

I somewhat retract my initial statement and have to side with this argument more now. If the players don't seem ruffled by your large buyin, continue to max buyin. I would stay very cognizant for the feel of the game though. With such a small player pool the action could dry up drastically and quickly.