Maybe your room has bunch of these whales walking in on the regular basis, but not here.

IMO, consideration of the whale is just as important as my personal preference of variance and other things, but of course, that's assuming I have all my ducks in a row.

Is he stacking off preflop? What seats available? That will very much determine my willingness to top off.

Huh? Why is this even a question? I guess it speaks to people's bankrolls, but you have 2 too many choices imho.

1. Buy in max?
2. Go straight to the bar and see what you have left once you find your balls?

Edit: Oops, sorry, forgot something.

Why?

Buy-in max AINEC. Every extra dollar on the table is another dollar I can put in at an edge. The whale probably appreciates more money on the table.

Why is this interesting? It's only "interesting" if one is underrolled for the stake. The only way this happens to me is if the whale is playing at a higher stake than me and tempting me to take a shot. In that case the "correct" answer could be anything from min-max depending on our bankroll, average edge and SD, but I'd probably take the conservative route (not necessarily a min-buy) because time spent trying to figure out how much money I can safely put on the table is time my money isn't on the table.

Assuming maximizing profit is the primary goal, then you should buy in for the max. If you have an edge on the whale, and everyone else is folding left and right, then you should maximize your edge by having as deep of stacks as possible. Doesn't seem interesting; am I missing something?

Disclaimer: I rarely buyin higher than 3k to 4k but I don't play high enough that it is an issue

I guess nobody ever consider how whale feels.

If whale wins another huge pot, he might pack up. If everyone keep folding, he might pack up. If hero appears to be threatening, he might pack up.

Anyhow, I guess not too many people think about these things. Then again, I am not surprised when everyone seems to be under rolled.

Has anyone ever done serious grinding at Winstar? If so, what does a sustainable winrate look like at 1/3 on week nights?

These are unknowns. How can we know that deep stacks threaten him? What if short stacks bore him to the point where he leaves? Its also unreasonable to assume that he'll pack up after winning a huge pot, since he's already very deep. I think we can't make all these assumptions, when just the opposite could also be true.

All things being equal, buying in for the max when you have an overal edge on that effective stack is most profitable.

2/5 deep 2500 max buy in. Table is equally skilled except... player to your left (2500) is solid pro. Player to his left is avg and is also sitting on 2500. Rest of table is 1k deep. Player to your right also 1k is a fish.

You've sat in only available seat. Buy in strat?

Just about every whale I know who buys in for 200+ or plays A2c is not scared by more money on the table. I once bought in for 100bb at a 2/5 home game because e1 was short and the host was kinda sketchy and may not pay out. Guy who never folds top pair and isn't scared to gamble shows up looks disappointed at all the shorter stacks. I specifically said I wanted to top up to 1k b/c it looked like he wanted to play 1k with someone. He was happy and still reloaded after I doubled through with 2 pair vs his top pair.

If it's some bad newb or tourney donk who started with 40bb and ran it up to 300bb you may have a point, But usually hit and run guys have their magic number and pick it up pretty quickly when they get there no matter what you do.

1k+seat change button

In my experience true whales prefer people buying deep and would get annoyed by a bunch of short stacks.

Buy in to fish stack but get to left of good players.

Where is this game?

Min buy, run it up.

Min is 500... Why no cover fish?

Why cover fish?

Cuz all things being equal money mostly moves to the left and with a fish on the right it moves a little faster.

Another great thing about buying in short is that "good" players don't buy in short.

You're right - good players don't buy in short.

RP does have a point about the perception of short stacks. If a competent player ever did buy in short it would take me a few minutes to reassign my short stack fish label. Also, in a super aggressive game it can be a good idea if you know players are going to try to run you over preflop. You can 3 bet looser thinking players more liberally because they'll know there is no FE to a 4 bet.

I think it's also max EV to min buy and call big raises OOP with hands like QJ/JT/AT etc, and always stack off.

Your attitude is losing you some credibility sir.

Oh my comment wasn't directed at yours.

I do agree that being in the 50-80bb range allows you to 3b squeeze more optimally because players aren't able to profitably peel pre.

But if you're needing to do that, then you're probably underolled and playing too big of a game. Who knows, maybe min-buying into 5/10 and squeezing pre can get you $50/hr whereas your 1/2 hourly is $30.

In general it's usually most profitable to have players covered who you have a skill-edge over.