Hi everyone,

I'm looking for ideas to spice up the local cash game I run, doing a special night once or twice a week.

We have a situation with a small player pool, and a lot of regulars are somewhat tired of 2/4 NLHE. The action players are playing less because they are not happy about 2 or 3 of the "nits" just waiting for a premium hand and playing über tight once they have a stack.

We sometimes pump up the stakes a little, but frankly the playerpool isn't really rolled for that so I'm looking for alternatives.

PLO would be amazing of course, a different game, more action-friendly, tougher for the nits, etc. but it's a bit complicated to set up because our dealers are not quite trained for them yet.

No-limit Omaha has been suggested to us but I'm a little doubtful of the variant.

I'm more interested in ideas like blinds+antes, ante-only games, rock games, capped games, games where you can take off money every hour and a half, etc.

Currently people buy in for 25bb min, 250bb max, I'm thinking of also changing that once a week to create deeper, more interesting games.


Thoughts?

Jeff

Rock was the first thing that came to mind.

Mandatory straddle

There's more to running an underground game than opening the doors and collecting rake. You need to start recruiting players into the game. It sounds like you want gamblers in the game. Weed out those that are driving your best customers away. Just tell the nits that they aren't welcome to the game any longer. If the games got wilder, then you wouldn't have to "change" it.

Try Crazy Pineapple.

There might not be many players to recruit. Barring the few players being complained about is what I'd do.

An excellent game to loosen things up. My suggestion is to introduce a Dealer's Choice game. HE, Omaha, Pineapple (crazy or regular), whatever. It will tend to select out the nits, or loosen them up.

Yeah, dealer's choice with a set list of choices, so you don't get things like "Rain Baseball" sounds like a good idea. One mandatory Bomb Pot (everyone antes Xbbs and there is no preflop, game goes directly to the flop) per half hour could help without having as much impact as a rock, if you prefer a less drastic change.

Three blind game.

2/4/8 or 2/5/10.

The nits will hate it, and might stop playing. And the straddle needs to be UTG, none of that BS button straddle nonsense.

You guys are hilarious.

Hold'em is popular because you get two cards, and it takes five minutes to feel like you've mastered the art of preflop play.

Ask a hold'em player to try any other variant of poker, and they immediately begin to back away. "Pineapple? No, I haven't mastered that game..."

Plus 1

https://learn.pokernews.com/news/201...-rock-2372.htm

I've never played in a game w/ a 'rock' but this part

would be terrible for any game w/ a small player pool.

Play a round by round game to introduce Limit Omaha/8 or better. $4/$8 with a half-kill to $6/$12 if there's a scoop. Only one more game is a good way to start mixing it up without going nuts. We just did this a few weeks ago and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

We generally have pretty great action for a .5/1 game ($8-$15 pfr). But if we want to spice it up more, we add the rock. Everyone pitches in $1 and it becomes a mandatory $10 straddle. If we want the game to be potentially wild on those hands, 72 is in effect on the rock. Which means if someone wins with 72 whether it be with a pfr or showdown, everyone owes them $5. If you want the entire game to be insane, play the rock + 72 active ALL THE TIME.

Hey all, thanks for the input.

Fwiw I run a small but legal room, nothing underground here and I can't just tell a player he is not welcome if he is not breaking any rules, even if he is a massively annoying nit.

Unfortunately PLO and other variants are somewhat out of the question as the dealers are not trained and I fear I would be getting a negative reaction from the players who are just recs who don't want to think too much about their hands and are somewhat allergic to playing new stuff as YTF suggest they might be.

I'll probably be trying out some form of the rock to see how players react to it. I guess I'm going to make it over 2bbs because a mandatory straddle doesn't sound particularly exciting to me, most games already have a lot of people straddling to 2bb.

Ours WAS a .5/1 game so it was a 10bb straddle. If it is a 1/3 I would make it a $20-$30 rock.

Wow, .5/1 with 10bb straddle sounds insane

I'm probably going to try out a 2.5bb rock that acts as a mandatory straddle, maybe experiment with putting out a couple of rocks at some point if players like it.

What are the rules on players cashing out? If I stop playing and have the rock in my stack, who does it go to?

Who gets the rock in the first place, first player to win a hand?

The rock doesn't count as monetary value, correct? It is a just a house-provided coupon for a straddle? If I put my opponent all in, I don't have to factor in the rock, but if I win his stack I get the rock too?

Whenever I played with a rock, you could not leave and cash out out. Just like a kill in a casino. If you owe it, you can walk easy and not pay the hand if you want, but your money is so going in the next pot.
Whoever has the rock when the game actually breaks can cash it out.

Everyone pitches in $1 to make up the $10 rock. It is splashed in the next pot, whoever wins the pot gets the rock. You can not cash out the rock until the end of the night, it has to stay in play. The rock does have monetary value, it is worth $10 but can only be used in the case of an all in if it is not time for the rock to come out.

This is precisely why Pineapple is perfect for this situation. Introduce Regular Pineapple - "it's just Hold'em, but you get to pick the two cards you want!" After that, it's easy to say "you know what? See what the flop is before you have to choose!"

As for your dealers, all they have to do differently is ask if everyone has discarded at the appropriate time. And deal three cards to start.

Maybe have a tournament once a month, 9 players, top 3 get paid?

A game that no one has mastered is ideal if your player pool will tolerate it and the dealers can handle it.

If you have to stick to essentially an NLHE structure I like bomb pots or the button game. In the button game everyone puts chips on top of the button when it's their position and if you win the pot while on the button you collect the additional money. Button game encourages the button to have extremely wide ranges and play aggressively and bomb pots forces everyone to see the flop with any two and substantial money in the middle. Both punish nits and encourage action.

The rock and straddles don't really encourage action imo. They essentially increase the stakes and often that makes people nit it up even more.