Hi ,

Very simple question i told my firend i will post to see what is the openion
on the following matter:

My friend is having a home game once a week, the blinds are 1/2.
I was invited to the game, and found out that he does not have any MAX buy in
limitation. (Game is NL holdem BTW).

a guy can buy 2500BB or even 3000BB if he wishs.

Pros/Cons about such game ?

the people who buyin the deepest need to have the most skill. If there are players better at the game than you at the table, buy in with 100BB

Or 20 :O

-Mike

yeah buts its live, and OP found 2p2. So really he should probably buy in for 3500 and crush his live victims

Hahah...login to 2p2, post. Instaknowledge (relative to live players)

I think that the fact players have the ability to buy in any amount , it is a very big disadvantage to the strong players.

Reason for that is: anyone knows you may lose with any 2 cards against any 2 cards.

A strong player playing in that game , can build up say from 100BB to 400BB or even 800BB by winning 5-10 hands against some rich fish on that table.

But eventualy , by letting people to buy in any amount , you may find your self risking your all stack against any player on the table .

while with MAX stracture you are "rewarded" for building up your stack.

I think this is big disadvantage for strong players vs the weak fish's.

am I correct on that ?

no completely wrong

I believe there are only two negatives about this:

1. With a limited availability of players for this game you run the risk of busting out players faster and breaking the game faster.

2. Many players who learned poker from watching tournaments do not understand that in a cash game a deeper stack is not an advantage like it is in tournament play. As a result many players will not sit in a game in which they feel an opponent can simply buy the advantage of the deep stack. This make sit harder to bring in new players.

No. unless you also throw in the additional fact that the strong player is broke and can't rebuy.

If there is only one deep stack, he really has no advantage, except a psychological one. He may feel that he can bully the table, but in cash games the ability to re-buy, or not, make game play very different from a tournament.

The effective stack size for each hand is the largest the big stack is up against. Of course, as the game progresses, there will likely be larger stacks relative to his.

If you are the short stack, no one has a larger stack than you. You can only lose your stack, no matter what you are up against. Again, the advantage is only psychological, and that may be on either side. That is, the big stack feels more powerful and you feel less powerful. But if you get into a hand together, you are only playing for the smaller of the two stack sizes. The rest could just as easily be in someone's pocket in cash, or in an overseas vault, for all it matters.

just sounds silly to me. IMO. punish the idiot with the big stack and buy in for 200-300 BB if you can afford it

I agree with this post. I tried relaxing my max buyin once, and the game got really brutal, and we lost a couple of players. On a similar note, I also have a strict end time for the game (well, +/- 15 minutes), even if people still want to play. Always leave 'em wanting more.

But hey, if this game has been going a long time and is healthy, more power to 'em. I imagine some BIG pots develop in such a game, probably with a lot of straddling.

Incidentally, this is the way nlhe was played "back in the day". If you read the original Super System, you'll find Doyle talking about obscenely deep stacks. It was considered girly to bring money and not put it on the table. And his games had rich buisnessmen who could bring huge rolls. That's why he's such a fan of JT and such.

however, it's also why virtually nobody played nlhe until later, when buyin caps prevented the sharks from eating the whales so quickly.

Don't get all macho and buy in for $1000+ the first time you sit in the game. It will take you some time to figure out how people play, and it might be a huge advantage for you to have a medium to short stack if it's a wild game or you're in a bad seat. Shortstacking in a very deep game should be very profitable. Until they kick you out, of course. Before that happens, figure out how to play deep with this crowd.

No. What you wrote is opposite of the truth. Strong players have a big advantage over weaker players in deepstack cash games because they understand all aspect of the game, not just had values. Pot control and position become pre-eminent in deep stack games like these, as well as the ability to fold. Making correct decisions is much more critical in a deep stack cash game than in a capped game.