One of the first decisions you have to make when joining a cash poker game is how much money to put into play. Most casinos give you a range, with a minimum and a maximum, though some games are “uncapped,” with no maximum buy-in. What should you do?
To simplify matters, let’s first specify that we’re talking about no-limit or pot-limit structures, which are often lumped together as “big bet” games. In fixed-limit games, your stack size has much less influence on the strategy of your play.
Texas Hold Em Poker Tournament Payout structure decides how the prize pool in a poker tournament is shared between the winning players. The poker tournament payout is always shown at the online poker rooms or at the casinos on a board or TV before the tournament begins. If, for example, you have $500 but see only $200 in front of the guy in seat four, you might be more inclined to call his all-in bet than you would be if you could see the six $100 chips he has.
Let’s further simplify the decision down to buying in “big” versus “small,” rather than talking specific dollar amounts. By “big” I mean at or near the maximum, or, in uncapped games, enough to have more chips in play than most of the other players. “Small” will mean at or near the minimum, or an amount that is less than most other players have in front of them. Alternatively, you could think of “small” (or “short”) as 50 big blinds or less, and “big” (or “deep”) as 100 big blinds or more.
Given those definitions, should you buy in big or small? As with everything in poker, it all depends.
Factor #1: Your Bankroll
It depends, first, on your bankroll. You should never put a single dollar on the table that you can’t afford to lose. You should also not put at risk more than a small fraction of your bankroll. Respected authorities disagree on exactly what fraction that would be, but I think it’s safe to say that nobody would recommend having more than 10% of your bankroll on the table at any point.
Factor #2: Your Time Available to Play
Another factor is how much time you have to play. Suppose you’re just playing for an hour or less until you’ll be going to dinner or a show. Then you’re probably looking to “hit and run” — that is, hoping to double up with one big hand, and then walk away. A short stack is more conducive to that strategy. Conversely, a big stack is better suited to profiting via a long series of small pots, or by patiently waiting for one of those rare chances to get all of your money into a very large pot when you are a heavy favorite to win it.
Factor #3: Your Skill Level Relative to Your Opponents
When bankroll and time are not limiting factors, the most important consideration is your skill compared to that of the other players. The bigger your skill advantage, the more you can utilize a deep stack. On the other hand, if you’re at a table of sharks, it’s probably smarter to buy in short, if you’re going to play at all.
Here’s why: Poker decisions get more difficult when you have more chips in play. Suppose you have flopped a set (yay!), but the board gets scary with possible straights and flushes (boo!). Now your opponent bets enough that you will have to risk all of your remaining chips to call. That decision is trivially easy if you have just $10 left, harder if you have $100 left, and much harder if you have $1,000 left.
If you are, on average, better at making those big-money decisions correctly than your opponents are, then you’re going to be able to make a lot more money playing a big stack than a small one. If, however, your opponents have the edge in those difficult decisions, a deep stack will just mean that you lose more money per hour than you would by playing short.
Conclusion
A small buy-in generally means that most of your decisions will be made preflop and on the flop. You will have few or no bet-sizing decisions later in the hand, because either all of your chips will already be in, or the amount you have left relative to the size of the pot will reduce your decisions to binary ones: all-in or fold. Those are obviously easier choices than when you have a deep stack and a full range of bet-sizing options available.
One final option worth considering is a sort of hybrid strategy in which you start with the minimum buy-in to test the waters, though keep open the possibility of buying in for more afterwards. Figure out whether this table is fishy or sharky, tight or loose, profitable or likely to devour your money. If things look good, add on as much as you can to take full advantage of a favorable situation. Otherwise, move to another table, another game, another casino — or just wait for another day.
Robert Woolley lives in Asheville, NC. He spent several years in Las Vegas and chronicled his life in poker on the “Poker Grump” blog.
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Full Tilt
OBJECTIVE: To become a winner you should make up the highest possible poker hand of five cards, using the two initially dealt cards and the five community cards.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2-10 players
NUMBER OF CARDS: 52- deck cards
RANK OF CARDS: A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2
THE DEAL: Every player is dealt two cards face down which is commonly called ‘hole cards’.
TYPE OF GAME: Casino
AUDIENCE: Adults
Introduction to Texas Hold ‘Em
How to Play
First Round Betting: The Pre-Flop
Second Round Betting: The Flop
Third & Fourth Round Betting: The Turn & The River
Ties
Pairs– if two players are tied for highest pairs a “kicker” or the next highest-ranking card is used to determine the winner. You continue until one player has a higher-ranking card or both are determined to have the same exact hand, in which case the pot is split.
Two pairs– in this tie, the higher ranked pair wins, if top pairs are equal in rank you move to the next pair, then move to kickers if necessary.
Three of a kind – higher ranking card takes the pot.
How Many Chips Are Given Out In Texas Holdem
Straights – the straight with the highest-ranking card wins; if both straights are the same the pot is split.
Flush – The flush with the highest-ranking card wins, if the same you move to the next card till a winner is found or hands are the same. If hands are the same split the pot.
Full house – the hand with the higher ranking three cards wins.
Four of a kind – the higher ranking set of four wins.
Straight flush – ties are broken the same as a regular straight.
Royal Flush – split the pot.