what's the min effective stack size to start off with?

$1-2 Table.
I buy my chips.
What's minimum effective starting chips .
I find the deeper the stack the better, but I what is the minimal I can work with?
I think $ 150-$200. that is about 75-100X the BB .
I find that if I have starting stack of less than $50 (25XBB), then I can not play as effectively to the river, the stragety is more of push preflop or at the flop.

Are you talking live?
If so, I don't like to go lower than 100BB, but I know a lot of people live that start out with 50BB and do just fine. I'd say that what you have in mind should work just fine. Any less and you're just losing value when you get it in good.

absoluthamm said:

Are you talking live?
If so, I don't like to go lower than 100BB, but I know a lot of people live that start out with 50BB and do just fine. I'd say that what you have in mind should work just fine. Any less and you're just losing value when you get it in good.

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if you are talking about live, i agree its best to start w/ 100bb's; I have bought in for as low as 60 bb's, with the intention to rebuy 2x at most if needed, on tables that were already relatively shortstacked.

hamm's advice is really good, because its about value, there is nothing more frustrating than having the nutts and not being able to get the greatest-best possible value.

If online I am not at a level where SS'ing, is regarded as worthwhile; I know that 200nl+ allegedly has solid SS'ers, this is beyong my ability atm to understand. . . .all the best

My experience with live cash games is that it's a lot looser than online cash games.
100 BB is plenty enough to feel comfortable to play to the river card , maybe 60BB minimal.
at 30-60BB it might be tough to play against someone that pushes all the way to the river.
under 30BB , there's some players that employ a certain strategy it is preflop or post flop push.

That is exactly why buying in full is bigger. It is extremely common to see an entire table try to limp in live, or even for an entire table to call a small open. This is going to way over inflate the pot so if you hit a great hand on a drawy board, if you're buying in short in a big multi way pot, you are never going to give you opponents the odds to fold their big draws.

Online I usually see only two to the flop
The casino live tables there is usually 3-4 to the flop
Of course this can vary a bit but I see lots of callers to the raiser in the live game

I like to have everyone covered when I buy in, usually BI for max both online and live.

This

BlueNowhere said:

I like to have everyone covered when I buy in, usually BI for max both online and live.

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+1
Short stacking may be useful to measure a table full of unknowns if you know you are going to rebuy once you get a feel for their level of play. It also makes you play a little tighter so you don't go deep with bottom set against an unknown.Still it is almost always correct to buy in for the maximum (if there is a cap) or having everyone covered. Nothing is worse than drawing the nuts and not being able to maximize your profit because you only have a 20 BB stack.

Always try to have the weakest players at the table covered whenever you can