minimum or maximum buy-ins? Pros & cons

[RamdeeBen]

Ok I'm still quite newish so didn't quite understand it. Got ya now though.

Impressive Billy thanks for the explanations. I just like to know as much as I can so thank you for your time. I hope to get some sort of steady poker as yourself one day. Maybe you wish to be my personal mentor?

 

[RamdeeBen]

I assume he has recovered as he has stated several times that he's a winner at that game over a big sample. Also you'll notice it was all winnings that constituted the downswing meaning his bankroll wouldn't have been depleted.

Also post the EV WV, you obv just ran good for the mountain and was just breaking even over that period

Yeah. Just the first graph showing the big downswing, I just didn't see then how he actually recovered and how long it took for the recovery that was all.

Thanks for all your comments too.

 

[Trimming1]

Getting it in

I have been experiancing a roller coaster for a long time. I just remain positive metally as I know that by approching the game correctly I will overcome the down swings. Example: I play live cash games where the minimun buy in is at least $300.00. These are $2.00/$5.00 no-limit cash games. With a full table you have got at least $3,000 at the table and an overall average of up to 10k at the table. When the game starts I usually buy-in for around $600.00 as to have everyone at the table covered from the start of the game. Just last week I and two losing sessions that cost me a total of $1000.00. Then that friday I won a live tourney that paid me $1200.00 and I won $500.00 in the cash game after. My point is that you can recover if your mind set is correct and your game tactics are sound.

 

[fx20736]

An extremely hard concept to understand, actually almost impossible to understand for new poker players is that variance happens and not to try to adjust your playing style to deal with bad beats. You lose AA to 42o and you start limping with Aces and then start to wonder why lose even more, you get set stacked with AK when you make TPTK and your opponent flopped a set so you stop playing AK. It is a painful lesson that needs to be seared into a poker player's brain that it is good that you lose with AA vs 42o otherwise you would never make money off the loose bad players who chose to play these cards. You need to stop thinking of a 'winning session' or a 'losing session'. Your session is as long as you have a bankroll and you are playing. Sometimes you go card dead, sometimes you get coolered and sometimes you run really hot. You need to be willing to strap in and grind. Until you lose your AA to some hideous donkey who decided to play J2 and flopped a full house and not go on tilt you will not succeed at poker. This is why Bankroll management is so key. First, you need to play at levels where the money does not matter at all. If you constantly are buying in with your gas & grocery money you are not playing properly. Second you must be able to lose several buy-ins and still have plenty of money in your roll. Third, do not constantly look at your account balance. If you are winning there is no need to look. If you lose 3 buy-ins you can double check it but don't start playing differently. Otherwise maybe take a peek once a week or so.

This advice is from someone who is just emerging from a prolonged blood bath, who finally realized that I could not blame others for my losses.

 

[Basalt13]

Full buy-ins are a must, if you "NEED" to shortstack you aren't ready for that level. The odd time I may buy-in for $40 at a 50NL table, but that's more cause i know I tilting and just want to shove alot of hands quick.

 

[cazique]

Well if you do drop quite a few buy-ins then you might have leaks in your game. So it is not always true that you don't have to change your game.

Always buy-in full, with auto top-up as WV suggests. I wish I could learn to do this sooner as sometimes right after I lost a big pot leaving me with 10bbs or less, Full Tilt decides to have mercy and deal me AA or KK on the very next hand. That's a whole lot of lost value right there!

 

[Theblueduce]

Concur with all here who have mentioned full buy in. With out it (IMO) you limit/handicap yourself to playable hands (only playing those top 10 hands or so). Therefore this handicaps your other hands you would normally play and others see that and will cause you to get no action. You been sitting there all night waiting for the AA or AK and when you get it you raise.....Others take note and will fold.

 

[cjatud2012]

Well if you do drop quite a few buy-ins then you might have leaks in your game. So it is not always true that you don't have to change your game.

Always buy-in full, with auto top-up as WV suggests. I wish I could learn to do this sooner as sometimes right after I lost a big pot leaving me with 10bbs or less, Full Tilt decides to have mercy and deal me AA or KK on the very next hand. That's a whole lot of lost value right there!

You can choose to have this done if you click under Options, I believe, and look for Ring Buy-In Preferences.

 

[KINGSIN]

Id buy in for what you feel comfortably playing, if you cant afford to lose x amount of money, than buy in short or move down levels. From a strategic point of view, you should want to have as many chips on the table as you can have. But if the table is super deep and you can buy in low, than its also strategic to do so. I play $1/2 live, sometimes i buy in for $100 sometime $500, it depends how many chips are on the table, how my opp rates, etc. If everyone has $1000, i always buy $100, as a double up will be easy, sometimes youll double up without a call($20 raise and 4 calls, u push) If everyone has 200 and under, except this lady whos got lucky on the river three times with money in on the turn, and has $700, im buying $500(70% of opp stack) Both examples are real, i have doubled up without a call preflop, and i did buy in and double tru the lady who reraised my turn bet with two pair vs my turned strait.(side note the $500, was a $200 buy in, a $100 add on, $100 add on, $100 add on, the lady did look at me weird, as i did this after each of her drawouts, but didnt keep her from getting it in with me on the turn) turn action was bet 20, she rereaised 100, i reraised 350 more, she did wait about 30 seconds before calling, for anyone who cares.

 

[chuG]

I normally buy in for full.

 

[JMcCabe]

Choosing to buy in full, for the minimum, or somewhere in between should be dependent on your overall strategy.

I started a thread a couple of nights ago asking for a critique of my 60-75BB buy-in strategy, that has been my bread and butter for around 5 years now.

There are a lot of short-stackers who play 20BB minimum buy-ins for a living, and do quite well for themselves, because they follow an optimized strategy for playing with 20BBs.

I've found that my game play and general strategy is optimized at 60-75BBs, based on a number of factors, which I posted in this thread here.

Most "regs", "pros", and "experts" on forums will tell you that 100BBs is the only buy-in worth making, but usually only back that up with the statement, "when I flop a big hand I want to make sure I get full value from it."

While I believe this is mostly true at lower limits, as you go up in limits (say NL100+) you'll find most of your opponents make far fewer mistakes where they will stack off 100BBs light.

I'd suggest experimenting with your buy-ins, starting with 20BB or 100BB, and then test out the waters in between (40BB, 60BB, 75BB, etc) until you find a buy-in that works well for you.

EDIT: Sorry for the late addition; noticed this was a older bumped thread after posting.

 

[rjeezy20146]

lets say the maximum buy in is 50 i would buy in for 40 because you can do almost the same damage with 40 that you would do with 50. the point of buying with less than the maximum is trying to double up. many pro do this try to double their way to have and average stack.

 

[DetroitJimmy]

lets say the maximum buy in is 50

Play where you can buy-in for 100bb then. The only place I know where they don't have 100bb buy-in is at a live game. If that's the case then do what ya got to do.