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BGonline.org Forums
Elementary cash game poker rules/strategy questions
Posted By: happyjuggler0 In Response To: Elementary cash game poker rules/strategy questions (Chuck Bower)
Date: Friday, 13 June 2008, at 3:21 p.m.
may you increase your stacksize by buying more chips at any time
I believe that the vast majority of NL and PL cash games you have a maximum amount of chips you may either bring or add to the table, noting that of course you may go over that limit via winning pots.
For example, assume a NLHE cash game with blinds of 10/20. It is not uncommon to see a max limit of 2000. This means that when you sit down you can't bring more than 2000 to the table (although you can have extra chips off the table). If your chips go below 2000 you can add more chips so long as you don't go above 2000. If your chips go above 2000 via winning a hand you can't add more chips until you go below 2000 again.
I am not close to being in Stick's league, but FWIW here is my thinking on cash game stack sizes:
Whenever I sit at a table I buy the max, and usually keep topping up to the max until I go over it. (note: for limit games this is far less of an issue, you merely need enough to cover a hand that is capped on all streets). The reasoning for it is you don't want to limit the amount of money you can win on a given hand. As an example check out yesterday's thread on the WSOP started by mamabear and read the description in my post and Stick's response. Having trip J's on the flop you simply want to get as much in the center as possible, and for that you need the chips to start with. Players with small stacks give away a ton of equity on monster hands in my opinion. It is true that you can lose, but with a great hand you are hugely +EV (i.e. you have a ton of "cubeful" equity) so the bigger the pot the better in the long run. How you get the money in the center is another matter of course....
Note that if you are a -EV player this is all irrelevant, it is like deciding the ideal bet size at a roulette table.
Also as a psychological matter there are players that don't want to tangle with a big stack (even in cash games!) so they sometimes fold when they ought to keep playing. You can pick up extra equity this way.
Same idea goes for players with a "winning stack", many players will give you the benefit of the doubt more often compared to someone with a "losing stack" who simply has a bad table image.
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