2 quick questions: Blind structure + Betting

[mattiasnyc]

Alrightey then...

I've searched and I'm a bit unclear on two things, so here they are:

1) Don't really see too many notes on people using increasing blinds in home ring/cash games, just tourneys. So;

a) Does it mean that most ring games are usually just one blind level?
b) If that's the case, then why?
c) If that's not the case, what increases do you guys do over say 3-5 hrs of play?

(as a background; our home ring game has a $10 buy in with blinds at 10/20cents. Some have pointed out that we should do higher blinds, but I think an increasing structure might be better than simply increasing the blinds across the board. The issues are * people arriving late, and * people not having that much money. With rising blinds it would be an encouragement to come earlier, and it would be more interesting towards the end of the night (usually runs from about 8-8:30 to midnight-1am)

2) I've seen the term "reopen the betting". What does this mean? I'm really confused about that term.

My understanding was that the betting is opened by one person and then you have the option of folding, calling, raising. If someone raises, then that person is "it", and every consecutive player has the same options as before, but it's simply called "re-raise" rather than "raise". And that's pretty much it.

[HalfSugar]

1) Cash games have a fixed set of blinds because unlike with a tournament, the idea is not to play until a single player remains. With rising blinds in a tournament, you are forcing people to play or go broke which means the game has to have an end point and cannot go on forever. With a cash game, the idea is not to force people to play and therefore blinds do not change. Increasing them at a regimented time in a home cash game is OK I suppose but very unusual and I've never heard of it.

2) Re-opening the betting really is a way of saying that people who have already acted (but not folded obviously) will get a chance to act again. If I raise and the guy next guy re-raises, I will get a chance to act again because he has re-opened the betting or provided the last action. If I raise and every else just calls or folds, when the action returns to me I don't get an option because the betting was not re-opened.

[crack]

Increasing the blinds usually only happens in tournaments. In ring games it stays at the same level unless all players agree to kick it up.

.1/.2 cents is alright for a $10 buy in.

If people want to kick blinds up etc why not suggest instead of playing a cash game for $10 to sit down with you play a tournament for $10 buy in where only X amount of places get paid depending on how many players you have. I there is an article here on THP about hosting a tournament. Check it out on the left.

As for your 2nd question, I think reopen the betting just means re-raising, but I am not sure. I am not really up with the lingo.

Good luck.

[mattiasnyc]

Thanks for your quick replies; I really appreciate it!

Just a couple of comments:

One of the guys at our game wanted to up the blinds and I think he either wanted them to be upped in a structure kind of way, or simply upped period. My concern was that people wouldn't want to bet the larger amount necessarily, or at least not first, and that the buy-in would really be a bit small with a bigger blind. (Ironically, the guy who wants to up the blinds also doesn't want it to be a tournament play)

So my thought was that if we do a moderate blind-structure it would still allow people to play for less, get warmed up, and then be more exciting later in the evening. I was thinking something like:

8-9:30pm: 10c/20c
9:30-10:30: 20c/40c
10:30-11:30: 50c/1dollar

But your points are very well taken. You're absolutely right that our goal is NOT to force people out, but to have people play throughout the evening. I think a tourney would not go over well in our group, even with a "generously weighted" pay-out scale (meaning almost everybody gets something).

As for "re-opening" betting. I guess it was what I thought it was. I was a bit thrown off by the term and it seems a bit unnecessary in my opinion.

Anyways, thanks again for the responses!

[crack]

Problem with that is that as the blinds get bigger, with a $10 buy in by the end of the night you are playing with 10 big blinds. It will turn into an absolute luckfest if you do that.

You may want to host a rebuy tournament instead where if a player goes broke they can rebuy for chips for a certain period.

You can always try your way, or maybe every other game host a bigger game?

[mattiasnyc]

Problem with that is that as the blinds get bigger, with a $10 buy in by the end of the night you are playing with 10 big blinds. It will turn into an absolute luckfest if you do that.

I know. I'm trying to find a medium between tourney and fixed blind ring game to suggest to people. I know if the blinds go up the buy-in will be too small (likely). We allow buy ins so it may still work I suppose.

You may want to host a rebuy tournament instead where if a player goes broke they can rebuy for chips for a certain period.

Personally I'd be down with that. I think a tourney would be cool for several reasons. Unfortunately I think the "change" might be "too big" for some, since we're still all pretty new to this.

You can always try your way, or maybe every other game host a bigger game?

That's a great suggestion actually. Or perhaps just do a regular game and up the blinds the last half hour for the few who are into it.

Thanks for your input. I'll take it all into consideration and we'll see how things work out....

[golddog]

One other thing on re-opening the betting. It's a little complex and has been written about many times before, so a search can get you details, I'll just touch on the highlight.

Note that if a player raises all-in, but his raise is not at least one-half of a legitimate raise, this does not re-open the betting for players who have already acted.