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This blog will give some practical advice about choosing which size game is right for you when you visit the casino.  I’ll stick to Texas Hold’em for this post, because most of the time that’s what will be available.

The smallest Hold’em  game usually available will be $2-$4 limit.  This game usually has a $20 minimum buy-in, but realistically that will not be enough money to play the game.  My personal choice is to buy in for 25 times the big bet, which in this case would be one rack of chips, $100.  It’s not necessary that you follow my advice exactly on the 25 big bets, but try to buy in for at least 15 or so.

The realistic prospect for playing in this game is that you’ll win or lose $60-$100 dollars if you play for four hours or so.   You could win or lose more than that, but this is a common result.

If you want to play in a larger game, you can usually expect your results to fluctuate more and more as the game gets larger.  The larger the game, the more aggressive the players tend to be, and therefore your results will have bigger swings.  Also, players tend to be better as the stakes go up.  If there are three size games available, you can be quite sure the best players will be at the highest level game.

The structure of a game influences the way the game plays.  $3-$6 is played with a three-chip, six-chip structure, and tends to have nicely sized pots and decent action.  $2-$4 has a two-chip, four-chip structure, and tends to have less action and smaller pots.  Although it can take some getting used to, more chips equals more action.  $4-$8 is played with a four-chip, eight-chip structure, and tends to have good action and big pots.

There are few or no casino poker games where you can expect to show up with less than about a hundred dollars and have enough money to play.  This is why I use the 25 big bets guideline when I buy chips.  If you only start with five big bets, you’re likely to be out of money after only one or two hands.  If you get a big hand, you don’t want to be all-in!

If you’re going to play no-limit, it’s uncommon to find games less than $100*. However, because you can lose your entire stake in one hand, you’re going to need to bring more than just one buy-in if you really want to play.  You cannot be afraid of losing a buy-in if you want to play no-limit!  My advice is that if you don’t know what you are doing, DON’T PLAY NO-LIMIT!

These rough guidelines should allow you to gauge how much money to bring to the casino when you want to play poker.  Just remember, if you’re not sure whether a game you’re in is too big for you, then it probably is too big.

PokerGuru

* in Los Angeles and large metropolitan areas of California, this is not always true

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