Some Live Game Questions

Quote: travisl

1) For a $3/$6 limit game, it's rare to see anyone buy in for more than $100. Because it's a limit game, capped at four bets, the absolute worst loss you can have is $12 before the flop, $12 after the flop, $24 after the turn, and $24 after the river. That's a max loss of $72. Having more than $72 at the start of a hand doesn't help you at all, and you can pretty much rebuy whenever you want.

I've been in poker rooms that remove the cap on limit games when it gets heads-up. They still limit the bet size, but the two players can keep reraising until one is all-in.

Quote: travisl

2) For a $1/$2 no-limit game, it's best to buy in for the max so that you don't leave money on the table when you're holding the nuts and some sucker (probably me) calls your all-in on the river.

Having a short stack can also be advantageous. You don't often have the nuts. But sometimes you're up against a huge raise where, if you had the chips, you'd end up folding. If you have very few chips, you might be the only player to call. I was recently in a hand where a player raised to $10 pre-flop. six people called. After the flop, he went all in for about $200. All I had was $13, a weak pair and high hopes. I was the only one to call. So he took back all but $13, and had to show his bluff. My weak pair held up. I'm sure someone else would have beaten me if they had called. If I had much more than $13, I would have folded too.

Quote: travisl

7) My experience in buying chips is the opposite of DJTeddybear. I've always bought my chips from the table or the brush, and in most cases, the brush will cash them back in for you. The only exception to this was in the Los Angeles area casinos, where you buy chips from chip-runners roaming the room, and cash them in at the poker room cage.

What's a "brush"?

Quote: travisl

I also should play the almost-outdoor games at O'Shea's...

O'Sheas actually advertises "Strip Poker" because their tables extend into the doorway, onto the sidewalk next to the Strip. I don't like those tables, becuase it's hard to hear.

Well I'm most likely going up and getting my own chips. I prefer this anyway, I just wanted to make sure this wasn't rare and 99% of players just got chips after sitting down at the table.



I am curious though how the whole process of getting your chips works though. In a craps game I have no issues giving the dealer $500 because it never leaves the table and the chips are right in front of a dealer. Just seems odd that I would be giving some random employee in the poker room $500 to go get chips for me. I certainly wouldn't trust a blackjack dealer to take my money and then come back with $500 in chips a few minutes later.

Maybe it doesn't work like this, but I'm imagining someone working in the room coming up to me as I sit down asking if I want chips. I give them $300 and they come back with chips. Who says the person I gave the money to is even a casino employee?

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

In most places if it is heads up at the beginning or a round, there is unlimited betting.

Thanks for the reminder. I'd forgotten about this, only having seen it only once, at T.I., after I was already out of the hand. Up here in Washington state, even if it's heads up, it's capped at four bets.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Quote: travisl

7) My experience in buying chips is the opposite of DJTeddybear. I've always bought my chips from the table or the brush, and in most cases, the brush will cash them back in for you...

What's a "brush"?

One source gives this definition: "A casino employee whose job it is to greet players entering the poker room, maintain the list of persons waiting to play, announce open seats, and various other duties (including brushing off tables to prepare them for new games, hence the name)."

I've played in tiny podunk card rooms where there might be one person who's the dealer and one person who's the brush/floorman, and they switch off. In medium sized rooms, the dealers rotate, and the brush maintains the wait list and sells the chips. And in bigger rooms, the brush will show you to your table, take your money, and return with the chips. Often, the floorman, who resolves disputes ("floor!"), is the same as the brush, but not always.

My memory may be foggy, but I've played at the following Vegas rooms, and gotten my chips as noted:

TI, Planet Ho, Bellagio: the brush at the counter
Imperial Palace, Sahara: from the dealer's tray, or maybe the dealer just yelled over to the counter
Excalibur, Binions, Bally's, MGM: the brush, who came to the table
Wynn: I don't remember :-(

Quote: soulhunt79

Just seems odd that I would be giving some random employee in the poker room $500 to go get chips for me....

The one casino where I saw it, you put the cash on the table, just like when you buy in at any other table. The dealer and the runner count it, then the dealer gives you numbered buttons in the amount of the buy in. These buttons are the same type of engraved plastic things as a missed blind button. These buttons DO NOT PLAY. They just act as an I.O.U.

When the runner returns with the chips, they are counted out and you give the buttons to the dealer.

Usually, the runner is a dealer that is not at a table, or a floor person. It's NOT someone like a waitress.

What's a "brush?"

...

I never heard that term before. I would simply call them a host. Thanks for the explanation.


Now that you mention it, yeah, a lot of Vegas poker rooms DON'T have a cage. You buy in and cash out at the counter/brush/host.

I've always thought that was the most unsecure way to do it, but, it is Vegas, where the rules are rather loose....

Quote: Ibeatyouraces

Not necessarily. In most places if it is heads up at the beginning or a round, there is unlimited betting so you could lose more than $72 in a hand. This happened to me long ago with a second nut full house and lost to the nut full house. We raised back and forth untill he was all in which was more than 4 raises.

I didn't bother to mention that exception because if the hand is heads up, neither player will be obligated to do more than call the other player's bets to remain in the hand, therefore the $72 maximum needed still applies.