How much do you buy in for?

[ZenKinG]

For a $5 game I would constantly be buying in for $40 with two bills of 20. Avoid any set bills like 50 or 100 try to look like a guy who is short on money and is buying with two 20s rather than one big bill or even better gradually start using $10, $5, and $1 bills around your second to third buy in.

For any other minimum game such as 15 or 25, buy in for 100 and use the same strategy try to use small bills like 5 bills of 20 or two 50s and later on start usin smaller bills as you keep buying in

[DM21]

Nice info! Thanks!

Apart from using CV, I've been practicing with real cards and real chips and I usually "buy-in" for $200 for a $5 min game. Now, I know I won't do that in reality. But my question here is: what chip denominations do they give you when you buy in? For instance, in my example, would they give me 40 $5 chips? 10 5$ and 6 $25? Is there a pattern?

Thanks!

When buying in they will give what you ask for within reason. On a $200 buy in at a red chip table they will usually give you $100 in red and $100 in green if you don't specify. $200 on a $5 min table is way too much. You could buy in for $100 and ask for 1 or 2 green chips so you have a little more betting power when you need it. You can always color down the green chips of you need to.

DM

[Mica]

Multiple buy-ins is much better than one buy-in. I often have to buy-in a few times to get all my doubles and splits out within 1 round. It doesn't look suspicious. It looks like you are not planning on risking much but just can't stop, like a gambler. Trying to buy-in for enough to cover your max bets in a session and betting small looks very bad. At a $10 table $200 is fine.

I see, so you can buy-in mid hand to make sure you can double etc?

[Skull]

When buying in they will give what you ask for within reason. On a $200 buy in at a red chip table they will usually give you $100 in red and $100 in green if you don't specify. $200 on a $5 min table is way too much. You could buy in for $100 and ask for 1 or 2 green chips so you have a little more betting power when you need it. You can always color down the green chips of you need to.

DM

Thanks DM!

[Intermediate]

I see, so you can buy-in mid hand to make sure you can double etc?

Absolutely. Seems like that split/double opportunity always happens when you are down to your last chips. They'll take your money any time.

[Ouchez]

My preference is $200 on a $5 table, $400 on a $10, $900 on a $25 table, I hate having to stop action to re-buy, it always draws attention when you are making a move.

O

[muckz]

For a $5 game I would constantly be buying in for $40 with two bills of 20. Avoid any set bills like 50 or 100 try to look like a guy who is short on money and is buying with two 20s rather than one big bill or even better gradually start using $10, $5, and $1 bills around your second to third buy in.

For any other minimum game such as 15 or 25, buy in for 100 and use the same strategy try to use small bills like 5 bills of 20 or two 50s and later on start usin smaller bills as you keep buying in

It would really suck to carry over 3k in small bills.

[Exoter175]

My preference is $200 on a $5 table, $400 on a $10, $900 on a $25 table, I hate having to stop action to re-buy, it always draws attention when you are making a move.

O

That's exactly how I feel about things, and truth be told, I don't need to underfund my investment to "make it look" like I'm a compulsive gambler, or on tilt or whatever to give me a cover. Around me, most of the PBs and Dealers know that when I play blackjack I'm just grinding on basic strategy for a few hours to kill time or enjoy my day and leave +/- 50 bucks. I've done it for so long for so many years that they are practically trained and conditioned to great me, ask me about my day, and ignore most of my play. It seems the common response here as more to do about cover than an actionable strategy.

[VeryGood]

I start with 12 units then 8 units then 20... 20 ... 20 then start slamming cards and punching the table lol

I agree with most on not to buy in huge then bet the table min. It makes you look like a serious player when buying big. It's like one flop I played with, bought in for $3k then played $25 min the rest of the night. I was like... WTF

[Three]

Some places have your point generation tied to buy in. Plops want to earn those points. I played one sweaty joint that everyone at the table cashed out at the end of each shoe and bought in again with cash when they returned. I haven't seen this behavior any time in recent years so I think they changed it to a more normal rating system due to all the extra work the plops reaction made for all the casino employees.

[Joker21]

That's exactly how I feel about things, and truth be told, I don't need to underfund my investment to "make it look" like I'm a compulsive gambler, or on tilt or whatever to give me a cover.

You can buy in at any point during/before the hand. Buying in smallish doesn't mean you're underfunded at all. It just avoids setting off alarms and attracting attention before its necessary.

[Exoter175]

You can buy in at any point during/before the hand. Buying in smallish doesn't mean you're underfunded at all. It just avoids setting off alarms and attracting attention before its necessary.

I think there's an inverse relationship associated there, though. Say a PB gets called over to the table to hang out for a moment, and he watches a few hands go by, and you keep stopping the play (This is a big negative for several reasons, IMO) to buy in. Sure, you could maybe pull off the degenerate gambler cover and make it look like you've got your house on the line here or what have you, but if you do it enough times with him there, most likely keeping a side count himself, you're going to be red flagged as a card counter VERY fast. Whereas I'll be on the table with a medium sized buy in for my bet spread flying relatively low under the radar looking like a grinder who might be winning a little.

Now, my perspective comes from the 5/10 tables, where you're most likely playing with other individuals, so your play stoppage will be affecting their play to one degree or another, and you'll get a few negative glances and stares. The other side of the coin is the dealer, who needs to hit a set amount of hands per hour, or he/she could get in trouble (I've heard about this quite a few times, specifically relating to the 21+3 tables here in the midwest).

Now, I'm not saying you should buy into a 5 dollar table with $1,000 , but I'd advise against 20-60 buy ins from a logistics standpoint.

[Three]

I play enough around my area using small buyins all the time and the pit has never given me heat for that. I have gotten heat for playing too long or winning too much but never a backoff from my area. Recognize the heat, get out and act appropriately when you return. I do a good job of selling that I am not a threat. I suspect they all know I am counting. I am not stupid and don't treat the pit like they are stupid by thinking I am fooling them. I am just giving them the ability to look the other way by not being someone they will get in trouble for not backing off. The cat and mouse game is not really fooling the pit. It is the ability to coexist with their job description and not be a problem for other patrons that they wish wouldn't show up at the casino. Rather than that I try to be an asset when controlling problem and otherwise annoying players. I could tell you some stories about how bad some casino suits want me to come back once I have not visited for a while but they are too specific to be safe to post. Now if I played above their comfort thresholds I would be playing a different cat and mouse game.