Poker News

John Vorhaus

How bad is the short buy-in? Consider this scenario. A guy buys in to a $6-12 game for $60. On his first hand he picks up pocket aces. He knows he should raise to isolate, but he’s afraid to commit too much money to the pot, in case the hand doesn’t go his way. From the outset he’s playing defensively. Or maybe he’s thinking he can get a bigparlay out of his small stack by taking his aces into a five- or six-way field. In any case, he lets a lot of small holdings limp into the pot, and while he’s a favorite over each of them, he’s an underdog to all of them. A couple of bets, a couple of raises… lo and behold, he gets all-in on the very first hand. When he loses (which he does ’cause he let the limpers limp) he finds himself back on his heels: sad, steaming, and buying more chips before his seat is even warm.

The damage is two-fold: his short buy-in has inspired his foes because he looks like a loser; that same short buy-in has pushed him off his game because he feels like a loser, too. Goodness, what a mess. Don’t let it happen to you. Just not ever. If you can’t buy in for a decent amount, drop down a level, and keep dropping down, until you find harmony between your bankroll and that limit’s typical buy-in. And then — here’s a tip — don’t buy in for the typical amount. Buy in for twice that sum.

If everyone else buys in for one rack, you buy in for two. No, this will not make you a reckless, careless, out-of-control maniac. Rather, it will make you a force to be reckoned with. It’ll send a message to the rest of the table that you came to play this game — to play it correctly — and that you are strong enough and fearless enoughto invest twice as much money as everyone else.

Better still, to those who arrive after you, it sends the message that you are a winner. Well, in their eyes you have to be, for they’ll assume that you bought in for one rack, just like everybody does, and that, by luck or strong play, you’ve turned that one rack into two. Are you lying to them? Hell, no. You’re just letting them hoist themselves on the petard of their own false assumptions.

Buy in big or buy in bigger, that’s up to you. Just never buy in small. All those specious arguments about using a short buy-in to take a shot at a big game are just that — specious. By definition, short money is scared money and scared money dies. Don’t let yours die on you.

Filed under: Poker News