Why are limits set this way?

$2-$4, $3-$6, $4/10, 8/20.

I'm not a poker player, just curious. Why not a $5/10, which would seem to be easier on the chip count.

 

I don't know the official answer but I would guess:

1) Smaller limits = smaller pots.
Doesn't seem like much to go from $4/8 to $5/10 but that is going to cost you $3 more per orbit to play and any pot you get involved with would start at $15 instead of $12 - that might not seem like much but its a 25% increase in starting pot size.

2) The odds limits mean that you have to use dollar chips.
Again if we were talking $4/8 versus $5/10 you might be thinking "If we were playing $5/10 couldn't we just use $5 chips only?" but then what about rake? or tipping the dealer?

3) More chips = more action.
The more chips in the pot can cause a psychological reaction to incite action amongst players. IE: a pot with $30 in it just doesn't look that impressive if its a single $25 chip and a $5 chip sitting there, as compared to a pot with two $5 chips and twenty $1 chips.

4) Round numbers doesn't mean people will always be betting in round numbers.
If the game was $5/10 NLHE it doesn't mean everybody is going to bet in multiples of $5 and not be making bets like $17 or $33 or something... that means the dealer is going to be making change all the time and lots of poker players will be superstitious and/or don't trust the dealers and don't want their hands constantly in the pot.

 

so there's a game for everyone.

 

This. The denominations being easier to count out don't influence the decision, just that they have a spread of games available. Some casinos make their own $3 chips or $2 chips to make these kinds of games go a little quicker (more hands per hour = more rake). Each limit/game has its own personality and style of play associated with it, as well as avg. pot size, rake, etc. It's crazy how fast the 4/8 limit game fills up but there's hardly any interest for a 3/6 limit game, locally.

 

In the Chicago area boats before NLHE took over the cash scene, the low limit game was 5/10 and mid limit 10/20. Each limit requires a different bankroll. Say you have 2 bets per street, at a 3/6 game that costs $36 to showdown. At 4/8 it costs $48 and 5/10 $60. That's at only 2 bets per street. Cap betting on a street and that gap grows. Small changes in the blinds compound as you progress through the hand for limit poker.

For No Limit you can make your bet any size you want so the impact of changes in the blinds has to do more with the size of buy in, # of BB's etc.

 

I believe that there was 5-10 at Borgata in AC a few years back. I remember 6-12, which I liked for some reason, but I believe that is gone. Casino's spread what the people want in my opinion.

There was a game that was playing in AC called the pink chip game. The chips were pink, lol. It was 7.5-15 game and the chips were worth $1.50. I am not sure if it was a Taj game originally but I played it once at the Borgata. It was fun and the pots were huge. You had to buy in big because there was a lot of raised pots. I think the game would play big because it was like funny money chips.

 

I don't really think there's a *good* reason for it.

In a few of the casinos in Ontario the games are: 5-10, 10-20 and 20-40 Limit. Everything played in red chips.

First time I played limit in Vegas I saw a $9-$18 game. Seems really weird.

It should go: 2-4, 5-10, 10-20, 15-30, etc.

 

I used to love to play 7.5/15 in Tunica. There was more action in that game than any other limit poker game.

 

Tips, and gamblers psychology factor into no 5/10 games. Saw a casino toss out a 5/10 game for the exact reason that dealer tokes got chopped in half on that game.

$150 pot in red chips is a handful of $5 chips. Yipee.

$150 pot in white chips is a beautiful mountain where the player thinks they just won a fortune. You can guess where more tips tend to land for the dealer.

People like having more chips, plain and simple. Even if it amounts to the exact same number at the window. It's just prettier.

 

I think this is an acceptable rational, but the reason casinos keep using higher and higher denomination chips is because psychologically you feel a lot more comfortable betting fewer chips than more chips, so I would think you'd get bigger pots this way.

The dealer tipping thing I suppose makes sense.

 

i have never in my life heard of a 4/10 and 8/20 limit game and I play a ton of poker...2/4, 3/6, 4/8, 5/10, 6/12, 8/16, 10/20, and beyond is the norm

 

That's what I've seen. I've very rarely seen spread limit that could be something like $2-$6 with you being allowed to bet anything within that spread.

But, I've only seen that a few times and not at all recently.

 

$2.50. It was the same pink chips as found on the BJ tables ($25 BJ = $37.50 - 1 green, 2 red, 1 pink)

I miss the pinks game. I also miss the poker waiting list that was a closed-captioned television camera 3' over a white board. *sigh* memories. When Trop put in The Quarter and Carmines and all that, I played a lot more on the shore side.

5/10 Limit always got confused with 5/10 NL at the Borg when they had it. It was short-lived. THey shortened the game because people were complaining that the structure was 2/4, 3/6, 6/12. You go from a $200 buy-in on 3/6 lasting all day to 6/12 requiring a solid $400. The weekenders (myself included for a long time) couldn't handle it.

3/6 @ the Borg was my bread and butter for years as a kid. I'd take the wife, we'd run the table.. one of us juicing action when the other had a good hand. Not that we were actively collaborating - we could be half a table apart - but when you're married to someone, you just know these things...

 

Yes, $2.50, $1.50 was a typ or a late night posting.

I haven't been to The Borg for a good year or so, on a tight budget, but I miss it. My night at the Pink Chip Game at The Borg got mentioned in a poker training video on an internet site. I was mentioned, lol, but not by real name.