Not sure if this belongs in here or "General" but....One of the local casinos here in AZ has a $5-150 spread limit game with a $300 max buy-in, blinds are 2-5. My question is, is it normal to have a cap on the buy-in for a spread limit game? It seems like there should be no cap because you can never bet you're whole stack.

That's not too bad.

That game will play a lot like an NL game, but I know, probably in accordance to state law, they can't have a real NL table.

Capping the buyin at 300 is a lot like capping the buyin of an NL table, except you actually get to play with 60bb here, while most live tables have a buyin of 50bb.

This structure actually looks half decent.

The reason the buy in is capped, probably, is if it wasn't, it'd probably turn into a game where every bet got to be $150, and a lot of their business would dry up.

- Zach

i used to live in Arizona and played at Casino Arizona all the time. Like 3 or 4 years ago, a propostion passed that allowed blackjack in the casinos. As one of the requirements in the bill, 150 dollars is the most that can be wagered at one time in poker. That is why the highest game is 75-150 limit and the reason why it's 5-150 spread limit. Blackjack also has a cap of 500 dollars which was also part of the deal.

Most no limit games across the country have buy-in restrictions. The theory behind this is that nobody will go broke and their players will be in action longer, thus giving them more rake. I believe the Casino Arizon buy-in is now up to 350 dollars. Not sure if this is accordance to the law (which i doubt) but rather a good limit for the house to keep raking in the money.

Wow. I sure covered that pretty good for talking out my ***.

Yea, I knew about the Arizona law that only permits a max bet of $150, but I still don't understand why there's a cap on a spread-limit game. If you went and played 1-5 stud you could technically buy in for as much as you want right? Obviously that's a much smaller game but still the same concept. Same with the 75-150 game...although it's a fixed limit, the buy-in is not capped. 5-150 is still a "limit" game...granted a much wider spread. They only thing that makes sense about a cap is what you guys said about keeping the game going for the rake and not having people go broke quickly. The casino probably thinks that's in there best interest but a NL game would absolutely kill at Casino AZ. I think if you actually looked at a lot of the NL games in Vegas you'd see no max buy-in (for the higher limits). A lot of the 2-5, 5-10, 10-20 NL etc. games rarely have a cap on the buy-in but I can understand why they would if they did. You wouldn't want someone buying in for $1mil at a 5-10 NL table.

Do you mean the max bet is $500 or that's the most you can have on the table at one time for blackjack?

The structure is not bad at all, I just would prefer a $500 max because at least you have 100 bb. The Arizona laws are kinda silly though. Can you imagine how well a 1-2, or 2-5 ....or even 10-20 NL game would go down at Casino AZ!!


Wow...sorry that was so long...

500 dollars is the max bet for blackjack.

if you notice, Casino Arizona's most popular game is 3-6 holdem. These games generate good rake and people can play for $30 so they keep coming back. A NL would do well at CA, but the point is they don't care. They only have 49 tables, so that is the most games they can spread regardless of player interest. The people of CA are smart, as they were the first ones to get a 5-150 game in the area.

From my experience in the 5-150 game, very few people bet 150 at one time, instead betting 25-75 for the most part.

Without having ever played a spread limit game, my guess is that it plays a lot like a no limit game, and thus, we have a max buyin.

The big difference between a game like 1-5 Stud and 5-150 Hold'em I think is that the stud game is going to be play lower and more like a limit game, whereas the 5-150 game will play much higher and feel more like a NL game.

a spread game in stud can be 1-5 or 2-10. It is very unusual to see a spread limit game in holdem, especially now when no limit is the craze. But with the 150 dollar max bet and 300 dollar buy in, the game plays like no limit.

Technically the game is NL. Atleast alot more like NL than limit. I hate when people call it "spread limit" I mean, I know it is a spread limit, but it is damn near NL. I mean, if you bet $150 and someone raises you $150, thats your stack. And in California the Casinos that aren't on Indian territory have a cap of $200. We have the 10-200 limit here with 2-4 blinds, so 50BB like Zach mentioned. But the Indian gaming Casinos is pure no limit.