max players at a table question NLHE

[teamonkey]

Wotcha all,

as the font of all things poker related, i have a question for the chaps here about the max number of players at a NLHE table.

the reason i am asking is as follows:

1) i work offshore on an oil rig, and have recently been able to get together a few folks for a friendly game of NLHE, £10 buy in, 5k stack, 20 minute blinds. It's for fun and amusement, some small bragging rights, and isnt taken too seriously. It also has to be finished by 10pm as we need, y regulation, to have 8 hours rest between shifts.

2) it can be hard work explaining stuff to some of these chaps, and the way they handle chips and cards means i am pretty much the only person able to run a table, ie deal, sort chips, control the betting (they can get very enthusiastic), keep track of the blinds, AND commentate on the action (but not as well as Sir Tighty does it)

3) we have a core group of 8 players, but as people come and go due to shift changes at short notice there may be up to 12 wanting to play at once, with only a single dealer (me)

so, is it possible for us to play with 12 at a table???

i think it is, the others probably dont care, but i just want to see what the guru's thoughts are

Mick

[arbboy]

No problem at all mick in playing 12 handed as long as the table is suitably big enough.  The game will just be slower as more hands need dealing/more decisions to be made per hand.  There are sufficient cards in the deck to play 20 handed should anyone choose to for NLH.  The reason is doesn't is because of table size/speed of game would bore people i assume.

[BorntoBubble]

No problem at all mick in playing 12 handed as long as the table is suitably big enough.  The game will just be slower as more hands need dealing/more decisions to be made per hand.  There are sufficient cards in the deck to play 20 handed should anyone choose to for NLH.  The reason is doesn't is because of table size/speed of game would bore people i assume.

+1

With holdem its pretty much the size of the table/speed of the game that holds you back. Omaha you have the issue of running out of cards but not in holdem.

In the olden days it was not uncommon to squeeze 12 round a table and be self dealt.  I would try and cap it at 12 unless your playing on a huge table and its feasable to have more.

[redsimon]

Went to aruba in 2002 as part of Ultimate Bet promo [ ] thin

The casino there had 12 handed Hold'em tables. They were massive tables though

[Eck]

Yeah surely just a convention.

Reminds me of a cracking day we had last year up at Ballindalloch Castle Golf Club. We had two 3 balls booked and when we turned up the starter says "the course is really quiet" do you want to play together. Never had a six ball before, it was an absolute riot. The course is nine greens but two different sets of tees for each hole make it two quite different nines. Stopped for a few beers in between each nine with no hassle.

Lovely...

[teamonkey]

i think 12 is the maximum i could manage to controll at once to be honest

they splash the pot worse than teddy KGB

some of them think, after 5 games (at least) that ts ok to raise to 600 if the previous bet was 500

no way can i stop them string betting

we start at 25-50, from a 5k stack, and still lost 2 players in level 1 last game

it's a very fun game, and it's interesting to watch the faces of people who can clearly play "properly" and are used to playing live, sit at the table with the less knowledgable, but very enthusiastic chaps.

my favourite hand so far was battle out between two of the chefs, it was raised and called preflop, flop A27 was check-bet-call, turn 8 was check-bet-call, river 4 was check-check

both players said "i was bluffing, i've got feck all" and laughed, first guy turned over 95 os, basically 9 high, the second guy looked at his cards and said "i think you win" and turned over his 63 os. raised pre, bet flop, bet turn, checked river, 30 BB pot won by 9 high. they love the game!!!!

but it's so much better than sitting in a bunk watching TV

[Sulphur man]

Just play in heats then you can keep the table numbers down. Really wont be enjoyable with more than 8 sat down in my opinion.
People will lose interest with so meny players. Legs/heats defo the way to go.

[teamonkey]

Just play in heats then you can keep the table numbers down. Really wont be enjoyable with more than 8 sat down in my opinion.
People will lose interest with so meny players. Legs/heats defo the way to go.

it would be, however we have the problem that in our work we have the "core" crew of people who rotate on a 3 weekly basis, 3 on 3 off, so they know exactly when they are going to be aboard. Added to those players are the "third party" workers, who might come onboard for 2 weeks and never return if the job they came to do was a one off on the rig structure itself, or the guys who come along for 2 weeks every 3 months.

as much as i'd like to run a league, take money for various prizes such as highest hand, most cashes etc, this isnt an environment where that is possible. There is also the issue of myself, doing the job i do, being part of the "core" crew, but actually being "third party", ie i'm one of the regular "third party" ROV crew for the 3 years that my company has been contracted for, but if my company decides it wants to send me to west Africa on my next trip then i wont be there to organise the game.

we just got to play when we can, with who we can, and get our fix that way

Mick

PS, i'm breaking even so far, i should have won a few but let me tell you about when i was dealt KK and i raised.................................yawn

[DMorgan]

Definitely played 11 handed in the owlerton naps £10 rebuy, may have played 12 handed too but I only played SNGs on ipoker at the time which were 10 handed so didn't really notice

It throws up some fun hand histories when instead of 9 people playing a 60% VPIP you've got 12

[tikay]

Definitely played 11 handed in the owlerton naps £10 rebuy, may have played 12 handed too but I only played SNGs on ipoker at the time which were 10 handed so didn't really notice

It throws up some fun hand histories when instead of 9 people playing a 60% VPIP you've got 12

They used to have as many as 12 per table at Naps Owlerton, though the tables were monster big.

The monthly Gala Notts £100 jobbie when it first began often started with 13 players per table. 

[theprawnidentity]

Thoughts on just turning it into a cash game instead? 5p/10p blinds, £10 max buy in, no one is tied to the table and you can easily stop the game at 10pm!

[Rexas]

Thoughts on just turning it into a cash game instead? 5p/10p blinds, £10 max buy in, no one is tied to the table and you can easily stop the game at 10pm!

Who is this sensible imposter?

[teamonkey]

Thoughts on just turning it into a cash game instead? 5p/10p blinds, £10 max buy in, no one is tied to the table and you can easily stop the game at 10pm!

believe it or not, gambling is not allowed offshore

obviously the boss of the rig knows it happens, but as long as it doesnt get out of hand he turns a blind eye.

another thing to consider is that the average wage of an offshore worker is approx 50k, so these guys potentially have a lot of money, however as there is no access to those funds on the rig, they play if they have the cash to pay, so a cash game isnt really an option

plus, with some of them, they'd soon dust off a ton, even at 5p10p!

last nights game went ahead, managed to get 10 players in total.

hand of the night was quad jacks

winner was a player that i would class as good, ie he knows how to play, handles his chips well, doesnt get over excited etc etc, and although he got a bit of luck in a very big pot, he was a deserved winner, 10 played and the table decided before the game to pay 1st 60, and 2nd 40 , i couldnt persuade them to pay 3rd place in a 60-30-10.

next game is sunday!!!!

[GreekStein]

Let's say 12 handed the game becomes less enjoyable you can always have everyone sat and then keep the game 9 handed but the 3 guys behind the button sit out.