High Stakes Poker Definition

4/9/2022 admin

1) One dollar in a low stakes game, or one hundred dollars in a high stakes game. 2) Alternate name for the button. 1) Slang for a wild card. 2) Slang for the top hand in Chinese Poker. Any player playing aggressively, pushing around the other players with bets, is being a bully. Burn (Burn Card). The business world has taken up a term popularized by poker: table stakes. “Table stakes” are what it takes to get a seat at the table. If a player is prepared for a nickel- ante game but his tablemates are tossing in ten-dollar chips, his lack of resources will soon make itself apparent. He simply can’t compete. What is the definition of the term 'high roller'? A 'high roller' is a poker player that frequently plays in high stakes games. For instance, Phil Ivey, Patrik Antonius and Tom 'durrrr' Dwan are examples of 'high rollers', as they will frequently play in high stakes cash games and tournaments.

Every cash game poker player strives to move up from micro-stakes to small stakes beyond. I have been playing for over 12 years and can shed some on the various stake levels as well as what it takes to beat them.

What is considered small, mid, and high stakes poker?

Created by JoeOE18 on December 8, 2009. The poker games where the buy-ins, blinds, and antes are very large. Definition of Straddle In poker, to straddle means to put an amount at least twice the big blind into the pot prior to the deal. Two times the big blind is the minimum amount for a straddle bet, but there is no cap, and the straddle can be a much higher blind.

There are actually five different stake levels in online cash game poker:

Micro-stakes – 2NL, 5NL, 10NL, 25NL
Small-Stakes – 50NL, 100NL
Mid-Stakes – 200NL, 400NL, 600NL
High-Stakes – 1000NL, 2000NL, 5000NL, 10000NL
Nosebleeds – 20000NL and up

Now that you know what the stakes are, let’s discuss each level in turn and find out what it takes to move up.

The Key Differences Between Cash Game Poker Stakes

The nature of each cash game stake will vary from poker room to poker room. However, in my experience, there are some fundamental commonalities of what can be expected at each level as you move up through the stakes.

1. Micro-Stakes Cash Game Poker

Micro-stakes poker ranges from lowly $0.01/$0.02 up to $0.10/$.25. This is usually either a place for recreational players to splash around or a proving ground for ambitious players who want to move up as soon as possible.

The games are typically characterized by looseness pre-flop with lots of limping and passive post-flop play. It is not unusual for there to be multiple players still in the pot when the river is reached.

Tips on Beating the Micros

It does not take a ton of skill to win at the micro-stakes. In fact, the winners are usually just the ones who are making the least mistakes. Here are a few tips:

Play a lot of hands in position and very few out of position in order to capitalize on the fit-or-fold nature of many micro-stakes players. Acting last also gives you the ability to realize equity with a lot of your marginal hands
Include holdings that can make the nuts or dominate your opponent when you build your pre-flop hand ranges. Making flush over flush or out-kicking your opponents is where a lot of the big pots are won at the micros.
Throw out the call button and instead focus more on value betting and bet-folding your medium strength hands. Continuing with marginal top pairs by check-calling is a recipe for disaster against loose-passive opponents.

How much can a good micro-stakes player expect to win per month?

How much can be made at the micros is really irrelevant. You should not be looking to play at penny stakes more than just a few weeks or months while you learn the game.

Even so, there are quite a lot of players who are full-time regs at either 10NL or 25NL. Even with mass-tabling and uber rewards, it’s hard to make more than $8 an hour doing this.

My advice is that if you don’t have aspirations to be a poker “star” and are okay just making a few hundred every month playing poker, then work hard on your game and learn to beat at least 50NL.

50NL players are not that much tougher to beat than 25NL regs, so you owe it to yourself to study hard enough to at least break into the lowest level of small stakes.

2. Small-Stakes Cash Game Poker

Small stakes games include just two stakes, $0.25/$0.50 and $0.50/$1.00. This is where you first start seeing a large number of full-time or part-time pros eeking out a marginal living in poker. It’s not uncommon to find players who have been 50NL or 100NL players for several years.

The quality of small-stakes games can vary widely from poker site to poker site. For example, on America’s Cardroom small stakes are very difficult to beat except for even the most dedicated players. The level of play that was once only common at 200NL or 400NL is now seen on numerous tables daily on ACR.

On the other hand, softer sites like Ignition poker have soft enough small stakes games that even newer players have a chance of winning. I would say that 100NL on Ignition is comparable to 25NL on ACR. There are more rewards on the latter, which does narrow the gap a bit. Even so, it’s always much better to play the higher stake then rely on being a “rakeback pro.”

Tips on Beating Small Stakes

To beat small stakes, you need to have more than just a basic “tight is right” strategy. You have to also have at least a rudimentary understanding of some advanced topics that include:

Equity and SPR and how those concepts are implemented in order to maximize profit versus a wide variety of opponents.
Game selection and profiling opponents.
The ability to use a HUD effectively, if applicable, in order to glean the information necessary to interpret the tendencies of opponents.

Beyond these factors, you will need to be able to think on level two and have an elementary understanding of gameflow and table dynamics. Small stakes is all about playing exploitative poker.

How much can a good small-stakes player expect to win per month?

High volume small-stakes player with a reasonably high win-rate of 4bb/100 or high can expect to make anywhere from $15 to $25 an hour. It would not be unheard of to make between $2,500 and $5,000 a month, once rewards are figured in. Even part-time winners at 50NL can expect to make around $1,000 per month.

There actually are well-documented cases of 100NL professionals making over $10,000 a month after rakeback and rewards. This is mainly associated with Pokerstars in the “old” days and on the Winning Poker Network now, with the Beast promotion. This is more the exception than the rule though.

3. Mid-Stakes Cash Game Poker

Mid-Stakes includes $1/$2, $2/$4, and $3/$6 blinds. Online, these are the stakes where most of the best players on the site congregate. In fact, the only time most really good player will play higher than mid-stakes, is when there is a known bad player on the table.

For laymen, it’s impossible to tell the difference when watching a small-stake or mid-stake game side-by-side. For long-time poker professionals, the difference is usually profound.

The most striking difference that you start seeing at mid-stakes lies in the more nuanced bet sizings. People are a lot more of aware of potentially getting exploited, so they try to optimize their bet size accordingly.

For example, it’s not uncommon to still see 3x raises with a steal on the button at 100NL and below. You will almost never see this from a reg at 200NL or higher. They know they can accomplish the same thing by raising to 2.5x or even a min-raise, so why waste the extra money when they fold to a 3-bet?

Tips on Beating the Mid-Stakes

If you want to join the top 2% of poker players and learn to win at mid-stakes be ready to dedicate your life to poker, at least partially, for some time.

The amount of study hours it takes to go from beginner to being able to beat 200NL in the modern game is akin to going from a white belt to black belt in martial arts.

In fact, it actually seems like a pointless exercise for me to give a list of tips in beating this level. This is because it’s like trying to explain the universe in one sentence and with 4 examples.

Nevertheless, here are just a few things you must master before even attempting to beat 200NL or higher (on most poker sites):

Level 3 thinking is the minimum thinking level necessary to compete,
How to build hand ranges in your head during play and evolve them to fit the changing dynamic as the session progresses.
Being aware of how opponents might be adjusting their strategy based on you.
A moderate understanding of balancing and how to avoid being exploited over time if you have out of line frequencies

The point of this article isn’t try and give you a guidebook to winning at poker. I understand that many people reading this won’t have a clue what I am talking about. That’s okay, but you need to be aware of just how big of a chasm there is between the poker mind maturity of a winner at micro-stakes and mid-stakes. A good analogy is for an average chess player to try playing a grandmaster.

How much can a good mid-stakes player expect to win per month?

For most online poker sites, mid-stakes is where you start to see highly skilled players emerging who can make a decent living playing professionally. For example, my win-rate at 200NL was around 8bbs/100 which gave me an approximate hourly rate just under 40/hr while 4-tabling.

4. High Stakes Cash Game Poker

Save for a few wealthy “whales”, most players will never experience what it’s like to play for average pots that exceed in excess $1,000 on a regular basis. Enter the high-stakes cash game poker professional.

High stakes poker games online include $5/$10, $10/$20, $25/$50, and $50/$100. While there are quite a few regs that play these stakes, a good number of them also still play mid-stakes as well. It’s not uncommon to see a skilled reg playing 400NL, 600NL, 1000NL, and 2000NL in the same session.

Basically, what typical high stakes players do is game select heavily and work hard to ensure that they have an edge in every game they play. In fact, often the skill difference between mid-stakes and high-stakes players mainly lies in their ability to manage their bankrolls and careers a bit better.

Tips on Beating High Stakes

To win long term at high stakes takes a dedication to the game and an ongoing commitment to keeping up to date with the latest strategy. Career management must be strong.

I am not going to give you a list of tips on beating high stakes. It’s actually pretty ridiculous to do so since only 1 in 100,000 players will likely even ever play a session of 1000NL or higher. Personally, I have never played a hand higher than 600NL and am not even qualified anyway.

What I will say, is that once you are beating mid-stakes you will already understand what it takes to at least some degree. Whether you decide to take a shot at high stakes will depend mostly on financial security in taking a shot.

How much can a good high stakes player expect to win per month?

For the few that do make it as a successful high stakes poker player, the amount of money you can win is pretty limitless. Even for part time guys that beat high stakes, 100,000 a year likely feels like the floor for them. Think about it, 100,000 is only 100 buy-ins of $5/$10.

5. The “Nosebleeds”

Stakes with a buy-in of $20,000 or higher are known as the nosebleeds. One of the most popular stakes for nosebleed players is $200/$400.

Let’s get one thing out of the way. Variance is insane at these stakes. Almost no one is actually correctly bankrolled to play the nosebleeds. Conservatively, you really need at least 50 buy-ins to be a regular at any stake. Even for the “smallest” nosebleed stakes, this is $1,000,000.

If you start talking about $500/$1000 stakes, $5,000,000 feels like a small bankroll when you consider $1,000,000 swings seem to happen almost daily for these players.

Beating the Nosebleeds

The nosebleeds are an interesting phenomenon that reached their height right before the fall of Full Tilt Poker. The volume of hands played at those ridiculously high stakes has never been matched since.

The truth is, it takes a special type of person to play at this level. You have to be a billionaire, a big risk taker, or have a huge ego to even think about taking on the nosebleeds.

Even so, the level of play at the highest levels is actually probably not as good as it is at even mid-stakes. The reason is that most strong poker players will not risk their hard-earned money without having a gigantic edge in the game. That’s why you’ll often seen players enjoying a higher win-rate at 2000NL or above than they have at 1000NL.

How much can a good nosebleeds player expect to win per month?

Since very very few many people solely play the nosebleeds, it’s more of an opportunistic or ego exercise for the majority of the player pool at any given time. Therefore, it’s not even worth commenting beyond just saying that fortunes are won and lost weekly and even daily in these games.

Besides, it’s really hard to be a regular in those nosebleeds and get enough volume in. Like high stakes, the nosebleeds are more about taking shots for the vast majority of the players.

What Minimum Bankroll Is Needed to Play Each Stake Based on a 100 Big Blind Buy-In?

Assuming that each stake is your regular game and you are not taking shots, you typically want at least 50 buy-ins at a stake. Based on that, here are the bankroll requirements of each stake:

The Stake Levels in Live Poker

This article has mostly been about online poker. So, let’s briefly discuss the stakes in live games. Below is a list of the live equivalents in skill level.

Here are the live equivalents to online stakes:

Micro-Stakes – No such thing since the lowest stake you typically find is 200NL.
Small Stakes – 200NL, 500NL
Mid-Stakes – 1000NL, 2000NL, 5000NL
High Stakes – 10000NL and up
Nosebleeds – This is more of an online term. A 10k buy-in or higher is called high stakes. 100,000 buy-in is generally the biggest “regular” game you see. This is the common buy-in we saw in the show “High Stakes Poker”, with $200/$400 blinds.

Keep in mind that you can only 1-table in live poker. This means everyone is presumably able to play their A Game. Also, live recreational players tend to be much worse live. This means 200NL live is like 5NL online. 1000NL or 2000NL live is often like 200NL online. You get the idea.

Final Thoughts

Now you know the differences between all of the stakes, both live and online. You also have some idea of what it takes to become a winner at every level.

If you are interested in taking a step toward building a poker game with a strong foundation, you might be interested in my full poker tutorial.

Thanks for reading!

High Stakes Poker
High Stakes Poker logo
Format	Poker series
Starring	Gabe Kaplan (seasons 1-6) A. J. Benza (seasons 1-5) Kara Scott (season 6)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	72
Production
Producer(s)	Henry Orenstein, Mori Eskandani
Location(s)	Nevada
Running time	43 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	GSN
Original run	January 1, 2006 – Present

Programming history

The first season of High Stakes Poker, taped at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, was first broadcast in January 2006 and consisted of 13 episodes, hosted by A. J. Benza and comedian/actor-turned-poker pro Gabriel Kaplan. The second season, taped at The Palms and consisting of 16 episodes, premiered on June 5, 2006. The third season, consisting of 13 episodes, was taped at the South Point Casino and premiered on January 15, 2007. New players for the third season included Jamie Gold, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Patrik Antonius, Paul Wasicka, David Benyamine, Brian Townsend and others. Returning players from previous seasons included Doyle Brunson, Daniel Negreanu, Sammy Farha, Phil Laak, Jennifer Harman, Barry Greenstein, Erick Lindgren, Mike Matusow, Brad Booth and others.^[1]

On April 2, 2007 GSN announced that High Stakes Poker would return for a fourth season, again taped at South Point. Taping was completed in May 2007, and the season premiered on August 27, 2007. Returning players included Patrik Antonius, David Benyamine, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, Sam Farha, Jamie Gold, Barry Greenstein, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Jennifer Harman and Daniel Negreanu. Newcomers for the fourth season include Brandon Adams, Mike Baxter, Brian Brandon, Phil Galfond, Guy Laliberté, Bob Safai, Antonio Salorio and Haralabos Voulgaris. The later episodes of this season featured a $500,000 minimum buy-in (compared to the regular $100,000 minimum) and these games saw more than $5 million in play on the table at one time. Season four finished airing on December 17, 2007 and featured 17 episodes. The network cited the show's strong ratings performance in younger demographics.^[2] Season 5, which ran from March 1, 2009 through May 24, 2009, was taped at the Golden Nugget on December 19-21, 2008 and featured a minimum cash buy-in of $200,000 – the largest buy-in for an entire run of a television series.^[3] The format for season 5 differed slightly from its predecessors by having Kaplan and Benza not appear on camera until after the first commercial break in the show, rather than at the outset.^[4] Season 6 has already been filmed and will begin airing on February 14th.^[5] AJ Benza will not be returning to co-host this series.

Format

When it first aired, High Stakes Poker was unique among televised poker series because it did not take place in a tournament setting. Instead, the program showed a high stakes ring game. The minimum buy-in to the game is US$100,000, but players have bought in for as much as $1,000,000, such as Daniel Negreanu in Season 1 and Brad Booth in Season 3. For part of the fourth season, the minimum buy-in was $500,000.^[6]^[7] The first episode with the minimum $500,000 buy-in was broadcast on November 5, 2007. The minimum cash buy-in for the fifth season increased to $200,000 – the largest buy-in for an entire run of a television series. Unlike tournament poker, the chips involved represent real money. If a player loses his initial buy-in, that player may rebuy a minimum of $50,000. In addition, players may use cash instead of casino chips. Cash plays and stays as cash in the pot; it does not have to be converted into casino chips. Unlike tournament poker, blinds and antes are constant, instead of increasing as time goes on. High Stakes Poker has $300/$600 blinds with a $100 ante. The fourth season features three forced blinds of $300, $600 and $1,200, with a 'straddle' or optional fourth blind of $2,400.^[6]^[7]

The players include poker professionals along with amateurs such as Jerry Buss and Fred Chamanara. The show was created by executive producer Henry Orenstein. In season one, Daniel Negreanu confirmed in a post on his website's forums that all players were paid $1,250 per hour for taking part and that 13 episodes were edited down from 24 hours of actual play.^[8] 2006 WSOP Main Event Champion Jamie Gold commented that players were paid for participating, though they had to put much more money at risk to get to play the game. Gold also spoke about his interactions with other players, particularly Mike Matusow.^[9] The theme song for the show is titled 'I'm All In', written and performed by John Pratt, Los Angeles.^{[citation needed]}

Notable hands

In Season 2, Gus Hansen won $575,700 with four fives, beating Daniel Negreanu's full house. Hansen raised to $2,100 with 5♦5♣, and Negreanu re-raised to $5,000 with 6♠6♥, which Hansen called. The pot was $11,700, and the flop came 9♣6♦5♥. Hansen checked his set of fives with a 4% chance of winning the hand and Negreanu bet $8,000 with his set of sixes and a 94% chance of winning the hand. Hansen raised over the top to $26,000 and Negreanu called, bringing the pot to $63,700. The turn came 5♠, making Hansen quad fives, leaving Negreanu a 2% underdog with his full house. Hansen bet $24,000, and Negreanu called, slow playing his full house. The pot was now $111,700. The river came 8♠. Hansen checked, and Negreanu bet $65,000. Hansen then went all in over the top for his remaining $232,000, bringing the pot to $408,700. Negreanu called, and Hansen took down a pot worth $575,700. This was the largest pot before the 500K minimum buy-in game during the fourth season and remains the largest as a multiple of the big blind ($600).

A $743,800 pot developed between Patrik Antonius and Jamie Gold in the November 12, 2007 episode of the fourth season. Antonius held A♠J♦ and Gold had pocket kings. After the 3♠Q♦10♥ flop and K♥ turn, Antonius was a 3-to-1 favorite with his straight vs. Gold's three kings. Gold moved all-in and Antonius called to create the 743.8K pot. With such a large amount at stake the players agreed to run the river three times. The first two river cards, Q♥3♦, both paired the board and gave the win to Gold with a full house. The third river card 8♠ kept Antonius' straight in front. As a result, Gold took two-thirds of the pot and Antonius one-third. Antonius' calm demeanor after the hand prompted host A.J. Benza to comment: 'I'll tell you one thing: Patrik can take a punch. Imagine if that was Phil Hellmuth.'^[10]

In Season 5, Tom Dwan (pictured) won a $919,600 pot against Barry Greenstein

An even bigger $998,800 pot developed in the November 26, 2007 episode between Antonius and Sammy Farha. Antonius went all-in after the flop with a pair of nines; Farha called with a king-high flush draw. The odds were roughly even, and the players agreed to run the turn and river four times. Antonius won three of the runs to take three-quarters of the pot. A previous hand in the episode saw Doyle Brunson win a $818,100 pot against Guy Laliberté. Brunson held A♦10♦ and Laliberté had A♥5♥. The flop came A♣J♠4♦ and the turn fell 2♦. Brunson bet the turn, and Laliberte raised and Brunson moved all-in and was called to make the 818.1K pot. The players agreed to run the river twice. Brunson was a 75% favorite with his better kicker and flush draw, and he won both river cards to take the entire pot. After the hand Brunson said, 'When you don't make a pair for eight hours, you go crazy.'^[11]

A pot between Laliberté and David Benyamine in the 4th season could have developed into the biggest pot in High stakes poker history when David had A♣8♣ and Laliberté had K♦5♦ and the flop came K♣3♦5♣ giving Laliberté top two pair and David the nut flush draw. Acting after Farha, David raised to $43,000 and Laliberté raised to $168,000. Farha folded with A♥3♠ and David went all in which Laliberté called, bringing the pot to $1,227,900. After turning the respective cards over, Laliberté, knowing he was the favorite, offered to run it twice. After further negotiation Laliberté offered to take the pot previous to the raises of $238,900. David agreed, thus crushing chances of the biggest pot in high stakes history. Antonio and a couple of other players wanted to see the turn and river which Laliberté and David refused to do.

The biggest successful bluff was in Season 3, when Brad Booth (with 4♠2♠) bluffed Phil Ivey (with K♥K♦). The flop came 3♦7♠6♦; Ivey's overpair was a 79% favorite to Booth's inside straight draw and backdoor flush draw. After Ivey bet $23,000 on the flop to make the pot $54,100, Booth raised to $300,000. Ivey folded. At the beginning of the fourth season, the players agreed that anyone who won a pot while holding the weakest possible hold 'em hand (2-7) would be paid $500 by every other player at the table. This led to several five-figure bluff bets that were calculated to pick up the $3,500 bonus (and the respect of the table) and Phil Hellmuth won the 7-2 bonus in the second televised hand of the season, making a $40,000 bet on the river that caused Mike Matusow to lay down pocket kings.^[12]

The biggest unsuccessful bluff occurred as a result of this rule. Amateurs Antonio Salorio and Brian Brandon went to a raised flop with 7-2o and K-K respectively. When Brandon flopped the best possible hand with K-4-K, Salorio continued to bet, eventually losing more than $100,000 before giving up when Brandon raised on the turn.

Poker Videos High Stakes Poker

The biggest pot to be played straight up (with no deals or multiple runs) occurred in Season 5 between Tom Dwan and Barry Greenstein. Peter Eastgate was the original raiser with A♠K♥, with Barry re-raising to 15K with A♦A♣ and Dwan calling with K♠Q♠, and Eastgate calling behind him. The flop came 4♠2♠Q♥, causing Dwan to bet, Barry to raise, Dwan to reraise, and finally Barry to push all-in, which Dwan quickly called. Barry had denied Dwan the oppurtunity to run it twice on an earlier hand (which Tom had the best of when they went all-in and Barry ultimately won), and this time he also wanted to run it only once, but offered to take some of their money back, which Tom rejected. At this point it was almost an exact 50/50 race. The turn was Q♣, and the river was the 7♦, so Tom took down the pot of $919,600.

In Season 5, Tom 'Durrr' Dwan semi-bluffed and won $237,700 with Q♣10♣ outplaying Barry Greenstein's overpair (aces) and Peter Eastgate's trip deuces. Barry Greenstein opened the play under the gun to $2,500 and was quickly called by all players. Before the flop came out there was $21,400 in the pot and at this point Dwan (rather sarcastically) offered to chop the pot. The flop read 2♣10♦2♠. Eastgate (2♦4♥) and Doyle Brunson (A♠9♣) checked and Greenstein (A♥A♣) lead out $10,000 after some thought, and with seven people behind him Dwan raises the pot to $37,300. David Benyamine (3♦3♣), Eli Elezra (J♦9♠), Ilari Sahamies (7♥6♠) and Daniel Negreanu (K♦4♦) all quickly folded. The action came back to Peter Eastgate and he called the raise as did Barry Greenstein. With the pot already at $133,500 the turn comes out a 7♦, Eastgate and Greenstein quickly check. After some thought Dwan (95% underdog at this point) fires $104,200, and Eastgate and Greenstein reluctantly folded. Following the hand in a rare move Tom Dwan was quick to verbally announce he was bluffing by stating 'Peter had the best hand, I'll make a sidebet that Peter had the best hand' (Tom was taken on this sidebet and eventually won $6,000 when Peter announced his hand later in the show). After the hand was done, commentator Gabe Kaplan said that the only other person he knew who could have done a similar move 'Might be the late Stu Ungar'.

Players

Main article: List of players on High Stakes Poker