Please help me create a nice home game set-up

First off, I am sorry if this is in the wrong thread section

O.K. Me and my friends play holdem every weekend.

This is our current setup with usually 4-6 people.

Everyone pays $10.

This gets you $20 worth of chips...so the final payout it the # of your chips divided by 2.

We use blinds of $.25/$.50 (so really $.125/.25)

It is fun, but can get confusing at times.

I was wondering if their is a better way to set up the amount of chips we get. Nobody wants to pay more than $10, so that has to stay constant.

Thanks for the help!

Play tournaments with $10 buy-ins or change your cash game to .05/.10 blinds and make every chip worth = $$s.

This is exactly what me and one of my friends were discussing. We were thinking of setting up a sit and go tourney, which I think could be really fun with about 5 of us.

How would you recommend the increase in blinds?

I don't think every 10 mins would work because we talk ALOT lol.

Maybe every 10 or 20 hands?

Also (sorry, i'm rapid firing questions):

How many chips times the big blind should every player start with?

10x? 20x? 100x?

thanks a lot

The answer to all your tourney questions answered here: http://www.homepokertourney.com/

you've got two choices, either a sit and go or a cash game

cash game is the easiest - have chips which are worth the $ you buy to get in. so if you want to play 5c/10c you can have 5c, 10c, 25c, $1 and $5 chips. people can buy back in when they bust, and there are no problems.

a sit and go is fun, apart from when someone busts first hand and then has nothing to do all night. use google and you'll find a sit and go structure which suits you - maybe start at 1500 chips each, blinds of 25/50 which increase every 20 minutes (bbs of 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600) with 5 of u would lead to the game finishing in approx 2 hours

Thank you so much, I bookmarked that site!


We usually play just a regular cash game, I like your idea of the chip setup. My friends might be a little critical when it comes to sit-and-go, but I love those tourneys. I really appreciate the quick responses...I'm going to bed now, but I'll talk to you guys tomorrow

You also don't have to do just 1 tourney a night. You could run 2 $5 tourneys just as well.

Play a sit and go. I would give everyone 5k in chips and start the blinds with 50/100. You guys will like that you have lots of chips for 10 bucks. First level for 30 mins and then next levels at 15 or 20 mins each.

^ this, with the one additional comment that I wouldn't bother with a 10c chip in the cash game: 5c/25c/$1/$5 should do it fine.

I really like this idea.

how should the chips be distributed?, (aka what value should each chip be worth?)

I also don't think that raising the blinds every x amount of minutes will work, because we get really sidetracked, and start talking in the middle of hands.

I still want to have the raised blinds, so I am thinking of raising them every x amount of hands.

How many hands until the blinds should increase in your opinion?

I am going to definitely try to set up a sit and go this weekend, to change it up.

Thanks a lot guys

probably every 5 hands or so, so you could do it once an orbit

Ok, that is a lot sooner than I thought!

I actually like the idea because my friends are freaking calling stations, and limp EVERY hand lol.

I can just sit back, and play tight, and then pounce on them later on.

you might get more hands in per hour, depends how much u talk

We usually play for 3 hours...sometimes a little more.

I plan to have 2 tourneys in 1 night with 5 people.

The tourney is $5 to buy in.

Lets say that gets you $5,000 worth in chips.

We have 4 different colored chips.

What should each chip be worth?

By what increments should the blinds increase at every 5 hands?

I'm so pumped, this is going to be a lot more fun than a usual cash game I think!

That link I provided can teach you everything you need but using the parameters you provided, I'd go with

5K starting stacks (estimated time to end of 1 tourney for 5 people 1.5hrs)
4 colors = 25, 100, 500, 1000
starting stacks = 20 x T25, 20 x T100, 5 x T500 (4th color (T100) will be put in play later

blinds
blinds.jpg (http://www.cardschat.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40922&d=1321389657)

Since there is only 5 of you, your tourney will probably end during the 8th level (1000/2000) which would mean it would run just over 100 minutes per tourney. If you see things going too fast extend the length of the 4,5,6 levels to 15 min each. Too slow drop the time for 7, 8, 9 to 5 min each (not as horrible as it seems because it will probably be HU by then and you can dedicate a dealer).

If you want/need to speed up the 2nd tourney remove the 25/25 1st level although I really like a level like that were you can play 200bb deep it's not a requirement.

If you pass the deal use 2 decks at all times. While the dealer is dealing have the SB (next dealer) shuffle up the 2nd deck (different colors of course) so he's ready to deal when the hand ends.

Oh yeah, forget to add, don't worry about chip races etc when coloring up, just round up. So if you're at the 1st break and removing the T25s and someone has 5 (T125) of them just give them 2 T100 chips. Easier and NO ONE will ever complain about getting a few extra chips.

We always just do 5c/10c at my house, but sometimes we will do a tournament/sng. If you do a SnG just give out 10k in chips and start at 25/50 w/20-30 min blinds, or do 30k if you want a more deep-stacked style. Usually there is drinking and lots of talking involved so if you have time than do 25-30 minute blinds. Oh yeah and just double the blinds, 50/100, 100/200,200/400, 300/600, .. etc. or just go to 500/1000 after 3/6 and than do it over but with an extra 0

He said he wants to play 2 tournaments in 3 hours not 1 tournament in 6 hours.

Guess I missed that part..oops

Sorry, I haven't be able to post because I have to wait 24 hours for every 7 posts. lol

Thanks a lot for this post... I literally took notes on a piece of scrap paper, and showed it to my friends in school today.

I am wondering if we should use the time limit for when to increase the blinds, or if we should go by how many hands are played.

As I said before, we talk a lot.

Would that make a big enough difference to go by hands?

Or do you think we should use time because that is standard?

Thanks a lot guys, you have literally helped me create our home game sit and go tourney for Saturday night.

I need to make a decision today, because we are now playing tomorrow.

Would making the blinds increase every x amount of hands effect the length of the game, (which should last about 1-1.5 hours)?

Should I just keep the time limits, and if everyone talks a lot, then so be it?

Thanks

I'd stick with the time limits I posted. You guys can still talk and deal right? Also using 2 decks as I mentioned should speed things up considerably as well.

My group started out a lot like yours with more BS going on than poker so I understand exactly what you're dealing with. Trust me if you get a nice game going most people will enjoy it just as much if not more than the gab fest you have now.

i play 10 buy in sngs with unlmited rebuys till the 4th or 5th blinds increase, the final 4 decide the payout. work well for us

I think Hillbilly is somewhat right. He is on with the chip count and breakdown. However I think he is thinking too much like playing on line. It is a house game. You have to keep it loose when playing with buds.... So that you can talk, drink beer and BS. that is why i am more about 30 min blinds the first 2 rounds than down to 20 after. Then when down to 3 players, you can just state 6 or 9 hands and blinds go up again. I say that as you have 2 players on the rag and you need to get them back in the game.

The other thing I forgot is beacuse the blinds are 30 mins for the first 2 rounds, I don't start so low like in hillbilly chart. I start at level 3 and then 4 which was 50/100 and then go to 100/200. You have the chips and with 5 players there will be some hands that build big pots. even with this you will have guys knocked out in the first hour when starting with 5 dudes.

WVH has it down if a SnG is what you wanna play.

Im gonna go ahead and say if you guys talk a lot and its very casual a cash game is best. My home games are the same way. These days everyone prefers the cash games even though we started out with SnGs. SnGs are nice for a change every once in a while though. Good luck.

Yeah, I agree. Our group started with tourneys but all we play any more is cash. If OP does play cash though he needs to just make it at 10nl game with players getting chips actually equal to $10. This crazy stuff of each chip being worth double it's cash value and then playing a 50nl game is ridiculous.

I couldn't agree more. After this week of the tourney, I will explain it to my friends.

I'm heading out for the sit n go in less than an hour!!!!

so pumped!

any last second tips on how to win it all.

I plan to play very conservative early on, and then open up in the middle and late stages.

I've been following this thread and have had nothing to add until now--good luck and let us all know how it goes!

Thank You

I will definitely let you guys know how it went!

Absolutely Fantastic...I just got back.

Lemme first start out by saying that I lost both of the $5 tourneys we did...but that doesn't matter.

The final, heads-up battle was sweet (two unlikely players to be there made it lol)

We had both of them sit at the ends of the table, and put the actual cash on the table like in the WSOP!


6 people showed up, so the winner got $25, and 2nd got $5 (their money back) this is how the overall profit/losses went:

2 people lost $5 (made it to final 2 one time and lost)
2 people lost $10 (one was me, I will explain my problem below)
2 people won $15 (won one tourney, and did not make it to final 2 in the other)

This is a nice variety I think, because it seems pretty balanced.

The overall tourney lasted for the perfect amount of time.

We started at about 7:40 and ended at about 11:30.

We took a little break in between to give people their chips back again, which is why it took a little extra time.

The first tourney, I made it to the final 3, but the blinds ate me up and I was forced to go all in with .

The second tourney really hurt though. I am sure you guys can pick apart my mistakes, (and please do so, so I can learn from them)

I limped in with A4 off suit.

Flop came A-4- and some low card that I forget.

I bet, he re-raised (heads up at this point)

I re-raised again, he called.

The turn was a K. I bet, he called.

River was another blank.

He goes all-in, and I call with two pair A and 4.

He shows AK, two pair.



I should have folded, but it was so hard to lay it down.

Please feel free to rip my decision, because I want to become a better player( who doesn't lol)

In conclusion, I had a blast...so much better than the usual.

I want to especially thank WVHILLBILLY for posting the chart with the blinds and all the other info.

Thanks to all who contributed!!!

Glad the tourney worked out and glad to hear I still got the knack for getting the estimated length down.

As for the hand you posted limping was a bad play. As was calling AK's raise after you limped (I'll just assume he raised). After the flop it's standard.

Glad to hear you guys had a good time. Did the rest of the crew like the tourney as well?

The timing was perfect, I brought the sheet with the blinds, and lengths you posted, and everyone just followed that.

Yea, everyone enjoyed the tourney, it made it so much more interesting and fun.

Even after me, and another friend got knocked out early in the 2nd tourney, we threw the football outside for a little bit, and then came back in and dealt for everybody. Also, the 2 deck system worked very well, as did rounding up when exchanging the chips.

As for my A4 hand, I think it was the only hand I limped in on all night. I should have known that even if I hit an Ace on the flop, I would be out-kicked. My problem was that once I flopped a two pair, I thought I would win. I put my opponent on an Ace, so I though he would think his top pair would be good. Then when the turn came a King, I should have read him better, I had no idea he had AK.

To make a long story short, I will be folding A4 off-suit from now on, pre-flop