Home Poker Games - How to Set Them Up

Love the feedback - keep it coming!

The home games are where he has the best time. a night of poker and with friends, where the buy is accessible, previous agreement with the guests, and special to develop our game with other modalities. horse can be a good option, like the 8 game. relaxed, you can enjoy the game more. The organization should focus on the guests being related, if there is someone with good jokes even better.

Interesting read, most of the things mentioned in this article are pretty standard common sense things, but it was nice to read about suggested structure for the tournament as far as initial blind settings, value to put on chips, and when to raise the blinds. These are the core concepts I struggle with the most in home games that I host. Generally to keep things simple for the players that don't play often or only play twice a year at my home games, I just make the chips all the same value at one each to not cause too much confusion.

I try to get one going twice or year or so with old friends from the same Parish. Mostly it goes well, except for last time about a month ago which was an utter disaster. The first major draw of the night happened about halfway through when someone pulled a 33 as hole cards and had to call a dead hand. The reason being that he had two 3's of hearts somehow. No one knows how, and it still remains a mystery, as 52 cards were in the deck before we started play. This was one of the rare times when I didn't have a fresh deck on hand to open right before we started play. Never again. Second piece of drama happened when one of the players got way out of control with drinking and started belittling and calling other players names and insults. He ended up actually winning the tournament, but it got so bad that another player and himself almost got into fisticuffs, and I had to leave the premises. I left my dad in charge. Needless to say I won't be inviting him to any future events...


So yeah, to tie it into the article, who you invite is very important when ensuring everyone has an enjoyable time at home games =)

very nice article. My realfriend's doesn't lke poker because they don't know how to play. I'll tryed to teach them but if someone doesn't want to learn its a waste of time to teach him. In my guess good to have some poker book of rules somewhere near table because sometimes players can build your own rules and that's is very bad

These games are simply too hard to trust.

This is a useful article, especially for those who have little experience in home games, like me. A lot of time is usually wasted before the games to define the break, split the chips and set the time of the game.
I will print the guide for the next time I play with my friends.

Very often we play with friends and acquaintances. The stakes also make small, but also such that the winners will feel their winnings. After all, this is the main intrigue in poker. By the way, I have exactly the same set of chips in the metal case, which is used in the article. That's just the table is not enough. But since you have to play in cafes, at home, and at a party, do without it. The structure of the blinds is interesting. We have never played with an ante before. I'll show the table to my friends and discuss with them.

Sounds like a plan! I would like to arrange some trophy for tounaments for home games. It can be some kind of cup or figurine home-made suitable for engravings with names of winners. It might be a good idea! Having won only once, you will be remembered for a long time finding your name on the trophy!)

Having hosted a number of home games that varied in size from a four person cash game to a 20+ MTT tournament, and everything in between, there are a number of things I believe are essential to a successful home game:

- Print the chip denominations and post. I have several chip sets that do not have denominations on them so I can customize the values to suit the event. When that's decided I always post on the wall what everything is so there's no question at the table


- Drinks and food - It's a social gathering, so I always made sure there were cold drinks and munchies handy, but made sure there were places to put drinks that weren't on the felt.


- Secure location for the money - If I was hosting a cash game, I'd have change and small bills. I always kept the money in the same place, and in a location I knew and no one else. You never know having 20 people over if the money was safe, despite them being friends!


- CLEAN THE BATHROOM! - Sounds dumb, but I've been to a few guy's places where the bathroom looked like the that in a gas station. Do your guests a favour - CLEAN IT!


- Use a tournament tracker - I hosted enough MTT's to invest in a poker tournament tracker. Nowadays an App on your phone or computer does the trick, but this allowed the seamless display of blinds and time left so you could focus on playing, dealing, or managing the night


- Have a dealer plan for the final table - At the final table, I always had a dealer lined up. Whether it was me or someone else as a plan B, this way the final table had a more pro feeling to it.


- Thank your guests - most lose, so make sure they enjoy themselves and had a good time. Whether it was a small cash table going on the side, or simply walking them out and thanking them for coming. Goes a long way next time you plan a night!

Very interesting article and strangely in my old job I participated in home games since we had a common accommodation for all the employees lived at very distant distances. And I say strangely because we played in a room and when I was looking at the checklist of the article we practically had everything necessary including the distribution of the chips that we initially used for tournaments a total of 5000 in chips and then we extended it to 10,000 as many went there In short, we had practiced everything and it was easy to organize for us since we lived in the same place and it facilitated the schedules. The truth that he enjoyed it enough not only for the competitiveness of the friends but for the good atmosphere that had between co-workers and was an excellent way to throw off the stress of work. The article I think is very complete and very good.

This is a great article especially on how to structure the game. I know when I used to have a regular home game it took a month or so to find the right structure and starting stack size. The one thing this article didn’t cover is dealing. Most home games probably aren’t going to have a dealer. What worked really well was having 2 decks. The player on the button deals the hand and the player in the small blind shuffles during the hand and then is ready to deal the next hand, it’s a good way to get more hands in per level without increasing the duration of the levels. Make sure you have different colour decks or 2 completely different decks so that if cards do get mixed together it’s easy to separate them.

All we need to know to set up the perfect home game appear in this article.
If someone sets up a home game based on it, I think that posting here some feedback could be very interesting to read

Very nice guide!!! It reminds me when I start to play. I learned how to play poker on internet, but two weeks later, I was playing in my friend s place and guess what... in my first time playing I was like a shark and I didn’t know the poker terms and words but I knew how play =) And I was playing against nine or ten and they all made re-entry and rebuys and I did nothing.. I was just accumulating chips heheh... and it was pretty nice, but no food.. only bad things heheh
I only think that the structure of the table should be 10 or 15 minutes max.
I recommend to play with friends that you know otherwise the loser stranger could not understand that it’s just a game and can make shits around the place...

Jooseme said:

These games are simply too hard to trust.

Click to expand...

Not unless you invite strangers which I would not recommend doing. Our home games have always been with just friends and work colleagues so there has never been an issue with trust.

It's a great article, we have been playing a home game for some time now, but we have received a few friends and I can say that they do not lose , Usually we are playing 8, only the table is a professional table, but we are getting somehow. , we do not play cash games, just tournaments.

excellent article to build a game at home,
I really do not find what to contribute to improve it, I think I would add one or two people who are dedicated only to the attention of the players, and someone in charge of the control of the game (Levels, Blinds etc ...). The less I have comfusions I think the more bearable the day will be, with the clear regulation for all.obviously all the guests must be poker lovers, otherwise it can be a boring and tedious night.
the place I think it is the least while it is nice and with well-cleaned bathrooms. and mainly that it is a place with good ventilation.
it seems to me fundamental you have a program to conrtolar the levels, and if you can project it on a screen in view of everyone much better.

pleasant music for everyone and moderate volume,
no movies or sports on tv

Controlling your table

◙ Great article, thank you.

For me, the most challenging aspect of running a cash game is keeping the ne`er-do-wells who:

• are never paying attention.
• who use their turn as an opportunity to bring attention to themselves and satisfy their vanity by doing anything and everything but take their turn.
• are too intoxicated to pay attention or even play.

The best i`m able to do in reigning in these deplorable jerkwads is firstly to identify them, and then try to shame them into good behavior. Does anyone have any more advice in this vein?

Thanks for the well written guide on starting a homegame. This would be a very useful tool for anyone thinking about starting one. One important thing to note is that people should first read up on the local laws in their region! Last thing you want is to receive costly criminal charges for trying to start up a homegame. Would be nice if your guide reminded people of this.

very fascinating statu. I also had an experience of poker with friends in the bar. We gathered and played tournaments and the winner paid for all drinks.

The only HomeGames for real money I can plan will be only online HomeGames I played poker on tables with Friends but now it's no more legal in my Country

Though I have made many homegames in the past when it was legal here I can not plan and organise this anymore just because it's illegal that's why I started playing online I can may be plan some online homegames untill I quit definitely my country where everything is either hard to get or illegal even a smile and laughter with some friends around a poker Table

Great article! will be quite useful, especially for beginners just like I.
I have never played in any real home games, but these are good tips to get you started... Thank CC

I don't think it's good to play for money with friends. It's like: are you sure you want to stay friends with them? But yes, idea is nice. To create a good atmosphere is most important.

I have never played live tournaments, or even home games. I would like to host one, but my friends doesn't play poker. I don't think that i want to invite someone to just take my money. Now, the article shows some good ideas in order to be a good host, and that was something i was wondering.

What a great article. I smiled all the way through it. Great tips and advice for planning and setting up a home game and while I have yet to host a home game, I have given it consideration previously and am now intent on doing so. I particularly like the concept of the tournament manager app or programme, something that I had never even considered existed (how naive can I be?). That sounds like it will make everything much less contentious and much more realistic.

I’m now really looking forward to the prospect of debuting in the home games market!


Thanks CardsChat