Hosting the Ultimate Home Poker Game – Dos and Don’ts
10 minutes
Posted by: Ivan
Hosting a home poker game can be a great way to pass the time and have fun with your friends. That said, hosting a fun and quality poker home game takes more than just a deck of cards and enthusiasm.
You need to prepare many game-related aspects and set up the environment to ensure everyone has a great time.
In this detailed guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know if you’re hosting a home poker game. From poker setups to added aspects you should look after, the tips you’ll find on this page will help you host the ultimate poker game.
Home Poker Games – Key Things to Know
If you’re looking to host a simple poker cash game, the setup is relatively easy and straightforward. You don’t have to pay attention to as many things as you would if you were hosting a home poker tournament.
To help you out, we’ve drafted the most important things you have to pay attention to when hosting a cash game.
Set Chip Values
Most poker chip sets come in five colors, but you don’t have to use the complete set if you’re playing a poker home game. If you want to set up a simple game that everyone can follow without much effort, you can use just two colors.
For example, if you’re playing a $1/$2 home poker game, you don’t need more than two colors. Set up one type of chips with a value of $1 and the other with a value of $5 or $10. You can also toss in some high-value chips to represent $100, for example, and use these for rebuys.
Most importantly, if you plan on hosting the game on a recurring basis, always stick with the same colors and poker chip values. This will help other players get used to the denominations and minimize any confusion when betting.
Have a Fixed Buy-in Limit
Make sure you set a clear max buy-in limit every player is aware of before you start playing. Using the previous example, if you’re playing a $1/$2 game, the max buy-in limit should be between $200 and $500, but not more than that.
A lot of live and online poker games operate this way. Even this much money is quite a bit of cash for a casual home poker game.
The buy-in limit should be high enough to make the game exciting, but not so high that the players have to worry about losing more than they can afford. In a poker home game, it’s unnecessary to go overboard with the limits. You don’t want anyone to lose too much money and go home in a bad mood.
How to Host a Poker Cash Game
If you don’t have any experience hosting poker games at home or haven’t been to many poker home games, cash games are the better choice than tournaments.
This is mainly because cash games are simpler to set up and don’t require that much preparation. Plus, unlike in tournaments, the chip distribution is relatively simple and straightforward.
When hosting a poker home cash game, the first thing you need to decide is if you’re playing seriously or if it’s more just about socializing and having fun.
Poker is inherently a very competitive game, and if everyone is not on the same page, tensions can arise. The best rule of thumb for home cash games is finding the balance between the two.
Keep it competitive, but still, make sure that everyone has fun and enjoys the game.
Additionally, it’s also crucial that you set the financial boundaries for the cash game, like the ones we’ve talked about previously, and make sure they are suitable for everyone’s bankroll.
Apart from this, you don’t have to worry about anything else when hosting a home poker cash game.
In such a setting, players can buy in and rebuy as much as they prefer and stop playing whenever they feel like it. Home poker games should never be pressure-filled. They need to be flexible enough to accommodate any new players joining the action or existing players leaving the table.
How to Host a Poker Tournament
Hosting a poker tournament at home is a bit more complicated than hosting a straightforward game, but no to say that it’s not feasible.
Like with regular live poker tournaments, you have to pay attention to a few critical aspects that will shape the gameplay experience for everyone.
The first thing you need to determine for your poker tournament setup is the chip structure. This will be more complex for a poker tourney than a simple cash game.
Generally speaking, in most home tournaments, each player gets anywhere from $100 to $1,000 or more in chips. To make things a bit easier, here’s an example of what your poker tournament setup could look like if every player gets $100 worth of chips:
- Five $10 chips
- Eight $5 chips
- Ten $1 chips
Keep in mind that most poker chips are made primarily for cash games, so we’ve used lower-value denominations in the example above. If you have proper tournament chips with values of 50, 100, 500, 1,000, or more, you’ll undoubtedly have a more exciting tournament at your hands.
If you wish to use more than three stacks, you’re completely free to customize as much as you want to.
The possibilities are endless, and you can adjust the game to the chips you have. Just make sure you think through the buy-in and chip distribution system entirely before starting the home poker tournament.
Since a home poker tournament setup is primarily a friendly competition, establish ground rules on rebuys, as no one wants just to sit around the whole evening and watch others play after busting out.
Another thing to consider is that the blinds must progress at a predetermined pace as you get deeper into the tournament.
Lastly, be certain that the tournament has a proper payout structure. Every player should receive a certain percentage of the total pot based on how high they’re ranked at the end of the night.
With so many things to keep track of, consider employing one friend as the dealer to oversee the situation. This will allow others to focus solely on the game and have a more enjoyable time betting.
Is It Legal to Host a Poker Game for Money?
Yes, it’s completely legal to host a poker game for real money in your home. Hosting cash games and poker tournaments at home is a popular pastime for many poker enthusiasts. The only thing you have to watch for is that you don’t take a poker rake.
In the US and most countries worldwide, this is illegal and limited only to licensed casinos. With that in mind, keep it simple, and always remember that you’re primarily playing for fun, not to earn money.
Additional Details to Pay Attention to in Your Home Poker Game
Ok, so you’ve set up everything related to the game itself and are ready to go. The perfect poker home game isn’t only about the game you play but the atmosphere you set as the host.
Here are a few more details you should look into if you want to ensure your guests enjoy the best home poker experience of their life:
Have the Right Tools of the Trade
The first thing to be sure of is that you have a deck of quality cards. You can pretty much disregard any other aspect, bet peanuts, and play on the floor of the living room, but you can’t play poker without a good deck of cards.
Ideally, invest in laminated plastic cards, just like the ones you’d play with in a real casino or poker room. They’re not expensive, don’t bend as quickly, and won’t absorb the grease and sweat from the players’ fingers. They’ll also make it easier for the players to read their poker hands and avoid any embarrassing situations.
The second most important thing you need to take care of is that you have a solid poker chip set. Depending on how many of you are playing, get a chip set between 500 and 1,000 poker chips. This will be more than enough always to keep you covered.
Cash game chips are always the better option, as they give you enough versatility for both cash games and tournaments.
Besides the cards and chips, you’ll also want to have a solid table to play at. Of course, you don’t have to splurge on a professional poker table signed by a WSOP winner. A real felt poker table is a nice touch, but in reality, any round table or even a mid-size dinner table will do the trick.
If you plan on turning your home poker games into a recurring thing, you can split the cost with your friends and buy a table or at least some felt you could lay out.
Provide Enough Food and Drinks
When it comes to this, you don’t have to take up the entire organizational and financial burden. Some players can bring the food, while others can organize the drinks. For food, it’s best to keep it simple and clean. Serve chips, nuts, small sandwiches, and other finger food the players can snack on without disrupting the game’s flow.
When it comes to drinks, it’s good to have non-alcoholic beverages available. If you plan to play for hours, drinking only alcohol is not the best idea. In any case, you shouldn’t go overboard with the alcohol if you want to keep a clear head while playing. This especially goes for any designated driver in your poker home game.
Know the Game
This might seem like a piece of obvious and unnecessary advice, but it is something you need to be aware of. As the host, you want to be the one who knows the most about the game.
If you’re not familiar with all of the betting rules and hand rankings and other essential gameplay aspects, make sure to read up on them before the game. The last thing you want to do is spend the entire night looking up answers online and figuring out the rules. This is hardly an ideal Texas Hold’em setup that players will enjoy.
Have Clear Rules from the Get-go
In terms of poker rules you need to establish as the host, we’ve already mentioned aspects like determining the buy-in and betting limits, how many chips each player gets, if there’s a possibility of re-buying, and any other gameplay aspect that can affect the overall game.
You should also explain smaller aspects, such as rules about splashing the pot. It’s best to have everything clear from the get-go.
When it comes to non-gameplay aspects, you should also set a few ground rules so everyone is on the same page. Determine whether or not players can use the phone at the table, at what intervals you’ll take breaks, and similar situations.
Set an End Time
This may seem like a boring and unnecessary constraint, but it will make a world of difference in shaping the game. Some players bet more passively and could drag on the game deep into the night.
Setting an end time all other players agree on will allow each player to pace their game accordingly.
Ultimately, the thing you have to remember, whether you’re hosting a poker tournament or a cash game, is that everyone should have fun. The main benefit of playing poker at home with your friends is that you want to emulate the poker room experience while keeping the comfortable and cozy atmosphere of playing at home.
If you implement all of the poker tips we’ve shared with you on this page in your poker setup, you’ll undoubtedly be a great host and organize the best poker home game any of your guests have ever played!
You can connect with Ivan via his LinkedIn profiile and follow him on Twitter.
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