HELP! Advice needed on Home Games

Glenelg

Hi Guys,

Was at a neighbours birthday party last night and turns out a few of the folks are poker players.  None play in home games ATM but a few had played live.  Anyway, long story short, for some reason I've been volunteered/forced with setting up a live home game/s. GULP!
Now I've never played live so I'm looking for advice from the community on what to do/not to do.
I "think" the only thing agreed upon was Fri nite was best for most!  Around 6/8 expressed an interest so the advice I'm looking for is...and forgive if this is stupid but...
How DO you organise a home game and make it FUN?
How do you set limits? e.g. Some will be able to lose £100 others not.
Do you change the location every week or keep it the same?  
Do I set the day/time in stone so everyone knows?
Do you let it be dealers choice? A couple said they prefer PLO.
What to do if only 3 turn up?

ANY advice would be VERY welcome as the more sober I get the more I'm thinking this was a BAD idea! lol

Lambert180

Well you need to set the limit and something that everyone is happy with. So if 1 guy is only happy to lose £20, but everyone is happy to lose £100, I think you gotta play it aimed at the £20 guy (otherwise he just won't play).

Can be dealer's choice providing everyone understands and is willing to play the games. Maybe get a list of games that the players ALL know and understand and say you can pick one from this list.

I'd set a day/time in the sense of saying, we'll kick off about 9pm on Friday but I'm sure if they're your mates they can let you know if they're gonna be 5 mins late etc.

Probably better to do a cheapish SnG (as appose to cash) with 1 rebuy per person. Means more money in the pot for good players, people get a 2nd chance, and some players won't get frustrated cos they got knocked out after 15 mins and gotta sit there bored.  Plan the buy-in assuming people WILL rebuy, so if a guy only wants to lose £20, then make it £10 and 1 rebuy @ £10 so he's happy to play.

bugaloo

i used to run a home game for about five years

personally i would start with a sit n go until all players are comfortable with eachother you may find after a few months players want to start playing cash thats fine but id wait a bit on that first

http://www.homepokertourney.com/blinds.htm this site is ideal for structures e.t.c

personally again i would make it unlimited rebuys for the first hour then no add ons or anything from there on in.

aiken2001

As stated above run it as a sng last person out to deal until next one goes out. Organise blinds for about an hour a game and run a couple of games a night.

If your playing cash make sure everybody is happy with the buy ins. Dependant on level suggest a max of 100 bb ie your playing 10/20p or 20/20p then £20 is the maximun ppl can buy in for.

Dealers choice ensure everyone knows what it means before starting  a game an limit it to about 3 types otherwise ppl will get confused.com. If your playing PLO ensure someone really knows what they are doing with the pot limits etc as a lot will play online which is much easier than real life.

Dates and timings what ever works for you but 9 might be a bit late on a school night esp if your looking to have a cash session.

Food and drink - either run it at alternate places or get every one to brig their own tipple and chip in for the crisps etc.

Chips an cards - ensure you have enough for the stack sizes your looking to play and are easilly understood which chips are which in a cash game.

Mohican

I got an app for my iphone called 'PokerTimer' for the game we used to have up my local. Runs the level clock and you can set the blind levels to your preference. Used to leave on display on the table so everyone could see it.
p.s. It's free by the way.

Lambert180

In Response to Re: HELP! Advice needed on Home Games:

I got an app for my iphone called 'PokerTimer' for the game we used to have up my local. Runs the level clock and you can set the blind levels to your preference. Used to leave on display on the table so everyone could see it. p.s. It's free by the way.
Posted by Mohican

That's what they use at my pub game, they have it open on a laptop for all to see

Glenelg

Many thanks guys! Some great stuff e.g. I hadn't thought of a re-buy!

Lambert180

In Response to Re: HELP! Advice needed on Home Games:

Many thanks guys! Some great stuff e.g. I hadn't thought of a re-buy!
Posted by Glenelg

Yeah, people just tend to get bored if they get knocked out quick and have to sit and watch for an hour.

Lambert180

So you start your tourney with 40BB, and within 10 mins (about 2-3 hands in a self dealt home game), you then have 20BB???

That's a great idea Glenelg if you want a complete crapshoot.

Dazler

a good idea and one i would suggest is you can download a program on your laptop to have near by so that you can set blinds at specific times and an alarm goes off and tells you when blinds are up, you can also put in the buy in amounts and it works out who gets what in the prize fun, for example if you have 8 players and put in that top 2 or 3 gets paid it will work it out and if people rebuy you just put it in and it adjusts it acordingly.

Lambert180

In Response to Re: HELP! Advice needed on Home Games:

the idea of home game lambert is so u play a few games not just 1 because if some 1 gets knocked out early they get bored of waiting 2 hours for the next game not exactly fun so play a sit n go then play 10p/20p cash after cash is good because every 1 is playing lambert u are funny 10 mins u only get 2-3 hands in lol this is not a casino 5 minutes of shuffling before each hand 
Posted by IDONKCALLU

In a casino it's faster due to dealers being capable of shuffling faster etc. but it's still obviously miles slower than online. In a live game, say you got 6 people playing, I'd say your average hand is gonna take about 2-3 mins so at best yuo might get 5 hands in before you have 20BB, even if you get 10 hands in, is it really great that you're down to 20BB after 10 hands?? I think not.

I know what you're saying about people being knocked out and bored and that's why I said in my earlier posts that it's generally best to offer rebuys, so people get 2nd chances etc.

BorinLoner

I haven't read many of the other posts but I agree that you should think about playing a SnG. If you play cash it can bring about a fair amount of resentment and ill-feeling, particularly if there's one player who's alot better than the rest. You'd be amazed how quickly these things can develop an edge when someone is losing their money, especially if there's booze involved.

Play a reasonably cheap SnG, and make sure everyone knows the rules before you start. You can offer a £5 rebuy or something like that to prevent people getting board after being knocked out. If you structure it to be pretty short, you could fit a second game in too.

I think a more general, non-poker tip is to make sure that nobody brings a guest. Make it invite only. I don't want to let someone into my home, to play for my friends' money and mine, unless I know them pretty well. I've played in games before when someone has brought their mate along and by the end of the night everyone at the table has wanted to kick him down the street. Don't treat it like a party where anyone can bring a guest.

Last thing: Play best intentions. Keep it friendly and if someone mucks their hand when they could check their option, let them have their hand back. Do everything you can to keep the atmosphere friendly.

Slykllist

In Response to Re: HELP! Advice needed on Home Games:

I got an app for my iphone called 'PokerTimer' for the game we used to have up my local. Runs the level clock and you can set the blind levels to your preference. Used to leave on display on the table so everyone could see it. p.s. It's free by the way.
Posted by Mohican

Got the same app and we use it for our puib games

Slykllist

I would suggest, if it's likely to turn into a regular event, run it as an sng on a league basis over a 10-13 week period.

I used to help organise one on this basis where we regularly got 20+ players every week.  We'd charge a tenner entry, pay out £100.00 each week £50.00, £30.00, £20.00.  Anything over the top went into the kitty for the overall league prize.

Top 9 on the night were all awarded points 120, 100, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20.  Everyone else that played got 10 points for turning up.

At the end of the league we paid out prizes to the top 5 overall and it could amount to a nice little windfall (it payed my entry into last years SPT Grand final).

If it's run on this basis, it gives people a good incentive to keep coming back every week and creates a good sense of rivalry and competition.

I have details of structures and clocks etc. that we used if it would be useful to you.

Glenelg

In Response to Re: HELP! Advice needed on Home Games:

.. I have details of structures and clocks etc. that we used if it would be useful to you.
Posted by Slykllist

@Everyone - A BIG thank you!  Some excellent advice - I'm feeling more relaxed about the whole thing to-day!  Gonna have a chat with a couple of the others re: type & structure etc..  I guess it'll be a case of try it and see how it goes? 
@Slykllist - That's very kind of you & yes I'll pm U with my e-mail addy if that's OK!

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