Home poker games
from JustPokerSupplies.com
Home poker games are an excellent and cost-efficient way to bring a crowd of friends together to spend a night of social bonding and to reinforce friendship ties.
Due to the current economic downturn, hosting a home poker game is becoming increasingly more attractive than going out for a game in town, or hitting the casino. Online poker is cheap, accessible and all that, but it lacks the social aspect entirely, so it’s not a contender in this respect.
There are a few things you need to consider before you send the invitations out to your friends. First of all: what type of game shall you play? Some people – especially those who play online too – love Texas Holdem, others will probably opt for Stud or some other variant. One way to reconcile all the different tastes is to organize dealer’s choice mixed games in which the dealer is the one who names the poker variant played before each hand. If you decide to play such a mixed game, you’ll have invite 5-7 friends only, because games like 7-Card Stud are extremely hard on the deck and they will not accommodate a larger number of players. If Holdem is the game of choice, 6-10 players are what you should aim for.
You’ll also have to specify to all participants in advance the amount of money they’ll have to bring with them for the buy-in. You don’t want one guy aiming to play high stakes and another looking for a penny game. The buy-in should be an amount which is significant enough to matter, (just to make things really interesting), but not something that will make some of the players divert funds from their rent money or electricity bill.
One more thing which needs to be taken care of before you invite people over is the betting structure, as well as the maximum stakes.
In order to make your game as enjoyable as possible, you’ll have to get your hands on some poker hardware too. Now then, here, you can spend tons of money if you so wish, but you don’t necessarily have to. You can get a custom made full extra poker table built of the priciest materials, or you can opt for a simple table top for a few bucks. Remember that pricy tables usually take up a lot of room, so if you’re hosting the game in a crammed little apartment, a poker table-top is what you need, and not just because it’s a lot cheaper too.
Don’t forget to acquire at least two high quality decks of cards and a chipset which has enough pieces to accommodate the action. Don’t forget the dealer button either (although most chip-sets come with such buttons).
Also stock up on snacks and beverages you know your invitees will like.
Playing only one poker variety all night can certainly provide more than enough entertainment to go around, however if you wish to introduce some variety, without making it a radically different game, here’s what you should do. If people come prepared to play Texas Holdem, you may introduce Omaha, Crazy Pineapple and Double flop Holdem into the lineup. These are all community card games and play according to similar or nearly similar rules as Texas Holdem.
If the more traditional 7-card Stud is the highlight on the ‘menu’, you may also mix Razz into the equation as it is based on Stud too, and it is sure to add some spice to the blend.
5-Card Draw works well with variants like Badugi and 2-7 triple draw.
For all your poker supplies go to JustPokerSupplies.com
In most states, home poker is legal as long as the house doesn’t collect rake. Recent decisions by state courts all over the country have also made it clear that poker is increasingly viewed as a game of skill rather than one of chance, so hosting home poker games will not go down as organized gambling.
If you’re playing online, don’t forget to sign up for
rakeback. Unlike home poker games, online rooms do take rake off every hand that you play. A rakeback deal (like the 30%
PKR rakeback) will make sure that your losses due to the rake won’t spin out of control.
