We'll
show you how to run a fantastic home poker cash game
Try
to keep your home poker cash games fun. Serious money might change
hands, but most players come ‘to have a laugh’
rather than grind out a
salary.
Happy players are more likely to rebuy
and
keep your Texas
Holdem night going strong if they lose their initial stake.
Here’s some ways to make your
poker school less
like being in the classroom and more like a field trip.
Invest
in the best equipment you can afford
If you're going to play regular poker, you
need
a really good set-up of poker equipment. Don't penny pinch. You will
regret buying cheap gear. Click here to read
our article on poker equipment. 
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Boost the buy-ins
Some casual players in home poker cash games
like to feel like high rollers by playing with an extra zero, or even
two, so $10 is equal to $100 or $1000 in chips.
This can create a fun
atmosphere, with relatively low buy-ins generating huge pots
‘on
paper’. “I reraise you $10,000” is not
something most of us get to say
very often!
Don’t forget to
take the zeroes off again before you cash in…
Spread the workload
Perhaps one or two of your regulars play
in
home poker cash games elsewhere. They will be experienced, relative to
the others, and will have a knack for handling chips and cards that
many of the players won’t.
It
can be frustrating for experienced players to watch an amateur fumble
when they shuffle or deal. Sometimes it’s easier to nominate
a dealer
for an hour at a time, moving the responsibility around the others in
turn. Practise can improve even the most ham-fisted of dealers.
If one person has volunteered to deal for
your
home poker cash game, or make sure the pots are correct for the whole
night, ensure they are given a long break by a competent deputy and buy
them a gift to thank them (perhaps everybody can chip in to cover their
pizza or takeout food).
Dealing
all night to players who are not completely aware of when
it’s their
turn, or what their options are, can be a lot harder and more trying on
the patience than it appears to the casual observer.
Consider a tournament instead of
a
cash game
Tournaments
can be a lot of fun: they are a fixed price; you can give players any
level of starting chips you choose; blinds can be small relative to
stacks and increase slowly; and you could even sweeten the deal with
additional prizes, if you have unwanted stuff lying around, or work for
a company which produces promotional items or similar.
There’s one obvious drawback
with hosting a
tournament instead of a home poker cash game: once a player is busted
out, he or she will have to wait until the tournament ends before
playing again. Ensure that there’s good reading matter, a
Backgammon or
chess board, video games or some other entertainment for busted players
to pass the time with.
I’ll
talk about the specifics of hosting a home tournament in a later
edition.
Set the mood
Good music, if everybody agrees
to it, can be
an excellent complement to your home poker cash game's setting.
Make sure it’s loud enough to be
easily audible
during lulls in conversation, but not so loud that you have to shout to
hear one another bet or raise. A few of my favourite poker soundtrack
albums are:
- Lock, Stock and Two Smoking
Barrels
(original movie soundtrack)
- Pulp Fiction
(original movie soundtrack)
- The Legend of Johnny
Cash, by Johnny Cash
- Closing Time, by Tom Waits
- A
Rush of Blood to the Head, by Coldplay
- Trainspotting
(original movie soundtrack)
Delete
distractions
If the
game consists of men only, try to keep wives and girlfriends out of the
way. No offence to the girls (they’re lots of fun and tough
opponents
at the home poker cash game table), but men tend to behave differently
when they’re being watched by a significant other.
Especially if she has a different
opinion about how that last rebuy could have been spent!
Avoid having a TV on, unless your home
poker
cash game clashes with some vital live sporting event. It’s
almost
impossible to ignore a telly. You will grow frustrated if players are
slow to act because they are gawking at a screen, and it’s
impossible
to seat everybody with a good line of sight.
A radio is less distracting than TV if
your
‘World Series of Chinese Sweet and Sour Chicken
Invitational’ clashes
with the Baseball World Series final.
Try
to host the game in an empty house or apartment. Wives, kids and pets
interrupting the game will embarrass the players and spoil the mood.
Next time, I’ll talk
about hosting a
home poker tournament.
