home game advice

hey guys me and a few friends were talking about setting up a home game the other night.. and I just got a few questions on what the best way to go about setting it up would be

What is a good buy in? me and my friends were saying $30.00 each person

How many chips should be given out with the buy in?

any advice is welcome considering It'll be my first time playing a home game

thanks alot

kenny

What I do is basically the same as PokerStars tournaments. We have a $10 buy-in (with no rake), start with 1500 chips each and have 15 minute blinds beginning with 10/20. My advice is to give yourself a lot of time to play. On a few occasions, my friends and I have basically run out of time because our game lasted much longer than we expected. If you see this happening, raise the blinds up either at a faster pace, like 10 minute levels, or skip a few of the blind levels, like going from 50/100 to 200/400 instead of 100/200 (just as an example). My main advice is to just have fun.

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cky12 - PokerStars
cky12 - FullTilt

My Poker Journal

We've been running a weekly Sunday night tournament for 2 years now with great success (measured in participation and fun had by all). Here is our set-up.

$20 buy in with rebuys allowed for the first 3 levels. Can top up to 200 chips at the end of the 3rd blind level ($1/10 chips).Top 1/3 of players pays out. Start with 200 chips. blinds start at 1/2 and increase 25 or 30 minutes. levesl go 1/2, 2/4, 3/5, 5/10, 10/20, 15/30, 20/40, 30/60, 40/80, 50/100. Rarely do we get much higher than this but you can adjust level times and amounts as you see fit.

A little fun thing we added recently was a point system. We take 10% of each week's pot and put it in a side pot. Then we set up a point system. 10 points for the win, 8 for second, 6 for 3rd, then 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for 4th-8th place finishers. First one to 50 points wins the side pot. After the first side pot was won, the winner went to zero, and the rest had their points cut in half to start the next series. Kind of a handicapped system that makes sure everyone has incentive to keep coming back. And we do have a lot of fun.

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I Paraphrase Voltaire: "I may not agree with your fish- like plays, but I would die for your right to pay off my nuts..." or something like that.

Kenny --

We play the following:

$10 buy ins - 1500 chips
Unlimited rebuys in the first hour any time you are 750 chips or lower
5 or fewer players - 2/3 - 1/3 payout for 1st and 2nd
6-7 players - 2/3* - 1/3* - $20 payout for 1st, 2nd, 3rd
8+ players - 50%, 30%, 20% for 1st, 2nd, 3rd
Draw for seats (important for us)
30 minute blinds:
25/50
50/100
75/150
100/200
150/300
200/400
add 100/200 per blind level above 200/400

Once heads up, blinds go up every 5 hands

5-7 of us, we are normally done in 3-4 hours

very interesting Ill see what my friends think about what you guys said...

thanks alot

kenny

Yep, we draw cards for spots too, good thing to do if you all play together regualarly...

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I Paraphrase Voltaire: "I may not agree with your fish- like plays, but I would die for your right to pay off my nuts..." or something like that.

I host some NL Texas Holdem home games at my home in Clearwater, Florida. You can see the details on my web site: www.PokerXanadu.com .

One thing I cut out recently - the rebuy. About 1/3 of my players liked it, 1/3 didn't like it and 1/3 didn't care. But, I finally decided against it. It caused a lot of inequities in chip stacks and dragged out the game too long. Instead, with my current structure, we have time for a second game in one evening.

You might take a look at: http://www.homepokertourney.com . They have lots of good info for home games.

-Martin

We play at several different peoples houses but with the same structure at each. Tournament...$50 buyin with one rebuy anytime you go below your initial chip count of $1500 we usually ave at least 2 and some times 4 tables....we adjust the number of positions paid based on total collected. The one rebuy thing keeps anyone from getting 'hurt' or bent out of shape when they go out.

SPAMMER...........