Some of the most fun I've ever had playing poker occurred in a home game setting. If you participate in a regular poker night with friends and family, consider yourself lucky because it's not easy to host and maintain a regular game. If you're looking to start a home game or struggling to keep one running smoothly, we compiled 10 tips and ideas on how to host a poker night that's well organized, consistent, and most of all... tons of fun!
No matter where you live or how low/high stake poker you play that are several universal elements that necessary to long-running home game. A friend recently asked me for advice on the keys to hosting a good home game, which got me thinking about some of my favorite home games over the years. Although the stakes and skill levels were different, I noticed some similarities and commonalities in three of my all-time favorite home games. I was a weekly regular in games in three different cities spanning three decades including Seattle in the late 1990s, New York City in the early 2000s, and San Francisco in the early 2010s.
I moved to Seattle after college during the post-grunge era. I befriended members of an acid-jazz band called Kilgore Trout. Most them lived together in Fremont at "The Trout House" and hosted band practice in the basement on Monday nights. While they practiced, they let us play poker in their kitchen in a weekly low-stakes home game. As soon as their rehearsal ended, the band members joined the game.
I lived in NYC at the start of the online poker boom when Chris Moneymaker won the 2003 WSOP Main Event and Wednesday nights were devoted to watching the WPT on the Travel Channel. I was invited to play in the regular game dubbed "The Blue Parrot" that was located around the corner from Madison Square Garden. Majority of the regulars were lawyers who loved poker, but I was the only one who didn't have a conventional 9-to-5 job.
I moved to San Francisco in 2011 shortly after Black Friday and my roommate hosted a game where we lived in the Lower Pacific Heights. It was always freezing in the apartment which we called "The Ice Palace." The regulars were a diverse group of eclectic poker players and we even had a near equal gender mix.
Here's some things I learned from my favorite home games:
1. Pick a consistent day like Mondays.
Three games, three cities, 40-50 different players. Each home game had a similar trait: all three of these weekly home games were played on Monday nights. We played every Monday except for some holidays.
Mondays are a perfect day of the week to play poker because most people have plans for the weekend. Plus, Mondays are often the worst day of the week for most people because it's the start of the work week. If you hate your job and loathe Mondays even more, then you have something to look forward to on Monday evenings if you love poker.
During my home game in San Francisco, many of the regulars were in the hospitality industry and Monday nights were often their Saturday nights since they worked during the weekend. They were ready to gamble it up and go crazy on Monday night and many of them had lots of cash thanks to all the tips they earned over the weekend.
Don't overlook the Monday Night Football factor between September and December. Most poker players are dudes. Most love sports and betting on the NFL. So, watching Monday Night Football in the background during poker night seems like a great pairing. When I lived in Seattle, we'd wait until halftime before we started dealing the first hand. Players were encouraged to show up an hour or so early to watch football before poker began.
2. Set specific hours.
Make sure everyone knows how long the game will run, for example between 8pm and Midnight. The key is to be consistent with the start time and stop time so no one ever gets confused.
Be respectful to your host! If the game is supposed to end at Midnight, don't be the degen who insists you keep playing for another orbit or two. Unless the host encourages the game to continue, never insist on extending the game in someone else's house.
You want to have fun and sometimes the game gets a little rowdy, so make sure the neighbors are aware of the hijinks. Better yet, invite the neighbors to play so they'll be included in the action.
3. Pick a consistent location.
You're fortunate if you have a large friend group where poker night rotates week-to-week to different locations. If not, it's important to find that one friend who has ample space or doesn't mind having degens hanging out until the wee hours. It also helps if that friend is single or doesn't have kids so you can play cards late into the night.
4. House rules.
Make sure you maintain consistent house rules and someone who will enforce them, which is usually the host. If it's not the host, then make sure someone will be the enforcer!
Like a great tournament or card room, there's a TD or poker room manager who settles all disputes and their decision is final. Never enforce rules by committee, but always be consistent.
Sometimes an odd situation might arise that's never happened before, so be prepared to figure it out quickly without too much of a delay. If it's something that needs a longer debate, then make a quick decision to keep the game moving. However, encourage a discussion the next day so everyone can get on the same page before you sit down to the next game.
5. Pick the right personalities.
Sartre said hell is other people. And nothing is worse than getting stuck to the wrong person at the poker table. Home games are great because you can control who will be sitting at the table. That's why it's important to have the right mix of skill levels and personality.
You don't want to have too many quiet introverts, but you don't want a full table of alphas and table captains. Obviously, everyone wants an action junkie especially if they're a fish and have deep pockets. You don't want too many nits/rocks unless they're fun to be around.
You also want respectful players who won't trash the house or get too wasted. You also want someone who will be discreet, especially if high stakes action is involved or someone had a bad night. In the era of social media, it's probably best to evoke the first rule of Fight Club (a.k.a. "Don't talk about fight club!").
6. Wheaton's Law.
This could've been covered in the last tip, but it's important so it warrants its own point. "Don't be a dick!" is often referred to the Wil Wheaton Law or Wil's rule of social etiquette whether it's online, in real life, or at the poker tables. Sometimes things get out of hand when competitive juices get flowing but it's important to remember that you're playing in someone's home and not in Las Vegas at the WSOP. Keep it fun and cordial, but don't be an asshole! You want others to feel comfortable and return, and you want to make sure you're invited back.
7. Regulars and alternates.
The best home games have eight players with 4-5 consistent regulars, two semi-regulars, and one person who plays once a month. It's even better if you have 1-2 people coming late to the game to replace anyone who must leave early or goes busto.
If you have a solid core of regulars, you can always rely on a game starting on time. But let's be honest, life often gets in the way between work and family, so try to have a handful of reliable substitutes and semi-regulars.
There's always one friend who is busy, recently had a kid, travels a lot or just tough to persuade to get out of their house. It's always a treat when that person plays once in a blue moon, so you want to make sure you have an open seat for that special invited guest.
If you host a popular game and have limited seating, it's important to stagger times. Sometimes a player cannot show up early due to work or other obligations, but you can always rely on them to arrive later and be one of the closers. An optimal home game has players arriving in waves or shifts so you're not playing shorthanded or someone has to sit around and wait for an open seat.
At the Trout House in Seattle, we knew 2-3 band members would join the game after their practice ended to replace someone who busted early. In NYC, I played with a lot of lawyers who had corporate jobs and sometimes they were stuck in the office, but they'd show up after 10pm. They'd be coming in hot, slamming a few shots, and ready to let loose after a grueling 12-hour workday. That's when the game got juicy, and the stakes escalated.
In San Francisco, the Ice Palace game was so popular that we had two tables. Monday night poker often didn't end until the wee hours on Tuesday morning (we once had a game run for 32-hours straight!). After Midnight, one or two new players would arrive, and the two tables would combine into a single table and we'd increase the stakes and play until sunrise.
8. Comfy.
Make sure you have a big enough table and comfortable chairs. It goes without saying that the best home games often have stellar lighting (bright but not too bright), comfortable chairs, and a real poker table if possible.
In Seattle, we were just slackers and stoners playing low stakes with plastic chips at the Trout House. We huddled around a wobbly kitchen table where none of the chairs matched. In NYC at the Blue Parrot, my buddy had a swanky dining room table that looked like something out of a home design magazine, but he inserted padding underneath a special felt so the degens didn't damage his nice table. At the Ice Palace in San Francisco, we had two legit poker tables with cupholders, so it felt like a real card room.
9. Music.
Music was always important at the poker table especially in the Seattle home game. The Trout House had its own background music with the band practicing in the basement below us. When practice ended, we took turns on the CD player. We had a two song rule where we took turns going around the table and everyone picked two songs to play. There was a veto too where the majority ruled. I got introduced to a lot of new music which was an added benefit of playing with musicians.
When I played poker in NYC almost 20 years ago, the host played music on shuffle via his iPod but that was only after the Monday Night Football game ended.
I was the DJ at the Ice Palace in San Francisco with 5-6 different mixes on my iPod that were several hours long. Spotify had just come into existence so some of my earliest playlists were unique mixes that were created hours before poker began to make sure we never listened to the same stuff from the previous week.
10. Cash only. No credit.
Keep it simple. Cash only. Never extend credit. Crypto is cool in a pinch. The last thing you ever want to do is chase down someone to collect gambling debt. If anyone wants their first buy-in or subsequent rebuys, they must hand over cash.
If a player gets felted for the fourth time and requests a loan, point them out to the nearest ATM machine. It's one thing to peel off $100 and loan it to your friend so they don't miss a hand, but never put the host in a tough spot by asking them or the house for chips "on the finger."
Good luck!
