Taking home game to the next level (1 Viewer)

[digster05]

That is awesome, OP!
What I have found in starting to host this past year is there is always something to improve and part of the fun is trying things out each game.

You will find some great suggestions in this thread along with all the others on PCF. Just a few areas I have thought about thanks to PCF…
•Food - full meal, snacks, drinks?
•Music - good volume, good music, Bruce Hornsby is my current fave on pandora.
•Start/end time - what works for you and your players to keep it sustainable?
•Invites (try Partiful for a top notch invite app),
•Cash tracker to keep track of buy-ins (I use
https://www.tarnib.live/poker)
• clean your space - people want to feel comfortable. Vacuum, dust, wipe your table down, and clear up clutter in your playing space or home. My game is in a mostly finished basement so I invite players to bring slippers so their feet don’t get cold.

•planning ahead - don’t just wing it day of game. Give yourself time to prepare and make adjustments no matter how insignificant feeling. Your players will notice and appreciate the work you put in.

Due to my busy work schedule, I only have about 30-45 minutes between getting home from work and players start showing up on game day so most of my prep is done at least 2 days ahead or in some case a full week ahead. Starting stacks are counted, table set up, snacks laid out, drinks stocked, food ordered, space cleaned, etc.
Doing this ahead of time saves so much stress game day so I can basically be on autopilot to enjoy socializing and help the game run smoother.

•I saw @merkong post once about sending thank you texts to players the next day so started implementing that a couple games ago.

All in all, if you keep striving to make it a better experience for your players while smoother hosting for yourself, you will have a great game!

Awesome stuff, and thanks for the partiful recommendation! Just started using it

 

[digster05]

Hmmm... Decent lighting... Decent chairs... Decent cards...

But no "decent chips"...

Gentlemen we have an imposter.

To be fair OP mentioned "besides chips"

 

[Wils]

To be fair OP mentioned "besides chips"

Ok... Benefit of the doubt just this once

 

[thePokerClub]

A few have mentioned it here, but a League structure that rewards consistent long term performance.

Works best with a tournament structure, but could work with cash games also. Whatever you can think to incentivize - you can derive a point system from.

With my League, I run a tournament every other month. $50 Entry, Unlimited $50 Rebuys for the first 2 hours, and a single $25 Optional Add-On at the first break (after first 2 hours). I take 15-20% off to fund a Championship Pool. Average 15-18 players consistently and total coming in for the night is ~$2000. Top 4-5 for the night get paid out all cash after that % comes off. 1st place has been averaging ~$800 so it is nothing to sneeze at even after funding the Champ Pool.

All players earn points for performance (finishes, bounties, participation, etc.) which go to a running LeaderBoard. Top 8 on that qualify for a Freeroll for that Championship Pool after someone crosses the 100 Point threshold on the LeaderBoards. Milestone-based Season trigger to end it.

Projecting ~$7500 in the Championship Pool for the current Season. Top 4 will get paid with 1st taking over 50% of that.

My players love it and I never have to chase anyone. Less is also more because I recently moved from monthly to bi-monthly frequency and that has added a few to my tables. Had 23 players in November.

 

[Timportant19]

I restarted player poker a year ago and have hosted once a month since then. Here are a few things that have worked for us:

-Players need to be comfortable (but not pleased) with losing 3 buyins. We currently play 10p/10p NLHE Cash, £10 buyin, basically 'pint' stakes.
-Denominated chips. This is essential, "how much are the blues worth?" for the tenth time can lead to major health conditions.
-Plastic cards and someone to deal them. I, as host, shuffle and deal every hand and basically call all bets. This is better than passing the cards around and getting misdeals and mistakes all evening amongst social players.
-Some kind of playing surface. You don't need a custom mega fireworks table but a simple topper will massively elevate the game
-Music, snacks, drinks and lighting. Just basic hosting people stuff

‘Can lead to majoy health issues’
Yes, they do.

 

[owlbee]

A few have mentioned it here, but a League structure that rewards consistent long term performance.

Works best with a tournament structure, but could work with cash games also. Whatever you can think to incentivize - you can derive a point system from.

With my League, I run a tournament every other month. $50 Entry, Unlimited $50 Rebuys for the first 2 hours, and a single $25 Optional Add-On at the first break (after first 2 hours). I take 15-20% off to fund a Championship Pool. Average 15-18 players consistently and total coming in for the night is ~$2000. Top 4-5 for the night get paid out all cash after that % comes off. 1st place has been averaging ~$800 so it is nothing to sneeze at even after funding the Champ Pool.

All players earn points for performance (finishes, bounties, participation, etc.) which go to a running LeaderBoard. Top 8 on that qualify for a Freeroll for that Championship Pool after someone crosses the 100 Point threshold on the LeaderBoards. Milestone-based Season trigger to end it.

Projecting ~$7500 in the Championship Pool for the current Season. Top 4 will get paid with 1st taking over 50% of that.

My players love it and I never have to chase anyone. Less is also more because I recently moved from monthly to bi-monthly frequency and that has added a few to my tables. Had 23 players in November.

How long does your season last?

 

[thePokerClub]

How long does your season last?

It varies widely season to season based on the structure we choose to use. There are quite a few structures we look at as options to switch it up season to season to keep things fresh.

This year, we are using a milestone-based trigger to end it all - meaning it is not time bound. First person to 100 points within our point system. We been playing every other month for a 1.5 years for this season and 1st place on the LeaderBoards has 70 pts. I am thinking it will take another 3-4 Events at least.

Longer than I had hoped the season would take but the silver lining is that I have found a good balance with payouts being decent for each event and the more time it take for the season to end the larger the Championship Pool will be. Nobody is complaining which is the goal of every host.

I put a bunch of possible structures together at the thread below if you are interested.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/thinking-about-a-point-system-for-your-club-get-our-free-season-structure-pack.138599/

 

[owlbee]

It varies widely season to season based on the structure we choose to use. There are quite a few structures we look at as options to switch it up season to season to keep things fresh.

This year, we are using a milestone-based trigger to end it all - meaning it is not time bound. First person to 100 points within our point system. We been playing every other month for a 1.5 years for this season and 1st place on the LeaderBoards has 70 pts. I am thinking it will take another 3-4 Events at least.

Longer than I had hoped the season would take but the silver lining is that I have found a good balance with payouts being decent for each event and the more time it take for the season to end the larger the Championship Pool will be. Nobody is complaining which is the goal of every host.

I put a bunch of possible structures together at the thread below if you are interested.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/thinking-about-a-point-system-for-your-club-get-our-free-season-structure-pack.138599/

Thanks for the link!

I've never played in a poker league before but this sounds amazing. Do you find that those in the bottom of the standings are less motivated/excited to play toward the end of the season?

 

[thePokerClub]

You got it.

Easy answer is no, because the point-system we have developed has a few different ways to earn points including Bounties, Participation, and Missed Participation Points for situations where schedules don't align for everyone. This way being competitive is not just based on finishes. Points also strongly reward consistent attendance, and performance over the long term.

We have had a few join mid-season and they know they are practically out of the running, but they still play as the payouts are decent and they can get to know players before the next season.