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How do you handle money in home cash games — collect upfront or settle at the end? (4 Viewers)

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odorf

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Curious how other home games manage payments.
Do you:
  • Collect cash (or Venmo/Zelle) immediately for every buy-in and rebuy?
  • Or just track everything and settle up based on final results?
We’ve tried both approaches. Collecting upfront feels safer and cleaner, but it slows the game a bit. Settling at the end is faster, but sometimes creates confusion or awkward moments if balances aren’t exact.

How do you handle:
  • Multiple rebuys?
  • Players who leave early?
  • Non-zero balances at the end?
  • Apps or spreadsheets for tracking?
Would love to hear what works best in your games and any horror stories to avoid.
 
Cash is king, just makes everything easier. My peeps are starting to get used to Zelle-ing me since they know I always carry enough for this reason but I’ve built a process that you don’t get chips until Zelle notification is received and I physically put the cash into the bank. Slows everything down for sure especially if you’re the host.
 
I get the youth with their tech but basically credit? Dahokay.

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Something different:
Cash - But we also take local live casino chips since our players are also frequent local Cardrooms (might not be options were you are located) this reduces having Cash on hand, and might make the game a little safer - although that might just be a false perception.

(we never use Cash apps) (but also do not rake the game if that matters)
 
Cash/electronic payment up front, makes reconciling payouts much cleaner. Also prevents late night headaches I’ve seen at other games where host forgot to record a buyin and made the entire group spread out the “loss” (oof).

Not in live poker, but I’ve seen also multiple times in online groups where “settle at the end” became “scam and run” with people owing 4 figures and not paying anything back.
 
I much prefer Venmo. Everyone in our group has it for one, and it's so easy to track who paid and when. I'll take cash as a backup. If someone buys in for 20 bucks and cashes for 16.83, it's easy just to venmo that amount. And yes, payup front. Sucks when you've had a bad night at the table then you gotta Venmo someone 200 bucks at the end.
 
Cash up front. Bank of Kifer is always open and allowed to be borrowed from, settle up always at end of the night, unless you are a regular then I'll allow payment the next week in cash.

No one has ever screwed the Bank of Kifer.
 
odorf said:
How do you handle:
  • Multiple rebuys?
  • Players who leave early?
  • Non-zero balances at the end?
  • Apps or spreadsheets for tracking?
Click to expand...
  • Multiple rebuys? - people give me cash - I turn around get chips for the value of the cash and give them chips - does not slow anything down, the next hand is already being dealt.

  • Players who leave early? Players rack up chips, slide the rack or hand me the rack, I count it - then turn around place the chips with the other chips keeping them in the rack in case the amount is disputed - then count out cash or give Casino chips - giving out casino chips is faster than counting cash - but it doesn't matter the next hand is being dealt while cash is being dispensed.

  • Non-zero balances at the end? all these years using cash - only one time with a non zero amount at the end of the night, it was 5 dollars, I was over 5 dollars - we were also short a 5 dollar chip, so one chip had gone missing - since the cash out matched the chips that came in - no one lost or was short the 5 dollars. We thought maybe the chip fell on the floor, or got stuck under the rail. Turned out a player used it as a card capper and - out of habit - put the chip in their pocket earlier in the evening when they got up from the table - and did not notice it - till they got home. Either way - the chip value cashed in and the bank all matched. (good lesson for all - if chips are short - it does not matter - cash out will always match chips that are cashed in - so the chip when found or cashed in later - still holds its value.)

  • Apps or spreadsheets for tracking? for me and my players - we never use apps or spreadsheets for games or tracking buy ins, etc. Since we all use cash/casino chips - everything balances (and no evidence is left behind:x) and no funds get locked up online in pay apps, or get confiscation on pay apps. Talk about slowing things down - updating spreadsheets while playing, saving the file, people asking how much they owe or how much they bought in for, etc. and constantly checking an app to see who bought in and who transferred money - how much money, etc. yuck. At least for me - I have better things to do - like play poker. :) ( and lose money to my friends)
 
I use an app called Regroup Poker Tools and we settle electronically at the end.
 
I'm trying something next month ... instead of one central bank, every player will get an envelope; they'll count out their buy in and put it in the envelope. Their chips will go on top of it. If they re-buy/top off, put it in the envelope and get chips. At cashout we'll use Burn Card Shop's Poker Ledger to limit the number of transactions as losers pay winners.
The idea is to eliminate having a central bank come up short (sometimes waaay short) at the end of the night when the last players or host cash out.
 
Last edited:
Jaxen said:
I'm trying something next month ... instead of one central bank, every player will get an envelope; they'll count out their buy in and put it in the envelope. Their chips will go on top of it. If they re-buy/top off, put it in the envelope and get chips. At cashout we'll use Burn Card Shop's Poker Ledger to limit the number of transactions as losers pay winners.
The idea is to eliminate having a central bank come up short (sometimes waaay short) at the end of the night when the last players or host cash out.
Click to expand...
I feel like this is missing a step.

In addition to putting the cash in the envelope, each buy-in should need to be tracked for each player as well, so you can audit the cash against the record to ensure the correct amount is there.

My only concern about this method achieving what you want (being able to identify shortages by player) is that you can still make mistakes distributing the chips, and those would end up being an unaccounted shortage.
 
Jaxen said:
I'm trying something next month ... instead of one central bank, every player will get an envelope; they'll count out their buy in and put it in the envelope. Their chips will go on top of it. If they re-buy/top off, put it in the envelope and get chips. At cashout we'll use Burn Card Shop's Poker Ledger to limit the number of transactions as losers pay winners.
The idea is to eliminate having a central bank come up short (sometimes waaay short) at the end of the night when the last players or host cash out.
Click to expand...
Get a better banker. Our drawer has never been short.
 
I have only had 2-3 bank issues coming up short and typically it’s been when I have accepted cash or Venmo instead of just cash. My simple brain needs to keep it 5th grade level (or less) when there’s enough excitement going on during a game to keep track of.

As others have mentioned, I also stick to just accepting cash and players can electronically pay each other…and then cash comes to bank, chips go to player. This is the way.
 
Josh Kifer said:
Cash up front. Bank of Kifer is always open and allowed to be borrowed from, settle up always at end of the night, unless you are a regular then I'll allow payment the next week in cash.

No one has ever screwed the Bank of Kifer.
Click to expand...
Yeah I'll do the same - but only if I'm flush with enough cash to cover the bank when the game breaks.
 

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