Starting a new home game. Cash vs Tournament? (1 Viewer)

[lpalmer436]

Starting up a new home game that I’m hoping will occur once a month (maybe more often if people are keen) but I’m not sure whether to go with a mini tournament or cash game. Looking at a small player pool initially, 6-9 players for the first couple of months until we find more I would think. Low stakes, £10 tournament entry (with rebuys) or 0.05/0.10 cash game as a starting point.

More of the players seem familiar with tournaments but I feel it may not be so fun for them if they go out early and are left sitting around or going home early.

Open to suggestions to ensure things go smoothly.

Thanks in advance!

 

[BigGrizz]

Do tournaments with deep stacks and even included rebuys. Tournament has a finite ending. Position is dictated by stack size.

 

[SteveEH]

Cash. Set players' expectations - tell them to bring a min of 3 buy ins for the night, and expect to win/lose 1 or 2 of them.

With 6-9 on the roster, embrace 4 handed. Mixed games are better short handed.

 

[Labrat]

Cash is king.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Cash. Less blind pressure, feels more natural, people can come and go easier which is good for beginners. I love both and they can work but for low pressure hanging out learning the game I think baby stakes cash is wonderful.

 

[Munchies11]

For your player pool I would recommend cash games for sure !!

 

[SeanGecko]

Cash is easier to teach and less for you to do. Cash is more flexible.

 

[Machine]

Depends on your players. Let’s back up. What do you want to do or accomplish with the game?

If you want to host and you don’t care which, then cater to your current player base.

Personally I dislike NLH, I want to play mixed games, so I invite a mix of degens and poker players, and we start with Omaha, then after the poker players leave we play mixed games.

NLH players don’t show up, so it’s a party every time!!

If you have ppl that want to play but haven’t, you’ll want to start with a tournament for low stakes allow 4 levels of rebuys. Encourage proper dealing, run 2 decks, shuffle behind and have a drink of the night, I like G&Ts focus on fun and the basics

Talk to players get a feel for there game knowledge and focus on fun!!!

 

[lpalmer436]

NLH is my game, although I am familiar with PLO but without much experience. NLH seems to be what everyone is most familiar with here.

I thought the main benefits of cash are: straight forward, everyone can play as long as they want (they can just buy in if they bust), probably less game management? and the potential to mix up the games if people want.

Benefits for tournament: seems to be the format most are familiar with, losses are more fixed.


Very keen for anyones input - this is my first time hosting beyond small family games.

 

[Labrat]

I thought the main benefits of cash are: straight forward, everyone can play as long as they want (they can just buy in if they bust), probably less game management? and the potential to mix up the games if people want.

100%

Once I introduced mixed games to our poker nights, nobody's mentioned a tournament for years.

 

[Jaxen]

My answer is: Yes.
Mix it up. Our group does 6 tournaments a year that are all subtly different, and then we play 3-4 cash games over the summer so those with families who travel for summer vacation can still make 1 or 2.
Changing up the formats (re-entry, freezeout, new and old WSOP structure-inspired, Stud/HE mix, head's up bracket) gets player's attention and, in our case, helps promote a well-rounded game.

 

[danopoker]

Ask your players.

The way to kill a game is to do things most people in your circle don't like. In my group, they really prefer tournaments, so that's what we do.

 

[thePokerClub]

If your players are more familiar with tournaments, start there. Others made the suggestion of rebuys which is always good.

Rebuys for 2 hours is a solid 'keep everyone involved for a bit' approach.

 

[MrCatPants]

Tournaments are safer in most senses. Loss cap, set structure, finite time ending.

But find out what the group wants to do. And heaven help you if someone says tournament and then tries to cash in their chips at 9:15 because they have to go (and don't understand what a tournament is).

 

[Jake14mw]

To me they are very different. A tournament is a game, won by one person like most games. Cash games is just straight gambling, wit no winner, but everyone trying to win as much money as possible from each other.

You can't be a big loser in a tournament, but you can in a cash game.

 

[Rodog123]

• Tournament - start time players need to be ready to go at the same time.
• Cash game - you can arrive and go as you please.

Always invite more people there are always 1-2 peeps that rsvp and no show.

 

[SeanGecko]

• Tournament - start time players need to be ready to go at the same time.
• Cash game - you can arrive and go as you please.

Always invite more people there are always 1-2 peeps that rsvp and no show.

Too add on advice don't give up, keep trying and get a friend or two to assist in keeping the game alive.

 

[Budha]

Cash

 

[exodus]

My group started with tournament but found that cash is just easier with people being able to play as long as they want. Tournaments starts to become a drag when 7 people are waiting for the last 2 to battle it out heads up so they usually just chop.

 

[4SUMERZ]

Hi and welcome to this great community.
I started my home games playing tournament, one buy in no rebuys with 8 players. What we found was that players that were knocked out early were waiting for the game to finish before they could play on a new game start. Also there was no time limit on how long the games would last.
We decided after a few times, to switch to cash game, where rebuys are available so one can always play as long as they have Chips. The other advantage of a cash game is that one can put a finish time on the session and a cash in.
We have played cash games for going on 15 years with the same 8-12 guys. Some have passed, or are limited by health issues, but I still have enough players to get 8 guys to the games.
We play dealer choice between 2 card Texas Hold'Em, 3 card pineapple and 4 card Omaha.
It works great for us with a 4.5 hour session.

 

[FlyEaglesFly]

When we first started our home games and most of us were broke we played tournaments with no rebuys after the first orbit since it was a known investment amount and affordable, but once we all got older it became cash games 99% of the time.

So really it depends on you and your players but the ease of cash games as far as variable buy in amounts and length required to play made it much more feasable for my group.

 

[springbox]

Can you try out both? Not necessarily in the same night, but it'll give you a feel for what you like hosting better and you can see what the players like better. Hosting a cash game definitely feels simpler, although STTs are not terribly hard to manage. If you do ever do both in the same night, cash before tournament. That way no one's waiting when they're eliminated from the tournament.

 

[amstelnut]

cash game

 

[4SUMERZ]

Can you try out both? Not necessarily in the same night, but it'll give you a feel for what you like hosting better and you can see what the players like better. Hosting a cash game definitely feels simpler, although STTs are not terribly hard to manage. If you do ever do both in the same night, cash before tournament. That way no one's waiting when they're eliminated from the tournament.

That will depend on how long your session will be to have both. If time constraints aren't an issue, then no problem. The plus about tournament is that one knows how much money one will spend if there are no rebuys which would be best if you follow with a cash game or the tournament could be a long session.

 

[merkong]

New game, newer players, cash. Tourneys aren’t a bad call either but then the dimensions of timeliness, teaching moments etc, etc come into play. Either way, microstakes and really promote the experience that is the night that just so happens to be taking place in the midst of poker.