Home Game rituals (7 Viewers)

Quassly

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What are some of your Home Game rituals? Are there any crazy ones? I am looking to implement some. Right now my home games only rituals are that we start and end the night with a bomb pot.
 
We change decks every hour. Our games are approx 4.5 hours long.
The last deck change is at hour 4 for the last time around the table.
We also have a high hand of the night pot, where everyone tosses in a set amount..
We play dealer choice between Texas Hold'Em, 3 card Pineapple, and Hi Omaha
All drinks and a few light snacks are on the house. Only 2 of our 8 drink beer and or hard liquor Most drink bottled water or soft drinks.
Cash Only
 
Is there a specific reason for the deck changes? Or is it just to show off some decks you have? High hand of the night is a really good idea!
 
We do bomb pots that are randomly triggered by a flop that is;
  • All One Suit: $1 ante
  • 3-Card Straight: $1 ante
  • Three of a Kind: $4 ante
  • Straight Flush: $4 ante
Typically get a bomb pot every hour, sometimes multiple times an hour, sometimes once every two hours. My players love the randomness of it.

We also have a nightly high-hand jackpot;
  • Optional $5 entry, prior to seating.
  • Begins at 7 PM or when all invited players are present, whichever comes first.
  • Highest qualifying hand at 11 PM wins.
  • Minimum qualifying hand: full house
  • Hand does not need to go to showdown
  • Must use at least one hole card

And a progressive bad beat jackpot. We fund it by taking a "drop" from all bomb pot hands (25¢ per player on $1 ante pots, $1 per player on $4 antes), charging for rabbit hunting (50¢ per street), and rounding down all players to the nearest $5 at cash out. Too many rules to list, but you can find them here if interested.
 
Wow the bomb pot being random like that is a really good idea. I think I will try this out at the next home game.
 
I was also thinking about adding a Bad Beat Jackpot. But my game is still relatively new and I didn‘t want to add too many things at once. But maybe I‘ll start.
 
Is there a specific reason for the deck changes? Or is it just to show off some decks you have? High hand of the night is a really good idea!
It's something we have done since the beginning of our home game in 2010. It sometimes changes the luck around the table when someone may be going bad. I find if one uses the same deck, because its self dealing, the same card hands seem to show up on the table numerous times.
Not everyone at my table is a casino dealer lol
 
Whenever someone wins with a set of twos, they shout “quack quack mother $ucker” at the loser.
Fuck I would HATE that LOL.

What are some of your Home Game rituals? Are there any crazy ones? I am looking to implement some. Right now my home games only rituals are that we start and end the night with a bomb pot.
We often end the night with a PLO flip for some odd amount. Usually someone who's stuck on the night will propose a flip for odd amount in a last-ditch attempt to get back or closer to even.... like $23 per person or something.

This usually winds up with mulitple side pots as well when people want to donk off their odd amounts.
 
Bomb pots on the hour usually keep the game interesting! Otherwise we do monotone board > bomb pot next hand

Def a proponent of flipping for change at the end of the night as well!
 
One we've added that stuck: publishing the blind schedule and payout structure to all players before they show up. Everyone arrives knowing exactly when levels change and what the prize pool looks like. Kills the pre-game questions and gets people thinking about the game on the drive over.
 
We have a few.

The classics:
  • 7-2 Bounty game: 3 to 4 BBs, larger if the game is short-handed
  • Monotone flop: Double board PLO bomb pot next hand ($3 ante)
  • Straight flush flop: Orbit of double board board PLO bomb pots
The noteworthies:
  • 1 shot/beer to be chugged every time somebody scoops a double-board bomb pot. Often I buy 3-4 different types of shooters, with some of them being "bad," like BuzzBallz or fireball, one being weird, like malort or fernet, and one of them is Johnnie Walker black label. When a player scoops, a random draw is initiated to see which alcohol is to be consumed
  • Trips flop: Orbit of freezes*
  • We play a lot of our games at an indoor basketball gym in my apartment building. Until 10pm, when the building doesn't allow any more shots, we allow players who win the 7-2 bounty game to either take their won bounty, or shoot a free throw (I played D3 hoops, so I shoot a three) to double-or-nothing their bounty.
Keeps it interesting to say the least! We also encourage side-betting, some of the most fun ones:
  • A lot of gambling on whether guys can throw empty beer cans into the trash.
  • Gambling on whether players who haven't responded to the RSVP texts will show up, and at what time.
  • A 5'10" guy tried to impress his date by saying that he would play me (6'8") in basketball... We played in the post to 5, I spotted him 4 points and gave him the ball (make-it-take-it). He missed the first shot of the game and didn't touch the ball again lol

*A freeze is a PLO side game: Somebody is determined to be the freezer in some equitable (often through a dealer button type draw) fashion. They must post a single blind, that is generally large enough to be worthwhile to win and not so small that it's trivial. The action starts on their left and procededes normally, with each player having only the option to call the freeze or fold. When the action gets to the freezer, they either elect to go to a full runout, or they can activate their freeze, which is a mandatory raise of 50% the initial call. People who called the freeze are not allowed to fold at this point and must post the exactly 50%, at which point the hand procedes to a runout as usual. High hand scoops.
 
Spin the fuckin wheel.
 

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We start every poker night with a horse race game. Double Board Bomb Pots at the top of every hour. And a High Hand Bonus, every player brings a $5 scratch-off lottery ticket (or players can combine tickets for a higher value ticket) and at the end of the night the player with the high hand wins all of the tickets.
 
- I fundraise for the nightly high hand jackpot by selling $2 “show ‘em” chips with all proceeds going to the winner.
-The horse race demarcates the shift from NLHE to dealer’s choice.
- During the horse race, I play Trumpet Fanfare and the William Tell Overture.
- bomb pots every 40 min. When we’re feeling spicey, we’ll do a bomb-pot-whiskey-shot immediately before the hand to maximize sound decision making.
 
- I fundraise for the nightly high hand jackpot by selling $2 “show ‘em” chips with all proceeds going to the winner.
-The horse race demarcates the shift from NLHE to dealer’s choice.
- During the horse race, I play Trumpet Fanfare and the William Tell Overture.
- bomb pots every 40 min. When we’re feeling spicey, we’ll do a bomb-pot-whiskey-shot immediately before the hand to maximize sound decision making.
How long do you play NLHE before going to dealer's choice? And how long are your typical sessions?

For rituals, we do 3BB bomb pots on monotone flops and a 5BB bomb pot to end the night. We also use show 'em chips, one per person.
 
How long do you play NLHE before going to dealer's choice? And how long are your typical sessions?

For rituals, we do 3BB bomb pots on monotone flops and a 5BB bomb pot to end the night. We also use show 'em chips, one per person.
Sessions typically last 5 hours. We play only NLHE during the first 3 hours before moving into dealers choice for the rest of the game.
 

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