Help building a home game (2 Viewers)

[mashoo]

I work with 15 people and none play poker lol.

Oh don't get me wrong, only one actually played poker prior and we've gone to casinos and Vegas together. I recruited and worked hard to get my list together.

Knowing no one played except one guy, I run a .25/.25 spread limit to $5 with $10 overs. It helps new guys limit losses and doesn't let experienced guys completely crush.

 

[pokerplayingpisces]

PCF is a great resource. There are several CO members here, that host regularly. Attend some games, meet new players. For a few of us, we now have regulars that we met at another member’s games. In essence, we are kind of sharing each other’s player roster. It’s allowed us to fill games, or have more players than we would have recruiting on our own.
We are fortunate to have so many PCFers, so close. Not everyone does, use it to your advantage!

 

[Poker Zombie]

Also, always look to improve your game. Think like the card-room manager you would want to be. Better chips, better cards, better lighting, better cairs. Mini-fridge with drinks. A hot dog roller. It's going to cost you money, but you will get to enjoy these things. That's why we work in the first place. Why not spend it on stuff you can share?

Low stakes is better than no stakes. I know some of my players would love to play bigger stakes. One is currently at Club Courage jamming for $300+ a hand in draw2maha and will head out to play in my $30, end of year tournament. I'd love to raise the stakes for this kind of dedication, but it would overtake the cost of a couple's night out, and we would lose more players than we would gain.

 

[davin]

I run a weekly game, if i get less then 7 players i will cancel the game which i haven't for some time, most times we are 10 handed and sometimes we have 11, i shoot for 11 because we will always get one person bail out or even 2 which is fine playing 9 handed. From my list on my phone i have over 30 contacts that i go thru to fill those seats. I do have reg. players and maybe only filling 2-3.... here in hawaii we don't have card rooms or casinos so i think that's why there is a lot of interest in playing. Also each night someone else hosts so those people have lists of players so we ask between each host for prospects for the game looking for the fishes and whales to add in, they soon loose interest in playing and tend to give a excuse why they can't make it so we move on.

 

[DoubleEagle]

If your game isn't growing, it's dying.

That’s the hard part! So hard to recruit. We’ve had two players pass on in the last year; one to cancer and another to a heart attack. Our group ranges in age from twenty somethings to middle 70’s.

 

[Poker Zombie]

they soon loose interest in playing and tend to give a excuse why they can't make it so we move on.

This happens all the time. I wish poker was booming like it did during the MoneyMaker era. Sure, Celebrity Poker Showdown was awful poker, but it was entertaining fun, with people the average American recognised. It helped bring poker into the living room, which in turn, brought them into mine.

That's how I approach my games. I always refer to them as "events", to de-emphasize the poker and make it an entertaining social event. I once read that "go to a friends poker game" was the very last thing people would want to do for an evening out. Sure, I'm going to lose to weddings and such, but if people will put off the next Star Trek movie because my game is the same night, then I'm doing something right.

 

[davin]

This happens all the time. I wish poker was booming like it did during the MoneyMaker era. Sure, Celebrity Poker Showdown was awful poker, but it was entertaining fun, with people the average American recognised. It helped bring poker into the living room, which in turn, brought them into mine.

That's how I approach my games. I always refer to them as "events", to de-emphasize the poker and make it an entertaining social event. I once read that "go to a friends poker game" was the very last thing people would want to do for an evening out. Sure, I'm going to lose to weddings and such, but if people will put off the next Star Trek movie because my game is the same night, then I'm doing something right.

its still booming here these home games have been running strong since 2007, we even have a retired cop hosting

 

[Poker Zombie]

its still booming here these home games have been running strong since 2007, we even have a retired cop hosting

Booming poker, terrific weather, paradise beaches.

Screw you - you deserved that volcano!

 

[DoubleEagle]

we even have a retired cop hosting

We used to have our Asst. Disrict Attorney play in our game. Felt pretty safe then!

 

[davin]

I had to cancel my Friday game tonight which hasn’t been canceled in a while super busy with work and found time to take my girl out to a comedy show so

 

[DoubleEagle]

I had to cancel my Friday game tonight which hasn’t been canceled in a while super busy with work and found time to take my girl out to a comedy show so

Good plan.

 

[dmalhi1]

Get two or three core people then add friends and friends of friend's.

^this!

I got a core of 4 guys (including myself) whom i'm fairly close with from my place of employment and we will then invite up to 6 other coworkers or their friends as long as the core guys are all ok with inviting someone we don't really know. Out of the 4-5 times we have played now only once have we had a guy who was invited kind of make us go, "wtf is this guy doing??" on one hand I guess we were worried about the amount of times he went on tilt and kept rebuying because we didn't want the guy getting in trouble by not having his share of the rent money to pay to our friend who invited em. Then on the other hand we were super happy with all the currency he helped line our bankrolls with that night. Least to say, we would reluctantly invite him again in future but he was so on tilt that it made the game not relaxed and fun as we usually have it. Basically, practice will make perfect, you'll eventually figure out who is ok to invite and who isn't. Just trust the rest of your group to vouch for people accordingly with them knowing full well any and all BS will fall on them as well.

we also sometimes order in food to share or do individual orders, people bring alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks which everyone sort of offers to share or we will collectively toss a chip or two to the person who brought everything to help ease any financial burden. It's a night out and there are many worse ways to spend your money, just this should be one of the better ways.

 

[JustinInMN]

Celebrity Poker Showdown was awful poker, but it was entertaining fun,

Dave Foley rules.

And Phil Gordon >>>>>>>>>> That other Phil.

 

[Cdgiguob]

Think about demographics. There were a lot of guys in their twenties playing poker between 2003 and 2010. The same people are in their 30’s now and may not have played in a while.
Our game started 6 months ago with a group of guys in the neighborhood that fit this description. In a 144 lot neighborhood we have a list of 9 guys and 3 or 4 more prospects to slowly grow. We play at 8:30 so wives are happy as long as kids are bathed and put to bed before 8:30. Everyone can drink as much as they want because they are less than a quarter mile from their house.

 

[Polochris]

If you don't want to meet people or try there is no solution

I agree. It will be pretty hard for you to find friends and build relationships without trying, and having a little bit of an awkward phase.

 

[Mike mac]

I started fresh in a new city and put up flyers on mail boxes in my hood - it's a pretty high end hood so I didn't fear the meth heads in my new home, now my list is at 33 people and it's been going bi weekly for a year and a half - usually get at least 8 players for 1$-1$ no limit Omaha - thinking of changing it to holdem due to the amount of cash that can be lost nightly - don't want to be the cause of a wife assult

 

[saleen121212]

I started fresh in a new city and put up flyers on mail boxes in my hood - it's a pretty high end good so I didn't fear the meth heads in my new home, now my list is at 33 people and it's been going bi weekly for a year and a half - usually get at least 8 players for 1$-1$ no limit Omaha - thinking of changing it to holdem due to the amount of cash that can be lost nightly - don't want to be the cause of a wife assult

In my state gambling is illegal or I would totally do this. I've been told most cops don't care but if I started advertising poker games it might not end well.

 

[Highli99]

Think about demographics. There were a lot of guys in their twenties playing poker between 2003 and 2010. The same people are in their 30’s now and may not have played in a while.
Our game started 6 months ago with a group of guys in the neighborhood that fit this description. In a 144 lot neighborhood we have a list of 9 guys and 3 or 4 more prospects to slowly grow. We play at 8:30 so wives are happy as long as kids are bathed and put to bed before 8:30. Everyone can drink as much as they want because they are less than a quarter mile from their house.

This is a really great point. Describes me and many of the people I am recruiting these day.

 

[DeeVee8]

I found four good players using meetup.com for my game. Also found two more that didn't work out. Oh well, +EV.

 

[doughboy63]

Quoting myself here to say this was more tongue in cheek silliness than anything.

I agree with all the points being made. I like hearing useful concrete advice. I was justinitially afraid that I would invite a ton of people, and there wouldn't be enough room for everyone. That's my only logical nightmare, but I guess that could work in the home game's favor too.

Follow up question: what structure do you find to be more beneficial, tournament or cash games? I've asked the crew their opinions which seems to favor cash games.

I think you’ll have an easy time getting guys who aren’t that into poker to come play a $10 or $20 tourney. Set amount they can lose so they should feel comfortable. Then once things start rolling talk about cash. Or a low stakes cash game after the tourney. Provide a good atmosphere and they will come back. Also your ffb league is prime for poker send an email that you are having a game and see what happens.

 

[doughboy63]

In my state gambling is illegal or I would totally do this. I've been told most cops don't care but if I started advertising poker games it might not end well.

Have you researched this? Most states low stakes games with no rakes are okay.

 

[saleen121212]

Have you researched this? Most states low stakes games with no rakes are okay.

In Georgia all gambling is illegal.

 

[saleen121212]

But no cop is going to waste time busting up a group of friends playing 20 dollar poker.

 

[doughboy63]

But no cop is going to waste time busting up a group of friends playing 20 dollar poker.

That blows. If it ever did get bigger stakes, you could set up a checking account as the “bank” for your game. Have everyone zelle their buys in to that, when they cash zelle the money back. No cash on the table, not gambling Obviously they could pull bank records and that may end up being a bigger crime idk, but I have thought about doing it for my game.

 

[Taghkanic]

Any tips, advice or constructive criticism will help.

Some random suggestions:

* Ask each of the regulars to suggest new players, and take responsibility for bringing them to their first game at your place;

* If you can find some firehouse/VFW/American Legion-type games in your area, playing in these this can be a good way to make new poker friendships, and identify players who would make good additions to your game;

* Buy $2 scratch offs which players get at their seat. For just $10-$20, this spreads a surprising amount of goodwill and eagerness to show up. (I don’t do this in my game, but have seen it used in other games to good effect.) Much more, anyway, than if you gave people two bucks to show!

* To encourage more regular attendance, build incentives into your game that make people not want to miss sessions, for example...

-- For a tournament, take out a small amount per buy-in which gets held for an end-of-year special event with a higher payout. To qualify for the special event, players have to participate in a minimum of 50% of games, and pay “makeup” for the special event for those missed. So for example, if you held 20 tournaments in a year, withholding $10 per player each time for the end-of-year prize pool, someone who played in 15 games would pay an extra $50 (5 missed games x $10) on top of the entry fee, so all players have equal equity in the pool.

-- Or, create a point system (say, +8 for first place, +4 for 2nd, +2 for 3rd, +1 just for attending) which runs throughout the year, with some prize or other incentive at the end. I used to play in a home game with such a system, which led to a bigger money tournament at the end of the year where your starting chips was proportional to how many points you’d amassed over the year. We always had two full tables of 9, and sometimes spilled over to 10 per table. People didn’t even want to lose their measly attendance point.

-- Cash games: Presumably some of the ideas above could be adapted to cash games, or others have participated in games which have them.

 

[Poker Zombie]

Have you researched this? Most states low stakes games with no rakes are okay.

Also Illegal in Tennessee. There have been arrests during the poker boom for some of the "bigger" games ($100 buy-ins), but I haven't heard of anything in a long time.

Because my job also has a strict "Morality" clause, my games are officially dinner parties. $20 covers dinner, side dishes are appreciated but not required. Poker afterwards has prizes, based on the nights attendance.

 

[doughboy63]

Also Illegal in Tennessee. There have been arrests during the poker boom for some of the "bigger" games ($100 buy-ins), but I haven't heard of anything in a long time.

Because my job also has a strict "Morality" clause, my games are officially dinner parties. $20 covers dinner, side dishes are appreciated but not required. Poker afterwards has prizes, based on the nights attendance.

Do the prizes include cash, or does that make it immoral? What do you do for a living? Interesting clause for employment.

 

[Poker Zombie]

Prizes are cash. According to the city, gambling (wagering an item of value) is immoral, unless it's on the State Lottery.

After checking the newswire, in 2012 Chattanooga police arrested 41 people for $20 poker tournament. An arrest in 2017 charged someone for possession of gambling devices (cards and chips) .

I love the weather and my subsection of the population, but the hypocritical bible-belt can suck-it otherwise.

 

[doughboy63]

Prizes are cash. According to the city, gambling (wagering an item of value) is immoral, unless it's on the State Lottery.

After checking the newswire, in 2012 Chattanooga police arrested 41 people for $20 poker tournament. An arrest in 2017 charged someone for possession of gambling devices (cards and chips) .

I love the weather and my subsection of the population, but the hypocritical bible-belt can suck-it otherwise.

Probably can only buy beer at certain hours too, I assume?

 

[Taghkanic]

Re: Illegality: I have rarely played in a home game which did not include at least one State trooper, County sheriff or judge. This is pretty good insurance against problems of all sorts. One game I frequent even includes a district attorney.

Maybe New York State is different, but my general sense is that there is very little risk for well-run, discreet home games, as long as there is no rake. In the rare instances I’ve read about busts, these were (a) mainly in big cities, (b) the players were not charged, (c) the games were getting huge, and (c) the hosts were taking a sizeable profit from rake or other fees. My sense is that the authorities are more worried about crime associated with games that get big—which creates the risk of robberies or worse—than the games themselves.

There’s even one poker club I know of (have never gone, as it is a 2+ hour drive away) which is incorporated at the State level as a membership organization, openly as a place to play poker. I saw their incorporation papers once, and was amazed that it was approved, but the club is still active as far as I know after more than 10 years.