Custom buttons for home games? (1 Viewer)

[Kam]

Hey everyone!

I’m still very much in the early stages of planning/building up to host primarily small friendly stakes cash games (likely 0.25/0.25 or 0.25/0.5), with likely some tournies mixed in.

I’ve seen some pretty interesting custom buttons on some threads that I’ve not seen before in play myself. I would eventually like to have a matching custom theme/ labels etc and would like the buttons to match. I’ve only ever played home games with a Dealer button and that’s it.

I’d like to ask for your thoughts & input of any custom buttons /plaques etc you think would be a good fit and/or fun once the game is ready for it. There’s a few common ones below I’ve seen in the custom set threads but not sure how or if I should even bother to include in mine:

1. All In buttons - seen these on some live streams - are these required / recommended for home games or just overkill for small stakes?
2. Bomb Pot - probably the most common one I’ve seen in the forum, always fun - likely will get this
3. Show ‘em - I’m not sure how these play, do players buy them however what if the player that receives it doesn’t want to show after winning a hand before showdown? Is it a house rule to show if someone throws this in?
4. Rabbit Hunt - I’m assuming this helps limit the requests to see and keeps pace up if hands end on flop/turn - how do you use these?
5. Time bank - I don’t think I’d ever get these, seen on livestreams at high stakes - I think this would be completely OTT for small home game - interested if folk have different opinion though - maybe only if you have repeat offending tankers…
6. Bounty chips - Concept seems simple enough, not used myself in home games though. Do you use only in Tournaments or cash as well?

Any other buttons you’ve seen/liked you would recommend?

Cheers - Kam

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

1. I see allin buttons as mostly pointless at home games, its to alert assholes with headphones in that the bet is allin.
2. Ive got one thats a crackup, use it several times a night. Put it on top of the dealer button in a cash game to signify its getting wild.
3/4. Your choice, we dont have any. Some people swear by em but just too much for us.
5. Weird. Cause no ones running a clock at low stakes home games. Maybe in a tourney? Even still. My players would want the opposite: a token/plaque/beet they play when they want the other person to decide within 10 seconds lol.
6. I love bounty chips! Used in tournaments to good effect! I like these, just a little something extra to signify how many people youve knocked out.

 

[Kam]

1. I see allin buttons as mostly pointless at home games, its to alert assholes with headphones in that the bet is allin.
2. Ive got one thats a crackup, use it several times a night. Put it on top of the dealer button in a cash game to signify its getting wild.
3/4. Your choice, we dont have any. Some people swear by em but just too much for us.
5. Weird. Cause no ones running a clock at low stakes home games. Maybe in a tourney? Even still. My players would want the opposite: a token/plaque/beet they play when they want the other person to decide withon 10 seconds lol.
6. I love bountie chips!!! Used in tournaments to good effect! I like these, just a little something extra to signify how many people youve knocked out.

Appreciate the feedback - agree with your thoughts. Do folk ever use bounties in cash games, or is it only tournaments?

May consider the show ‘em / rabbit hunt if I can find a way to incorporate them. Read on someone’s post I think they sell these and the money goes to a high hand or bad beat jackpot type of thing.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Appreciate the feedback - agree with your thoughts. Do folk ever use bounties in cash games, or is it only tournaments?

May consider the show ‘em / rabbit hunt if I can find a way to incorporate them. Read on someone’s post I think they sell these and the money goes to a high hand or bad beat jackpot type of thing.

Never seen a bounty in a cash game, you could I guess. But many times people will be reloading and adding money onto their stack without getting fully felted.

Sure, whatever works. I went nuts and bought lots of silly buttons and things but no one really cared. Bounties will stay, AllIns sometimes, but everything else seems extraneous for us.

 

[Gunnar]

First of all Dealer buttons are a must, some people use Big Blind and Small Blinds buttons but I think that is overkill. Keep in mind that players have limited patience for multiple misc chips, we might love having a chip for everything but players quickly lose track.

All-in - This is a fun thing to have in tournaments and also in CG if stacks are really big, but I mostly like to use them with dealers and I would never want to have each player with on just need 2-3 on the table to mark the pot when there is an All-in.
Bomb-pot - I love this button in cash games, every player gets one (I have it that you can win and extra one if you win on 72)
Rabbit/Show - For me this is not cool, I would get pissed if I needed to show and give crucial info when I won by a good bet. Rabbit hunting is really a problem that should be addressed with common sense
Time bank - This is just needed if you are running a shot clock
Bounty Chips - YES, used for tournaments and special occasions in CG, I like my bounties to be multiple of seats so that one player can have multiple bounty chips

Other things to keep in mind.
Seating chips - Great for drawing seats and might use on a bounty chip on other side
Addon/money behind - Player buys an Add-on at the same time as the buy-in to minimize change made
Beer chip - Many hosts give drinks or beer but other charge a minimal fee, this is a chip to redeem for such event
Nit button - To play the nit game (last one to win a pot pays a fee to all players)


Im sure there are some more this is just from the top of my head.

For the set Im designing

Tournament
Bounty
2-3 All-in per table
Add-on chip

Cashgame
Bomb-Pot
Seating Chips
Beer Chip

 

[Colquhoun]

Bounty not needed in a cash game. The winner of a hand that knocks someone out is already being paid. In a tournament, it’s a fun way for anyone to make a little extra along the way, even if they don’t finish in the money.

I’m in the midst of designing a bounty chip that has numbers 1 through 10 on the other side, as seating chips.

 

[DontKnowWhen]

So I have sets of all these as well because hey they’re cool…..

but in actuality:
1. We do not use these. Ironically had one situation A couple months ago where player went all in and was heard by the table but not the player facing action. He steamed when he had to call as he was covered. brought the buttons to the next game but no interest.
2. we don’t play bomb pots. But they seem fun here on the forum.
3. we do use these. Everybody gets 1 (Or however many) for the night. Like it or not you have to show if it’s thrown in instead of a call
A. Once surrendered you lose it for the evening
Or
B. It goes into the pot and to the winner of the hand.
4. We don’t really use them. We pretty much just allow rabbit hunting on demand. Sigh.
5. We don’t use a time clock in our home games. More of a friendly social vibe.
6. these are nice for a tourney to help distribute some of the prize pool. we don’t use for cash games.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

2. we don’t play bomb pots. But they seem fun here on the forum.

 

[TheYeti]

To curb rabbit hunting, and to also juice our high hand jackpot, I instituted a rule that in order to rabbit hunt you must table your hole cards and pay 2xBB to the hh jackpot. Has worked out well.

 

[4SUMERZ]

Been doing cash home games for over a decade. Use a dealer button, cut cards and time bank cards, which give an extra 30 seconds to act.
Only play 4.5 hour sessions at a time. We use 4 decks, and change the deck approx every hour. Each player gets 2 time bank cards.
I have an 8 seat table, and have a solid 8 regulars each session, but also have a spare list of 3-4 if one of the regulars can't play.
The players pick their seat (usually their favourite position at the table) , closest to the bar fridge or snack table etc. or whoever shows first gets to sit where he wants.
At the start of the game, high card starts the deal, so seating position really doesn't matter. We self deal, so everyone gets to be the time card dictator.
The dealer decides if someone is taking too long to act, then asks for a time card, or the player has to act immediately.
We used to have a few slowwwwwww players, and the time cards has fixed that issue. Once you run out of the time bank cards, you better act withing 10-20 seconds or the dealer will request you to act or fold the hand.

 

[Machine]