Tourney HELP Me Host a Successful Poker Night! (1 Viewer)

TFick

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I am hosting some guys and prepping for a regular casual poker night. What do you think the best rules are for the night? Starting Chip break down?

Current Set Up:
8-10 guys
$20-$30 buy in
Currently have this breakdown.
$0.50 - 125
$1.00 - 150
$5.00 - 100
$25.00 - 25

How would you structure blinds?
Payouts?
Any other rules/advise for a successful night?
 

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i run a game with the same amount of people and same buy in and we have found success doing 8/8/4/7
but we have 25-100-500-1000-5000 chips which i would recommend getting because you could use more chips anyway imo. mixing cash set chips and tournament chips is usually a bad idea and you can get cheap chip sets online or really nice ones if you want to spend the money. 8/8/4/7 gives you 10k so makes rebuys easy. blinds we do
25/50
50/100
75/150
100/200
150/300
200/400 ect... usually ends at 2000/4000
and you can choose how long in-between each level which will determine how long your game lasts
also only pay out top 2... 70/30 id suggest. trying to pay out 3 like we first tried was pointless. id say last thing get some nice cards as well id recommend faded spade cards. they are sweet
 
What's the secondary entertainment or plan? i.e. someone busts, can they rebuy for the first 90 minutes? Are you playing one or two in a night. etc. I've gotten to where I hate entertaining with tournaments because someone ends up being distracted, i.e. poker isn't their thing, but they want to hang, etc. I now prefer cash, so I'd consider justing call the 0.50 quarters and have a 25/25 game or basically. Then people can rebuy or quit as they like.

It blows busting out, then just spectating a game imo.
 
i run a game with the same amount of people and same buy in and we have found success doing 8/8/4/7
but we have 25-100-500-1000-5000 chips which i would recommend getting because you could use more chips anyway imo. mixing cash set chips and tournament chips is usually a bad idea and you can get cheap chip sets online or really nice ones if you want to spend the money. 8/8/4/7 gives you 10k so makes rebuys easy. blinds we do
25/50
50/100
75/150
100/200
150/300
200/400 ect... usually ends at 2000/4000
and you can choose how long in-between each level which will determine how long your game lasts
also only pay out top 2... 70/30 id suggest. trying to pay out 3 like we first tried was pointless. id say last thing get some nice cards as well id recommend faded spade cards. they are sweet
Thanks!!!

What's the secondary entertainment or plan? i.e. someone busts, can they rebuy for the first 90 minutes? Are you playing one or two in a night. etc. I've gotten to where I hate entertaining with tournaments because someone ends up being distracted, i.e. poker isn't their thing, but they want to hang, etc. I now prefer cash, so I'd consider justing call the 0.50 quarters and have a 25/25 game or basically. Then people can rebuy or quit as they like.

It blows busting out, then just spectating a game imo.
I totally get that...I'm kinda torn...

I was thinking possibly doing a $25 buy in, but doing $50 in chips to make it truly start at .25/.50 but no idea...
 
.50 is gonna be way too big to be your smallest chip for a cash game with only a $20-$30 buy in. You’d want to be playing .10/.20 or at the most .25/.25. Not sure how to pull that off with that breakdown. Maybe play a tournament?
 
Tournament structure for the chips you have: start everyone with 10x.50, 15x1, 10x5, and 1x25 for a $95 starting stack. If less than 10 people you can make it an even $100 by adding another 5. You won’t have enough chips to play with rebuys. A good structure for a 4 to 5 hour game would be 20 minute levels: .50/.50, .50/1, 1/2, 1.50/3, 2/4, 2.50/5. Break at 2 hour mark, color up .50s. 3/6, 4/8, 5/10, 6/12, 8/16, 10/20, color up 1s. 15/30, 20/40, 25/50
 
I’m confused—is this a cash game?

If so, I think you’re a little light on some denoms ($1s and maybe $5s).

The breakdown also seems a little odd for a tourney.
 
Many of us have multiple sets to play basically anything within reason. I actually enjoy these scenarios, as it's a 'make due with what you have. My friends and I still play a 0.25c, $2 max raise game. I've played with $25 chips as quarters, $5 chips as 0.50 and $100 (or $1) as $1. Just make it clear and correct someone if they drink too much :D

For a tournament - starting stacks (or similar)
Pretty much discussed. No rebuys due to limited chips, but simple enough.

For Cash - $25 buy in.
20x $0.5 (played as quarters) $5 6x = 120 in play
15x $1 10x = 150 in play
1 or 2x $5 (to get $25 buy in) 10x = 14 in play

Remaining bank = 100-14 = 86 * 5 = 440/25 = 43 extra buy-ins

Players will have to make change among each other, but it can easily work.
 
8-10 guys
$20-$30 buy in
Currently have this breakdown.
$0.50 - 125
$1.00 - 150
$5.00 - 100
$25.00 - 25
With your bank at $1337.50 and lowest denomination at 50c

I can see one choice for playing cash which is 50/50c stake with $50 buyin, these will cover 2-3 buyin per person for 8-10 people and probably $100 note will need to go in play if you playing long hours as your bank is pretty shallow

So you will need probably a new ChipSet with Better breakdown

Planned for your stake and buyin, if your group are doing $20/30 buyin.
You can consider 25c/25c stake with $25 buyin, the minimum chip breakdown needed are

100 x 25c
200 x $1
200 x $5
40-100 x $25
 
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With your bank at $1337.50 and lowest denomination at 50c

I can see one choice for playing cash which is 50/50c stake with $50 buyin, these will cover 2-3 buyin per person for 8-10 people and probably $100 note will need to go in play if you playing long hours as your bank is pretty shallow

So you will need probably a new ChipSet with Better breakdown

Planned for your stake and buyin, if your group are doing $20/30 buyin.
You can consider 25c/25c stake with $25 buyin, the minimum chip breakdown needed are

100 x 25c
200 x $1
200 x $5
40-100 x $25
I think he'd be fine enough if he had his half dollars be quarters instead. Maybe more change making than usual but I would think some would care as much.
 
If you are set on doing a tournament i would do 2 or 3 a night. Have them last an hour or so each. Do a $25 buyin and start with $25 in chips. Raise blinds every 12 minutes.
.50/1
.50/1.50
1/2
2/4
3/6
4/8
5/10
You don't want people busting and having to wait too long to get another game going. Even chopping top 2 or 3 in the first one.
I would heavily recommend doing cash. It's so much better when you just want to hang out. In home games you tend to get less hands per hour so in an hour tournament you may only get 15 hands. If you want to do a proper tournament...invest in a cheap tournament set, raise the buy in to $40 or $50 and expect it to take 3 hours or so for a 8-10 player. You can taylor the blinds to how long you want the tournament to last. Example, if you want it to last about 4 hours and have 20 min levels, I would set up to have about 50BB on the table in level 10.
 
What set would you recommend to buy? Are the Monte Carlos good?
It depend on your budget, PCFers tend to have a very expensive preferences

Monte Carlos will does its work of being Poker Chips but they are not regard as anything near good in collectibles value
 
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It depend on your budget, PCFers tend to have a very expensive preferences

Monte Carlos will does its work of being Poker Chips but they are not regard as anything near good in collectibles value
True! I am looking for something far better than regular composite white, blue, red and black sets...

Part of me feels like I need to cash out my small Terribles set since it is mint, and get a larger less collectible set of casino grade, or cheaper set.

The other part of me feels I may appreciate them in the long run, find a rack or two of $1s and $5s, and something comparable for .25c chips to mix in.

Also, Was thinking doubling to $40 worth of chips, for the $20 buy in and making the .50 chips theoretically .25 and making blinds...every 15/20 minutes.

.50/.50
.50/1
1/2
1.50/3
Break (Color Up)
2/4
3/6
4/8
Break
5/10
6/12
8/16
Break (Most Likely Over)
10/20

Any rules you guys would recommend?
Buy Back Rules?
Rake/Take for Experience improvement?

Or should I just do $20-$25 cash games and not worry about people busting, buying back? I can't really see one of my guys getting big stack and cashing out...
 
Part of me feels like I need to cash out my small Terribles set since it is mint, and get a larger less collectible set of casino grade, or cheaper set.
Not the worst idea or alternative you still just keep them and invest a small amount into card Mold, they are budget friendly for most people

I owned a few Clay & high end plastic set but still find good value from card Mold set.

Below are the 2 card Mold set that I own
0E739D8C-8347-4749-98E9-874C17FDFFD4.jpeg
0A4716B7-DB81-4786-897C-5CF9E307AB65.jpeg
 
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If its firs time make sure to get some whiskey, beer and pizza...
Make sure everyone follow the same rules, save you a lot of problems...
 
WTH? He's asking how to host a successful poker night, and not ONE person has mentioned getting a hot dog roller yet????

For shame.
 
WTH? He's asking how to host a successful poker night, and not ONE person has mentioned getting a hot dog roller yet????

For shame.
I have read many other threads about this topic and saw the original hot dog roller...

Perhaps I need to get one
 
I have read many other threads about this topic and saw the original hot dog roller...

Perhaps I need to get one
Perhaps? Sure, and PERHAPS you want to host a successful poker night!
 
Play limit cash. Make every chip same value. Get everybody 50 chips and play 1 chip/ 2chip game. 1 chip - .50. Buy in 25. Make cash as your value chip. No big wins and no big loses but everybody will be involved all night and no hard feelings after. Play a lot of different games. I suggest omaha8, razz, 2-7td, badugi.
 
Also, Was thinking doubling to $40 worth of chips, for the $20 buy in and making the .50 chips theoretically .25 and making blinds...every 15/20 minutes.

.50/.50
.50/1
1/2
1.50/3
Break (Color Up)
2/4
3/6
4/8
Break
5/10
6/12
8/16
Break (Most Likely Over)
10/20
Buy Back Rules?
Rake/Take for Experience improvement?

Or should I just do $20-$25 cash games and not worry about people busting, buying back? I can't really see one of my guys getting big stack and cashing out...
Just do a cash game. Do either .50/1 or .50/.50 blinds. Don't discount your buyins due to your chip set. Just play cash on the table plays, but do it with one kind of bill, like 20's (or 100's if you have enough). Use cash as value holders....meaning most of your play is with chips, and the cash holds value for the big stacks.

Buy back rules: Set a max buyin of 100-200 big blinds and just make sure that if cash is going on the table, the players announce it so that the other players know.

Also, don't rake. Just don't go down that road.
 

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