Recently there have been a few posts about hosting a home game. I thought it would be a nice idea to share how I host at Hitmen Poker.
First - I'm not a professional host, nor do I play one on television.
Second - These are my own thoughts and ideas, and do not represent the one and only way to host.
Cost to host a tournament:
Well not to point out the obvious, you need to spend some money on chips, cards, and a playing surface.
Table:
If you are starting from scratch, I would highly recommend a table topper. I've seen these run from $35 to $99. They are both inexpensive and well worth the cost. You can roll these up and store them fairly easy.
If you want to have a table that you would like to be a permanent fixture they will range in price from $199 to unlimited. @T_Chan (ChanmanPokerTables) makes an extremely nice and totally customizable table. Expect to pay between $800 and $4,000. In my own opinion, well worth the price. The workmanship is out of this world and I promise you will not be disappointed.
You will also need 8 to 10 chairs. Try to make these as comfortable as you can. Remember you and your players may be sitting on these for up to 6 to 8 hours. I really lucked out and got Gasser-like chairs from a hotel that wanted to rid themselves of 200 of them. These were used in their conference rooms. My understanding is Costco and Amazon sell fold-able cushioned chairs for cheap.
You should have 2 decks of cards. Plastic is preferred over paper / cardboard. The reason for this, is in poker, people bend the cards a lot. Paper tends to hold it's shape. Plastic will not hold its shape and therefore last a lot longer. You should expect to pay anywhere from $15 to $25 for a nice setup. Popular brands are KEM, Copag, & Modiano. There are others out there are worth looking into. Make sure you have cut cards for the bottom of each deck while dealing. There are 2 popular sizes for decks, Poker and Bridge. Poker size (2.5 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall), and probably best for Hold'em. Bridge sized (2.25 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall), and best for Omaha, SOHE, or any other game that requires you to have more than 2 hole or other cards.
Poker chips:
Starting out, I'm certain that nearly all of us have used dice chips. You can buy these from Costco, Walmart, or any place that has games. While these will do the job, I would recommend spending a few more dollars and looking into China Clays. These chips have a multitude of designs, and have a better feeling and sound to them than the dice chips. The more you host, and the more you read this fantastic site, you will want higher end clay chips. I am NOT an exbert, but I would rank the chips in this order from worst to best; Dice and the like 6¢/per, China Clay (Nexgen, Claysmith) 10¢-30¢/per, Ceramic 32¢-95¢/per, Clay(Paulson, ASM, CPC) $1.20 - ?? /per. You also have an option of buying chips and relabeling them. @Gear does fantastic work.
Keep in mind you will need about 500 chips to host a 10 person tournament. Popular values are; $25, $100, $500, $1000 and $5000. To make life simple, I'll use a T-10,000 example for a tournament stack.
$25 x 12 (x10 players) = 120 + ~30 more for color ups, rebuys, spares, whatever.
$100 x 12 (x10 players) = 120 + ~30 more for color ups, rebuys, spares, whatever.
$500 x 3 (x10 players) = 30 +~20 more for color ups, rebuys, spares, and to make a nice round number.
$1000 x 7 (x10 players) = 70 + ~30 more for color ups, rebuys, spares, and to make a nice round number.
$5000 = 20 for color ups, and rebuys.
Total chips = 470.
This is not the be-all-end-all starting chip stack, but rather a starters guide.
Clock or Time keeping:
I use TD or The Tournament Director. It is super customizable and does everything I need. It works right out of the box, and the only thing you need to do is add players. The creator of TD, Corey, is super helpful. The message boards are really active, and Corey responds to questions within a day or so, more often than not, sooner. Other people are fine with iPhone or Android apps, and those work too. There are plenty of options out there, pick one. Blind levels are another thing to think about. If you are stuck, @BGinGA is the resident expert to ask. I have on several occasions, and he has been super helpful.
Rules:
There are many sites on the web that have the basic rules of poker. I would highly recommend downloading and printing out a set.
Food:
I have a hot dog warmer, kind of like the ones you see at a 7-11 or convenience store. I buy 2 packs of hot dogs and buns. I also have a veggie tray, meat and cheese tray, potato chips, and sometimes will make a soup or stew. Just remember to keep it simple, and keep it clean. By this I mean you don't want your guests to be slopping food all over the chips, cards, and table. I actually forbid eating at my ChanmanTable. Contain the grease. I think that is the most important rule. Lots of people out there also just buy a few loaves of bread and some sandwich meat. Easy peasy. Expect to pay about $80 - $100. It seems a little high, but when you add in all the varieties of food you put out there, it really adds up. Cheese is expensive, keep that in mind. I also try my best to supply chocolate bars and candy.
Drink:
I buy a minimum of 4 flavors of sodas. Coke/Pepsi, Coke Zero, Sprite/7-up, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew are all ones I stock. I fill my poker fridge up, and players grab them when they want. I also have a water cooler and plenty of water bottles. Sometimes, players will bring their own beer, and at the end of the night they will leave it for me. In this case, I just turn around and offer it at the next game. No one has had a problem with that in the past and I think it works well. I have a real problem with drinking and driving so I rarely offer my own alcohol. I've lost too many friends, and almost lost my sister to a drunk driver. Just be very careful in offering booze. In some places, YOU are responsible for your guests drinking in your home. In British Columbia, a bar or pub owner can be sued for over serving. Ask me how I know? Go on....I have an acquaintance that lost his pub because of over serving and being sued.
First - I'm not a professional host, nor do I play one on television.
Second - These are my own thoughts and ideas, and do not represent the one and only way to host.
Cost to host a tournament:
Well not to point out the obvious, you need to spend some money on chips, cards, and a playing surface.
Table:
If you are starting from scratch, I would highly recommend a table topper. I've seen these run from $35 to $99. They are both inexpensive and well worth the cost. You can roll these up and store them fairly easy.
If you want to have a table that you would like to be a permanent fixture they will range in price from $199 to unlimited. @T_Chan (ChanmanPokerTables) makes an extremely nice and totally customizable table. Expect to pay between $800 and $4,000. In my own opinion, well worth the price. The workmanship is out of this world and I promise you will not be disappointed.
You will also need 8 to 10 chairs. Try to make these as comfortable as you can. Remember you and your players may be sitting on these for up to 6 to 8 hours. I really lucked out and got Gasser-like chairs from a hotel that wanted to rid themselves of 200 of them. These were used in their conference rooms. My understanding is Costco and Amazon sell fold-able cushioned chairs for cheap.
$99 - $4,000
Cards:You should have 2 decks of cards. Plastic is preferred over paper / cardboard. The reason for this, is in poker, people bend the cards a lot. Paper tends to hold it's shape. Plastic will not hold its shape and therefore last a lot longer. You should expect to pay anywhere from $15 to $25 for a nice setup. Popular brands are KEM, Copag, & Modiano. There are others out there are worth looking into. Make sure you have cut cards for the bottom of each deck while dealing. There are 2 popular sizes for decks, Poker and Bridge. Poker size (2.5 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall), and probably best for Hold'em. Bridge sized (2.25 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall), and best for Omaha, SOHE, or any other game that requires you to have more than 2 hole or other cards.
$25
Poker chips:
Starting out, I'm certain that nearly all of us have used dice chips. You can buy these from Costco, Walmart, or any place that has games. While these will do the job, I would recommend spending a few more dollars and looking into China Clays. These chips have a multitude of designs, and have a better feeling and sound to them than the dice chips. The more you host, and the more you read this fantastic site, you will want higher end clay chips. I am NOT an exbert, but I would rank the chips in this order from worst to best; Dice and the like 6¢/per, China Clay (Nexgen, Claysmith) 10¢-30¢/per, Ceramic 32¢-95¢/per, Clay(Paulson, ASM, CPC) $1.20 - ?? /per. You also have an option of buying chips and relabeling them. @Gear does fantastic work.
Keep in mind you will need about 500 chips to host a 10 person tournament. Popular values are; $25, $100, $500, $1000 and $5000. To make life simple, I'll use a T-10,000 example for a tournament stack.
$25 x 12 (x10 players) = 120 + ~30 more for color ups, rebuys, spares, whatever.
$100 x 12 (x10 players) = 120 + ~30 more for color ups, rebuys, spares, whatever.
$500 x 3 (x10 players) = 30 +~20 more for color ups, rebuys, spares, and to make a nice round number.
$1000 x 7 (x10 players) = 70 + ~30 more for color ups, rebuys, spares, and to make a nice round number.
$5000 = 20 for color ups, and rebuys.
Total chips = 470.
$150 - ???
This is not the be-all-end-all starting chip stack, but rather a starters guide.
Clock or Time keeping:
I use TD or The Tournament Director. It is super customizable and does everything I need. It works right out of the box, and the only thing you need to do is add players. The creator of TD, Corey, is super helpful. The message boards are really active, and Corey responds to questions within a day or so, more often than not, sooner. Other people are fine with iPhone or Android apps, and those work too. There are plenty of options out there, pick one. Blind levels are another thing to think about. If you are stuck, @BGinGA is the resident expert to ask. I have on several occasions, and he has been super helpful.
$39.99 for TD
Rules:
There are many sites on the web that have the basic rules of poker. I would highly recommend downloading and printing out a set.
Food:
I have a hot dog warmer, kind of like the ones you see at a 7-11 or convenience store. I buy 2 packs of hot dogs and buns. I also have a veggie tray, meat and cheese tray, potato chips, and sometimes will make a soup or stew. Just remember to keep it simple, and keep it clean. By this I mean you don't want your guests to be slopping food all over the chips, cards, and table. I actually forbid eating at my ChanmanTable. Contain the grease. I think that is the most important rule. Lots of people out there also just buy a few loaves of bread and some sandwich meat. Easy peasy. Expect to pay about $80 - $100. It seems a little high, but when you add in all the varieties of food you put out there, it really adds up. Cheese is expensive, keep that in mind. I also try my best to supply chocolate bars and candy.
$40 - $80
Drink:
I buy a minimum of 4 flavors of sodas. Coke/Pepsi, Coke Zero, Sprite/7-up, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew are all ones I stock. I fill my poker fridge up, and players grab them when they want. I also have a water cooler and plenty of water bottles. Sometimes, players will bring their own beer, and at the end of the night they will leave it for me. In this case, I just turn around and offer it at the next game. No one has had a problem with that in the past and I think it works well. I have a real problem with drinking and driving so I rarely offer my own alcohol. I've lost too many friends, and almost lost my sister to a drunk driver. Just be very careful in offering booze. In some places, YOU are responsible for your guests drinking in your home. In British Columbia, a bar or pub owner can be sued for over serving. Ask me how I know? Go on....I have an acquaintance that lost his pub because of over serving and being sued.
$20 - $30
Well there it is. I hope this is helpful to those that have read this far. If you want to go into more detail and get super fancy with your set up (such as card readers, receipts, etc) feel free to drop me a PM. I'm no pro, but this has worked out well for me, and I believe my players have a good time.
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