Road to the perfect Home Game (2 Viewers)

UncleDrew2

High Hand
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Hi folks!

You finally did it! You turned a dice chip loving, amateur cash game hosting casual into a paulson loving, all-customizing lunatic (I like to call it visionary)

So here‘s the deal: all I got right now are a huge pile of dice chips and a poker mat. I want to turn this into an all around poker room with some kind of 70s italian high roller mobster flair.

What do you consider essentials which I should get right away (cut cards, dealer button, …), so kind of quick wins to enhance the overall experience.

How far can I take it? Custom cards, chips, table, player cards, … I expect a tidal wave of creativity here (fitting to the room‘s theme.

What are the do‘s and dont‘s? The pitfalls, lessons you learned over the years? What are the inbetween steps (maybe some kind of tabletop pokertable, no idea). Does anyone of you have a similar themed room? So many questions.

I‘m just gonna leave it at that and see where this takes us.

Cheers!

(Attached you find the current „setup“, hope this doesn‘t get me banned ;)
A155FD88-3CCB-4DEF-9C89-8CB1628054E6.jpeg
 
Oh really? That‘s interesting! In my mind I would‘ve played some years without a dedicated poker table until I upgraded
 
I want to turn this into an all around poker room with some kind of 70s italian high roller mobster flair.

What do you consider essentials which I should get right away (cut cards, dealer button, …), so kind of quick wins to enhance the overall experience.
I’m not from this era but I’d say goonies and guns.

But in all seriousness know that whatever you do (most) of your friends / groups will not love your setup nearly as much as you. Unless we are all there, of course ;). But that is ok. Because a well run game is easy to come back to and a steady game with a great setup is sooooo sooooo satisfying to all of us hosts.

Enjoy the ride, bud. Welcome to the rabbit hole.
 
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You can take it as far as your wallet and sanity can take you.

A serious poker room/game starts with a good table. Then followed very closely by chips/chairs/cards in no particular order. But the table is definitely the hook.
 
You can add some fun to the game with Little added twists. My guys favorite is a chip each player gets to use once a game that forces an opponent to show what they had once a hand is over. People love it and there are many more addons like this.
 
You can add some fun to the game with Little added twists. My guys favorite is a chip each player gets to use once a game that forces an opponent to show what they had once a hand is over. People love it and there are many more addons like this.

Nice idea. I may try this for the game I'm hosting Friday. I think it will be a hit.

What other add-ons are up your sleeve?
 
As others have stated, the biggest and best upgrade is a good quality dedicated poker table. I don't think any other component of a poker game can elevate a game as much as a really nice table. Comfortable chairs come in 2nd place. Poker chips are a distant 3rd.

A quick affordable upgrade would be setups of good quality plastic cards. Desjgn, Fournier, Kem, etc. All poker games (even those with dice chips on a kitchen table) should have decent plastic cards.
 
Aside from good chairs and a table (or good table topper if you don’t have the space for a stand alone table), sounds like you’ll be wanting some nice leaded THCs for your throwback theme. Should be easy to find and relatively inexpensive… :ninja:
 
chairs first then a good playing surface. my game is played on the kitchen table. I’d love a table but basements aren’t a thing here and the other half doesn’t share my enthusiasm for converting one of the bedrooms into a poker den :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:

Currently I use a custom topper. Previously I used a folding table top from Amazon.

If you play mainly cash games then “show em” chip mentioned above is great. If you play tourneys then bounty chips are great fun too.

also try different games. Hold em is a food starting point but try the pineapple variants as well as Omaha and before you know it you’ll be playing scarney and scrotum. You might find your players don’t like the idea of new games but once they’ve played them they’ll love them.
 
For me a Good Poker Home Game have the following Set-up

1) Good Quality Plastic Card (These are the cheapest upgrade but are actually the most important accessory of a Poker Game)
2) A Set of Poker Chips with denomination
3) A good Poker Table / Table Top (Depending on your budget and space constrict)
4) Players who know how to shuffle
5) Dealer Button, All-In Button & Cut Cards
6) House Rules

Edited a typo
 
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For me a Good Poker Home Game have the following Set-up

1) Good Quality Plastic Card (These are the cheapest upgrade but are actually the most important accessory of a Poker Game)
2) A Set of Poker Chips with demonization
3) A good Poker Table / Table Top (Depending on your budget and space constrict)
4) Players who know how to shuffle
5) Dealer Button, All-In Button & Cut Cards
6) House Rules
I do believe my chips have possessed me somewhat. I wish they would tell me what my opponents have instead of this nonsense about “go all in, it’s fun and everyone else is doing it” stuff they are always talking about
 
I do believe my chips have possessed me somewhat. I wish they would tell me what my opponents have instead of this nonsense about “go all in, it’s fun and everyone else is doing it” stuff they are always talking about
No wonder I keep having small devil talking to me to bluff all in all the time :wtf:
 
Knowing what I know now ...

Wish I would have upgraded our table years 15 years ago. We have a Chanman, padded rail, custom felt, cupholders in rail. Biggest positive change for sure.

We've done Sunfly / Paulson chips, and that's a big jump to the game.

Now a little torn between Chair upgrade (IE Gasser type) or Shuffletech, leaning chairs; but likely whichever item we find a good deal on first will be the one.

We've had good cards for ages. Our stakes (And skill at shuffling) don't really warrant cut cards. We have strong players, and good rules. Nice side games throughout the night, ie Bomb Pots, Dealer Button, Scrubs to cash out. The music changes and everyone contributes / gets a chance at request, its 90s Rap to Death Metal. Always core snacks provided by us, with drinks available to offer; although most payers bring / contribute their own.
 
The more I think about it the more I start entertaining the idea of a table topper to start with. Does anyone have either a thread ready or some good quality recommendations (preferably shops from europe cause I imagine shipping these things from the USto Germany will really put a dent in my wallet )
 
Nice idea. I may try this for the game I'm hosting Friday. I think it will be a hit.

What other add-ons are up your sleeve?
People play the 7,2 game where if someone wins a hand with 7,2 everyone at the table pays them with the lowest chip so it encourages action and bluffing. The stand up game is everyon stands up and you can only sit down after u win a hand which will also encourage a lit of action. I think the easiest and most fun is bomb pots every 30 minutes or every hour. A bomb pot is where everyone puts in about 5x the normal big blind so build a huge pot then you deal the cards then deal the flop and then the hand starts from there.
 
kind of quick wins to enhance the overall experience
A good table is so far ahead of anything else that it's almost the only answer. And good comfortable chairs are easily number two.
I understand that tables aren't do-able for everybody and they're usually not a quick solution, but I think it's important to frame the discussion that way, because if you really want to enhance the experience for your players, that's the thing they'll notice and appreciate. I'd much rather play with dice chips on a good table than with $10,000 worth of Paulsons on a kitchen table.
All the "quick wins" you're referring to, like cut cards and dealer buttons are things that you'll do for YOU. But in my experience, those things don't enhance the experience at all, for the typical player. I know I'm not giving you the answer you're looking for here, but I can't resist pointing out that we're a big bunch of geeks here with the theming and customization. It is cool, but it has very little to do with poker.
 
People play the 7,2 game where if someone wins a hand with 7,2 everyone at the table pays them with the lowest chip so it encourages action and bluffing. The stand up game is everyon stands up and you can only sit down after u win a hand which will also encourage a lit of action. I think the easiest and most fun is bomb pots every 30 minutes or every hour. A bomb pot is where everyone puts in about 5x the normal big blind so build a huge pot then you deal the cards then deal the flop and then the hand starts from there.

NAILED IT. We play all of these. 2-7 and bomb pots are the best. Stand up game is costly to the loser.
 
Stand game a few hours into the night to loosen the game up and get something fresh.

Bomb pots every 45 minutes.

We also rake $1-$5 a pot and do “splash pots” too. Where after an hour u have $50 and play the hand face up and someone wins. Or maybe you guys w the horse race game do horse race and they win the splash pot.
 
A table isn't an option for me. I actually have an awesome chanaman in storage, but I'm in a small space and I don't want it to look like a poker room. Given that, my priorities are good chips, cards, and playing surface. Cut cards and a dealer button too.

Take your time developing your custom theme and get it right the first time. Generic chips, cut cards and dealer buttons will work fine in the interim, and can be sold later when you've settled on your theme (unless you're a collector and want multiple sets of course).

Some other things that have made my game, which designed for poker noobs, successful are free drinks and food. Each game I do a feature snack and drink. I also send out invitations 3 weeks in advance with info on the food, drinks, games, stakes, and expect wins/losses. Finally I follow up the week before to confirm with everyone.
 
I'm running a very successful game and I'd say this is what's the most important to my guys, and it's kinda in order. YMMV:

  1. Players: not quantity, but quality. Good solid guys/gals make the game. I'd rather have 4-5 solid people who can add to the conversation and are fun to be around than 8 bitchy, negative cunts in my house.
  2. Stakes: comfortable stakes that guys can afford/enjoy playing at. @Chris Manzoni said it best in an old YT video. "Stakes should be where it feels pretty good when you win, and not too bad when you lose". that's my mantra
  3. Chairs: Good comfortable chairs will keep butts in the seats and make everyone jump at the chance to play in your game
  4. Table: A nice table without rips and tears.
  5. Overall atmosphere: the room, the decor, the lighting and overall feeling. Nice artwork or other things to make it feel like a good place to be.
  6. Cards: guys care more about cards than you'd think. Ability to identify suits from a distance, slipperiness etc.
  7. Chips: non chip guys couldn't give less of a shit about the chips. As long as they're an upgrade from dice, you'll be a hero. Custom ceramics would have your game above 99.99% of games out there. If most of us were smart (we're not), we'd stop there.
  8. Food/Drinks/Snacks. I provide dinner for my guests, and half still eat prior, and I'm a good cook. I also provide drinks and 9/10 bring their own. So this is a non-issue in my game.
Enjoy, it's a fun process, and doesn't have to be expensive, well, not RIDICULOUSLY expensive: But this is how I'd go for a new game on a budget:
BRPro ceramics: $1000
Chairs x8 $1000-1500
BBO table: $1000-3000

$3-$6K and you're rocking. I mean, I don't want to tally up what I spent... but you can do it well for much less than I did.


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