Hosting Texas Holdem poker game... Cash or Tournament? ?

The two basic differences of cash v tournament is that

(1) In a tournament players who lose their chips are eliminated and so sit around with nothing to do - whereas in cash games everyone can play as long as they like/can afford

(2) In a tournament the players pay a fixed amount for chips and that is the maximum they can lose. In a cash game some players can lose a considerable amount

Home games do not normally have a dealer - each players deals a hand in turn.

A rake is money taken from each pot as a profit for the house so you would not normally have a rake in a home game. If necessary just make a small charge per head to cover food etc.

If you want to make a profit then run a cash game. Deal the cards yourself and take a small amount out of each pot (the rake). However most players will expect a proficient dealer if they are paying you - and dealing holdem poker is not as easy as it looks. You have to be in control at all times and prevent things going wrong. Everyone always blames the dealer anyway and it is even worse when it is really the dealers fault.

If you decide on a cash game then charge a small entry fee per player. Have rapidly increasing blinds so that the tournaments don't take long and you can run several in an evening.

The first time you try to take a rake at a home poker game will be the last time you host a poker game. In fact, the game may stop before it gets started when someone in the game says,"Hey guys, we can go to may house and I won't rape you like this guy!"

Anyway, you can do either a tournament of cash game as long as you set it up properly. Here are some tips:

Cash game:

- Make sure you cap the buy in for a no limit game. If you don't, there could be problems. Say you've got 8 people coming. 7 of them bring $40, and the 8th guy brings $400. If you're playing no limit, then the douchebag who brought $400 can raise it to $40 every hand and nobody will want to play.

- In general, limit is a better game to play for the same reason as above. You can set a limit that's appropriate for kind of money your friends want to play for (i.e. a .25/.50 game, or a $2/$4 or whatever).

- This is a better much format if you've only got 4 or 5 people.

Tournament

- A little better format if you want to play no limit. Nobody ends up losing more than they expected. Plus, if your friends want to play like the people on TV (no offense, but you don't seem very poker savvy) , they will want to play tournament poker.

- People won't get too bored if the blinds go fast. If you've got, say, 6-8 people (one table's worth) then just start everybody relatively short stacked and double up the blinds every time someone busts out.If you've got more people (or just don't like that idea) get a kitchen timer and increase the blinds every 10 minutes or so.

- Plan on running a bunch of short tournaments instead of one long one. This will keep people watching and interested (since they're waiting for one tournament to end and the next to start).

- Consider adding bounties. For example, say the tournament buy in is $5. Have everyone put in an extra dollar, and every time they knock someone out, the dollar from the person they busted out. This way more people get something back, and it will encourage more players to call all ins (and thus make it go faster).

First off I don't know of anywhere in the US where you can legally make a profit from a home game (like rake, or buy in fee). So I'd love to know where you think this is legal so I can move there!

But ignoring that, the best idea for most home games is to play a ring game. If you play a tournament with no rebuys, people who get knocked out early get bored, and want to leave.

Obviously for a cash game you have to set limits that all your friends would be comfortable with.

So for example you could play a 25c/50c no limit game, with a buy in of $20. Players can cash out any time, but are not allowed back into the game if they do cash out (this prevents someone winning a big pot and then taking the money off the table, with a view to buying right back in for less). Players can re-buy any time they have less than say $10 (or half the buy in) on the table.

You could rake the game by taking say $1 from any pot over $20. Over the course of the night you should make a reasonable sum.

If you have poorer friends, go with $10 buy in and 10c / 20c blinds. If you have richer friends go with $50 buy in and 50c / $1.

I always liked the idea of tournament poker, and prefer to play that when I do play. But on a practical level if it is just a group of friends, you have to start worrying about blind structures that make sense, timing the blind levels, friends getting bored once they are out etc.

As for the dealer, you can simply rotate the deal instead of using a dealer button. Or you can have someone offer to deal, which as host would probably be your job, especially if you are charging a rake.

I find it hard to believe that at a 5/10 table, not one single person, especially you, noticed this error. Generally, in my experience anyway, at a live table, the rest of the players are paying some attention to the hands they are not in, especially hands with as much action as you have described. There had to be at least 3 or 4 sets of eyes on this hand and I am amazed that not one person recognized that the other guy was drawing dead on the river. So, A) I find the story a bit far fetched and, B) you should have gone back to speak with the pit boss at the very least. I am not sure of the protocol in a situation like this but the pit boss would have done something to rectify the error. Contrary to what others have said, the cards do the talking in a live game, not the player. Your failure to recognize the hand doesn't mean you lost the pot. If the hand was determined by what the player thought he/she had, I would just yell "Quads!!" everytime I flipped my cards.

Start the evening with a quick tournament because some people are always late. This works well with just a few players. Next have a cash game.

For friendly games, a rake is generally a no-go. The closest thing that players usually have no problem with is if the host orders pizza and a keg and then antes are put aside to reimburse their cost until the amount is reached. In that way, you're basically having the winners foot the refreshment bill.

2-4 tournaments...5 tables.........2 scheduled mini-tourneys right after the other...$10.00 each....table 5 is for the early losers....$5.00 amongst themselves.....lots of action.....nobody sits around too long and the maximum loss is thirty dollars....32 people ''the odds'' are everybody is likely to at least break even because even the best players are exposed to fluctuation of probably.....by the way; no authority cares about you punka-ss penny ante game but if you take a cut it makes it illegal........

depends on how many people playing. i suggest tournaments. miles better for every1. eg- if 10 people playing at £20 each (if u in uk) thats £200 in pot. u can say £25 each (10x fiver is 50 to keep) so 200 in prize pot-

1st prize at 100

2nd at 50

3rd and 4th at 25 which is money back.

you can change these figures depending on no of players and entry fees. the first prize must be attractive sum so that people will be tempted to play. at these figures you can say for the first hour u can rebuy in if u get kicked out for another 10 or 20 quid. which will raise the prize pot up.

*IN FACT CAN U STATE WHICH COUNTRY U R IN AND HOW MANY PLAYERS