Building your own Home Game
I’ve been running my own home game now for a number of years. It started shortly after I got the poker bug and was not comfortable with going out to those ‘seedy’ underground local clubs (I now know them to be very well organized and efficient) and the closest casino was hours away. I figured the best way to get to know the game was to host at my home and invite players to come over. At first, it was only every couple of months or so, but after a short time, I created a weekly poker league, where members had a place to go every week and play tournament hold’em for fun and cash.
I’ve successfully have been running this league now for about five years, and the people that play are all great. All different styles of play, all different agendas to win or have fun or both, and all show up regularly along with the odd newbie who checks us out once in awhile. Its a great environment with like minded players where we can try new techniques on each other, discuss poker, and play. Everyone of us takes it seriously enough to want to win regularly, but we all have fun playing together doing it, and thats what has made it a success.
Over the next few blog entries, I’m going to go through the steps in hosting your own regular game, be it cash or tournament style, and I’ll supply some links for you as well to some sites that can help you get things rolling in the most effective way possible. I’m sure most of you have already been to someone’s home and enjoyed their hospitality and thanked them for hosting a game, but were maybe just a wee bit hesitant on hosting yourself for whatever reason. Well, I plan on giving you the basics on what you need to make it success.
There are a few things you will need though, and/or need to consider:
- The necessary equipment.
- Structure of the game
- Rules of play, both of the game played itself as well as House Rules
- Schedule of games
- Players interested in coming out regularly
Don’t think of the list as being a massive undertaking, because it isn’t really. Odds are you have most of the items required already, and if not, they can be either bought cheaply enough, made quickly enough, begged for, borrowed, or stolen fast enough to get your game running in time.
Over the next few entries, I’ll tackle one of the above issues in greater detail, and try to supply you with all the necessary information you need to get your game into full swing.
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