PokerGTA

Thinking of starting your own home poker tournament. Take some time to set it up and your players will want to come back every time. I have listed below some of the things you should consider.

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Organize Your Home Poker Tournament

Your home game can be run many different ways. I have set out some features that you may want in your game. Be sure to custom your game to your players likings. There are so many things you can do. After each tournament take note of what people liked and dis-liked. You will be able to improve your game with the help your players.

Some of the things you may want to include in your home tourney are:

• tournament invite email to potential players
• poker rules
• explanation of how the game of no-limit texas holdem is played (for your beginner players)
• print out of hand rankings and chip denominations
• tournament structure
• buy-in, rebuy and add-on information
• payout structure
• tournament blind timer
• photo of the winning tournament hand and players
• your personal tournament blog or poker page

Home Tournament Supplies you may need:

• pen, paper and calculator
• laptop (with downloaded poker tournament blind timer)
• poker table and chairs
• poker chips
• snacks and drinks (unless of course you get everyone to bring their own)

Tournament Invite Email

Poker Hand Rankings

Some of your players may be new to poker. You want to make them feel at ease by having a hand ranking printout that they can reference during the game. That way they don’t have to feel like a beginner always asking what beats what. There is a good printable page on hand rankings here.

For your reference:

Royal Flush
Straight Flush
Four of a Kind
Full House
Flush
Straight
Three of a Kind
2 Pair
1 Pair
High Card

Poker Chip Denominations

Generally 3 colors of chips are sufficient. But don’t worry - that 500 chip set you just bought has 4 or 5 colors. That is good, because you may need to color up during the tournament. Meaning you will collect all of one color and add a new color with a larger denomination.

1 table tourney with 3 colors

20 white @ 25 each = 500
10 red @ 100 each = 1000
2 green @ 500 each = 1000

total 2500

Home Tournament Structure

Every tournament should follow a structure. Usually the blinds increase at a predetermined time interval. Below is an example of a tournament structure for your home game.

You can also click here for a printable copy of a home poker tournament structure.

Levels / Blinds / Re-buy Allowed

1 / 25-50 / yes
2 / 50-100 / yes

5 minute Break

3 / 100-200 / no
4 / 200-400 / no
5 / 400-800 / no

5 Minute Break

6 / 500-1000 / no
7 / 1000-2000 / no
8 / 2000-4000 / no

Levels are generally 15 or 20 minutes depending on how fast you want tourney over. A faster tournament allows for a second game. If you want it fast set the initial levels at 15 minutes and later shorten them to 10 minutes. You should be at 10 minute levels when you are down to 2 players.

Buy-in / Rebuy Amounts for Tournament

Imagine you are having your first home poker tournament. Ten friends sit down at the table and the night begins. Things are going well.

The first hand is dealt. Johnny has AA and moves all-in. He gets called by Chuck who has 10-J suited. Of course Chuck catches his flush and Johnny is out.

What is Johnny going to do for the rest of the night? Probably go home.

Well, a simple answer to keeping your players around is a rebuy. A rebuy allows the players more poker playing, it sweetens the prize pool and it keeps Johnny in the game longer. The buy-in should be time limited otherwise your game may never end. I suggest the end of the 2nd or 3rd level.

Suggested Rebuy:

Rebuy = 1/2 of buy-in
Player receives somewhere between 1/2 and 2/3 of initial buy-in chip amount.

e.g. buy-in = $20, player receives 2500 in chips
Rebuy is for 1500 in chips.

Tournament Pay Out Structure

If you have played any single or 2 table sit n goes online you will have seen several different pay out percentages. There are different structures depending on the number of tables.

Below you will find payouts for 1, 2 and 3 table tournaments. You can modify these amounts to your liking.

Single Table Payouts

1st 50%
2nd 30%
3rd 20%

2 Table payouts

1st 45%
2nd 25%
3rd 15%
4th 10%
5th 5%

The key concept here is that the more tables and players you have the more players should make the money. Also the more players that can be paid out will keep your home game more competitive. There will be more of an incentive for everyone to play better. Besides isn’t the payout what they are playing for? Besides the social aspect poker in general is judged by winnings. Keep your players happy and give them lots of opportunity to win.

Poker Rules for Your Home Game

You will definitely need a copy of the complete rules of poker to have on hand, but just a few basic rules will be good enough to start out. Check out the ones below.

Printable copy of Robert’s Rules of Poker click here.

Home Poker Tournament Rules

All pertinent information should be posted in plain view of the tables, in a location where all players can see it. This includes buy-in, rebuy, and add-on amounts, as well as blind schedules.
Seating is done using cards. Person who draws the ace is the dealer, 2 is the small blind, 3 is the big blind, et cetera.

In a rebuy tournament, players may only rebuy if they have lost all chips prior to the first hand of the fourth blind level.

A new blind level starts when the timer runs out.

If a player leaves the table for any reason, he is responsible to post all blinds. If he has not returned after a 20 minute period has passed, his chips will be split amongst the players at the table.

Players need to be moved if there are more than 2 extra players at one table. When moving the players, move the person whose position is most relative to the blind at the new table.
If the big blind busts out of the tournament, the puck will move to the small blind, and no small blind will be posted. If the small blind busts out, the puck stays where it is, and the previous big blind posts the small blind.

The last person remaining in the tournament is declared the winner.

All money paid to enter the tournament legally needs to be paid out in winnings.

For a condensed free copy of “Robert’s Rules of Poker” for home games click here.

Poker Tournament Blind Timer

Probably one of the best things you can bring to your home poker tournament is a tournament blind timer. These timers make your game feel like the real deal.

You can display them to the players during the game so everyone can keep track of the blind levels, time remaining in level, players left, total prize pool and many more details.

I have looked high and low on the net for a good blind timer. I found one timer that gives you everything you would need for the tournament. The best thing about this poker timer is that it is absolutely free. It runs on a laptop and does not require an internet connection.

Simply sign up with your name and email address and we will send you information on how to get your FREE home poker tournament blind timer (like the WSOP timers at the main event). This poker clock or blind timer has all the features you will need to run your home game successfully.

Just remember to check you email after submitting your details as it needs to confirm your address before sending you the free timer.

We have searched the internet and feel this is one of the best home poker timers! ….and it’s absolutely FREE!! Gotta like that!

Remember to check your email for the confirmation link! I have set this up to automatically email you the free poker timer information. You will receive the email right away.

Extra Features of your Home Tournament

If you really want to put a nice touch on your home tourney, you could add somethings that others may not be expecting.

A photo taken of the winning hands, including the 2 players. With a program like paint that is included in most windows operating systems, you can easily add a title and date. Email the photo the the 1st place and 2nd place players.

Start you own tournament page where members can view all the details about your upcoming and past tournaments. There are lots of free sites that offer you your own page. You can add photos and player lists to your pages for a more professional touch.

Tournament Invite Email

Information on a Poker tournament invite email