Throwing A Home Game

Essentials to Throwing a Poker Game

Hey!!! Look at you! You just got back from Vegas and got a taste of what a live poker game is like. You may of even actually came home with some winnings! Now that you have shared every piece of it on social media, you want to show your friends, in person, how good of a poker player you really are. Why not throw a poker game at your place? What's that? You don't know what to do? Don't worry, Got 'Em Poker has got you covered!

First off, talk to you friends, co-workers, that gym buddy you have, whoever, and see if anyone plays poker. The reason why this is stated is because you don't want to post a Craiglist ad saying "Poker Game at my House." If you do this you are bound to get robbed or the cops are going to stake out your place. Get people you know who are familiar with whatever kind of game you are wanting to throw. Got the guest list covered? Good, lets keep moving.

Poker Table - Do you need a casino like table to host a game? Absolutely not. There are so many inexpensive table tops and tables that you can get for your home game. 

One affordable table top is a roll out professional poker mat. It doesn't take up much storage space and does no damage to your dinning room table. Laying this over your table will make you and your guest feel like they are in the Bellagio Poker Room. 

If you are wanting to put in the labor in setting up a more realistic poker table, a fold out poker table with cup holders are pretty nice. They usually fit 8 - 10 players, depending on the size. They are easy to assemble and disassemble. You'll need a little extra storage space for it but it is worth the bulk.

Now that you have the table situation covered, need something to gamble with right? Unless you are a high roller and you only play with stacks of $100 bills. Get some chips! Not Doritos or Lays.....Those are later. Get you some poker chips.

There are a massive variety of poker chips out there. Most poker chips are made out of plastic or clay. The plastic chips are very light and are what your Dad's Dad's Dad used in the old days. Most home games play with clay chips that range in weight from 11.5 grams to 14 grams. These have that casino feel to them. You can get custom chips made with your own logo or design but they will usually cost more than the other standard chips. Most of your poker chip packages should come with a case, cards, chips, dealer button, and dice. If you are going to be throwing big games, its recommended that you get a chip package that has 500 to 1000 chips. If you get colored chips with no value on them, it will be your responsibility to inform all of the guest what each chip is valued at.

The next necessity to throwing a home poker game is......

The poker cards! Choosing a deck of cards is somewhat critical and this is why. First, if you buy the generic Bicycle Playing Cards, and use this deck every home game, you stand the chance of inviting cheaters. "None of my friends would come and cheat at my place." I think that too but at the end of the day, I don't even trust my dog. This might be a far fetched reason but you never know. Second, these cards bend very easily. Yes they are affordable and you can go to Costco and by like 30 decks for $16. If you want to go this route, it is completely fine. Recommendation, buy a new pack prior to each game, open the new pack in front of the table so they have no fear of the house cheating.

Another type of cards to invest in are plastic cards. They cost a little bit more than the Bicycle cards but are totally worth it! With the plastic cards, they are harder to bend and leave creases on. This is very helpful because you may have people try to bend a corner of a certain card to know where that specific card is in the deck. Also, if one of your friends decide to be messy and spill their drink on to the cards, you can just simply wipe these off and resume play. 

The items listed and tagged above are the generic items needed for throwing a home game. Of course chairs are needed but you knew that right? You can buy folding chairs or spend the money and buy fancy chairs. Then again, you can use your dinning room chairs or even have your guest BYOC, Bring Your Own Chair.

Another item(s) is food and drinks. Many different things you can do for this. You can be the big spender that you are and provide finger foods and beer/sodas/water, order pizza, or have your guest bring food. If you decide to make an actual meal for your guest, there is nothing wrong in adding in the amount into the guest buy-ins. Don't go crazy to where your guest pay for your groceries for the week. Depending on the number of players and how much you spent on the meal, charge an extra $1-$5.

We hope that this was helpful for you and you are now ready to host an amazing poker night. Best of luck to you!