Home Game Help

Hemi06 · Nov 30, 2014

I would just like some input from the community here. I run a Saturday tournament and then cash game afterwards. The cash game seems to get boring. We mainly play .25/.50 NLHE and PLO8. I rake for a high hand every 2 hour and it pays usually $10-$15. What other ideas could I incorporate into the game to make it more interesting? Thanks

ScooperNova · Nov 30, 2014

Allow sidebetting. People can put a $ in a side pot and the first blackjack/blackjacks win or split-win the pot. Or just do the closest to 21 each hand. That make it interesting if you don't mind a little gambling.

You can make up all kinds of crazy sidebets too, that was just an example.

Hemi06 · Nov 30, 2014

ScooperNova said:
Allow sidebetting. People can put a $ in a side pot and the first blackjack/blackjacks win or split-win the pot. Or just do the closest to 21 each hand. That make it interesting if you don't mind a little gambling.

You can make up all kinds of crazy sidebets too, that was just an example.

Thanks for the idea...So in Texas Hold Em', the 1st person to win with a hand 92, 83, 74, 65 would win side pot?

ScooperNova · Dec 1, 2014

You could do it like that or any other way. We used to make a side pot and whoever got 21 first (like a10, aj, aq, ak) won. Everyone kept their mucked cards close by til the end of the hand after folding to avoid giving information away regarding the poker hand. That way you didn't have to stay in til the river, but you could make that a requirement as well! Be creative and have fun!

Hemi06 · Dec 2, 2014

ScooperNova said:
You could do it like that or any other way. We used to make a side pot and whoever got 21 first (like a10, aj, aq, ak) won. Everyone kept their mucked cards close by til the end of the hand after folding to avoid giving information away regarding the poker hand. That way you didn't have to stay in til the river, but you could make that a requirement as well! Be creative and have fun!

That's a great idea. Thanks. Anyone else have any props/side bets/different home games they play?

itsmebobd · Dec 2, 2014

Hemi06 said:
I would just like some input from the community here. I run a Saturday tournament and then cash game afterwards. The cash game seems to get boring. We mainly play .25/.50 NLHE and PLO8. I rake for a high hand every 2 hour and it pays usually $10-$15. What other ideas could I incorporate into the game to make it more interesting? Thanks

Some good ideas we used when I used to run a game :
* Splash the pot : every 2 hours, half the rake goes into my pocket, the other half goes into that pot preflop. Livens it up for sure!
** Everyone agrees to show 1 card every time they win a hand
*** Start playing HOS (Horse minus the stud hilo and razz)

da_goat · Dec 9, 2014

Dealer's choice for a card game. Every once in a while I play with some guys who invent their own games and half or more include some type of a wild card. It can get very interesting!

lcid86 · Dec 9, 2014

Throwing the rake into different pots, wild cards, and dealer's choice can change things up. Anything you can do to get more players into a pot.. depends if you have people who want to gamble.