Home Poker Night

[PokerMaster]

Hi
I would like some advice about setting up a poker night, I have never done this before, nor have I been to one.
I am planning to invite friends and friends of friends, I hope maybe 10-15 will participate in the poker aspect of the party.
I have a small appartment, a poker table top which seats 6, and a 500 chip poker set, (I am able to borrow a further 600 chips if necisarry. I would like to make this night as smooth running as possible. It is basically just for fun ($10 buy in) no profit from the actual night ect. None of my friends have really played poker before, and having never run a tournament before I have a few questions:
1. whats the best way of running this with 12 ppl and 1 table with 6 spaces?
2. who deals? silly question I know, (but should I have 1 good friend appointed dealer that is not involved in the game, or what?)
3. what would the starting chip amount be and do I have enough chips?
Any help would be most welcome

[J S]

you've got plenty of chips... hopefully you've got around 100 or so of each color?

Start each player off with 3000 in chips and the starting blinds 25/50.

color a = $25 - you'll need 8 of these per starting player
color b = $100 = you'll need 8 per starting player
color c = $500 = you'll use 4 of these per player.

if you have enough of color b chips, start each player out with at least 13 and possibly 18 and just give them less $500 chips... it makes them feel like they've got more to play with while still keeping the value at $3000.

once your blinds get to $100/200 color up the green chips.

this is a fairly generous starting blind structure for a tournament... if you've only got 6 seats but 12 players then you should really run two seperate 1 table sit-n-go style events with the top 3 from each heat facing off in a final table showdown.

If you decide to go the sng route, start with 1500 chips instead of 3000. I'd set the blinds around 15 minutes.

dealers are a different animal. for buddies, as long as the cards get shuffled and someone is there who knows how to split a pot or answer dealing questions you should be good to go. if you've got 1 dealer who is also playing, have the button cut the deck after he shuffles.

[PokerMaster]

ok
most of the chips are numbered theres like 5 colours so thats all cool. My little brother 'thinks' he's pro, hes quite a shark, but I think that just for the chance of being there I can offer him free drinks all night in exchange for dealing, oh and he will have to wear a formal suit black and white, mehhehe
ok yeh the blind thing, Im thinking like 10 minute blinds, oh
its gonna be a bit of a nightmare considering none of these ppl ever played a tourney before?

[PokerMaster]

he he he
cant wait now, I have pleanty intrerest so its going ahead!
Anyone have any ideas on a sound track for the night, some mellow related stuff, bear in mind we will all be dressed as gangstas?

John Vorhaus's book Thursday Night Poker (It might be Tuesday Night Poker actually.) is all about setting up home poker games. Highly recommended; Vorhaus is an exceptional writer.

[PokerMaster]

cool thanks
I will report back here somewhere how it goes, Titan are throwing in a few tshirts and caps I think, I hope

[pokerpatduck2]

When I play at home games of around 12-18 people we normally run two tables and the final 3 from each table go on to the final table.
As far as the chip values it might be easier to do

Chip A - .25 - 20 chips
Chip B - .50 - 10 chips
Chip C - 1.00 - 5 chips

Each player has more chips to play with and teh values are very easy to work with.
If they are not experienced players the smaller values may be much easier to manage. I would also suggest explaining the rules before you start that way everything is clear to all players.

When it comes to dealing if the players do not know what they are doing they will end up asking you about something or another every few minutes. If you have an experienced player dealing the other players can cut the deck to ensure fairness, still allowing the game to move along quickly. The blinds might want to be longer than 10 minutes, maybe more around 20 minutes because home games move much slower.

I think it is very important to explain all rules clearly and if possible type them up for all to see that way no one gets angry about certain situations that may arise such as: flashed cards during the deal, two players being knocked out same hand, acting out of turn, string betting.

I hope this helped - Patrick

[PokerMaster]

Thanks, some great info there
My brother is an experienced player, (my trackers say so) lol, he will be dealer so no problem there.
Everyone kinda knows each other anyway, so it wont get too nasty hopefully.
Thanks for the advice