How To Liven Up A Home Poker Game
26 September 2009How To Liven Up A Home Poker Game
Do you have a home poker game going that seems to be losing its edge? Maybe the poker game has been going steady for months or years, but now people don’t seem interested in playing, or the poker games doesn’t seem as fun? Here are some tips to add some kick to poker game.
Poker Stakes
One way to increase the interest in your game is to increase the stakes. If you are playing stakes that are too low, poker players may just not care about the money too much. And to some poker players, it takes an amount of stakes that they don’t want to lose to make the game worth playing. However, you might not want to increase the stakes at your home poker game, so here are some other ways to get more money involved.
- Add A Knockout Bounty – If you are playing a tournament, add a bounty for knocking out a player, and an extra large bounty for knocking out whomever won the last tournament. Set aside 10% of the buy ins to pay the bounties. (Or more depending on how large your bounties are). As soon as you start paying bounties, you will see the action increase. Players will be calling a lot more all in bets.
- Add A Straddle – A straddle lets the under the gun player post a bet, double the big blind, before they see their hand. It effectively doubles the stakes for that hand only. You can experiment with optional straddles, or a forced straddle for special cases.
- Make the first hand a big hand – Play the first hand for 10% of every-one’s stack, and play a different game like blind man’s bluff. After that hand, it gives all the losing players an incentive the get their money back.
- Play Several Shorter Tournaments - Some people don’t have the interest or the discipline to play one long poker tournament throughout the night. Break up the tournaments and play 2 or 3 short ones. Raise the blinds quicker. It will pump up the action.
- Play with props – Poker props add another dimension to the game. You win money based on other things than just the winning hand. For instance, if you win with 7-2 offsuit (The hammer) than the other players owe you a dollar.
Other Hosting Tips
The problem with your poker game isn’t necessarily with the game itself. Maybe your hosting could use some work. Here are some things that if you aren’t doing, you should do
- Serve Alcohol – Poker and beer are a natural combination. If the problem with your game is that everyone is sitting playing like a nit, alcohol can help.
- Serve Food – At any party you want your guests to be happy and well fed. Try getting a lunch meat platter and letting people make sandwiches, or getting a couple of pizza part of the way through the night.
- Get New Blood – Get some new players into the game that are excited about playing. Their interest will encourage others.
- Let someone else host – You could be a great poker player, but a bad host. Try rotating the hosting between players. This can also help get new players involved, as the other host will have different friends.
Other Games
The problem with your poker game may be that you are only playing No Limit Texas Holdem, and it is getting old. Try throwing in a couple of orbits of different poker games, there are a ton of them out there and they all have their own strategy. Some home game favorites are
- Pot Limit Omaha
- Blind Man’s Bluff
- 5 Card Draw
- 2-7 Triple Draw
Hopefully these tips will help get your poker game exciting and fun again. Although poker may not be for everyone, it is a great game and can usually be counted on for a good night.
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