Missing Money At Home Poker Games
25 September 2009Missing Money At Home Poker Games
One problem that hosts can have when throwing a poker game, whether it be a home poker tournament or a poker cash game is that sometimes money goes missing from the pot. Whether by accident or theft, at the end of the night you might have more chips to redeem than cash to redeem them with. So if you have missing money at your home poker game, what do you do, and how can you prevent it from happening in the future?
The Host Should Take Responsibility
If you are hosting a poker game, and you come up short at the end of the night, then it is your responsibility to cover it. At some games, some of the winning players may be willing to split the loss with you so that no one takes too bad of a hit. However, since generally the loss is discovered after some or many people cash out and leave, it is not proper etiquette to stick the last person to cash out with the missing money. The bottom line is that you should make good on the chips at the end of the night, even if it comes out of your pocket.
Tips To Prevent Missing Money In Future Games
- In General
- Only 1 person should handle the money and distribute the chips, you. Don’t have a community pot that people cash in and out of themselves. It is too tempting for some people, and some people are just bad at math. You should handle all the transactions, and keep the money in a separate, secure, place from your normal wallet.
- When Selling Chips
- When selling chips, lay the money out on the table, and spread it out. Verify the amount out loud. “$20?”
- Put chips in racks before your guests arrive. As people buy chips they get a full stack of one denomination, 2 stacks of another, and individual chips of the highest. Count out loud when you hand out the chips.
- Count the money again
- Count the stacks again, pointing to them “Ten, Twenty, Forty, and Ten make Fifty”
- This does not take a long time and is the least error prone
- Cashing Out
- Give the player an empty rack
- Count the chips in the rack, and then the loose chips out loud in front of the player
- Ask the player if the amount is correct
- Bring out your neatly organized stack of money, lay the money on the table, and count it out loud
- Count the chips again, this should be fast since they are in racks
- Count the money again
Although this process may seem like it is too much for a home game, it isn’t, and it doesn’t take very long. People will understand that you are running a tight ship and helping take care of their money.
The Chips
Besides theft or transaction errors, both of which the above process will minimize, you could have problems if someone sneaks extra chips into your game. This is difficult to combat the first time, but count your chips at the end of the night and make sure you have the same number that you started with. If you are playing for more than nickel and dime stakes, you may want to consider getting a nice set of chips. They don’t have to be custom chips, but if you get a nicer set than the standard $30 set you find at Walmart people will have a lot more trouble copying your chips and sneaking extras in.
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