Home Poker Statistics: What 4,457 Home Games Tell Us

We looked at 4,457 home poker games that hosts tracked in HG Poker between August 2023 and October 2026. The typical home game has 6 players, runs about 3 hours, and almost always involves rebuys: 79% of cash games had at least one. Settling up takes a median of 5 payments. The details, and what they mean for your next game, are below.

1. The typical home game is 5 to 7 players

2

3.7%

3

5.5%

4

11.0%

5

16.2%

6

17.4%

7

14.8%

8

11.7%

9

7.1%

10

4.0%

11

1.1%

12+

2.0%

Almost half of all games (48%) had 5, 6 or 7 players, and 71% had 4 to 8. Heads-up games were rare (under 4%). For hosts: plan chips for 6 to 8. See poker chip distribution for a $20 buy-in for a 6-player table, or how many chips you need.

2. Rebuys are the rule, not the exception

• 79.1% of cash games had at least one rebuy.
• The median game had 4 rebuys (the average was 6.8, pulled up by long games).
• 50.2% of player sessions included at least one rebuy, so every other player at your table will probably buy in again.

For hosts: with rebuys in 4 out of 5 games, there's almost always one to keep track of, and a rebuy nobody wrote down is how a settle-up stops adding up. Write each one down the moment the money goes in, or use the free poker buy-in tracker.

3. A home cash game runs about 3 hours

The median cash game ran 3 hours 3 minutes from start to finish. That's recorded time, so it includes breaks and the settle-up. It lines up with the 3 to 5 hours most hosts plan for. See how long a poker game lasts for ways to control it.

4. Settling up takes about 5 payments

Across 1,070 cash games where the settle-up was recorded, the median game needed 5 who-pays-whom payments (the middle half needed 3 to 7). That's 5 Venmo or cash handoffs at the end of the night, each one a chance for a mistake if the totals are off. The free settlement calculator works them out and checks that the totals balance first.

5. Buy-ins: round numbers win

Hosts overwhelmingly pick round buy-ins. Of the amounts we can publish, 50, 10 and 100 were entered most often (13%, 12% and 9% of all buy-ins), followed by 200 and 25. The app doesn't record currency, so these are amounts as entered, not dollars. For privacy, some amounts are left out of the published list, so it isn't a complete ranking.

6. Tournaments (smaller sample)

In the 79 home tournaments in the data, the median field was 6 entrants, and about half (49%) had at least one rebuy. It's a small sample, so treat it as a snapshot.

How we measured this

• Data: 4,457 completed games (4,378 cash games, 79 tournaments) recorded in HG Poker from 2023-08-22 to 2026-10-27, taken from an anonymous aggregate snapshot on October 27, 2026. It includes some games hosts imported from earlier records.
• Chart denominator: shares are of all 4,457 completed games; 248 records with 0–1 recorded players are excluded from the chart, not from the denominator.
• Excluded: internal, test and demo accounts.
• Privacy: no names, accounts or individual games leave the database. Every number covers at least 20 games, and smaller groups are hidden.
• Definitions: players = people with a recorded buy-in; game length = recorded start to finish, including breaks; payments = who-pays-whom lines the app suggested (not verified transfers).
• Not measured: time of day and currency, because the app doesn't store them for past games.
• Use: you're welcome to use these numbers. Please credit "HG Poker home game data (hgpoker.io/home-poker-game-statistics)". The data is available under CC BY 4.0.

Download the chart (PNG) · Download the data (CSV)

Free to use with credit: HG Poker home game data, hgpoker.io/home-poker-game-statistics (CC BY 4.0)

Frequently asked questions

How many players are in a typical home poker game?

Six. Across 4,457 home games tracked in HG Poker, the median table had 6 players, and 71% of games had between 4 and 8.

How often do players rebuy in a home poker game?

In 79% of home cash games at least one player rebought, with a median of 4 rebuys per game. Half of all player sessions included at least one rebuy.

How long does a home poker game last?

The median home cash game in our data ran about 3 hours from first buy-in to finish (recorded time, including breaks).

How many payments does it take to settle a home poker game?

A median of 5 who-pays-whom payments, based on 1,070 cash games where the settle-up was recorded.