10 Home Poker Game Rules Every Host Should Text the Group

Most home games don't end because of a bad beat. They end at 1:00 in the morning when somebody says, "I thought I paid you." and nobody at the table can prove who owes who. You're not just hosting a poker game, you're running a bank for your friends at zero interest, and you're the one who eats it when the math doesn't add up. So, I'm going to give you the 10 house rules I text your group before Friday. >> [music] >> Every one of them comes from a fight that happens at almost every home game, and everyone takes 10 seconds to say. And the last one is the rule that keeps your friends being friends after the chips are put away. >> [music] >> It starts before a single card is dealt. One friend walks in ready to play big, another one wants to play small, and by midnight somebody's on his fourth rebuy, and it feels like a different game. So, the first rule goes in the group text before anyone sits down. Set the buy-in and set the most anyone can rebuy in one night. When everybody shows up knowing the same numbers, nobody's playing scared of somebody else's stack, and you never have to have that awkward talk about how much is too much. You already decided it. You just point at the text, and a cap protects your friend on a bad night, too, because one rough Friday never turns into the reason he stops coming. The second rule is the one that turns you into the bank. Your buddy shows up, says he'll Venmo you later, and you hand him a stack because you're the host and you're being nice. Then he rebuys, and he rebuys again, and at the end of the night you're chasing three different people for money that was never yours. So, the rule is money before chips. Cash or Venmo goes to the host first, and then the chips go out. If your group really wants IOUs, give them one written rule like one IOU a night paid before the next game, and write it down the second it happens. Not in your head, on paper. Then there's the friend who shows up at 10:00. He walks in halfway through the night, everybody's stacks are different, and he wants to jump into the very next hand. So, decide it now. Late players buy in for the same starting stack as everyone else, never a short one, and never a bigger one. And they get dealt in one of two ways. They wait for the big blind to come around to their seat, or they post a big blind and play right away. Either one is fair. Just pick one so nobody's arguing about it with his jacket still on. And when he wants to rebuy later, the same limit from the group text covers him, too. This next one ends the fight that starts with I wasn't done. Somebody pushes out chips, sees your face, and goes back to his stack for more. Now he says it was a raise and half the table says it was a call. Poker players call that a string bet and the fix is one rule. Say it, then do it. If you say raise first, you can take your time with the chips. If you don't say anything, whatever you push out in one motion is what counts, and going back for more doesn't turn it into a raise. And what you say out loud is binding, so if you say call, you've called even if you meant something else. Then there's the friend who folds before it's even his turn. He's not cheating, he's just excited, but now the player in front of him knows he's out and that changes the whole hand. So the rule is this, if nothing changes before your turn, whatever you did out of turn stands. You folded, so you're folded, and if you said call, you're calling. But if somebody bets or raises in front of you, a call or a bet comes back to you. A fold never does, folded is folded, and everybody waits their turn because at a home game, the real damage isn't the penalty, it's the hand you just gave away. This one causes the worst arguments of all. The river comes, somebody says, "I've got the flush." Tosses his cards face down, and the other guy drags the pot. Then someone flips those cards over, there's the flush, and it's too late because a thrown hand is dead. So the rule is that to win a pot at showdown, you show both of your cards face up on the table, and the cards speak, which means your hand is whatever the cards say it is, not whatever you call it. If you read your own hand wrong, the table reads it for you, and nobody throws a hand away until it's been seen. That way the pot always goes to the best hand at the table, not the loudest one. Now the friend who's already folded and still can't stop talking. "Oh, he's definitely got the straight." He thinks he's helping, but he just played the hand for somebody else. So the rule is one player to a hand. If you're not in it, you don't talk about it until it's over. No hints, [music] no I would have folded, and no showing your cards to the guy next to you while he's still playing. Even a groan when the river comes out tells the whole table what you folded. If someone wants advice, they can ask once the hand is done. That's how your game stays fair when everyone at it is your friend. It's 1:00 in the morning, somebody's staring at his phone, and the whole table is waiting on him. >> [music] >> You don't want to be the host who yells, so give the table a tool instead. Anybody can call the clock. Once it's called, that player gets 1 minute to act, [music] and when the minute runs out, his hand is folded. And phones go face down while you're in a hand. Agree on it at the start of the night, so it never feels personal when somebody finally calls it. You won't need the clock very often. Just knowing it's there speeds up the whole night. This is the one people get the most mad about. Somebody wins the biggest pot of the night, looks at his watch, and says he's got an early morning. Poker players call that a hit-and-run, and nothing kills the mood at a table faster. Nobody has to stay all night, but here's the rule. Say at the start of the night what time you're leaving. And if you need to go early, you give the table one more orbit, one full trip of the dealer button around the table before you rack up. You still get to leave on top, and everyone else gets a fair shot at those chips. The friend who says he's leaving at midnight is never the one anybody's mad at. Sooner or later, something will happen that none of these rules cover. A card flips over during the deal, or two people act at the same time. So, behind all 10, there's one thing that isn't on the list. The host makes the call right then, and the call is final. Not after a vote, and not 3 days later in the group chat. If you're in the hand yourself, hand the decision to the next person you trust, but one person decides. A fair call made fast beats a perfect call made after everybody's already mad. Your friends don't need you to be right every time. They just need to know that somebody's going to decide. And that takes us back to 1:00 in the morning. The last rule is that nobody leaves until everybody settled. Count the stacks, figure out who owes who, and pay it right there at the table before anyone grabs their keys. The money isn't the hard part. Remembering it next Friday is. That's why I built the Settle Up in HG Poker. It shows who owes who, and you tap mark paid as each one's done. It's only a record, so it takes no bets, holds no money, and moves no money. And if you just need the math tonight, the free calculator is at hgpoker.io/night. So, before Friday, screenshot this list and drop it in your group text. Nobody argues with a rule they already agreed to on Tuesday. And tell me in the comments which rule your game fights about most. If you're still setting up your first game, watch how to host a poker night next. >> [music] >> Mhm.