How to host a poker home game
Everything you need to run a great poker tournament at home — from how many chips each player gets to a blind structure that finishes on time, how to split the prize pool, and how to turn a one-off game into a season-long league with standings. Written by players who have run their own home game league for more than 15 years.
Create your league — free for up to 6 players
1. Plan the night: players, date and buy-in
- Players: 6–10 is the sweet spot for one table. With 11 or more, play two tables and merge them as players are knocked out.
- Date: a fixed night ("first Friday of the month") keeps a group together better than a date picked in the group chat each time.
- Buy-in: pick an amount nobody minds losing — the same buy-in every night keeps the season fair.
- Format: a freezeout (one entry each) is simplest. Allow rebuys in the first hour if your group likes to gamble early.
- Registration: ask players to confirm by the day before, so you know how many seats and chips to set out.
2. Chips and starting stacks
Give everyone 10,000 in chips using four colours. Big round numbers feel like a real tournament and make the blinds easy to read. A standard 500-chip set covers ten players with the stack below, with chips to spare for rebuys.
| Chip value | Chips per player | Total |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | 8 | 200 |
| 100 | 8 | 800 |
| 500 | 6 | 3,000 |
| 1,000 | 6 | 6,000 |
| Stack | 28 | 10,000 |
When the 25 chips are no longer needed (at the second break in the structure below), "colour up": swap them for 100 chips, rounding each player's leftovers up.
3. A blind structure for a home game
This structure suits 6–10 players and finishes in about three and a half to four hours. Want a shorter night? Use 15-minute levels and it ends in under three hours. Add antes from level 6 if you like action.
| Level | Small blind | Big blind | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 | 50 | 20 |
| 2 | 50 | 100 | 20 |
| 3 | 75 | 150 | 20 |
| 4 | 100 | 200 | 20 |
| 5 | 150 | 300 | 20 |
| Break | Rebuys close, add-on | 10 | |
| 6 | 200 | 400 | 20 |
| 7 | 300 | 600 | 20 |
| 8 | 400 | 800 | 20 |
| 9 | 500 | 1,000 | 20 |
| Break | Colour up the 25s | 10 | |
| 10 | 600 | 1,200 | 20 |
| 11 | 800 | 1,600 | 20 |
| 12 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 20 |
| 13 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 20 |
| 14 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 20 |
Run it on a tournament clock rather than a kitchen timer: everyone sees the current blinds, time to the next level and the next break, and nobody has to remember to raise the blinds.
4. Rebuys, add-ons and late registration
- Rebuy: a busted player can buy back in for the same price — limit it to the first five levels and one or two per player.
- Add-on: at the first break everyone may buy extra chips (often 5,000–10,000) for the same buy-in; it grows the pot and rewards players who stayed in.
- Late registration: let latecomers join with a full stack until the end of level 4; later than that they are too short to play.
- Write it down: track every rebuy and add-on per player. It decides the prize pool and settles arguments at the end of the night.
5. How to split the prize pool
The prize pool is every buy-in, rebuy and add-on. Pay roughly a quarter of the field and weight it to the top. With 8 players at €20, the €160 pool pays about €105 to the winner and €55 to second.
| Entries (players + rebuys) | Places paid | Split of the prize pool |
|---|---|---|
| 4–8 | 2 | 1st 66% · 2nd 34% |
| 9–12 | 3 | 1st 53% · 2nd 28% · 3rd 19% |
| 13–16 | 4 | 1st 47% · 2nd 24% · 3rd 16% · 4th 13% |
| 17–20 | 5 | 1st 43% · 2nd 22% · 3rd 15% · 4th 11% · 5th 9% |
6. Turn your home game into a league
A season gives every night something to play for. Award points by finishing place, count them over 10–20 nights and crown a champion — or let the top players qualify for a final tournament (a "Masters").
| Players | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 14 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| 8 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||
| 10 | 25 | 18 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
Bigger fields earn more points, and the gaps between places are steep enough at the top to reward wins but leave enough points lower down that everyone keeps turning up.
7. House rules worth agreeing up front
- One player to a hand: no advice from players who are already out.
- Cards speak, but show both cards to win at showdown.
- A verbal declaration is binding; string bets are not allowed.
- Act in turn; chips stay visible and stacked.
- The host — or the tournament director — has the final word.
Home game checklist
- Table that seats everyone (8–10 for a standard poker table) and two decks of cards per table.
- Chip set with enough of each colour for the stacks and rebuys.
- A dealer button, and small/big blind buttons if you have them.
- A tournament clock on a TV or laptop everyone can see.
- Cash box or a payment app for buy-ins; a list of who has paid.
- Snacks that don't leave grease on the cards.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free app for poker home games?
Yes. Poker League is free for home games of up to 6 players, with no card and no time limit: tournaments, season standings, player registration and the tournament clock on your TV are all included. Bigger groups move to Pro (up to 20 players, €20/month).
How do I keep score in a poker home game league?
Award points by finishing place and add them up over a season. Poker League does this for you: when the last player is knocked out, points, prizes and the standings update on every phone. The default table gives more points for bigger fields, so a win against 10 players is worth more than a win against 6.
What is a good blind structure for a home game?
For 6–10 players with 10,000 starting chips, 20-minute levels starting at 25/50 and roughly doubling every two levels finishes in about 3½–4 hours. For a shorter night use 15-minute levels. The tournament clock in Poker League comes with ready-made structures you can edit.
How should a home game prize pool be split?
Pay about a quarter of the field: winner-takes-most with two places for up to 8 entries (66/34), three places for 9–12 (53/28/19), four for 13–16. Poker League calculates the split automatically from the number of players and rebuys.
Do my friends need to install anything?
No. Poker League runs in the browser on phones, laptops and smart TVs. Players get an e-mail invite, register for the next tournament from their phone and follow the standings live.
Can we track rebuys, add-ons and who knocked out whom?
Yes. Rebuys and add-ons are tracked per player with limits, and every knockout is logged from the director's phone — that feeds the eliminator board, rivalries and head-to-head records.
Is it legal to play poker at home?
Home poker laws differ by country and state. In many places a private game among friends is allowed when the host takes no rake or fee from the pot. Check the rules where you live; Poker League only keeps score and runs the clock and does not handle money.