Homegame Etiquette

Even amongst close friends, whenever money is involved, tempers can become frayed over the most innocuous of situations. Trying to get a poker game organised and completed sucessfully is not as easy as you might think.

The initial preparation of house rules, the expected etiquette from all participants, player responsibilities, and dealer responsibilities should all be considered before the first hand is played.

Being the Perfect Host

Once the invitations have all been taken care of, and you have a firmed up guest list, it is time to get the ground rules sorted out. The most important point for the entire evening is to make sure that your guests are having fun. Anything at all which can detract from everybody's enjoyment should be avoided at all costs, if you want to repeat the game on a regular basis.

Even in friendly home games, where almost everyone will turn up thinking that they're the best player, if it's not fun, people are unlikely to want to repeat the experience.

As the host, if you're a competent online player, then you stand to have a sizeable edge over your friends. If you can keep everybody happy and wanting to come back then it's a nice little earner for you. Even the biggest losers will return if you provide a good night out.

Basic Etiquette

• Splashing the pot: This is bound to create a massive argument if the pot turns out to be short. Make sure all players are aware that they should place their bets directly in front of them. Only the dealer for the hand should move those chips from that point on. If a player finds themselves accused of shorting the pot they certainly won't be rushing back next time you invite them. This rule also acts as protection against players who are less than honest, for the same reason.
• Speaking out about a pot you're not involved in: Under no circumstances should anybody pass comment during a hand that they are no longer a part of. People will find this the height of bad manners. A beginner does not want to look like they need coaching through a hand, and a decent player won't want anybody impacting their winnings. Another way this can cause a problem is by a player announcing what hand they just folded, possibly ruining the entire hand.
• Verbal bets are binding: This spot normally causes an issue as a string bet/raise. For example if a player announces “I call.......and raise ..” their action must stand as a call. This is to prevent any advantage being gained by reading body language tells following the words “I call.
• English(or another agreed language) only to be spoken at the table: This is to help prevent accusations of collusion, and also being a safeguard against such behaviour. I'll explain more about collusion later.

• If you show one, you show 'em all : There is nothing wrong with flashing your hole cards to the guy sat next to you after a hand, but everybody else is now entitled to see them as well.
• Deliberately acting out of turn: This is something which has caused many serious arguments since poker was first played. The idea behind the move is to pick up on body language tells. Obviously this is something which might be hard to avoid if your game is viewed as a casual evening's fun with people enjoying a few drinks. As the host you just have to do your best to remind people to follow the action as best as they can before any arguments break out. It is normal to apply the verbal bets are binding rule unless there is a bet or raise from one of the skipped players.
• Agreeing to check a hand down with a third player all-in: When both players who are not all-in decide to follow this course of action without any verbal cues it is known as 'implicit colusion' and perfectly within the rules. However discussing this plan over the table is forbidden. Also the rule breach is not the only problem here, if one of your guests feels that others are ganging up on them it can make for an uncomfortable experience and they might not want to return. This rule about verbal discussion also applies to both players in a heads up pot in a tournament situation.
• Demanding a player show their hole cards: This is a common one you see in card rooms all over the world. A player is entitled to muck their winning hand if all other players fold before a showdown. It's should be explained to all participants that badgering somebody to show is not acceptable. It's not a major point but you will find the same person doing this all night if nobody asks them to stop, and it gets rather annoying. Annoyed friends won't want to come back for another game.

These eight points should help things run smoothly. A good host will be prudent enough to make sure that everybody fully understands what is expected of them before play begins.

A couple of other points to be aware of are the use of card protectors and taking money off the table, known as 'ratholing'.

Card protectors have saved many an argument in poker games all over the world. It's so easy to have your cards scooped up by the dealer if they appear to be dead. Just take a look here:

I'm sure you wouldn't want fisticuffs in your living room over a mistake like this one.

Your guests might not be aware that removing money they have won, while the game is still ongoing, is not allowed. Make sure they are also aware of any agreements in place regarding giving notice to leave.

Finally, make sure all the equipment is in good enough condition. Clean chips and at least two packs of new unused cards. Ideally you should leave all external wrapping on the packs so that everybody can see that they are new and untampered with.

Collusion – Maintaining the Integrity of the Game

There are many different ways in which players can collude, the three most usual types are soft playing, signaling, and chip dumping. While collusion is possible in a cash game, it is seen much more often in tournament poker. If you are hosting a tournament it should be made clear that this type of behaviour is unacceptable.

Soft playing: This is where players will forgo a standard bet or raise to avoid taking chips from their partner in collusion. If you have played live tournament poker in a casino you may be aware of the rule that if you are last to act on the river and are holding the absolute nuts then a bet is mandatory.If you fail to bet then a time penalty away from the table is normal. Make sure all players understand soft play is unacceptable.

Signaling: There are too many methods to list here, but the idea of course is to assist their partner in some way. The players will have a previously worked out code of physical signals to pass information to each other.

Chip dumping: In a tournament it can be a huge advantage to have another player subtley losing their chips to you on purpose. This is probably the most common collusion attempt seen online as it is so simple to do.

As the host you should make sure all your guests understand that none of these rule breaches will be tolerated. If your friends are not frequent poker players it will give them some confidence that you are doing everything you possibly can to protect them from cheating. If you want to win their money but still have them asking to come back next time, you must win their confidence. If they are close friends then you really should do everything you can to avoid the possibility of a fall out because of some spurious allegations.

Yes that is Neymar Jr.'s home game.

So there you have it. There's not a great deal to worry about if you want to invite some friends around for a poker night home game, but these points are very important to bear in mind. Getting everybody to come around for one night might be easy, keeping a regular thing going on Friday nights every week isn't so simple if you don't keep an eye on what is likely to cause some bad feelings. As I've already said, people won't mind losing money to you if you are a decent host and make it a fun night for everybody.

If, after reading this, any of you do organise a home game, let me know how you made it a success. If some of you had things go a bit pear shaped, write in the comments what you think your mistakes were and how you would do things differently next time.

For more in depth articles about poker etiquette check out The Top 10 Dos and Don'ts and Calling the Clock. If you want to host tournaments a home, check out discussion forum about how to host and run a poker tournament.