So how should the KO bonuses work? Well, the easiest way would be to just have everybody throw in an extra few bucks on top of the regular buy in so that the extra cash goes towards knockouts. In the league I’m in, we are probably going to make the knockout bonus 10% of the buy-in. So if your buy-in is $20, each player should throw in an extra $2. Each time a player is knocked out, the person who knocked them out will get $2. Obviously you can adjust the amount of the bonuses depending on what you think is best for your league.

Now, if you’re doing the math, you’ll realize that if you have 10 people adding money for knockouts, and only 9 people get knocked out, you’ll have a little extra money left over. The easy thing to do is just to give that extra money to the winner, since they avoided being knocked out. Of course, you can be more creative and make it so that whoever knocks out the most people gets the extra bonus, or perhaps make the league leader or last season’s champion worth double if you knock them out.

So what if your league or tournament uses re-buys? I personally wouldn’t use knockout bonuses for re-buy games, mostly because it complicates things a bit and knockouts don’t quite mean as much in a re-buy tournament. However, you can still use knockout bonuses and bounties, but you’ll have to adjust things a little. You can either have a person keep putting in extra money for their re-buys to pay for another knockout or perhaps people only get paid once a person is knocked out and doesn’t buy back in.

1. Pick the Right Group
   Sometimes some players just won’t fit well with your regular poker group. Some players may be looking for a very strict, serious game while others look for a more relaxed, casual game. You may also have some people that just plain don’t get along with others in the group. You may have to “cut the fat” and sacrifice the few for the sake of the many. Don’t be rude about it, but next time you invite people, maybe you “forget” to invite a player so that everybody else is happier.
2. Find a Hospitable Host
   Choosing the right places to hold your home games is definitely one of the more important decisions you’ll have to make. You’ll want to factor in the distance the location is for potential players, the accomodations, and availability. If you hold it at a player’s home, you’ll also want to make sure it doesn’t put them out too much. If possible, you may want to rotate locations so that it’s fair for everyone.
3. Upgrade to a League
   As mentioned in a previous post, by structuring your home poker games into a full blown poker league, you can add incentive to help keep existing players coming back while enticing new blood to give it a shot. Players will love seeing where they stand and will know that missing a game means missing out on an opportunity for some league points.
4. Supplies, Supplies, Supplies
   Remember, not all poker chips are created equal! It’s amazing how much of a difference quality poker chips and a passable felt poker table can make in your home games. If you’re still playing with plastic poker chips, it’s time for you to get a grown up set.
5. Awards and Prizes
   Once you have a league set up, you can add fun poker awards and prizes that will give players something to shoot for. Sometimes fighting for the top spot in a league isn’t enough incentive, throw in a cool trophy or maybe even some extra cash and players will do their best to make every game.

Of course, the biggest key is to make sure everybody is having fun. Once they are, word of mouth will spread and you’ll have players asking if they can bring more and more people each week. If you hit most of the major points above, you should be well on your way to a thriving home poker game.

• Champion – probably the most obvious award to give out is the one for the “best” player. This should be based on a predetermined point system. Though you could also go by most money won.
• Headhunter – if you take the time and effort to track the number of players each person knocks out, you can have an award for the person who eliminated the most players during the season. It’s a fun award to have, but can be a pain in the butt to keep track of.
• Longest Streak – you can have an award for the person with the longest winning (or losing) streak. This puts added pressure (and excitement) on games where a person’s streak is on the line.
• Easy Money – it’s always nice to have an award or two that goes to “bad” players. As such, it can be fun to have an award for the person who lost the most money.
• Big Mouth – some titles don’t necessarily have to deal with actual poker play, but rather a player’s personality during the games. Home games inevitably have a stand out loud player, you may as well reckognize them with an award.
• Bluff Master – an award for the person deemed “biggest bluffer”. This would have to be voted on in some mannor.
• Tight Ass – some players play tighter than a (ok, better stay away from that analogy).
• Best Bluff – you can also award titles for single incidents such as the best bluff of the season.
• Best Snack – snacks go hand in hand with your home games so you might as well have an award for the best snack (or even an award for the person that brought the best snacks).

The above list is just a small sampling of the kinds of awards you can implement at your own home games. Be creative and make sure to have at least one humorous award. Fun titles are also key so instead of just having “Most Conservative” you have something like “Biggest Tight Ass”.

You can simply announce the awards at the end, but it’s better to actually have some sort of physical representation of the award being given. For example, you can use trophies, certificates, poker chips, extra money, or any kind of random objects people donate. The photo featured at the top of this post is a ceramic trophy I made for my own home poker league (yes, it’s even uglier in person). The key is to be creative and to agree on everything before you start your season.

Feel free to share ideas of your own in the comments below. I’m sure your fellow home poker players would greatly appreciate it.

For instance, Home Poker System is a free website that allows you to track your league online quickly and easily. Ok, so I actually created that site myself, but it really is 100% free so you have nothing to lose trying it out for yourself.

After creating your league, you’re able to create seasons, schedule games, add players, and report results. The system will track everone’s progress for you while providing detailed stats such as wins, losses, placing, money earned/lost, points, players eliminated, and much more.

By tracking your home games in a league format (with a leaderboard, detailed stats, and game history), you’ll add more fun and excitement to your home poker games. When players are playing for points and a #1 standing along with the money, you’ll give players much more to brag about while also giving everybody much more incentive to not miss any games. When people can see a history of past games and comment on the results, every win and loss will mean that much more to people.

Leagues may not be the best route for all home games, but why not register and find out if it works for you. You really have nothing to lose.

If you want to speed up your play without dealing with (pardon the pun) a card shuffler, you can add a second deck to your game. Use the player to the left of the dealer to shuffle the cards of the previous hand. When the hand is over, the person shuffling should be done (unless it was a very short hand) and should be ready to deal right away. Continue to pass the used cards to the left of the dealer and you should consistently have a deck ready to deal each time a hand is completed.