Poker Home Game Rules: A House Rules Checklist for Hosts

Money rules cause the most trouble, so settle them first.

• Buy-in: A fixed amount, or a minimum and maximum. For no-limit cash games, 100 big blinds is the usual standard.
• Rebuys and top-ups: Are they allowed, up to what amount, and until what time? Many games stop rebuys an hour before the end.
• Only chips play: No cash on the table during a hand. Everything goes through the bank.
• Credit: Decide whether the host lends chips to players who are short on cash. If yes, set a limit and write it down. Most disputes start here.
• Chip values: Write down what each color is worth and keep it visible all night.
• One banker: One person sells chips and records every buy-in and rebuy, as it happens.

In Pokertally, the banker sets the buy-in when creating the game and logs every rebuy with a tap. Everyone at the table can follow the same record on their own phone, so nobody has to remember at 2am who bought in three times.

• Game and stakes: No-limit Hold'em, pot-limit Omaha or dealer's choice, and the blinds. Announce them in the invite, not at the table.
• Straddles: Allowed or not, and from which seats. A straddle on every hand changes the stakes, so agree on it.
• Side games: If you play a 7-2 game, bomb pots or the Nit Game, explain the rules and the amounts before the first hand.
• Dealing: Players deal in turn or one dedicated dealer. Pick who shuffles and who deals, and use a dealer button.
• End time: Set it in advance and call the last orbit 15 minutes before. Nobody wants to be the winner who has to argue for going home.

These are standard in card rooms. Saying them out loud once saves a lot of debate later.

• Act in turn. Acting out of turn can be held to that action if nobody in between bets.
• No string bets. Say "raise" first, or put the full amount out in one motion.
• Verbal is binding. If you say "call" or "raise to 50", that is your action.
• Cards speak. At showdown, the cards decide the winner, not what a player announces.
• Show one, show all. If you show your cards to one player after a hand, the whole table gets to see them.
• One player to a hand. No advice or commentary while a hand is still being played.

• Leaving early: A player who leaves counts their chips with the banker before going, and the amount is recorded right away.
• Final counts: At the end, everyone counts their stack in front of the table. The total of all stacks has to match the total of all buy-ins.
• How to pay: Cash, bank transfer or a payment app. Agree which ones are fine.
• When to pay: The same night, or within 24 hours at the latest. Debts that drag on end home games.
• Pay directly: Players who lost pay players who won, biggest loser to biggest winner first, instead of everyone paying through the host. A table of eight then settles in seven payments or fewer.

This is the step Pokertally was built for. Enter everyone's final chips and the app checks that the totals match the buy-ins, then lists exactly who pays whom, biggest amounts first. If the night runs late, it can remind you in the morning to enter the results.

Edit the numbers and send it with the invite: