So you want to play poker at home? One of the first things you’ll have to do is decide whether you want to play cash games or tournaments. With many advantages and disadvantages for each, I’ve outlined the major points for both below so you’ll be able to pick the best option for you and your victims… I mean friends.

Tournaments
Poker tournaments are generally what you see on television with players competing until all chips are controlled by a single player. Players are paid based on how far they get before they are eliminated.

Pluses

• Tournaments tend to be more competitive as there’s actual placing for players to fight for.
• If you want your home games to be part of a league, it’s much easier to track points if people are placed in tournaments.
• Cash games can be scary for some since you can lose a lot of money quickly as you’re able to continually buy back in. Tournaments allow people to know the amount of money they are risking upfront and can focus on playing rather than what they are losing.
• Tournaments allow for players at many tables to compete towards one goal, thus lending itself to larger amounts of players.
• With tournaments, you’re able to add various awards and achievements, such as bounties for knocking out players, awards for players with the longest winning streak, etc.

Minuses

• Tournaments can take a long time and you really can’t quit until you’ve been eliminated, thus making it harder to schedule a block of time where multiple people can play.
• More rules are generally required for tournaments and you often need to keep track of more things (such as raising blinds).
• Beginners often take awhile to get their heads wrapped around the idea that they can’t just walk away with their chips at any time.
• Players eliminated from a tournament are done and can only watch from then on out.

Cash Games
Before poker tournaments gained in popularity due to televised poker games like the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour, cash games used to be the dominate home game of choice. With players being able to buy in and cash out at any time and the lure of being able to win a lot more money a lot faster, cash games have an appeal all their own.

Pluses

• Players are generally able to buy in and cash out at any time. This allows players to set their own limits to how much they want to risk as well as giving them the ability to play for only as long as they can.
• There’s usually a lot more money to be won during a cash game as people tend to rebuy-in constantly as they continue to have fun with their friends.
• With cash games, there very little to keep track of other than your chips. You don’t need to raise blinds, keep a schedule, or any of the other tasks often required by running a tournament.
• Players can play as long as they have money to keep buying in rather than being eliminated for good.

Minuses

• While players are definitely competiting to come away with the most money, there’s something to be said for having an actual tournament winner rather than just the person who came away with the most money.
• Players can be afraid of losing too much money during cash game since there’s no real limit to how much they can put at risk.
• While you can have as many cash game tables as you want, they don’t really feel like a big entity since players will only be competiting against their own table. As such, cash games don’t really lend themselves to large groups of people.

Ok, so which type of home game is right for you? Well, you’re going to have to figure that one out for yourself. If you want to organize your home games into a league with many players and a point system, you’ll probably want to run tournaments. If you want more “loose” style poker games with less to worry about and keep track of, you may want to go with cash games.

The best thing to do is ask all your players what they think. Tell them about the advantages for each and determine what’s best from there.