How to Set Up a Poker Tournament in 5 Easy Steps

You can play competitive poker online, but you miss out on the experience of watching body language, bluffing, enjoying time with friends and family, and the entire poker tournament experience. Setting up a poker tournament in your own home will give you a richer poker experience, and an extra opportunity to bond with the people that you care about. Follow these steps to make a poker tournament for the boys or the girls. 

1. Get Your Supplies 

Poker set-up requires a few supplies. Most importantly, you need a poker chip set. You’ll need enough chips to accommodate the game. For a single game with ten people, 500 chips with different colours should be enough, but with two games and more than ten people, you may want 1,000 chips. Also, consider the weight of your chips and personalization options. If you want to hold tournaments regularly, it may be worthwhile to invest in chips that will last a long time and can be used repeatedly without losing quality. 

You should also ensure that you have at least one table for the game, but ideally two. And you’ll need enough chairs to accommodate everyone that will attend. You can also go above and beyond by adding decorative elements to your game room to enhance the atmosphere.   

2. Choose Date and Time 

Poker tournaments tend to be held on weekend evenings and might go late into the night. Maximize attendance by avoiding major events or other things that might be going on in your friends’ lives. Also, try to give reasonable notice so people can ensure they don’t have a conflict. You need a minimum of four to eight players to really enjoy the game, so also get people to confirm their attendance a few days before. 

Contact our game room experts to learn more about setting up the perfect tournament.

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3. Home Poker Tournament Structure 

Your tournament structure matters a lot. You can choose to have two tables for players of different skill levels or throw new players to the wolves. The structure of your game will also determine how long the game goes and how it feels for newer players.

Those who are interested in social and lower stakes games will want to play tournament style. Everyone buys in once at the start, and those who lose are out. They will need another activity to entertain them, so that is something you should plan for.

If you are interested in longer games with higher stakes and interested in accommodating people of various budgets, you can allow people to buy in indefinitely. In this case, you might set an end time for the game.

Now for the blind. You’ll adjust to your group dynamic over time but we suggest you start at 10 and raise them every 15 minutes. 

4. Home Poker Rules 

Do you have any house rules that you abide by during the game? To make things fair, make sure everyone is aware of the house rules at the start. 

5. Arrange for Food and Drinks 

Don’t forget to provide ample food and drinks for the night. 

Do you need more supplies for your home poker tournament? Oakville Home Leisure has supplies for you. Contact us today to learn more.