Mr Winberg
Full House
The traditional way to bank is to trade chips for cash. Players hand the banker cash to receive chips. When a player is ready to cash out, he hands his chips back to the banker for cash. Simple concept.
A pure cashless home game is also relatively simple. Write down everyone's buy-in and rebuys on a ledger. At the end of the game, count everyone's stacks to calculate everyone's wins and losses. If all the positive and negative numbers add up to zero, that means the math was done correctly. All the losing players pay the biggest winner their net loss and the other winners request their profit from the biggest winner. All transactions are electronic.
My player pool has mixed opinions about cash. Some players have been gambling for decades and are used to the idea of bringing cash to a poker night. Others will find it odd that physical cash is still required for a social gathering when there are dozens of cashless payment methods.
If you're a cash only home poker host and have no intention of trying something new, please avert your eyes. The following may shock you
My Hybrid Banking System
I've developed a hybrid banking system to accommodate everyone. Players either buy chips with cash up front or play on credit. However, all debts must be settled before the player walks out the door. Venmo, Zelle, PaypalFF, CashApp, Apple Pay, paper checks, crypto, or whatever the banker deems acceptable is fine.
Pretend this is a bar: either pay for your drink instantly or open a tab and pay at the end.
To clarify, cash up front is still the only acceptable form of payment for chips. If a player wants to Venmo me for a buy-in, I politely tell him I'll write down how much he wants in a ledger and figure it out later. This will minimize the number of electronic transactions.
I'll use "Venmo" in my examples, but it can be substituted with any cashless transaction method.
Cash Buy-In
Cashless Buy-In
- Player announces he wants to buy in
- Banker repeats the announcement to the entire table
- Accept the cash
- Place cash in a temporary location (for me, on the rail in front of me underneath a notepad)
- Place new chips in front of player for two-party visual verification (ask for 3rd person if preferred)
- Move cash from temporary location to where you normally keep the rest of everyone's cash (for me, front right pants pocket)
It's a good habit to do these steps in order. Speed and urgency isn't important since purchased chips, even if they have not arrived yet, may play at the start of the next hand. If you're in the middle of a hand, finish your hand. Don't let anyone try to rush you. Be consistent with following the procedures to avoid making mistakes.
- Player announces he wants to buy in
- Banker repeats the announcement to the entire table
- Write down Name and Amount
- Place new chips in front of player for two-party visual verification (ask for 3rd person if preferred)
- Add check mark
For example, if I got distracted and came back to my seat to see cash in front of me, that means I'm in the middle of step 4 or 5 of the Cash Buy-In procedure.
I'm not claiming these are the best procedures; these are simply my procedures. Whatever procedure you choose, ensure they're consistent and simple enough to do, even when inebriated.
How to Handle Players Leaving Early
Credit players leave with their profit (otherwise the juice starts five points a week on Mike)
(chip stack) - (buyin) = profit
Profit can be provided in cash. If the player prefers cashless, the banker will Venmo the profit amount to the player and write down a negative number next to the banker's name in the ledger. The negative number means the poker bank owes that amount to the banker's personal wallet.
Credit players leaving early with a loss need to pay immediately. Venmo the banker and the banker will write down a positive number next to the banker's name in the ledger. The positive number means the banker's personal wallet owes that amount to the poker bank.
In other words, credit player leaving early with a profit:
stack - buyin = get cash OR venmo & -# me
Credit player leaving early with a loss:
buyin - stack = venmo me; +# me
How to End the Game
Cash out time at the end of the game is worrisome for all hosts. The slowest, but most secure, procedure is for the banker to count everyone's chip stack. For me, a few minutes before the end of the game, I count the cash so I know how much the total number of chips on the table should add up to. At the end of the game, everyone counts their own stack and shouts out how much they think they're owed. This step doesn't take too long because players normally start counting before the last hand is over, especially after they've already folded. I fill out the following chart:
Player Total Credit Chip Stack Win/Loss Ariel Bob Charlie David Eric Frank George etc etc etc
Handy reference to verify the math
Total Cash + Sum of Total Credit = Total chips in play
Sum of Chip Stack = Total chips in play
Sum of Win/Loss = Total Cash
If the math is correct, everyone gets paid at the same time. If it's off, I say it's wrong and to recount, but I don't tell them how much it's off by in case someone wants to game the system. If there's really one or two players who can't count correctly, they get help from me or a neighboring player (with a mandatory healthy dose of friendly needling, of course).
Whether or not there's enough cash to pay everyone depends on where your players are on the cash/cashless spectrum. If there isn't enough cash left, you can figure out as a group who wants the cash. For example, you can pay the diehard cash-only players in cash first. My crew generally does not have a preference between receiving cash or cashless, but most people do not want to receive a massive stack of small denomination bills.
Most of the time, the biggest winner can be the central hub for all the electronic transfers. All the losing players pay the biggest winner their net losses and the other winners request their net winnings from the biggest winner. This minimizes* the number of transactions and amount transferred while keeping it simple to understand.
*There's actually an algorithm to truly minimize the number of transactions and amount transferred and can even discourage transactions between players who aren't very familiar with each other, but it requires complex math that no one wants to do at the end of a long poker session.
By the way, I use the word "request" because that's what Venmo calls it, but essentially it's sending a payment request or an invoice that's due upon receipt. It's less troublesome for the biggest winner to simply receive payment from losing players and tapping the "accept" button from the other players.
The banker can be the central hub if the biggest winner isn't comfortable with the role. The losing players can pay the banker and winning players can request payment from the banker.
Optional Task
I like to verify the bank once an hour. I know the total value of the chips I brought out and I would count the remaining chips in my chip case to see how much did not make it onto the table yet.
(Total chips) - (remaining chips in case) = (chips on the poker table)
Then I will count the cash and add up all the credit extended. If this number matches the total value of chips on the table, then the bank is correct.
Disclaimer: I've only read the OP, there's no time for me ATM to read responses.
This all seems overly complicated. I think the mistake is in this:
Not only does it complicate mixed payment methods, it also assumes everyone leaves at the same time (which is almost never the case for cash games IME)
If you change this to: All losers pay the bank (i.e., you) and the bank pays all winners, then the ledger approach will work regardless of payment method.
That's what I do. If someone pays in cash, I accept the cash and mark the ledger as 'Settled', same as if they pay electronically, or by leaving their half full bottle of whiskey, or any other way. E.g., small winners will often just say "we're good" and I'll mark the ledger as settled without payment.
My steps:
1. Buy-in or top-up: Give the player chips, strikethrough the old amount on the ledger, write the new total.
2. Cashout: Count chips, then settle and tick the ledger as settled
I that's required is a pen and a paper (preferably a printout of my template, but even a blank works)
