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Cash Game How I Bank at a Home Game in an Increasingly Cashless Society (3 Viewers)

Poker Zombie said:
Even though I have pitched 5¢/10¢ games many times over the years, I have never handed out change at the end of the night. I usually cash out whole dollars and offer to race off the odd change. Each player gets 1 card per nickel, the Highest of every 20 cards gets the dollar. If you only have $1, you can pitch one card to each nickel, and then throw a flop, turn, and river for even more excitement - highest hand scoops.

What actually happens, is everybody says "keep it, you hosted".

Either way, it's not a hassle. One last round of gambol, or the host finishes up a buck. Don't over-think the problem.
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THIS right here. Recent comments surprise me how many people want to be perfect to the penny. I've had a "no coin policy" ever since I started hosting because other hosts in the area does something similar. This might be different in other countries, but most Americans don't like dealing with coins. Player's cash out are rounded down to the nearest dollar. At the end of the game, everyone with loose change throws it in the middle and flip for it.
 
ArielVer18 said:
@Mr Winberg both of your points were addressed in the OP ;)

“How to Handle Players Leaving Early” and “The banker can be the central hub if the biggest winner isn't comfortable with the role”
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My point was that having the host as the banker keeps things more simple than trying to get the players to pay each other. The "How to Handle Players Leaving Early" meant writing an opposite amount at the bankers ledger. Why not just settle with the player, tick off the ledger as 'settled' and call it a day?

And yes, there was a short section on the host being bank, but there was no comparison with how the ledgers would work then, i.e. just a single line per player.
 
Mr Winberg said:
My point was that having the host as the banker keeps things more simple than trying to get the players to pay each other. The "How to Handle Players Leaving Early" meant writing an opposite amount at the bankers ledger. Why not just settle with the player, tick off the ledger as 'settled' and call it a day?

And yes, there was a short section on the host being bank, but there was no comparison with how the ledgers would work then, i.e. just a single line per player.
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Sorry, I'm not sure I understand the confusion because it sounds like we're agreeing on the same thing. In my system, players must settle before they walk out the door, not the end of the day, not in three days. When players leave early, they settle with the banker, who is normally the host. Players who leave early are not involved in the end of game settlement procedure.

I think my usage of the word "ledger" is causing some confusion. I'm not writing down all transactions. I'm only writing down players who didn't buy chips with cash.
 
I feel like so many people are getting lost in the details. A Venmo game can be as simple as a cash game, there’s really no need to complicate it. My “bank” is my Venmo balance. Player sends Venmo payment, receives chips counted out in front of them. End of night, chips get counted again, payment sent back to player. All takes place in a matter of seconds, and for a microstakes game of people who don’t carry cash, it’s absolutely the easiest option. There’s no wrong or right way here between cash and digital if what you’re doing is working for you. The only thing I think is wrong is to say that digital is always more complicated or inferior to cash, because that simply isn’t true.
 
djfayze said:
I feel like so many people are getting lost in the details. A Venmo game can be as simple as a cash game, there’s really no need to complicate it. My “bank” is my Venmo balance. Player sends Venmo payment, receives chips counted out in front of them. End of night, chips get counted again, payment sent back to player. All takes place in a matter of seconds, and for a microstakes game of people who don’t carry cash, it’s absolutely the easiest option. There’s no wrong or right way here between cash and digital if what you’re doing is working for you. The only thing I think is wrong is to say that digital is always more complicated or inferior to cash, because that simply isn’t true.
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So when you invite someone to a game, do you assume they have the app you use and boot them out if they don't, or do you tell then ahead of time that they must download PayPal... or Venmo... or Zelle... or CashApp... or whatever the trendy cash-sharing app is next week?
 
merkong said:
I’m sorry… If someone is sweating even .90 they shouldn’t be playing poker.
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To one person .90 is like $90. Should you not play poker if you sweat $90?

There's always one guy that thinks they should be the one to tell everyone else what they should and should not do with their money. I can't say I like that guy. That guy was probably never poor, but he's the one who knows how the poor should entertain themselves.
 
Poker Zombie said:
So when you invite someone to a game, do you assume they have the app you use and boot them out if they don't, or do you tell then ahead of time that they must download PayPal... or Venmo... or Zelle... or CashApp... or whatever the trendy cash-sharing app is next week?
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I think this works for my specific game because I’m playing with classmates and their peers. We all fall within 5 years of age of each other. For people my age (25-30 years old) I would say having a Venmo account is pretty ubiquitous. As we’ve added probably a dozen players over the past couple years no one has not had Venmo. I think this reflects a shifts of payment preferences with newer generations and I imagine many people around my age and younger feel similarly.

Also, I’d say Venmo is not really “trendy” - it’s been around since I’ve had a smartphone and seems to be the de facto friend-do-friend app for payments.

Lastly, I don’t draw this hard, “boot someone out” line that a lot of other people seem to in this thread. If someone did show up without a Venmo or wanted to pay cash, another player or myself would gladly take the cash and Venmo on their behalf. I think it’s happened once. When someone signs up for my text RSVP list it explains we use Venmo, so it’s not really an issue.
 
Poker Zombie said:
To one person .90 is like $90. Should you not play poker if you sweat $90?

There's always one guy that thinks they should be the one to tell everyone else what they should and should not do with their money. I can't say I like that guy. That guy was probably never poor, but he's the one who knows how the poor should entertain themselves.
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No you should play poker if you sweat any amount of money.

Play at the level you can afford. If 90 cents is a big deal then that’s bad.

Who can disagree with that?
 
I realize that none of the comments below were directed at me, but I've decided to respond anyway just so that people can see that a ledger system can be extremely simple. The simple system:
Mr Winberg said:
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
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Please note it says "settle", not "electronically transfer". Pay with cash, e-transfer, goats, bitcoins, doesn't matter. If I accept, then it's settled.

bergs said:
I’m absofuckinglutely not trying to reverse engineer who paid what based on my Venmo
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There's no reason to reverse engineer anything.
However, if the bank doesn't add up, then you have the option to check each payment. An option you don't have with cash...

slisk250 said:
Don’t like cash? What the hell is wrong with you.
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This doesn't have to be a millennial thing. Some societies are (or are getting) cashless. If I enforced cash at my games, I'd have no players left (regardless of age). Nobody, except really old people and criminals, use cash in Sweden. (Whether or not that's a good thing is a separate question for a separate thread)

So for the sake of readers in cashless countries, it's better if we explore how to best handle cashless games (which I think this thread is about?) rather than all this bashing going on.

slisk250 said:
There is a reason the WSOP puts all that cash on the table in the main events heads up.
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I believe most people take a check. Also, I'm pretty sure that I've read somewhere that the money they use for that is fake.

Poker Zombie said:
So when you invite someone to a game, do you assume they have the app you use and boot them out if they don't, or do you tell then ahead of time that they must download PayPal... or Venmo... or Zelle... or CashApp... or whatever the trendy cash-sharing app is next week?
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When using the simple ledger system there's no reason to boot anyone out. Cash carries are welcome! Except in my game, because I don't want criminals in my house. (just kidding)

bergs said:
Doing the Venmo and ledger thing at a 35 person meetup would make me want to quit hosting forever. It’s cute, I guess, but it doesn’t scale.
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It scales perfectly fine. I haven't done 35, but I think the record is a bit north of 20. 20 lines on a piece of paper. I'm pretty sure 35 would be just as smooth. :)
 
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I certainly do not have a problem with the ledger thing. In fact, my players often enjoy that I keep statistics. The only thing I do not track is actual money won and loss (though that could be reverse engineered from the stats). Who knocked out who, the top finishers for the night, which seat has the most wins... it's all in fun.

I mean, who would watch baseball if they didn't keep stats. That's shits boring!
 
merkong said:
No you should play poker if you sweat any amount of money.

Play at the level you can afford. If 90 cents is a big deal then that’s bad.

Who can disagree with that?
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If 90 cents means nothing, you should be playing for higher stakes.

You play for an amount to make it interesting, but not enough so it will hurt.
 
Poker Zombie said:
If 90 cents means nothing, you should be playing for higher stakes.

You play for an amount to make it interesting, but not enough so it will hurt.
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So I should go play at the casino because I have no problem leaving 90 cents behind at cash out?

That’s sounds a little narrow-minded and preposterous
 
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upNdown said:
I wonder exactly how much of an exaggeration this is.
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merkong said:
I’m guessing a bit of one at that.
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Maybe I exaggerated a teeny tiny bit :LOL: :laugh: but you'd be surprised how little of an exaggeration this actually is! I don't think I've used cash for anything so far this year. Except when I was in France and Austria hitting the slopes!
 
slisk250 said:
I think it would have no impact here. Cash is expected and if anyone shows up cashless, I can direct them to the nearest ATM.
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You're in a thread about cash-less poker games, and you're commenting on a comment about Sweden. We aren't discussing your cash game, we know how you run your game.
 
slisk250 said:
I’m commenting on a comment by a Bostonian. Am I in your lane? Easily flustered zoomer?
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I'm not a Zoomer or flustered lol, just figured I'd guide the Boomer back to the topic at hand!


By the way, at your home game, is it cash only? I need the answer!
 
slisk250 said:
Cash is expected and if anyone shows up cashless, I can direct them to the nearest ATM.
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I understand that this would be the case at most cashgames in most countries around the world.

In most cashgames in Sweden (and mind you, I'm not exaggerating this time), if someone wanted to pay with cash at a cashgame the host would be a bit surprised but accept the cash without fuss, but would think to himself "Now what da f#ck do I do with these pieces of paper? My favorite stores don't accept cash (this is becoming more and more common) and I can't deposit it at my bank since banks no longer handle cash (this is absolutely true at most bank offices! An absolute shame IMO). Hmmm, I think there's an ATM in the city where I can deposit bills which might work with my bank, I'll give it a try!
Or wait... I'll just give it to the biggest winner, it'll be his problem!"
 
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I’ll double back, since as a boomer I am wise…

Just last night we did have player come to the session who hadn’t played in a couple months expecting a tourney (it was clear we’re only playing cash games when I talked to them) and only brought a certain amount of money. Instead of telling them where the nearest ATM was I said if they needed money they could Venmo me and I’d give them cash.

There is an application for this I guess.

They didn’t have to as they made their money at the table.

We’re still a bring your cash game but that is an option if someone got stuck and wanted to still play on.

Ken - An open-minded home game host
 

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