How long did it take for your home game to actually take? (1 Viewer)

[Salmonblaster]

The original group I played with is all but gone now. We had 5-6 regulars, and now there are only 3 of us OGs left, 2 that come all the time.
But, now we have a core of 8 guys who basically can be counted on to show up every week, and we have a separate invite after we see how many seats will be open after the regulars have their say. The secondary list is 20 or so people, and it usually fills in less than a minute after it is sent out.

All that to say, we had a time when we struggled to get a game together more than once or twice a month. People go through seasons in life, and you just have to keep looking for those who want to participate.

This would be my dream scenario and I'm fairly sure I can get there, it just feels like it is a million miles away at the moment.

 

[TheRealTeddyKGB]

I was really tired whe

I'm in the IE...

I was really tired when I left that post! I saw "from California" & didn't even notice the IE flag lol

 

[LeLe]

It started out pretty slow for me, I only managed to get 5 players for my first hosted game after 1 decided to skip at the last minutes.

But things get easier once you hosted enough games regularly and a longer invited list. Having a friendly environment and good setup helped in building the game as well

 

[Nine_high]

Feeling a little depressed at the moment as it appears the home game I've spent the better part of a month planning is in shambles and will likely be cancelled. My hope was to get a bunch of my friends together for a regular monthly (or twice monthly) game and I'm worried that won't ever be a reality.

I'm sure some of this is just me feeling down because something I had been working towards and looking forward to is likely not happening, but I feel like I threw myself into the deep end too soon maybe with the chips and table toppers and everything. I guess I hoped that if I made the game great people would want to play more.

My question as stated in the thread title is how long did it take for your home game to actually take and feel like it was going to happen regularly? I have tried to get the friends that are into poker to invite their friends that are into it as well to try to broaden my player pool and hopefully get to the end goal that way and that's seemingly hit a dead end as well.

Sorry for the long post and generally morose tone. I have had so much fun in my couple of months here and I'm wanting to keep playing and get the chance to host but I'm worried it won't happen. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Be patient, and look for sources of players.

My first game was looking like a bust, but 8 showed up.

My second game was looking like and overflow, but ended up with 4

Since then I have filled a table consistently. Need a second table to not turn people away.

I have multiple recruiting sources. I have co workers, I have my regular friend group, neighbors, I recruit at my weekly darts meetup, quarterly bourbon tasting, and I try to get into other poker games to recruit. Any other non poker activity is a potential recruiting source. I even recruit my wife's friend's husbands. it helps if there's some sort of personal connection since there's a built in trust too.

I have a core group of about 18 I use to establish a game (5+ rsvp), then I fill the remaining seats from my fringe groups/new players. Consistent players make it to the core invite list. I can count on a positive response rate of 33%-50% from my core group. Often the game is full just from core players.

Be patient. Establish a core group of 5-10 so you can at least get a small game live. You might need to reduce frequency and increase lead time until your group grows because people are busy. I have two toddlers so I personally can't host more than about once every 6-8 weeks. My only option is to add a table rather than add frequency.

 

[allforcharity]

Always be recruiting. This is true for a monthly home game or a yearly fundraiser. Of all the potential invitees, only a certain % will be interested and able to make it, especially if you are holding it on precious weekends, so cast the net wide so you can maximize attendance.

 

[tabletalker7]

I started my home game backwards from everyone else here. I used football season and having cable in the garage as an excuse to get the guys to come over to drink beer and watch football. When football season ended I introduced poker to them, and it stuck.

 

[louBdub]

I’ll echo a bunch of the same that’s already been said.

Very similar story to @CraigT78 - couple of dads (literally two dads, myself and @bkl334poker) got together, and started recruiting more players. I went head first into PCF, and the rest just happened.

Priority #1 for me is, build a quality game. Then grow your host skills, learn from PCF, read all the threads, hotdog roller, etc…. and just keep going.

2 years in for me, and we now have a county wide club, 22 players, 5 Host tables, working on another, two monthly tournaments ( @Stebo0792 & myself ) multiple cash tables @Seven2Wizard and we’re all on PCF for the most part now @Rogzilla

I also went from convincing players to come, to my table fills up in literally minutes of posting a game flyer. You’ll get there, just keep building.

 

[Salmonblaster]

What part of California are you in? Check Facebook for local poker groups, try to get into some games to see what groups or players you click with (don’t just invite randos to your game).

See if any bars near you host a pub league or regular games. Often they’re on weeknights to get more customers in.

Have already joined one based on your advice and have some good prospective future invitees based on that. Greatly appreciated suggestion, thank you

 

[BGinGA]

I was teaching backgammon to co-workers at work during lunch, and was asked if I could also include a NLHE class. Expanded into running a series of 'teaching tournaments', and eventually decided to host a tournament at somebody's house.

First event was three tables (24 players) on a Saturday, about half from work and half from the local backgammon club.

18 years later, we still have a core group of about 20 players; ten regulars are from the original group.

 

[TheYeti]

Back in the Poker Boom "Moneymaker" heyday, I had a tourney followed by a cash game every Friday and Saturday night, and had no problem getting at least 7-8 players to each and every game. Most nights we were full-up at 10 players.

Fast forward a few years, and my game just sort of dissolved...people lost interest, moved away, life happened. In the intervening years (~2012-2020) I was able to get a game together maybe 2 to 3 times a year, with a couple of the OGs in attendance. Due to me putting more effort into it, my player pool began to grow right before Covid (around 12-14 players) and we were able to get a game going every month or two....then Covid put the brakes on.

However, since about mid-2021 my game has been growing well! We now have a pool of around 25 players and we play once a month pretty much without fail. The table usually fills up within a couple of hours of sending out the invite.

One of the most significant growth spurts was from an old buddy of mine...one of the OGs...recently coming back to the game. He now works in the hospitality industry (manages a restaurant/bar) and he alone has brought 3-4 more new (and good) players to the game. If you have any friends (or friends of friends) who work in hospitality, hit them up.

 

[Fran]

For me it worked immediately but we only play in 6-max and I have around 12 regular players … I normally have a waiting list. I only had to cancel once because of lack of players (due to a large tournament held the same weekend)

 

[Fran]

Recruiting new potential players (two times your max capacity) is a key to success

 

[moneybuster323]

I started hosting like 2 months ago with just 2 friends, recently another dude got invited by my friend so we are now 4 players. Hopefully i can get more people later on

 

[Salmonblaster]

Decided to try to bounce back for this upcoming weekend and it looks like it'll be at least 7-handed for a Sunday afternoon/evening session. Fingers crossed!

 

[Dodger]

Decided to try to bounce back for this upcoming weekend and it looks like it'll be at least 7-handed for a Sunday afternoon/evening session. Fingers crossed!

Don’t stress. Have fun!

 

[ThrowBack]

Good luck on this upcoming weekend. I always plan on inviting more than I want and a couple not showing up. It just seems to happen.

I would also keep in mind that when you have a newer players, they don’t know how things are “supposed to be”. And there’s really absolutely nothing wrong with having what some people may consider a short handed table. I didn’t realize it until I asked her recently, but the couple regular guys at my table prefer six max. There has been zero disappointment to them when I thought we came up short on players.

 

[Salmonblaster]

Good luck on this upcoming weekend. I always plan on inviting more than I want and a couple not showing up. It just seems to happen.

I would also keep in mind that when you have a newer players, they don’t know how things are “supposed to be”. And there’s really absolutely nothing wrong with having what some people may consider a short handed table. I didn’t realize it until I asked her recently, but the couple regular guys at my table prefer six max. There has been zero disappointment to them when I thought we came up short on players.

I've figured out through some discussions with others that 7-9 is kind of the sweet spot for cash games but that 5-6 is also totally acceptable so we'll see where things shake out in the next couple of days.

 

[Salmonblaster]

Small update, one of my players is actually bringing another player with him. The pool is expanding!!

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

Where u @ in Cali? Lots of us here...

A wise man once said it's easier to make a poker player your friend than it is to make your friend a poker player.

This is very profound. And quite true. I have about a dozen or so friends that I only met because of poker. And I have a lot of trouble getting my older friends together for a game.

 

[ratbastard]

Ours took about two years. At the beginning we had really low standards and would just play 4-handed or 5-handed tournaments. We've kept it consistent on Thursday nights and have slowly, slowly grown. The more players you get, the more potential connections you build, so it sort of snowballs at some point. We had a 19-player, 3-table tournament last week, and it was the first time ever that I actually felt like we might have too many folks! We have averaged about 16 players for our every two week tournament this year, up from about 12 last year and six the year before that. Just keep going!

 

[Salmonblaster]

Small update, one of my players is actually bringing another player with him. The pool is expanding!!

So the one extra came but four players cancelled in the last two hours before game time. Super disappointing but the four of us made a go of it for a while and it was ok.

 

[tabletalker7]

So the one extra came but four players cancelled in the last two hours before game time. Super disappointing but the four of us made a go of it for a while and it was ok.

You know what you do next ......... Lie about it. The four that cancelled will eventually wonder what ever happened. Make them think they missed out on the biggest thing since sliced bread. You hype it properly and they won't miss the next one

 

[SteveEH]

So the one extra came but four players cancelled in the last two hours before game time. Super disappointing but the four of us made a go of it for a while and it was ok.

4 bailing within 2 hours of the start??? I'd evaluate their reasons and move some to the bottom/off the list. Like "my kid is sick" fair enough, but "I forgot I had plans" goes to the bottom.

Also did you follow up with everyone? I contact each player individually 3 times to keep them engaged (see link I posted above).

 

[Salmonblaster]

4 bailing within 2 hours of the start??? I'd evaluate their reasons and move some to the bottom/off the list. Like "my kid is sick" fair enough, but "I forgot I had plans" goes to the bottom.

Also did you follow up with everyone? I contact each player individually 3 times to keep them engaged (see link I posted above).

I followed up with all players all the way up to the morning of the game. Two were sick (one had a wicked sinus infection that left their face swollen, the other unsure of severity) and two had things come up that were unspecified.

 

[upNdown]

It took me a while. I tried it for half a year, several years ago and could never get more than 4-5 guys. I tried again last year and I finally got it going pretty steadily, after months of trying. I don’t think it would be working without people I’ve found from PCF, and it’s still very tenuous - I have 8 seats and I usually only fill 7 of them. But I have thoughts about recruiting.

I’ve been very comfortable recruiting PCFers - I guess because they’re party of an online community, so that comes with a measure of reliability or accountability. But I’m hesitant to recruit other strangers. I haven’t just posted online, and when I was at a local charity tournament last week, I couldn’t bring myself to just invite guys. I guess if I played with somebody a bunch of times and I got to know them, I’d feel more comfortable recruiting them into my game. But strangers? What if they turn out to be an asshole or a cheater or just a bad drunk?

I will say this, to my credit. We haven’t had any problems at my game. No cheating, no money issues, no attitudes, no arguments, no rule disputes, no angling - just good fun. And I think you open yourself up to all those things when you open-recruit. Maybe it’s worth the trade off - you can always tell somebody not to come back. I don’t know.
Anyway those are my thoughts.

 

[muzzly]

I have a player pool shared whatsapp. Not only does this make logistics easier butplayers will miss out on not being there with all the big coolers and suck outs posted as pictures. Also, it means that if people bail, they have to do it publicly.

Also makes organising logistics easier as I only have to post in one place.

 

[DeeVee8]

Ours has been going for 20+ yrs. I'll let you know when it takes. You've really got to pound the pavement.

 

[RagingAZN]

I’m a bit late to the party but as others have said, just keep recruiting. Use Facebook groups, forums, community pages. If you have 30-40 people on an invite list, you can surely scrape together a table.

With that being said, trying to organise a group of grown men to do anything is quite possibly the hardest job in the world haha

 

[Taghkanic]

1) Play in other games: home games, social hall games, cardrooms/casinos if there are any near you. Be on the lookout for people who want more action, and might be a match for your group.

2) Ask your regulars who they might know who might join the game.

 

[Salmonblaster]

I’m a bit late to the party but as others have said, just keep recruiting. Use Facebook groups, forums, community pages. If you have 30-40 people on an invite list, you can surely scrape together a table.

With that being said, trying to organise a group of grown men to do anything is quite possibly the hardest job in the world haha

I don't know, I tried my hand at cat herding back in the day and that felt like it was at least AS difficult....