Should I add a second table to my cash game? (1 Viewer)

[BleedingChips]

I have been developing my small stakes (.5/.10 cash game with $20 buy in, unlimited rebuys) since last summer and finally have a big enough group to regularly fill a table with friends. There’s about 20+ guys in the pool of players and I capped my upcoming game at 10.

My unexpected situation is that the table rsvp filled up a month ago (I know that probably seems far out - I usually stay a month ahead of scheduling games because everyone has family calendars to juggle).

I added a waiting list in case anyone drops out, but I am up to 13 people that want to be there with the possibility of 1-2 more wanting to play. Should I keep it capped at 10 or consider adding a second table to split the group into tables of 6-7? I have enough chips to cover, but am interested to hear if anyone else has experience and what pros/cons I should expect?

 

[Rakrul]

Luckily for me I still had my old table, so a couple of times we've been over 10 but one or two almost always cancelled laste minute. So I said if there's 12 signups, I'll put up another table, if there's 11 then last guy is on waiting list. Since it's quite a hassle to set up and rearrange my living room for two tables, I didn't want to rig up everything, have a last minute cancellation and we're reduced to 1 table.

Anyways, I've had 2 tables a couple of times, with 15 being my max I think, but it's usually 8-10. I ended up buying more chips and chairs to accommodate this and I've been reluctant to buy a 2nd ShuffleTech since the 2nd table seems so infrequent and it's always good for the players to feel a bit FOMO and sign up early before it's full. It might be that running two tables in my living room is a bit too crowded, noisy, disorganised (I'm playing as well), whatever which has reduced the frequency - I'm not sure. It could also be coincidental.

My advice would be to wait and see if two tables are more of a regular thing happening in the future before pulling the trigger. Having two tables is more likely to increase the recruitment if you manage to run it as well as one table. If not, it might have the opposite effect.

 

[JZPdub]

If you have the space, I'm of the opinion that you should accommodate as many people to play as possible. With all of these items, just be upfront to the whole group about your plan.

For my cash game, we start with one table and then split it up to two once 12 people show up (6 and 6 on each table, adding a player to each table as they show up, rebalancing as necessary) and then go back down to one table when we're back to 10. Also, we randomly split up the table by drawing cards once we hit 12 players.

I guess the con is that we do have to stop the game when we hit more than one table, but it's really not a big deal.
As a pro, if you let folks know that you will have two tables, that may encourage more people to come, since they know they'll have a seta.

If you've got 13-15 people, I say go for it, but just let everybody know upfront what your general plan is.

Of course, this all assumes you have the space, table, cards, and chairs to have a second table.

 

[DeeVee8]

If a poker game isn't growing, it's dying.

 

[BleedingChips]

Luckily for me I still had my old table, so a couple of times we've been over 10 but one or two almost always cancelled laste minute. So I said if there's 12 signups, I'll put up another table, if there's 11 then last guy is on waiting list. Since it's quite a hassle to set up and rearrange my living room for two tables, I didn't want to rig up everything, have a last minute cancellation and we're reduced to 1 table.

Anyways, I've had 2 tables a couple of times, with 15 being my max I think, but it's usually 8-10. I ended up buying more chips and chairs to accommodate this and I've been reluctant to buy a 2nd ShuffleTech since the 2nd table seems so infrequent and it's always good for the players to feel a bit FOMO and sign up early before it's full. It might be that running two tables in my living room is a bit too crowded, noisy, disorganised (I'm playing as well), whatever which has reduced the frequency - I'm not sure. It could also be coincidental.

My advice would be to wait and see if two tables are more of a regular thing happening in the future before pulling the trigger. Having two tables is more likely to increase the recruitment if you manage to run it as well as one table. If not, it might have the opposite effect.

Thank you for the advice. I like the idea of creating FOMO to encourage early signups and also don’t expect this to be the normal - if it is, then I will need to get some more chairs!

 

[BleedingChips]

If you have the space, I'm of the opinion that you should accommodate as many people to play as possible. With all of these items, just be upfront to the whole group about your plan.

For my cash game, we start with one table and then split it up to two once 12 people show up (6 and 6 on each table, adding a player to each table as they show up, rebalancing as necessary) and then go back down to one table when we're back to 10. Also, we randomly split up the table by drawing cards once we hit 12 players.

I guess the con is that we do have to stop the game when we hit more than one table, but it's really not a big deal.
As a pro, if you let folks know that you will have two tables, that may encourage more people to come, since they know they'll have a seta.

If you've got 13-15 people, I say go for it, but just let everybody know upfront what your general plan is.

Of course, this all assumes you have the space, table, cards, and chairs to have a second table.

I like your approach and thanks for the advice. I do have a smaller octagon table that is probably most comfortable for 4 people, but could probably squeeze 5-6 if needed. Would it be unfair/poor etiquette to have a big table (7-9) and small table (4-6) running at the same time instead of equally sized tables?
My concern is the smaller table might feel like they can’t win as much or they’re missing out on the big group.

 

[tabletalker7]

Your "problem" is not a problem it is a blessing. Go to Costco, get one of those tables everyone here is injuring themselves to get their hands on, and enjoy having a 2 table game

 

[BleedingChips]

Your "problem" is not a problem it is a blessing. Go to Costco, get one of those tables everyone here is injuring themselves to get their hands on, and enjoy having a 2 table game

Good perspective! Funny enough I upgraded my big table a couple months ago to the Barrington Costco special.

 

[BleedingChips]

 

[Munchies11]

View attachment 1442398

I like the old Pepsi and Coke vending machines in the back ! Nice touch

 

[JustinInMN]

Thank you for the advice. I like the idea of creating FOMO to encourage early signups and also don’t expect this to be the normal - if it is, then I will need to get some more chairs!

This has very much been @merkong 's approach and it's been working for him for 2-3 years now.

There are some complications with adding tables. I have only done it for cash a few times myself.

If you keep it all the same stake, I think you can still create some of that FOMO urgency using "must-move" seating. Have a main game and a second game and when you split (say when the 11th player arrives) the first six players that arrive stay in the main game and the others go to the 2nd game. (The "must-move" game. )

After the must-move game is created, all new players get added to the must-move game and then they "must-move" to the main game in order of their arrival when there needs to be balance.

The main game should always have the benefit of the imbalance when there are an odd number of players in the room. 11 players is 6 main, 5 must move. 13 players is 7 main, 6 must move, etc...

You can also add a rule that after the initial split, no one moves back to the must move game unless they are more than 2 players short.

Now if you Take the opportunity to run two different stakes, then must-move seating doesn't make sense. If this is the case you need to be pretty sure you have 5-6 players willing to play each stake.

So bottom linez, usually the good outweighs the bad when accomodating more players, but understand the complications and decide on a seating plan in advance.