Hosting a Poker Night with friends is a great way to get together, have a few drinks and do some friendly gambling, so set up your Texas Hold ‘Em evening. This game consists of each man getting two cards with three community cards shown after the first round of betting, a turn card that is revealed after another round of betting and finally the river card which is turned over following another round of betting. The final round of betting is done following the river card. With a £10 buy in you can attract your friends to an enjoyable budget night in and by stretching it out to two games your Poker Party can go on all evening with the total buy in per person at £20.

Seating

Seats can be allocated by drawing cards. This is done by high cards being laid on the poker table at random; they will include Ace, King, Queen, Jack, ten and so on to accommodate the amount of players taking part. The players will then draw from the cards provided, for example if the jack of diamonds and king of hearts are on the table then the drawing pack will contain a jack and a king of different suits in order to allocate the seating. This seating arrangement should be done for both games so players aren’t seated in the same spot giving the ‘deal’ a fair spread over the course of the evening.

Chip Value

Chips will need to be distributed to each player. As the buy in is £10 the poker chips should be allocated value, for example red chips will signify 10p, white chips 20p, blue chips 50p and black chips £1. The distribution can be as follows, 10 red chips, 5 blue chips, 6 blue chips and 5 black chips. You should set a minimum small blind starting at 10p with the big blind at 20p and every half an hour an alarm will signal a blind raise. These will develop over the game to 20p/40p, 40p/80p, 50p/£1, £1/£2 and so on. In later rounds if the game requires a bigger pot then the amount raised on the blind can be decided at the discretion of those still at the table.

Remember your there for a friendly game with friends but your also there to win, £20 of your money is in the pot and make no bones about it, your around that table to get your £20 back and with interest. By playing with this sort of buy in price it keeps the game friendly, relaxed and all good fun but also provides a nice incentive as if you’ve got the ideal number of six or seven players there’s a tidy pot of £120 – £140 that you can split into winner takes all or give set prizes to the top two or three, it all depends how confident and generous you all feel.

‘Know When To Hold, Know When To Fold’

By playing with friends you’ll tend to know what kind of poker player you’re up against and what kind of bets they make when holding a good hand. That’s the key to winning pots; you’re playing against the opponent, not the cards. If there showing signs of holding good cards then it’s at your discretion on whether to take the hint and get out of there. There’s a saying a friend of mine uses, ‘know when to hold, know when to fold’ and this motto can be aided by what’s in the pot when this scenario arises.

If the pot value is low then get out of there, why mess around gambling on a low return? Each hand needs to be played with these considerations in mind. You’ll know the bully’s around the table and the weaker players too that you can aggressively ‘bet out’ of a hand. Use this awareness and these skills, it’s all about knowing at what point of the game you can to put them to use.

‘All In’

In order to win the game you will of course need that little bit of luck as however well you play your hand there’s no control over what’s turned over on the table. If you’ve got the hand to win the pot and the return looks nice then bet the players out of the game so to avoid the turn or river card. So many times these two cards can totally change an unbeatable hand into a very beatable one! An ‘all in’ shout to scare the opposition off is usually sufficient to avoid seeing these turns and taking the pot.

There is always the skill of bluff too if your cool and confident enough. Bluffing needs to be timed to perfection in order for it to come off, so many times players think an ‘all in’ shout will scare everyone away and so many times they get called and knocked out. If your making that call make sure you know nobody’s following you up which you should know by who you’re up against, remember it’s the player not the cards.

A good bluffing method which also helps feel your way into a hand and discover what cards players are holding is by betting the minimum. When you get a big hand, say two Aces or big slick, by betting the minimum you stay in the hand quietly and slowly begin building pot value whilst investigating how each player is playing their respected hands. How your opponents play their hands determines when you make your move and take everyone out of then hand with the unexpected ‘all in’ shout. This is another example of watching your opponents and studying their style of play. If you can do this and master it the Poker table is your pay check!