I'm planning to use the following house rules for my cash game, and I'd like input from the HP gods on anything that might need to be added, removed or modified. The group is a mix of casual tourney players with no cash game experience and some slightly better players with a little casino experience in both tourneys and cash play.

My goal is to keep it simple and clear enough for the less experienced, but to cover most of the common trouble spots that seem to occur at this type of game.

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House Rules

We are here to have a good time playing competitive poker in a friendly atmosphere. To that end, all players are expected to follow the rules listed here. Violation of these rules may result in a warning, suspension, or explusion from the group.

Conduct

* You are a guest in my home. Please respect my family, my property, and my other guests.
* No smoking in the house. Smokers can use the porch, but please don't throw butts in my yard.
* Be careful with drinks and food - please use the side tables and/or cup holders.
* No firearms or illegal substances.
* Keep the noise and swearing to a minimum, at least until after the kids are asleep.
* Refrain from criticizing another player's play.
* Please avoid using cell phones at the table.

Chips & Cards

* Keep your cards and chips on the table at all times.
* Your cards should always be in front of your chips and visible to all players.
* Keep your larger denomination chips in front or on top of your stack so everyone can see them.
* Do not under any circumstances handle chips or cards that are not yours.
* Players are not required to give a chip count when asked, only to ensure that all chips are visible.

Banking

* The host is the banker, and he is the only person who handles buy-ins and payouts.
* Chips on the table are not to be transferred from one player to another. All transactions must go through the bank.
* Cash on the table does not play.
* For cash games, the standard buy-in is 40BB minimum, 100BB maximum. The maximum may be adjusted by mutual consent of all players.
* You may top off at any time in $5 increments up to the maximum.
* Cash only - no checks, foreign currency, IOUs, jewelry, or gold dental work accepted.

Gameplay

* Robert's Rules are the guideline we use, but the host has the final word over any confusion during a hand.
* Verbal bets are binding.
* The dead button rule will be applied.
* OPTAH: One player to a hand applies until hands are tabled at showdown.
* One-chip rule: a single oversized chip is considered a call unless you say "Raise" first.
* At showdown, you must show both your cards to collect any portion of the pot.
* Cards speak: At showdown, all players are obligated to ensure the best tabled hand gets the pot.
* Occasional rabbit hunting is fine, but you must expose your hole cards to the table.
* IWTSTH (I Want To See That Hand) is not permitted.

Dos and Don'ts

* Protect your right to raise by verbally announcing your action.
* Protect your hand!
* Pay attention to the action and act promptly when it is your turn.
* Don't act out of turn.
* Don't splash the pot - place your bet neatly in front of you.
* Don't read the board aloud during a hand ("Hey, the board paired, someone might have a full house.")
* Don't comment about the cards you just threw away.
* Don't string bet.
* Don't mis-declare your hand.
* Don't slow-roll; if you think you have a winner, table it quickly.
* Don't "soft play" any other players.
* Don't agree to check a hand down when a third player is all-in.
* Don't tell a player to turn a hand face up at the showdown.
* Don't reveal a live hand in a multihanded pot before the betting is complete. (Revealing your hand when heads-up is allowed.)

* If you step away from the table, you will still be dealt in, but if the action comes to you and you are not in your seat, your hand will be mucked.
(I like this for home games because usually you can time a pee break or pouring a glass of water so as to not miss being dealt in, but this gives you a little leeway)

OR

* You must be seated at the table to be dealt into that hand. If you then get up during the hand and are away from the table when action comes to you, your hand will be checked/mucked.

If you're going to be this literal about the rules, I think you should state what would happen in case of a rule violation. Especially of the do's and don't section.

My comments/corrections in color, below:
"Corrections" in red, mostly spelling/formatting, use consistent "action, period" or action colon/hyphen, whatever. Plus the occasional suggested re-write. Comments in blue. Old text left in gray where appropriate.

Just my suggestions on pass-1.

not required to make chip count is alittle harsh even if you can see all the chips

from my experience i cant always eye all the chips and i personally wouldnt like that rule but its not my home game

otherwise the list is pretty good

Your list is good, especially with the additions by The Palimax, but since no one has stopped by to start a thread about it in the last 15 minutes you've overlooked the 'magic muck' rule. (That being that it isn't magic and cards are live and retrievable if they can be identified.)

Follow up to Blah45.

Do you have someone who will count the chips should the player refuse?

Other than that it looks pretty thorough. Perfection would be getting it down to one page

Thanks, Pali - lots of good comments.

I actually meant explosion. BOOM!

The idea is to make rebuys/top-offs easier on the banker (me). $5 increments seem to be good for the stakes we'll be playing, .25/.25 and .25/.50. I won't have to make as much change, and I won't have to dig through the chips to get Joe his $8.75 top-off.

RRoP is the rulebook; I'm just emphasizing the section that states something to the effect of "rulings contrary to RRoP may be made in the best interest of the game." I'll clarify, and I will have printed copies of RRoP at all games.

You can do it, of course, but you can't verbally agree to do it. I'll rewrite.

I don't know - I thought this was fairly standard. Most players will give a chip count when asked, but they aren't required to do so; only to make their chips visible.

If it seems like a bad rule for a home game, I'll strike it.

Good catch - one or two of my players believe in the 'magic muck' so this is a definite must-have.

Yes, you're insane.

Okay, now I'll go read the post...

My first reaction looking at the wall of text is: Why?

Most of it is already covered under "common sense" and the rest of it can be handled as it goes. The players who care about this already know about it, and the rest of them aren't going to read it. New players may feel intimidated, since they just want to show up and play.

When I played the Binion's tourney series last year, they had one rule: Protect your hand. Seemed to work pretty well.

Here are my house rules:

• No Assh*les
• No Bad Beat Stories
• No Drinks On The Table

Before you throw a party, do you tell people that the goal of the party is to have a good time in a friendly atmosphere? Do you warn them that they need to be respectful of your home? This all seems like "well, duh" territory.

Of these, the only items that may need to be clarified upfront are the rules of firearms, drugs, and phones.

Here's how you cover the rest: Someone starts to pull out cigarettes, "Go outside, clean up your butts!" (does anybody light up in a smokeless room of someone's house before asking first anyway?) Someone puts a drink on the table, "No drinks on the table!" Someone loudly curses, "Hey, we have children here, keep it down!" Most of this will never be a problem, and the folks that will cause problems will need to be told again anyway. So why the rules?

Okay, these aren't bad, as they deal with general gameplay, rather than common sense idiot protection.

Unnecessary. You're the host, you own the chips, therefore you're the banker. Keep the chips inaccessible to others, and slap the hands that try to touch them. Hardly anybody tries to pass chips these days, and if they do, just tell 'em not to (and besides, there are often reason to allow it anyway). The cash item doesn't matter, because as host you'll see the cash and immediately exchange it for chips. Besides, if you run out of chips, cash should play. A rule on $5 increments is just silly, because as banker all you have to say is "Nope, I'm not touching your stinky wrinkly dollars" when someone tries to do it. Same with the checks, IOUs, etc. YOU'RE THE BANK. These issues will hardly ever come up, and when they do, you can handle them. Why make a bunch of rules?

These are fine, as they again deal with gameplay, and they cover the usual problem points. Most of these I've let be known as we've played, but if I ever get going again and decide to make a more detailed list of rules, these are the sorts of things I would do, but again trying to whittle it down to the bare minimum. Despite what it seems from my posting style, less is more.

Yeah, these are all okay, but again I wonder if they're needed? Your goal is to get tushes in the seats, not have them pass a complicated screening process. On most of these, I've had good success with addressing them as they've come up.

Good luck with your game! I'm glad you're at least thinking of these things. Having it clear in your head is important for running a game, but spewing it all out there for your players, not so much. Despite how it may seem from the forums, most games go off without a hitch. But nobody ever comes home from a game all fired up to write a rant about how smooth and uneventful the night's session was.

A good host is a benevolent dictator. I don't like rules that allow things to be changed "by consensus". You're the host, you set the tone, that's how it goes. You're mindful of your player's needs and desires, but not beholden to them.

The kind of person who's going to whine about the magic muck is not the kind of person who will be dissuaded by a reasoned discussion on the subject. Your house, your game, your rules. "No, his hand is not automatically dead, because there was a misunderstanding of the action. End of story." And that's it. Any further complaint is met with a chuckle. The more credit you give the opposing argument, the more powerful and disruptive it becomes.

Most people have common sense and most people want a clean, fair game. You set the tone, and people will respect that.

90% of Robert's rarely comes up too, but there's a special magic of having it in print.

The answer to any sort of annoying question can be: "Read 'em and weep, buddy."

Established. Go on...

You of all people should know that poker players don't have common sense. Okay, I'll admit that I'm a little bit of a rules nit, and I probably should back off on some of the more obvious stuff.

But I'm not planning to put this list in front of each new player and make them sign a waiver that they've read and understand everything. The rules will be up on the group site for those who want to read them, and I'll have a printed copy (along with RRoP) at my games for reference as needed.

This from the guy who just had a huge problem in another thread when Mr. Grabby Hands was violating banking procedure all night?

Many of the players are coming from a tourney group where we all just throw our buy-ins in a pile on the counter, grab our chips off the table, etc. I want to establish the bank rules up front so that the players from this group know what to expect, AND because as the banker, I'm going to be responsible for any shortages.

Having it available is one thing. Posting it or making people read it before playing, quite another. I like most the rules themselves, but I don't think they need to be shoved in peoples' faces. I never wrote down any rules at all, and yet I had a thriving multi-table game for three years.

Take a look at Robert's. It mostly deals with etiquette or abnormal situations. It's a backup for when things don't go smoothly while using common sense. Usually common sense is more than enough.

Ah, well, that's a little different. In that case, most of it is fine, tho' again, you really need to tell people that the goal of the party is to have a good time?

"Here as Shemendr1ck's Diner, we are here to give our bodies fuel through the consumption delicious food containing calories. To that end, all patrons are expected to act like humans who are part of civilization..."

But since it's to be available rather than posted, I don't hate on it so much.

Ah, but the problem there wasn't the procedure, it was the hosting. You're the host here, so you won't have that problem.

Okay, I can appreciate that, but I still don't think you have to write down what you plan to do. You keep the chips. Someone lays out cash, you lay out chips. You throw me the idol, I throw you the whip.

The anal-retentive OCD typing enthusiast in me loves the extensive rules, and thinks you've picked the proper points to highlight. The smooth-party streamliner in me thinks it's a bit much, and is over-thinking a simple problem.

But again, I had the mindset that this would be the rules you had at the game that you told people to read before playing, etc. From a "hey, this is how I'm going to set up this game, and I'm clarifying how it's different from what you did before, so if you're interested, go read it," then I think it's good, and I'd follow Pali's edits.

Life nit!

his house.

how about -- "* No agreements to coordinate strategy under any circumstances
"

or something to that effect. no need to call out the checkdown, just make it part of the general principle.

I understand Pfap's inclination to pare this down. People ignore a wall of text. All of this stuff is covered in Roberts (minus the changes you've made); you just need a list of highlights. The leaner you can keep it, the more effective it will be.

good list though, I might steal it from you at some point (sincere form of flattery, of course).

Do yourself a favor- put out a coffee can, or something else metal, in the smoking area.

Why? and why?


Including out of turn? What about oot chip bets?

Don't want any confusion/angles from openers.

What are you doing about the "duck my showing" clowns, who have been leading the whole way from early position?

This one needs a stronger backup, methinks.


If you do tourney nights, you might want to re-emphasize the "cash game" component, in this rule.

Depending on the mix of the group (strangers, etc), having this written down and available cuts off any "but I didn't KNOW!" crap.

Then you're gonna love me:
"DRUGS
All other drugs, whether legal or illegal, should not be brought to the site of the game(s). Required exceptions will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis with the hosts; we would prefer that you leave those types of things in your car or at home.

WEAPONS
All weapons of any type are banned from the site of the games. This is the kid rule again- there will be no potential risks allowed in this area either."

Of course, this was the FIRST thing I thought of doing, as I read the title and opened the thread to read it.

But, I restrained myself. Heh, I guess that makes me better than pfap!

You PITA. Now I gotta sort it out by hand

That's not an oversized chip, therefore doesn't apply. Now, if you're asking about THIS situation- T500 and T1k together- ... nah, that's stupid too.

I can't think of a situation where you could angle this, if "single chip" is the rule. Enlighten me.


Disagree, somewhat, though I understand your point.

ahem....

" All of the specific rules and examples that are detailed below are written as part of a more general, overall principle for the conduct of members of this private home game. This general principle is as follows:

The primary goal of this private group is to establish and maintain a regular and “friendly” venue in which the invitees may play various card games. While the play of any card game, but especially poker, is expected to be competitive and individually-focused, a general concept of decorum and consideration is an overriding goal of this private game. The spirit of this general principle is paramount; all decisions and rulings made will be made with this primary goal in mind, even if those decisions would contradict a specific rule detailed below. "

I think the rule should be "no seatee, no dealtee" while the practice should be "we'll bend the rules as long as no one objects and you aren't holding things up"


That way, if someone start causing a problem, the rule is in place to hammer them with (by dealing them out).

Saves the "pull my cards out, they're right there!" crap.