Hey all, I've got a couple questions, related to our monthly poker tournament/league and cash games.

First issue, the tournament question.
We had 21 players across 3 tables. We allow re-buys for the first 3 levels. This month there were more rebuys than normal, and I was trying to keep the tables balanced, keeping in mind the amount of rebuys going to each table. I didn't want there to be too many chips on one table because more people were busting on one vs the others. It seemed to even out pretty quickly, but later a couple guys complained that one table had way more chips than the other.
My question is this: Is there a method of balancing the tables based on chip distribution, or should it simply be done by moving players based on table position without regard to chips.
For example, Table 1 had 3 rebuys, Table 2 had 3 rebuys and Table 3 only had 1, so when the 4th rebuy on Table 1 occurred, should I send that player to another table? Or send one of the big stacks to another table? As I'm typing this those options don't really seem to solve anything, but I'm curious if anybody has experience or suggestions.

Second issue, the cash game.
The bust outs usually start a little dealer's choice game on the side. About 2 hours into the side games, after one guy cashed out and left, someone noticed the remaining bank looked pretty thin. After counting it down vs what was left on the table it was short by $50.
Now I know you should always have only one person, usually the host, keep the bank, and handle all cash/chips, and if it's short, they might have to eat it if they can't figure out where it went wrong.
But that didn't happen this time, and I'm not sure who, or how many, were involved in getting that cash game started, so there was confusion.
My question is: Should the host have to cover it, or should the remaining players have to chip in to cover it? Appreciate any suggestions on this one too.

Thanks.

I'll be interested to see how my ideas align with people with actual expertise.

First one, I'm assuming you're running 7-7-7. If so, the tables become unbalanced if you tell seat X to move to other table. I don't think I'd worry too much about the chip difference until balancing due to players busting and not rebuying.

One way to limit the problem might be to limit to one rebuy [if it's a deep-pocketed player(s) doing the majority of the rebuying, and therefore skewing the table he's at].

In the example you cite, one table has 8 BIs, the other two have 10. Certainly noticeable, but not end of the world.

Second, you identified the problem initially. One person controlling the money. Another possibility that occurred to me is player X sneaking in some chips and cashing, if you don't have a custom set. So that might be something to consider. But most likely, an honest mistake.

Tough one to say who should eat the loss. On the one hand, the remaining players shouldn't be shorted. However, if the host wasn't controlling the chips and money, it doesn't seem like his responsibility either.

In a recent version of my home game, the host (cashing out last) ended up short about 40 BBs. Since I was the big winner that night, I covered half of his loss. Needless to say, these are not big stakes. Maybe some of the winners would agree to chip in.

Mostly should be a learning experience, though. Don't let that happen again.

In the case of question number one I believe that if you draw for random seat assignments then it is the luck of the draw. In one of my weekly games we had someone who would regularly rebuy 6 or 7 times (or cause others too lol). it was either good or bad luck if you drew his table. The only time i would move a person is too balance the number of players and I always take the next big blind and never concern myself with chip stack.

I was expecting you to say one table had 10 rebuys while the others had none. There's no way I'm putting my beer down to adjust for 2 extra buy ins.

But for the future, when you need to move people for whatever reason, we go with swapping people based on their position relative to the button. So if you are down to 7-7-5 for example, look and see the table of 5 has empty chairs where CO or HJ would be, then take from one of the bigger tables whoever would be in the same position for their next hand. This way they (mostly) keep relative position and you don't have to listen to whiners wondering why some guy gets to skip a SB or some such. Pretty sure this is procedure at my local casino, though not 100% sure.

As to the cash game, I used to do the same set up as you, 3 table MTT and cash game once we consolidate to 2 tables. I will say this was rarely a smooth transition. 2 tips: first, you absolutely must have a completely different chip set for the cash game. Otherwise someone will figure out that a high value chip in a tourney will have way more value as a cash chip, and start pocketing tourney chips before deliberately busting and moving to cash, then sneaking that chip onto the stack before cashout. Second, it almost always worked out that at least one person I both trusted and was responsible would bust the tourney, and they would take full responsibility for the cash bank. All the money in my pockets was for the MTT and we couldn't get it confused (much).

When we have a shortage at the end of the night, I as host eat about half, and winners from that evening chip in a few bucks to make up the shortfall. Happens rarely, and only when I've been sloppy w cash in and out procedures. Have every stack counted by the person and another player or yourself,and pay people out more or less from small stack to large. People stuck will get their full amount and if there's a problem by the end, I'm only negotiating with people who were the biggest winners and let's face it, that is far easier than arguing w someone who was sucked out on 3 times that evening.

ETA: You don't need custom chips but you def want chips that are uncommon. I chose mine from a local online retailer, so the design isn't custom but it's unique enough that I have never ever seen a similar set in 10 years of playing/hosting.

First Issue - Not really an issue unless you think it is.......some players believe getting it in bad and rebuying gives them an edge if they have a weak table. It allows them to build a massive stack. I don't think there is anyway this is the case for a 3 table tournament, but whatever. Let people play there chips they want to play them. If you start seeing the rebuys getting abused and don't like it limit rebuys for the next tournaments.

Second Issue - Likely an honest mistake, but there is no way the host should eat the cost. You are letting people in your home to play a rake free game while covering costs of chips/cards/toiletries/etc. If everyone sat down and played without a central banker in charge then they took on the risk of something like this happening and should split the cost equally. It def sux, but lesson learned. Never play cash without a central banker that takes the responsibility of keeping money and chips equal.