I recently started a home poker league. First week I had 12 players so we started with two tables of 6 players each. For tonights game have 11 confirmed players. Do I start with 1 table of 11 or 2 tables of 5 & 6 players?

I have a large custom table which could seat 11 at so that's not an issue.

Which would you prefer to play?

This was discussed before in this thread: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/24...ables-1115636/. You might want to read it.

Given you have room to seat 11 at one table, my personal preference is
tournament - one table
cash game - 2 tables

Of course the game being played will effect how you seat as well. For example, I wouldn't want to play 7-card stud 11-handed.

1 table with 11.

We use 12 as a cut-off for 2 tables

Thanks for the link. I should have mentioned that this is a tournament.

Cash game. I would keep it 10 handed and have the dealer not play in the hand. We've done this and it works out well.

It depends on the game. Draw games and stud games can't play with 11 people. You could play holdem games with 11, but personally I would prefer 10 be the max. This is totally up to people's opinion. I think most people pretty much agree that 12 is two tables and 10 is one, but 11 is the grey area.

5 and 6.

I go to home poker games to mix it up and play some cards. With 11 people, my starting hand range is considerably tighter. With 11 people, that's more people who don't know how to deal, more phones and beer bottles and whatever else in the way of dealing, more people to try to get to pay attention every hand. 11 players is a nightmare of boredom and frustration, and doesn't encourage me to return.

With 5 or 6 players at my table, suddenly things go quickly. I can play more hands. More chips are being thrown around. Action, action, action! Now I'm having fun, and it's a game I want to play again.

I want to go to there.

Do whatever you think is best for your group. If they are a group that would prefer to start short-handed, go two tables. If they are more reserved, go one table. You know what they would want better than we would.

Let us know what you decided and how it went.

10 players and a dealer

6 and 5. Combine the blind level after the first elimination if you want. 11 handed live geez if you have a mis-deal it probably wastes 10 minutes of your life.

I think I'd rather do like what often happens in mixed games and have people sitting out hands than play 11 handed.

Shuffling takes way longer when we're using the extra cards we put in the deck to accommodate 11 people.

I'm finally going to have the dilemma of having a 11+ person game again this weekend. Feels good, man.

I ended up with 13 players last night after having 2 players decided to play late in the day so this eliminated the issue for this game. In the future if I get 11 players I will go with two tables and combine to one table at 10 players.

I have a dedicated dealer/player at each table and we pass the shuffle so the game moves fast. I think with two tables going we would lose the first player faster than playing one table of 11. I agree that playing short handed that a smart player can open their range up and be a little more aggressive.

My group is a friendly neighborhood game but most of the players are serious players looking for a good game not just a night of drinking.

Obviously not the shufflingm the passing out and handling of cards. More cards to get passed out, more chances for somebody to flip one over, more chances for somebody to get passed up, more confusion/time spent collecting them when it does happen, etc. Probably not as big deal in some games but if you read some of the dealing procedure horror stories in here 11 handed would be just yikes for them.

That's of course not mentioning the extra actions per round which includes more opportunities for the joys that the Chris Ferguson style folders of 6 high bring to our lives. 9 is painful enough live.

Yeah, I'd start with 2 tables.. hoping that those extra guys showed.

Re: Combining at 10... I prefer to combine at 9, allowing 2 tables to play 5 handed. My tables don't seat 10 quite as comfortably, and more shorthanded play means twice the action for those still playing.

Besides, with only a few eliminated, they can probably wait for the tables to combine before starting a cash game supershorthanded.

we run into this every so often and we play 11 at one table, 12 and up at two tables. i personally don't like to start a tournament at a 5 handed table. it works well for us...

Grunch:

Find 5 more players LDO

Even if I had 12 or 13 I would just seat everyone at one table and let gool ol' attrition whittle it down to a more manageable size. I don't like playing less than seven handed.