How to Host a Texas Hold'em Tournament

Hosting a Texas Hold'em tournament is a great way to get a group of people together for a good time. In terms of poker games, Texas Hold'em is one of the easiest games to learn. Follow these simple steps to setting up and hosting your own tournament.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• table(s) and chairs
• new deck(s) of cards
• poker chips
• timer or stopwatch

1. Step 1 - Invite your friends. In the invitation you'll want to let them know a few key points in additional to the usual time and place information. In your invitation you should clearly spell out the stakes, which in the case of a no-limit tournament is the buy-in. By setting the buy in low (at $10 for example) you are communicating that while there is money at stake, this is intended to be a fun event.

2. Step 2 - Setup / Prepare light snacks and drinks. While it's a good idea to have snacks available, don't go overboard. Pizza and chips, or meatballs served in slow cooker are usually more than enough. For drinks, it's best to load up a cooler with the favorite beverages of your buddies. This keeps them out of your refrigerator, and makes them feel more comfortable grabbing a cold one. I also recommend using a separate trash container for cans and bottles to make recycling easier.

3. Step 3 - Pre-Tournament business. Before the tournament starts there are a few administrative duties to execute. First, collect everyone's entry fee. It's a good idea to store the money inside one of the empty card boxes which will be stored in a secure location. Next, if necessary, provide an explanation of how the game works. Also at this time you should announce the intervals at which blinds will go up. For a quick tourney set the time at 15 minutes. For a higher stakes tourney set the interval up to 30 minutes. Finally, ask each person to count out 50 chips (chip color does not matter). All chips carry the same denomination to keep things simple. It is at this point that in a high stakes tournament players draw for seats. It's up to you if you want to draw for seats or just let people choose their own. Finally, this is when you establish how many positions will pay out and what the payout will be. In a friendly tournament it is a good policy to spread the money out more by paying more positions. A good rule of thumb is to pay out to the top 33%. For example if you have 9 people, the top three finishers receive a pay day. if you have 15 you will pay the top 5 finishers.

4. Step 4 - Once everyone has paid, knows how the tourney will work, and has their chips and seat it is time to get things started. Shuffle the cards and deal one card face up to each player at the table. High card gets the first deal. Remember to set the timer for your set interval, then shuffle up and deal!

5. Step 5 - Payouts - Following the payout plan established in step 3, as each person is eliminated from the tournament pay them their winnings. In friendly tourneys it's a good idea to do a formal presentation of the winnings, even if it's your money they are winning.

Tips & Warnings

• While it is nice to have a real poker or Texas Hold'em table, it's not necessary. You can use any table that seats six or more people.
• As host it is your responsibility to setup, greet your guests, MC the show, administrate the tournament, and clean up (yuk). All these responsibilities can make hosting less fun than just attending a tourney.
• For high stakes tourney it is imperative to spell out the rules and details ahead of the tourney. For friendly games that have a small buy-in you can be a bit more casual.
• While it's usually OK for your friends to bring other friends. Be careful about who you let come into your home.

[porter8]

on 10/25/2009 Another great article by Alqo9. I held my first tournament two weeks ago following your directions and everything went well. I'm looking forward to hosting another soon.