Rat-holing at Home Games

[Jonsan]

I recently hosted my first cash game (had only done tournaments before). We played $.05/$.10 NLHE with a $15 buy-in, and this is what I did for the bank:

Before the game, I stopped at the office of a grocery store and changed 3 $20 bills into 2 $10, 5 $5s, 14 $1s, and $1 in coins. I put that money into a small lockbox along with a piece of paper with the current amount of money in the box written down ($60). Before the game, I showed the players the bank, and made special note of the piece of paper showing the starting bank balance.

Anytime someone wanted to buy chips I asked they do so directly from the bank. I put their money on the table, counted the chips where everyone could see, and put the cash in the bank after giving them their chips. When someone wanted to cash out, I counted out the chips in front of everyone, and laid out the cash next to each pile of chips so there were no mistakes.

At the end of the night I made sure to count the money left in the bank, and there was $60, so no one got over-paid or shorted.

I run a friendly game, and nothing kills friendship faster than a dispute over money. Everyone seemed to appreciate the transparency and formality, so I recommend a similar method if the banking is too muddled.

Hope that's helpful.

J

[2+2 wannabe]

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You would do better to make sure anyone who buys chips does so from the bank. The more chips in play, the better the game.

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at our home game, we make change from each other (i.e. if I bust someone they'll buy 100 bucks back from me directly)

it takes that 100 off of the table, but everyone (including me) prefers it this way

[Lottery Larry]

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Question for you guys... my homegame is relatively serious, but not very experienced, so I'm sure there's some things that we normally do without even blinking that many people would consider a breach of ettiquete.

For cash game purposes, we all buy-in with $20. So, when people leave throughout the night, they either leave broke, or they cashout from the buy-in money to the nearest $20, and sell the remaining chips to anybody who wants to buy them with a few singles or whatever.

So, we just keep $20 in there, and towards the end of the night all the singles in the house are gone, and we're left with a bunch of stacks that don't just "round off" to the nearest $20.

So, the typical method of cashing out, at least in my case, is to cashout the bulk of my stack (to the nearest $20), and then play with the remaining stack either until I lose it, or build it up to another $20.

In our game, nobody questions it... it's standard, but I know this would definitely not fly at the casino, and I'm guessing that most of the homegames wouldn't allow this either. You either cashout and stop playing, or you play with your entire stack until you're done.

Opinions? Totally rude?

I mean, it's not like I'm taking money off the table throughout the night, I'm just doing it once at the end of the night, and then donking off the last $4-5 of chips into the next couple pots.

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Given that this is an accepted practice for your group, I think the rat-holing to avoid change is okay. Much better would be to make a rule where everyone needs to bring change for a $20, for cashing out.

Explaining the rathole policy to new players is a must, when they first come to the game.

I think you should change your practice, however, and cash out properly.

[DavidNB]

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[ QUOTE ]
You would do better to make sure anyone who buys chips does so from the bank. The more chips in play, the better the game.

[/ QUOTE ]

at our home game, we make change from each other (i.e. if I bust someone they'll buy 100 bucks back from me directly)

it takes that 100 off of the table, but everyone (including me) prefers it this way

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I have had some problems in past at games that do it. If everyone agrees and it works ok then thats fine.

I was at a home game once where between players borrowing from the pot, from each, and buying chips from one another, there wasn't enought money left in the pot to pay off what guys had in chips. AKA, someone ended up trading in a IOU for chips or something like that.

[GeniusToad]

as the host or banker just make a point of it to bring change.
if you're all used to the way you do it and nobody minds the pot being off from time to time, stick with what works for you. otherwise, a brief stop at the bank on game night will solve the problem.