In the last few Ultimate Home Game articles I’ve done, most of the time has been spent talking about the types of materials and items you would need in order to successfully put on a home game for your friends and poker mates. Today though we should discuss what actual types of poker you should feature during your home games, as not all poker variations are suited for these sessions unless you’re playing with a particularly experienced group of people.
Naturally the first type of poker that everyone wants to have at their home game is Texas Hold’em, usually of the no-limit variation. This will normally be your safest bet when it comes to game selection, though I would suggest that you remove any players that aren’t experienced at dealing from the process of having to deal. Texas Hold’em is more fun when it is fast-paced and you get to see a lot of hands, something that is near impossible to do when you let people that can barely hold the cards deal. If you decide to go with Hold’em, I also suggest that you do it as a tournament, this way you have a set goal, a set end time of the home game (at least for that particular tournament), and it’s an easy way to ramp up the competitive level of the table.
Other than Hold’em, there are other types of poker to consider. Unless you have players that are 40+ years old, I don’t suspect that anyone is going to want to play less popular games such as 7 Card Stud or Razz, so you can just scratch those off the list immediately. If you want to change the pattern a little I would suggest going with some form of Omaha since it is very similar to Texas Hold’em and will allow the non-Omaha players at the table to catch on very quickly. If you yourself aren’t too familiar with Omaha, do some online research and pick the variation of Omaha that you would be personally comfortable with, then try to add it in to your next home game.
Lastly, there are the types of card games that fall outside the realm of well-known poker variations, but they can still be a lot of fun to play. If your home game is full of friends that aren’t poker fanatics like yourself, you may want to skip Hold’em and Omaha all together and go with the old card game standbys that we all played as kids such as 5 Card Draw or In-between. We all remember 5 Card Draw growing up, so everyone should know how to play it. Skill will basically be thrown right out the window, but who cares as long as everyone is smiling and laughing? I suggest going with the “Baseball” variation of 5 Card Draw, where 3s and 9s are wild (three outs, nine innings). This will still keep the game manageable since you won’t have half a dozen cards classified as “wild”, which will help the showdown hands from being too ridiculous.
You can also ask your friends what type of poker they want to see at the home game, especially if the same people come over again and again. If someone suggests an odd but interesting game, give it a chance, as you never know what great new form of poker is out there just waiting for you to give it a go.
Chris
- Chris Laquinta is a magazine editor, content specialist and poker fanatic with 10+ years writing experience and over 1,500 published articles. Chris is a naitive of Southern California, where he spent his entire life learning gaming concepts and theories from relatives that had been former professional gamblers. He currently resides in Torrance, CA where he works as a professional content writer and part-time SNG professional.
