How to host a single cash game night
A practical checklist for running a one-off home poker or Spades night: buy-ins, chips, payouts, and settling up without an argument.
6 minute read
- 1Agree the buy-in before anyone arrivesPick one number and say it in the invite. Everyone brings that, in cash, and nobody has to be chased on the night.
- 2Decide what the money doesWinner takes all is simplest for four to six players. Above that, pay the top three — otherwise most of the room has nothing to play for by 10pm.
- 3Set up the table screenPut the game on a TV or laptop everyone can see. It shows the blinds, the clock and a QR code.
- 4Have everyone scan inThey join with an account or as a guest. Nobody installs anything.
- 5Draw for seats and dealThe app draws seats, starts the blind clock, and tells you when to deal.
- 6Settle up from the ledgerWhen the night ends the app shows who owes whom. Cash changes hands at the table — the app never touches the money.
A cash game is one evening that stands on its own. No season, no points carrying over, nothing to maintain afterwards. It is the right format for most home games and the easiest thing to get right.
Before anybody arrives
Pick one buy-in and put it in the invite. Twenty, thirty, whatever suits the group. One number, stated up front, in cash. The alternative is working out on the night that three people brought different amounts, which is how a friendly game turns into a negotiation.
Decide what the money does, and say that too. For four to six players, winner takes all is clean. For seven or more, pay the top three — roughly 50 / 30 / 20 — because in a big field winner-take-all means most of the room is playing for nothing by mid-evening, and people who are playing for nothing go home.
Decide about rebuys. Allowing them keeps people at the table; barring them sends somebody home at 8pm. If you allow them, cap them and say when they close.
What you actually need
- A deck of cards, and ideally a second for the next table - Chips, or anything countable — the app does not track stacks, and neither will you accurately after four hours - A screen everyone can see. A TV is ideal; a laptop propped up works - Somewhere to write the house rules, or a screen that holds them for you
On the night
Put the table screen up and let people scan the code as they arrive. That is the part that saves the most time: no collecting names, no spelling anything, and people who play once as a guest leave no permanent record behind.
Draw for seats rather than letting people choose. It takes ten seconds and it avoids the four friends who always sit together.
Then follow the prompts. The screen tells you when to deal, pauses itself when somebody busts so you can pay them out and reseat, and puts the blinds up on schedule whether or not anybody is watching the clock.
Settling up
This is where home games go wrong, and it is entirely avoidable. Keep one record, in one place, that everybody can see. Not four people's phone notes.
The app keeps a ledger of every buy-in and every payout as they happen, so at the end of the night there is a single list of who owes whom and how much. Cash crosses the table; the app never holds or moves any of it.
When to use a season instead
If the same crew plays every week or two and you want standings that mean something, that is a [tournament with a season](/guides/host-a-poker-tournament) rather than a run of cash games. The difference is whether tonight's result still matters next month.
[Start a cash game](/play) — it takes about a minute.