Organising a poker tournament is an ideal activity for a fun evening with friends, and it is also relatively easy to arrange. Whether in winter or during a summer barbecue, poker always creates atmosphere – provided you have the necessary equipment and fine-tune the type of tournament you are organising beforehand. Although a classic poker tournament often involves wagering money, you can just as easily organise a tournament with no stakes, just for fun.
Here are all our tips and tricks for organising your own poker tournament:
Summary
1. Determine the type of tournament
Texas Hold’em
The most popular poker game is Texas Hold’em. Each player is dealt two face-down cards and five community cards are placed face-up on the table. By making combinations of their own cards and the community cards, each player puts together the best hand of five cards. The player with the best combination wins.
Omaha
In this variant, each player is dealt four face-down cards. Each player must combine exactly two of his four cards with three of the community cards. As in Hold’em, cards are dealt on the flop (three), the turn (one) and the river (one), with bets placed after each of these rounds.
Stud with seven cards
This variant used to be the most popular. Each player is dealt a total of seven cards, two of which are closed from the start. There are no community cards. There are several rounds of betting and the player with the best hand of five cards wins.
You choose which variant you play, although Texas Hold’em is usually the most popular choice. Consult with your guests and together choose the game variant that best suits your preferences.
2. Choose a date and location
For your poker tournament, you obviously need a suitable location, preferably a large table where everyone can sit comfortably, with enough room for drinks, snacks and playing space. You can hold the tournament in your living room or outside during a summer evening on the terrace.
3. Determine buy-ins and prizes
The buy-in is the amount each player pays to participate. You can determine this amount based on your budget and the number of participants.
Prize money is usually divided among the players who finish in the top, based on fixed percentages.
However, a poker tournament does not have to be about money. You can also opt for token prizes such as a beer for the winner, a free meal, or a small gift. This keeps the game low key and fun.
4. Provide the necessary equipment
For a poker tournament, you need some basic items: a set of playing cards, poker chips and, ideally, a poker table or mat. You can easily find complete poker sets online or in game shops.
Here are some tips:
- With 500 chips in different colours, you can easily organise a game with 10 players.
- Make sure that only you distribute the chips, especially if playing for real money, to ensure fairness.
- Two decks of cards are sufficient for each gaming table.
- A dealer button (‘dealer’ token) is useful to indicate who is dealing the cards – it is usually just included in the poker set.
5. Invite your players
Send your invitations via e-mail, phone or text message to your friends and invitees. Be sure to include all practical info such as the date, time and location of the tournament. The ideal number of players for a poker game is between 6 and 10. With more players, the game slows down considerably, making it less fun.Also, make sure your guests know at least the basic rules of poker.
6. Explain the rules of the game
Before the tournament starts, it is a good idea to clearly explain the rules again. Make sure all participants have a good understanding of how the tournament works. For instance, you can print out the rules of the game and hand out the blind levels to all players.
7. Provide food and drinks
To make the tournament more enjoyable, provide drinks (soft drinks, beer, wine…) and easy-to-eat snacks. Choose simple, easy-to-consume snacks that you can take in between without much effort. Think bowls of chips, pistachios, olives, pizza pieces or mini-burgers. Don’t forget napkins or kitchen paper, either, to keep your poker mat and cards tidy.
Use our online registration or ticketing system to manage your participants efficiently and let your participants in quickly and easily with our access control. Are you organising a large-scale tournament? Then our on-site cashless payment solution is also ideal!
