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Poker, we need to use something insted of money

I'll have to look for it, but while I was in college, my friends and I developed an alternative currency system. The foundation was the "girth," and "girthage" was devised to avoid broad monetary problems. We even had the "girth-cent" (.01 girth).

One girth was equal a six pack of soda, a Big Gulp, or a half pound of bulk candy - all of which were available on the dining plan (so we didn't ahve to spend real money). Just do something similar, come up with a couple of goods of roughly equal value to you all and use them to create a currency.
 
I run home games all the time and this works best for me and my friends who are all college age. Play tournament style with a buy in of 5 bucks. Sure its hobo cash but your not there to get rich off your friends and it stops the ridiculousness of people playing stupid (unless they are just bad players). I would assume you bought enough chips to give 50 to each player or a color scheme denoting 50 starting chips to each player. Start with 1/2 blinds and up them every 20 minutes or quicker if you prefer. With 6 players or less pay out 2 spots.. 25 for winner 5 for second. With 8 people pay out three if you wish. 25/10/5.

Benefits of this system, game will last at least an hour and a half possibly more if you are playing with good people. If you lose its only 5 bucks. If the game is short and you wanna play another game its only 5 more bucks. So there is only potential to lose 10 bucks. Nothing that your gonna go broke or lose friends over.

You will be surprised about how aggressive a cheap game like this can get because there is small amount of money involved but more importantly bragging rights.
 
crazycat said:
Well i just ordred a poker table with a bunch of poker chips to use as a once in a week thing we do as friends. We are about 8 guys that normaly hang out, we all dont know how to play poker but we will start soon.

The problem is that some of us can affored to play more then others, bet more, take bigger chances which will make for an unfair game. I know its like this in real life but some in our case its a problem. We want to use something insted of money, we will make our own reward system. Chips will replace money. We are doing a system such as loser buys dinner, winner decides where to go (movies, dinner extra) and more. I would like some input from the best place on the net (MR ofcorse) so that we can start as soon as the poker table comes.

Remmber we are friends and dont want any problems to arise between us so something that will still keep the friendship alive "AND" will be fun. A friend on mine tried to pla poker without money and it did not workout as most people just went all in without the fear of loss.
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Use favors or demands.... like if you win everyone owes you favor or something.... or you can DEMAND that they run around the block naked lol

good luck with it
 
DJMastaWes said:
Winner!

Play for like candy or something. Everyone buy like a pack of skittles, pour them out and then play with those. and winner takes home 8 packs of skittles!
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Play *with* Skittles? Those is gonna be some NASTY skittles at the end of the night if your friends are like my friends!
 
I'm not sure what you could play for that wouldn't cost the losers money anyway... so you might as well play for money.

I used to play with five other friends once a week. $10 buy in. We all got the same amount of chips. The winner took home $50 and also had to bring the snacks the following week. The runner-up got their $10 back.

The idea of the winner having to supply food and/or drinks helped keep the competition from getting too serious, and also helped ease resentment toward anyone who got on a multi-week winning streak. After all, they had to spend at least half of what they won (if not more) on the rest of us.
 
hayduke said:
Play *with* Skittles? Those is gonna be some NASTY skittles at the end of the night if your friends are like my friends!
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Mmm, Mmm, Mmm! Just how I like 'em.

But really, play with some candy, try and find candies that have wrappers.
 
We play Texas Hold 'em as a tournament with no buying in.

Each person puts in £5 at the beginning. If there are 8 of us the winner takes £25, second place £15 (or sometimes £30/£10 split). This way the most you can lose is £5 but there is still something to play for.

When more money gets involved it can easily sour friendships, especially when you are all earning different amounts. Playing poker with friends(for me) should be about getting together and having a good night, not about making money from them.
 
beatsme said:
word to that. Money is an evil b@stard that will ruin your life.
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That's why the buy-in should be set at something everything will be okay with. Even if the buy-ins are for $1, it gives people something to play for other than candy, chores, or "ass-grabs". Other than the ass-grabs, players are likely to get bored after a few times.

Prelude gave an example of a great setup... make the buy-ins $5, and have the winner responsible for the next week's snacks or beers with part of their prize money. We had, for a long time, a friend who was forbidden to gamble (by his religion) but still wanted to play with us and have fun... his solution? Any winnings that he earned, he would spend the next day buying us lunch. Other times he spent his winnings on pizza for the next tournament, etc. There are ways to hold games with money involved, but allow the losers not to feel so bad.
 
Just play a tourney. Everyone throws in a set amount of cash at the beginning say $5 a piece. Then play no-limit until last man standing with all of the chips. Winner gets the pot or pay top 2 percentages of the pot.
FYI you will want to increase the blinds either every set # of hands or minutes.
IMO this is the best way to play. My friends and I play anywhere's from $25-$75 each when we do. Depending on the number of guys we have we pay a few spots.

Good luck and enjoy.

If you are interested here is a fabulous computer software that is very helpful. You can play against bots or go online to play in an online community for PAX (play money) complete with rankings. The online play is great for when you want to play but don't have a game with your buddies. The program also tracks your tendencies and tells you if you are tight or aggressive pre-flop, and post- flop.
http://www.amazon.com/Poker-Academy...bs_1/104-9788497-4543129?ie=UTF8&s=videogames
 
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pink slips?? haha I would do that if I were awesome at poker. get some very nice cars

that or monopoly money lol

although from experience only money makes the game serious for me. everything else seems like its like a joke and no big deal. losing candy eh so what lol
 
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