Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

my friend is hosting the 16 person tourney and wants to do BYOB (since there are various levels of drinkers playing) and collect about $5 for wings, chips, dip, etc. buyin is 35+5.

I think this is perfectly fine as i dont think someone should lose their gambling and grocery money to the same group of guys on the same night, but he's a bit reluctant. i told him i'd gladly bring my beer and pay $5 rather than host it myself and deal with all it entails.

what do u guys usually do or expect hosts to do?

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

I host a game twice a month. It is BOYB and bring a dish or snack item for everyone to share. There is always more then enough food and everyone is happy to being something for everyone to share. In most states it is illegal to ask for any money that is not being paid out to the winners. It is considered a rake even if it is going to pay for food.

I have hosted games as large as 35 players and like I said there is always more than enough food to go around.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

Tourney I've been playing in has run once a week for about two months now. I've played in it the last four times with numbers of people ranging from 12 to 27. Fifty dollar buy in.

He just started chagring 5 bucks to play in it. And he doesn't provide anything (although he's had to buy a buncha chips and built another table, and the last game he was sitting next to me kinda hammered and offered me shots...).

I don't really begrudge him the five bucks, although I think it was inspired by the guys at the game soliciting for a 400 plus 40 dollar tourney. And I do begrudge those guys their juice, its one thing for a few bucks (ok a hundred for the tourney I've been in) for your trouble, its another for me to be part of your endeavor to make a couple of thousand bucks.

So no, five bucks for hosting and throwing in snacks too? Not a problem.

--Zetack

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

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I host a game twice a month. It is BOYB and bring a dish or snack item for everyone to share. There is always more then enough food and everyone is happy to being something for everyone to share. In most states it is illegal to ask for any money that is not being paid out to the winners. It is considered a rake even if it is going to pay for food.

I have hosted games as large as 35 players and like I said there is always more than enough food to go around.

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This is what we do also and it works fine.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

When I host I usually provide something like pizza, chicken strips, hamburgers, etc. and have others bring their own drinks and chips/pretzels/etc. It spreads the costs out a little bit.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

Personally, I shy away from home games with a rake no matter what it is for. A home game with a rake no longer qualifies as a home game any more. I host home games and I provide some snacks and ask players to BYOB. Aside from a general issue with the rake (whether you want to call it that or not), you cross a legal line, even in states where home games are legal, when you charge a house fee regardless of what it is for and/or whether you actually net anything.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

If the food is acceptable to good I pay the $5 happily. If it's cheetos and some unidentifiable "chili" then I don't want to pay it. I collect NO rake at my games but I only provide a bag or two of chex mix, BYOB. I tell people that they should bring snacks for everyone sometimes and some people do.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

I have hosted most of the games past few months. I don't ask for money, and I stack up the fridge with iced tea (underage - parents are a nuisance) and the tables with chips. No one has offered and I haven't asked for money. Basically, I take enough that I don't need to charge on top. $5 shouldn't turn heads though, if you need it.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

If you were getting together for baseball or Yatzee or whatever I think its ok to tack on a fee to cover expenses if you like. When your talking about poker then you talking about a whole new game. I would pay close attention to what people have been saying about the legality and being a rake. No matter what you want keep your game legal. Here in the Los Angeles area we had a couple of games busted up by the police. People were arrested because they were taking a rake on the action. I will not take any chances and I would suggest anyone should think twice before following that course.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you were getting together for baseball or Yatzee or whatever I think its ok to tack on a fee to cover expenses if you like. When your talking about poker then you talking about a whole new game. I would pay close attention to what people have been saying about the legality and being a rake. No matter what you want keep your game legal. Here in the Los Angeles area we had a couple of games busted up by the police. People were arrested because they were taking a rake on the action. I will not take any chances and I would suggest anyone should think twice before following that course.

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In my state, juice or no juice, if you're playing for money its illegal. So the rake doesn't change anything except perhaps the liklihood of the game being busted. The fuzz is much more likly to go after a money making operation than a friendly home game. But legally they can go after both.

--Zetack

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

no. some guys bring some stuff. I usually bring some cookies or something my wife bakes, or some beer. If people are really hungry, they usually chip in and order pizza. It simplifies things... I fear it would get too serious if there was a rake.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

Yeah, be really careful with the $ for food. I occasionally go to a fairly large game (ca. 30 people) with a $20 buy-in and $5 for food. What happens if he doesn't spend all of it on food? Then it's house profit.

I mentioned this to a friend, and he basically looked at me like I was being a policeman and ruining the fun. It only takes one player to get pissed off, though, and rat the game out, alleging that the house is taking a cut. It's happened before to games.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

I run a monthly tournament that is $20 +$5. Because the night starts at dinner time and when some guys are getting home from work, I provide a light dinner. We've done subs, pizzas, grilled burgers, chilidogs, sandwiches etc w/ BYOA(lcohol).

Any extra money goes towards the December TOC pot.

The guys haven't had any gripes with this setup as long as there continues to be a good spread, not just cheetos as someone said.

If I'm going to a game without a prearranged setup I'll bring a couple drinks for myself and a bag of munchies.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

Tell him to do it. I'd just let everybody know what they are paying for (pizza, chips, wings, etc.).

The turnout at the tournament will let him know if he did the correct thing (very few players = bad idea; full house = good idea).

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

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Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?

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When I send out my e-mail invitations for my events, I have always had my games setup as "Each player is responsible for their own snacks and drinks; bring enough food/snacks for 1 additional player so that there is plenty to go around".

That has always worked out for our group. Those that don't bring anything are shamed when they go looking for something to eat or drink. I just tell them "Sorry, you were responsible for your own food and drinks". They usually participate the next time they show.

Occasionally, because I enjoy hosting, I'll grill hamburgers or cook pizza at the house before starting the event. I don't expect anything from the guys when I do this, but a few are polite enough to leave a couple of bucks; others don't.

That's the way I prefer it, not forcing anyone to pay for food, becasue there's always someone adding up the total rake in there head to see if they're getting screwed.

I don't host the games to profit; I play the games for that [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img].

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

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Any extra money goes towards the December TOC pot.

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Again, this is the key, that all of the players know what they are paying for and that they know that they're not getting it stuck to them.

A host of a game should be just that, a host, not someone looking to have others pay for their poker by over charging a rake.

I have had as many as 28 players in my home at once. Everything goes smooth when everyone has a trust that there is a honest game in progress, there are rules in place in the event someone gets out of line and the implimentation of the rules is fair and just.

The quickest way to divide the group is to let on that either someone is cheating or the house is profiting from the rake in a game advertised as a "freindly game". Been there--done that.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

I've been hosting a game for about 5 months and when I started, I didn't charge a hosting fee. Some of the players would offer a few bucks to offset the cost of food and drinks and then players approached me privately and suggested that I should just charge everyone a small fee. I was reluctant at first but decided that I could actually put some serious food out for the game if everyone did contribute.

Our game is a 10 player, NLHE tourney with a $60 + $5 buy-in. The last time around I barbequed about 10 lbs. of pork shoulder in my smoker and served up pulled pork sandwiches, cole slaw, chips, etc. It was a helluva deal for a $5 service fee!

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

Don't forget eqpt replacement costs, etc.

$5 is pretty reasonable. Anyone who bitches about it ("But I don't eat/drink THAT!") can drive to their nearest casino and pay the rake, the damn cheapskates.

If you can't afford to pay, or emotionally handle, $5 to support this, then either you shouldn't be playing poker or you should stick to nickel-dime.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

I've played in 10 man home tourneys where the payout is actually the entry from 9 of the players with the tenth players entry fee going towards all of the necessary supplies (food, beer, NA bevs)

Just another idea instead of tacking on the (+5) to the entry

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

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I've played in 10 man home tourneys where the payout is actually the entry from 9 of the players with the tenth players entry fee going towards all of the necessary supplies (food, beer, NA bevs)

It's all the same thing- you've created a "buy-in -10%" tourney instead of a buyin + $5.

No matter how it is disguised, it's always a buy-in plus fee. A $60 -$5 isn't any different than $55 + $5. I never understand why people see them as different.

Just another idea instead of tacking on the (+5) to the entry

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Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

It's merely semantics...

However it is an alternative if you don't want to *increase* the "price of admission"

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

Yeah, and $299.99 is cheaper than $300 also.

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

I think there is an inherent cost to hosting a home game. Plus the down side of the clean up and being stuck with a bunch of people in your house for the whole night even if you get knock out the first hand.

So I agree with Lottery Larry "$5 is pretty reasonable. Anyone who bitches about it ("But I don't eat/drink THAT!") can drive to their nearest casino and pay the rake, the damn cheapskates."

Time planning + Clean up + poker supplies + inherent cost + inconvenience = $5 (sounds more than fair)

Re: Do most home tourneys take a small cut for food/bev costs?
 

i dont like collecting $ for food. Next saturday i'm playing in a 30 man tourney, $80 buyin. To my shock, only $60 of that $80 is going towards the prize pool. $10 per entry is going towards food/keg. $10 is going for "prizes" (dvds and such for none itm finishes.

I truly do not believe the host is pocketing money but this is just ridiculous. I played in this tourney a few months ago (no money taken out for prize/food) and won so that's really why i'm playing it again. That and i dont have a lot of exposure to "bigger" tourneys like this often.