What is a reasonable "fee" for food, drink. etc?

[kodonnell]

I would definitely steer away from charging an entry fee (any money the players are required to pay on top of what goes into the prize pool). This could be construed by authorities as a commercial gambling house. Taking money from the prize pool for food/drinks is the same thing.

I would suggest stating the entry for the tournament is $50 and you will be accepting an additional $5-10 for personal beverages/food. If they pay the extra 5-10, they get beverages/food. If not, they don't. But even this is a bit sticky.

I host a weekly tournament and have never asked for additional money on top of the prize pool for anything. Players know this and expect to bring their own beverages. My fridge is usually stocked with beer (mostly for me) but players sometimes dip into it. It's a bit of an expense, but it is worth not risking the legal issues associated with taking additional money. I consider the additional expense just a cost of the convenience of having a game at my house.

[chaas4747]

[ QUOTE ]
"I have never liked the idea of taking it out of the pot. The weekly game I play in charges $10 on top of you buy in "

Why do you see this as any different? $50 + 10 or $60 -10 is the same thing?

[/ QUOTE ]

I really think this is the same thing. We tried the other for a while. We all paid $50 buyin and the host took expenses out. It just made it tough, because if you won this week, some guy might have taken $45 for pizza and two cases of beer; the next week the guy spent $150 for booze, and ordered a taco bar. People just did not like that there was no set amount they were actually contributing to poker. This is why the set $10 was better. Any booze that was left over the host gets to keep (perk for hosting). It just simplified things.

[AlphaMeridian]

If you were to ask me, 0, but that's only because I MUCH PREFER that poker night be about poker, and not about eating. Of course, that view is a "optimum" view, not a "practical" view [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

That being said, $5 is decent if they know about it beforehand, in my mind.

-Alpha

[kalahiki]

Good point. Make a point to learn the laws of hosting a poker game in your state and don't take any risks about breaking the law... unless you're a state police officer.

Can't go wrong with making everyone bring their own food and drinks.... OR... Depending on how rich your friends are and how much gamble they have in them, I'd make it a rule that first player eliminated from the tourney should pay for all the food.

[RollaJ]

Take $10....50+10, from my experience, you will lose money if you only take 5 and plan to offer pizza +soda+ beer. If just pizza/soda you might be able to get away with $5, but beer adds up fast....of course I bought Corona, Heniken, Sam Adams, Bud......Just Bud could save you a lot too (not that type of bud, then youd have to charge $15)

[kona]

I think you should pay a great deal of attention to the posts of kodonnell and kalahiki. In California every penny put into a poker game must be returned to the winning players. You can’t take a rake of charge any kind of fee or you are illegal. As far as charging anybody anything-other then exact cost of poker you are opening yourself up for possible problems and I would avoid it. BYOB will work for drinks and have people bring what they want to eat. You can always provide some limited refreshment or snacks that are of lower cost. I usually provide come pretzels and or some dip or something to that effect as the host. Besides, the main focus of the event is Poker and that’s why the people come.

[beetyjoose]

Thanks for all the great responses guys. I appreciate all of the legal and personal advice. Personally, if it were up to me, the only chips at my house would be poker chips. I really could care less about food/drink.

However, attending a tournament that last for over 4 hours is inevitably going leave some people hungry/thirsty. I've played at home games where people do the following and I really despise both.

a.)wait till everyone arrives to order food.
b.)order food in the middle of the torney.

The reason I don't like these options is that it ends up taking an additional 30mins-hour just to get the game going or people are running to the door in the middle of hands to pay the delivery guy.

The main reason I even care about getting food and drink is to avoid these type of slow downs and distractions. For 4 or 6 guys I would gladly eat the cost of the extras, but for 20+ people, I really don't want to have to win the torney just to break even.

[zackallen]

Taking money for food and drink is a risky proposition, but not one to get to bent about.

But providing beer/liqour can compound your problem significantly.

If Mr. Fish gets loaded, loses his money, leaves and gets in a car wreck, he can sue you for providing him the drinks and letting him drive (That is why bars have a HUGE liability insurance policy). Now you have a big problem if he throws in he was at your CARD GAME drinking the free beer you gave him for being there.

So, buy food, buy soft drinks, but BYOB for the rest.

[MagicMan08]

zackallen you must be a lawyer. he he he

[TheJunkyardGod]

I would say just let people know if they want food/drinks, it's a small 5 dollar charge. (or, charge whatever you think would get your money back)

It's the same as when you go to a party with a keg, to make up the money lost buying the keg, you sell cups.