hosting--which game to play?

[beekeeper]

I'm hosting a small game which I hope to become a regular thing. I'm inviting people from 2 other home/bar games I play at regularly. Both of those games are small stakes, no limit tournaments.

I know everyone likes hold'em, so we're going to start with hold'em, but at the end of the night I want to play something else, for smaller stakes, for fun or to learn, like omaha, stud, or limit hold'em. I just wanted to get people's input on which games are most fun and if you want, say why.

[noggindoc]

I like the cash games because then everyone stays involved as long as they want (or can reload), and it can be less of an all-in-fest.

Omaha 8OB is a fun game that encourages a lot of participation, even if there shouldn't be.

[pokerdirty]

play some Ring Stud, or 5card JsOrBetter. I feel like after 2 NL tournaments, people's brains will be too fried to play any sort of Omaha. Both Stud and 5card will be easy to pick up if they don't know how to play.

I like NLHE tournament play to start the evening and then break into cash games as people bust out. Everybody knows how to play NLHE and my players prefer a low buy-in event where they know the losses are capped but the potential reward is greater.

For the cash game, I prefer 7-stud, but will play anything but Hold'em. People do burn out on HE and the change of pace is a fun and educational experience.

[Hedge Henderson]

I like poker. I have fun playing NLHE, and I have fun playing crazy stud with umpteen wild cards. What'd be most fun for your game depends on you and your players, Beekeeper. Some players will bitch when there aren't any wild cards, and others will give you the "it's not real poker" crap about something as ordinary as 5-card draw.

I host a weekly ring game. We treat tournaments as special events and we hold them a few times a year. In our ring game, players take turn calling orbits. Not everyone has the same favorite game, so it helps to mix it up a bit. Our ring games end up being about 60% NLHE, but the other big games usually get at least one orbit per night.

For some reason, the ladies seem to like Omaha/8. We've also found PLO8 to be a very effective way to separate a table bully from his chips, so we'll call it a little more often when a new hotshot know-it-all sits in.

I'd suggest at least attempting a ring game one night. You have fewer worries about when (or if) players show up or leave, and no one gets the tough choice of leaving or just sitting and watching when they bust out early.

If the stakes are too high for some players vs a low-buy-in tourney, start out small, and increase the stakes at a pre-determined time, say at midnight.

[beekeeper]

thanks for all the great feedback

[tonypaladino]

I like home STTs when they're low buyin with rebuys.

People like tournament structure, and people can keep playing even after an early bust.