Poker Night at Home: The Complete Guide

What You Need (The Short Version)

• Must have: deck of cards, 2-8 friends, a table
• For chips: use Pokra on your phone (free, replaces physical chips)
• Nice to have: felt tablecloth, dealer button, snacks, beer

That's it. You don't need a poker table, a chip set, or any experience as a dealer. One phone running Pokra handles all the counting, pot management, and math.

Choosing Your Format

Cash Game (Easier)

Everyone buys in for the same amount. Play as many hands as you want. Anyone can leave at any time and cash out their chips. Best for casual groups where people arrive and leave at different times.

Tournament (More Exciting)

Everyone buys in, blinds increase over time, and you play until one person has all the chips. More structured, more dramatic, and usually wraps up in 2-3 hours.

For tournaments, use our blinds timer to manage level increases automatically.

Setting Up the Buy-In

The golden rule: set the buy-in at an amount everyone can comfortably lose. For most groups, that's $10-$20. It's enough to keep things interesting without anyone going home upset.

With Pokra, you enter the money amount per player at setup. The app tracks who's bought in for how much (including rebuys) and calculates cash values at the end.

Blind Structure

For a 2-3 hour home tournament with 1,000 starting chips:

Running the Game

With physical chips, someone has to act as dealer and banker — counting bets, managing the pot, splitting side pots, and tracking rebuys. It's a lot of work and slows the game down.

With Pokra, the app is the banker. Players tap their action (fold, call, raise), the app updates everyone's stack, manages pots automatically, and rotates the dealer. You just focus on playing cards.

Settling Up

The end of the night is where arguments happen. Who rebought? What are the chips worth? Who owes who?

Pokra solves this completely. Hit "End Game" and it shows every player's chip count, their total investment (including rebuys), their cash-out value, and the minimum number of payments to settle everything. No math, no arguments.

If you're using physical chips, plug the numbers into our payout calculator for the same result.

Pro Tips

• Start on time. Don't wait for stragglers. They can join the next hand.
• Use a cut card. Put a joker on the bottom of the deck to prevent accidentally seeing the bottom card.
• Shuffle twice. One riffle shuffle isn't enough. Two riffles + a cut is the minimum.
• Keep the game moving. Set a 30-second timer for decisions if someone is tanking every hand.
• Make it regular. The best poker nights are the ones that happen every month. Pick a recurring date and stick to it.