Advertising Your Home Poker Game

Where to advertise your home poker game

  • HomePokerGames.com - This is the best place to advertise your game. Since we specialize in advertising home poker games you can be confident that your game will be plenty of exposure.

  • Craigslist - Craigslist (in the events section) is another popular place to list it. Because Craigslist is a general site, you will also attract more poker amateurs than a dedicated poker forum. If you run a serious game, then you probably don't want to post on Craigslist. CL is good for charity tournaments or completely non-serious home games.

  • Random poker forums - I wouldn't bother posting your game in a random poker forum (unless the forum is very popular) because the chances that someone who lives near you will read your particular post will be low.

What to put in the ad

  • Contact name and info (phone number or email).
  • Date and time.
  • Buy-in amount (for tournament) or limit (for a cash game). People don't want to show up for a game where the stakes are too high for them.
  • What kind of people will be playing (old/young, female only, females welcome, inexperienced, serious).
  • The tone of the game (fun or serious).
  • If you have permission to run your game, then say so in your ad. This will attract more players - specifically, players who are afraid that the game will get busted. When games get busted, many of the players have their buy-in confiscate and their ID taken down. When a game gets busted, it is usually only the host that really has anything to worry about legally. Nothing bad usually ever happens to the players, but it is also a pain in the pass for the players when the game gets busted.

What NOT to put in the ad

  • Address - don't put your address in your Craigslist ad because you don't want someone coming to your house if you haven't at least gotten their email address. You can put the address in your reply to their email that they send you.
  • Don't advertise the game if it is high stakes, it may get robbed. The more money you have there, the more you need to be careful.

Meeting people

Some people prefer to meet people in public to make sure they are not super shady. I had to do this once. It's not a big deal. Some people may require references from other games, but this isn't common.

Invites & RSVP

You'll need a system for inviting people every week to your game, as well as making sure you have enough players to play a game. If it is a small game, some people just call the other players. Most games use email to confirm. If there is someone you don't want coming to your game, simply take their name off the list. One time I played in a game with a bunch of young guys, and there was an older guy who took the game way more seriously than everyone else. We never asked him to leave, but we took his name off the email blast that went out.

  • Email - Evite - Evite is good if you want to use an email service where people will RSVP. Sometimes an RSVP can be useful to know if you will be getting a sufficient number of players to actually hold the game. I once showed up at a home game where it was only me and one other guy. We played heads-up for about half an hour until a third guy showed up and we played three-handed for an hour. RSVP can also be useful if you need to put a cap on the number of players - or if you need to know how many seats and tables you will need to have ready. Obviously you don't nessesarily need to use a service like evite in order to do RSVP. I used to play in a home game where we just emailed the host on the day of the game to RSVP. Manual email may be better if you need to coordinate a convenient time for everyone.

  • Email - Private email blast - Keeping a personal email list and sending out a blast on the day before the game is probably the most popular method of inviting people.

  • Web site - If you have your home game listed on a public web site you can just post the game and let people email you, or just show up. If you put your updates on a web site though, it would be harder to "dis-invite" someone you don't want coming anymore since they can see the game time posted. Of course, you always have the option of simply telling them not to come, but that conversation can be awkward.

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How do I list my game in Hawaii?

ilikebet on November 19, 2017

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