Home game.

Friday marks the return of the home game I'm hosting, and if things go smoothly, I think I'm going to start looking outside my coworkers and friends groups for people that might be interested. I need to make sure all the wrinkles are ironed out, as I wouldn't want people coming into the game and having a terrible time. It's one thing if my friends have a shitty time, because I know they'll be back regardless. "Outsiders", on the other hand, would never return if things are managed poorly.

I've got tournament managing software, which really helps keep things run smoothly. I can't count how many times before that we'd just estimate when the blinds should be raised, and by how much. Doing things that way, it makes a tourney go over 4 hours, and people that get knocked out early get bored. Sure, you could say it's their own fault for getting knocked out, but as odd as it sounds, they never think that way. I also don't need to be staying up until 5am watching other people play poker, as I have an innate "ability" to get knocked out fairly early in these home games.

Speaking of tournament managing, why is it that all the legitimate companies can't make a decent product? I tested most every tournament related software package on the market, and out of about 10(ok, I'm sure there are more, but I lookd into a bunch), there was one, just one that looked good. Sure, there are donationware programs out there that will work just fine, and that's what I'm going to use for now, but if this turns out to be more regular, I'd like things like stat tracking from night to night. You know, let's say that so-and-so has played in 4 of the tournaments-and I know it's geeky of me to like this sort of thing- but I think it's cool to see things like average finish, and amount of money won, etc. Come to think of it, I could track that in excel, but that's not quite as fun. The one software program that I think looks pretty slick is also $50. Phooey.

I've also got enough chips for 25 people to buy-in, but I just don't have the room to put all those people. My table fits 9, maybe 10 if they're small. Even if 20 people did show up, I don't think I'd be able to play because I'd have to be watching everything all night long. I'd rather play than watch everyone else have fun.

If any of you are in the Minneapolis area and might be interested in playing in future games, let me know.