I have hosted home games a few times; I enjoy getting some friends together having a few cold beverages and trying to part my friends with their money. Hosting a successful home poker game does require some fore thought so I decided to share some tips with you.

1. Choose the right day: If you want people to come to your house be sure to set a day that is conducive to your friends schedules, also be sure to set a time that is feasible for your guests early starts make it easier for parents to attend.

2. Invite the crowd that is going to play the game the way you like to play: Do they play similar to you? Serious, aggressive, or just there to hang out? This is a very important step in the planning.

3. Buy in or cash game? I prefer a tournament style of game with a small buy in to attract more players to my games. Afterwards there are always a few people willing to play some cash games.

4. The ever popular food and beverage topic: I usually provide some snacks and purchase some beer but the best way to handle this is making everyone to bring something.

5. Etiquette: I also set some ground rules and some house keeping issues:

1. Bathroom locations.
2. Trashcan locations.
3. Smoking areas if necessary.

The rest of this article will be based on a poker tournament style home game:

 1.  Starting chips: Over the years I have moved to a deeper stack game 7500 in poker chips with 100/200 starting blinds. This lets my guests play for longer and enjoy the game.

 2.   Seating: Try to make all players comfortable, if you don't have a large poker table then try to set your game in a room in where the players can easily move or stretch.

 3.   Increasing the Blinds: The usual 30 min first round 20min each additional is a good standard for increasing blind and maintain a good game without dragging on to long.

 4.  Pay out: Hopefully everyone had a great time and its time to pay the winners. The payouts depend on your game and the total pot and number of poker players. I generally award 1^st place 60%, 2^nd place 30% and 3^rd place 10% and if there was a good sized pot I pay 4^th their buy in back. (It keeps that guy coming back)

 5.  Tip for building a larger pot: Offer a rebuy until the first hour is complete and then a possible add on!