Guide

How to settle a home poker cash game

The end-of-night math is where good poker nights go bad — counting chips, figuring out who owes what, and making change. This five-step process works for any home ring game, with pen and paper or an app.

Track every buy-in and rebuy

Before the first hand, agree on stakes (for example, $1/$2 with a $200 max buy-in). Write down each player’s opening buy-in. Log every rebuy when it happens — not from memory at midnight.

A napkin is fine for a short game. For longer nights or lots of rebuys, use a shared ledger so anyone can answer “how much am I in for?”

Record chip stacks when the game ends

When you break, each player counts their chips. Enter each player’s cash-out amount (their stack in dollars). All cash-outs together must equal total buy-ins for the night.

Calculate net results

For each player:

Bought in for $300, cashed out $450 → +$150. Bought in for $500, cashed out $200 → −$300. All nets should sum to zero (minus small rounding).

Minimize payments

You do not need a web of payment requests. Match winners to losers so the group settles with the fewest transfers.

Settle up

Send each payment once, for the exact amount in your plan. Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, and Zelle work well; cash is fine if everyone agrees.

Common mistakes

Forgetting mid-game rebuys when totaling buy-ins
Letting someone leave before chip stacks are recorded
Cash side deals that never hit the ledger
Too many small payments instead of one clean plan