# Home Game

Home Game is a site for private poker games with friends: the games you actually
play at home, not just the ones a card room spreads. Open a table, invite your
people, pick a game (or build your own), and play in the browser on a phone or
a computer.

Site: https://homegamecards.com

## What you can do

- **Open a table.** Name it, pick a game, choose the stakes. The host approves
  who sits and every buy-in, and can pause, move the table on, or close it.
- **Keep it private.** A private table isn't listed in the lobby. The host
  shares an invite link (copied, or emailed from the site); only people with
  the link can find it and join. The host can make a new link at any time and
  remove players.
- **Dealer's choice.** The next dealer calls the game for the next hand, and it
  stays until someone calls another. Bomb pots are called for one hand.
- **Build your own games.** Use the builder, describe a game in words and have
  it built, or design it with Claude through the Home Game connector. Every
  game is checked by the engine before it can be dealt, and you can simulate
  and play-test it first. Games you build are available at any table you sit
  at.
- **Table extras** the host can switch on: run it twice, the stand-up (nit)
  game, a 7-2 bonus, a turn clock, the deck cut, and an optional AI dealer who
  adds table talk.

Each table has a **Rules** button that explains the game being played, its
betting, who wins, and the table's settings.

## House games

- **5 and Dime**: One down and one up, then three more up cards. One like-for-like exchange (declare Up/Down, then pick the card), then a simultaneous high-low declare. Both must win both ways.
- **No-Limit Hold'em**: Two hole cards, five community cards.
- **Short Deck Hold'em**: Hold'em with sixes and up. A flush beats a full house; A-6-7-8-9 is a straight.
- **Pot-Limit Omaha**: Four hole cards; use exactly two with three from the board.
- **Omaha Hi-Lo**: Pot-limit Omaha, high and 8-or-better low split. Cards speak.
- **Seven Card Stud**: Two down, four up, one down. Best five of seven.
- **Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo**: Stud, high and 8-or-better low split. Cards speak.
- **Stud Hi-Lo Declare**: Stud, high-low split with a simultaneous declare. Both must win both ways.
- **Razz**: Seven card stud for the lowest hand, A-5. Highest card brings in.
- **Five Card Draw**: Five down, one draw of up to five cards.
- **Pineapple**: Three hole cards; discard one before the flop, then play Hold'em.
- **Crazy Pineapple**: Three hole cards; discard one after the flop betting, then play Hold'em.
- **Hold'em Bomb Pot**: Everyone antes, there's no betting before the flop, then it's No-Limit Hold'em. Played for one hand when the dealer calls it. Called for one hand.
- **Double-Board PLO Bomb Pot**: Everyone antes and gets four cards; no betting before the flop. Two boards: every pot is split, half to the best hand on each board (exactly two hole cards and three from that board). Played for one hand when the dealer calls it. Called for one hand.
- **5-Card PLO**: Pot-limit Omaha with five hole cards; use exactly two with three from the board.
- **Big O**: Five-card Omaha Hi-Lo: five hole cards, use exactly two; high and 8-or-better low split.
- **Courchevel**: Five-card pot-limit Omaha; the first flop card is turned up before the first bet.
- **Courchevel Hi-Lo**: Courchevel, high and 8-or-better low split: five hole cards, the first flop card up before the first bet.
- **Irish**: Four hole cards like Omaha; after the flop betting, discard two and play Hold'em.
- **Double-Board PLO**: Pot-limit Omaha with two boards: every pot is split, half to the best hand on each board.
- **2-7 Triple Draw**: Deuce-to-seven lowball: five down, three draws, fixed limit. Aces are high; straights and flushes count against you; 7-5-4-3-2 is the nuts.
- **2-7 Single Draw**: No-limit deuce-to-seven lowball: five down, one draw. 7-5-4-3-2 is the nuts.
- **A-5 Triple Draw**: Ace-to-five lowball: five down, three draws, fixed limit. Straights and flushes don't count; A-2-3-4-5 is the nuts.
- **High Chicago**: Seven card stud; half the pot to the best hand, half to the highest spade in the hole. No spade in the hole at showdown: the best hand takes it all.
- **Low Chicago**: Seven card stud; half the pot to the best hand, half to the lowest spade in the hole (the two is lowest, the ace high).
- **Johnny Wad**: Five down, then one community card (the spit) everyone uses. Draw up to five, then a simultaneous high-low declare. Best five of your five plus the spit; A-5 low, no qualifier. Both must win both ways.

## House rules

- Declares are simultaneous: nobody sees a choice until everyone has chosen. If
  your time runs out, you're High.
- A player who declares Both must win both ways outright; a tie on either side
  loses. A failed Both declarer is treated as folded. In 8-or-better games, a
  Both declarer without a qualifying low loses.
- If nobody can win a pot, it carries over to the next hand. A carry-over left
  when the table closes is split evenly among the players.
- Exchanges are like for like (up for up, down for down) and exchange fees go to
  the main pot. A player who can't cover an exchange buys in for it first, so the
  pot is right before the declare.
- Losing hands may be mucked at showdown, except heads up with everyone all in.
- Run it twice, when the table offers it, runs twice only if everyone left in
  the hand agrees.

## Build a game with an AI assistant

The Home Game connector is an MCP server at `https://homegamecards.com/mcp` (streamable HTTP).
In Claude: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, and paste that
address. Claude asks you to sign in to Home Game and approve it once (OAuth;
discovery at `https://homegamecards.com/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource`). You can disconnect
it any time from the Game builder page.

Tools:

- `list_templates`, `get_template`: the house games as starting points
- `game_format_reference`: how a game is written down
- `check_game`, `simulate_game`, `playtest_hand`: the engine checks the rules,
  plays hundreds of hands, and narrates a sample hand
- `save_game`, `list_my_games`: save to your account (2 a day) and list your games
- `open_table`: a private table for you, with you as host (1 a day)
- `invite_players`: email the table's invite link (9 invitations a day)

## For agents

- Agents can't run a table, sit down or act in a hand: people play on the site.
- Accounts are created by people on the sign-in page, during connector sign-in.
- Every game's rules are public at `https://homegamecards.com/games/<game>`; the list is at
  `https://homegamecards.com/games` and in `https://homegamecards.com/sitemap.xml`.
- A short index for language models is at `https://homegamecards.com/llms.txt`.