Poker night with friends: buy-ins, rebuys and who takes the pot
Saturday night poker: a €5 buy-in, someone rebuys twice, someone else goes to bed halfway, and in the end nobody remembers who put in what. With a pub quiz kitty or a sweepstake, same thing, just faster.
Then there's the other mess: you already owe each other for the trip (the house, the groceries), and now there's the games on top. Two rounds of settling up, twice the bank transfers.
Two kinds of game
Almost every game friends play for money is one of these:
- A pot: everyone puts in the same and the winners share it. Cards, board games, a sweepstake.
- Buy-in and rebuys: poker. Everyone buys in for the same, can rebuy, and at the end you see what each one leaves with.
Either way, it has to add up: what's paid out must be what was put in.
How Cobote does it
Cobote is a free web app for the money of a group with dates: a trip, a weekend away, a stag or hen do. No sign-up, nothing to install. Besides costs and shopping, it has a Games tab:
- Pot: pick who plays and how much each puts in, and when it's over, mark who won. If several win, they share it.
- Buy-in and rebuys: note each player's buy-ins and rebuys and, at the end, what each one leaves with.
- It only counts once settled: when there's a winner, or when the payouts add up to the pot. A game halfway through doesn't touch the balance.
The best part: games go into the same balance as the trip's costs. If Carlos owes Ana €30 for the house but won €12 from her at poker, Balance shows one payment of €18. One settle-up, not two.
Cobote only keeps track: it never charges or moves money. And if your trip has meals and shopping, see how to split when not everyone is there every day.