Texas hold 'em is quite fun for casuals under these conditions:
The amount of money involved is small compared to the incomes of those playing, where most players have the expectation that they won't get money back and that is fine for the enjoyment they get out of the game, and the pot isn't big enough to be worth cheating about.
Everyone puts in the same amount of money.
You play texas hold 'em no limit with escalating blinds starting with a pretty big stack of chips, just like a real tournament.
When people are out, they can't buy back in.
You play until everyone is out, and the Top N players get some money back.
Lots of fun games involve lying, but you can play all night long and never tell a single lie and still win. Your only necessary verbs in a game of poker are "Call, raise, fold". Everything else is optional. If you bet big on a hand, you aren't saying anything about what is in your hand, lie or not. All the interpretation of what that means is in your opponents head. Lots of very good poker players don't talk about the hands at all.
My family quite commonly plays Texas Hold 'em for _no money at all_, everyone just gets a stack of chips.
Yeah this is really the best way to do it, I've even played friendly family games with candy or baked goods as the chips. Great fun! Problematic when you're munching on your bank though.
The amount of money involved is small compared to the incomes of those playing, where most players have the expectation that they won't get money back and that is fine for the enjoyment they get out of the game, and the pot isn't big enough to be worth cheating about. Everyone puts in the same amount of money. You play texas hold 'em no limit with escalating blinds starting with a pretty big stack of chips, just like a real tournament. When people are out, they can't buy back in. You play until everyone is out, and the Top N players get some money back.
Lots of fun games involve lying, but you can play all night long and never tell a single lie and still win. Your only necessary verbs in a game of poker are "Call, raise, fold". Everything else is optional. If you bet big on a hand, you aren't saying anything about what is in your hand, lie or not. All the interpretation of what that means is in your opponents head. Lots of very good poker players don't talk about the hands at all.
My family quite commonly plays Texas Hold 'em for _no money at all_, everyone just gets a stack of chips.