Poker Cash Game Spreadsheet Template

A clean, simple spreadsheet template for tracking your home poker game — plus the common failure modes that made us build something better.

The Template

Here's the basic structure you need:

Player	Buy-In	Cash-Out	Net
Alice	$100	$180	+$80
Bob	$100	$45	-$55
Charlie	$200	$250	+$50
Diana	$100	$25	-$75
Total	$500	$500	$0

How to Build It

Column A: Player Name
Column B: Total Buy-In (initial + re-buys)
Column C: Cash-Out (final chip count in dollars)
Column D: Net = C minus B
Row at bottom: SUM of each column — buy-in total should equal cash-out total

Settlement Formula

Players with a negative net owe money. Players with a positive net receive money. Match payers to receivers until all debts are cleared. For a quick calculation, try our free settlement calculator.

Skip the spreadsheet — track buy-ins in real time from your phone. Try Cash Game Host free →

Where Spreadsheets Break Down

The template above works fine for a simple game. But if you host regularly, you'll run into these problems:

1. Re-Buys Get Lost

A player re-buys $50 mid-game. You don't update the spreadsheet until later. By then you've forgotten the exact amount — or whose it was.

2. Expenses Get Messy

Someone orders pizza for $60. Who pays? Who splits it? A basic spreadsheet can't handle shared expenses factored into settlement. You end up with separate Venmo requests for food on top of poker debts.

3. Bank Doesn't Balance

After someone miscounts their chips, you're staring at a $15 discrepancy with no way to trace it.

4. No History

A spreadsheet tracks one night. After 20 games, you have 20 separate files. No aggregate stats, no player history.

5. End-of-Night Friction

Doing settlement math when everyone is tired and wants to go home. One wrong formula and you're spending 15 minutes sorting out a $5 discrepancy while people wait by the door.

Common Mistake

The most common spreadsheet failure: updating buy-ins “after the game.” By then you've forgotten the exact amounts. If you're going to use a spreadsheet, update it the second money changes hands.

A Better Way

Cash Game Host replaces the spreadsheet with a purpose-built tool for exactly this workflow:

Record in real time — buy-ins and re-buys, at the table
Automatic expense splitting — 4 split modes built in
Bank verification — confirms the numbers before you close
Automatic settlement — fewest transfers, computed instantly
Lifetime stats — across all your games, for every player

If you're hosting weekly, you'll spend less time on accounting in a year than you would in a single spreadsheet session.

Retire the Spreadsheet

Cash Game Host does everything your spreadsheet does — and everything it can't. Track buy-ins in real time, split expenses, and settle up automatically.

Get Started Free

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a spreadsheet good enough for a home poker game?

For a one-off game, yes. For a weekly game, spreadsheets fall apart: re-buys get lost, expenses are hard to split, and there's no history across games.

What should I track in my poker spreadsheet?

At minimum: player name, total buy-in (including re-buys), cash-out amount, and net (cash-out minus buy-in). The sum of all nets should equal zero.

How do I handle re-buys in a spreadsheet?

Add each re-buy to the player's total buy-in column. The key is updating it immediately — not after the game.

What's better than a spreadsheet?

A purpose-built app like Cash Game Host. It tracks buy-ins in real time, handles expenses, verifies the bank, computes settlement, and keeps lifetime stats — all from your phone.