Here's how my group does it for hold-em. The buy-in is $10. That gets you $70 in chips (an arbitrary amount). Blinds start at $1 & $2, and double every round of 8 hands. The betting is No Limit. It usually takes about 45 minutes to determine a winner. Then we all chuck in another $10 and do it again. On a typical evening, we'll play five sets, so the worst you can do is lose $50. Typically, when it gets down to two guys, they split according to their chip count. Hope this helps.