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hosting a poker party ... supplies

UPDATE: DAMN IT. meant poker.


I am hosting a poker party. Going to be a regular thing with some friends.

Probably having 6-7 people show. Maybe 8.

I can borrow chips from other people but if I can get them for $10 I will. I read that 3+ chip denominations per person are best. Anywhere I can geta cheap set online? Can I just get this at Wal-mart?

Need a new deck of cards also. Shoudl I get 2 decks?

I plan on supplying snacks and doing BYOB. Everyone coming is in agreement with this.

Any other things I need to buy? What games shoudl we play? We might end with texas holdem and do dealer's choice prior to that.
 
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Always have extra new decks of cards because there will be at least one person who smears the cards with snack food residue.
 
If you want it to be close to vegas style, then you will need:

1) 6 decks
2) Card shoe
3) felt cloth
4) Cut card
5) chips ($1, $5, $25...and $100 if you want)
 
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Walmart has had some pretty good chips on the cheap, in the past. I haven't looked lately, so can't tell you if they still do.

Definitely get more card decks than you think you'll need. It's so easy to fubar a deck with a bent card.

Dealer's choice is always fun, and breaks up the monotony.
 
Several decks, and don't get the cheapest decks you can find, Bees or Bicycles should be fine.

Chips you can usually find cheaply at Walmart. I'd buy them in a case personally, and make sure they have some weight. They'll still be cheap, but the flimsy plastic ones just don't have the right feel for a game of poker.

As for your snacks, try to avoid things like Doritos, Cheetos, and various other snacks that have noticeable cheese dust. Nuts, plain salted tortilla chips (with dip of course), and similar items should at least keep the cards from getting any noticeable crap on them.

That's all I got. As for which game you play, Hold Em is probably all you need. It's probably played by 90% of those doing what you're doing, mainly because it's fun and requires both skill and luck as the cards are shared.
 
Good chips ain't cheap, if this is gonna be a regular thing get some nice clay chips, a nice set of 1000 is about right for 8-10 players using 3-4 denominations which is what I use. Host always supplies snacks and guests bring their own booze...we always play hold'em until there's a winner but game play is always up for discussion, just make sure you all agree before hand...we always allowed re-buys but set a cutoff time so it wouldn't drag on for too long.

Oh yeah and bare minimum is two decks of cards, 4 would be better with two in use at a time, next dealer can shuffle one deck while the current dealer is dealing, keeps the game flowing better.
 
start with simple shit. at least 2 decks of cards so the next guy dealing can shuffle and not slow down with passing one deck of cards around.
someone usually has chips they can bring.

you can get by the first time that way. if if becomes a regular thing and or you want to get them i'd recommend the following:
2 decks of plastic cards. i like kem. these will be much more durable than the cheapo cards
your own chipset. can vary, cheaper plastic with metal inserts for weight or nice ceramic ones. it's up to you.
poker table- ranges from on the table covers to full fledged tables with drink mounts.. can build if into it
countdown clock or timer - for tournaments
 
I'd recommend high quality plastic cards, card n00bs who don't know how to shuffle can destroy a deck of regular cards quick. Also if some moron spills a drink or gets food on cheap cards, you gotta throw the whole deck out. Plastic cards can be washed in the sink. And even trying hard an uber idiot would have a difficult time tearing or bending them. They sell them always in 2 deck boxes. KEM's are good but pretty pricey, Copag's are like $10 a deck, but they will last for a long ass time even with extreme abuse. I could see a typical poker party going thru 2 decks of Bicycle cards before the night's up.

Also if it's BYOB, you should expect at least 1 person to spill their drink on the table, without fail this happens at every poker game I attend that allows drinking. As for chip demonination, depends on what kind of poker you play. My weekly game all the chips are .25 regardless of their color, it makes things easier for the drunk dudes to keep shit straight 😀
 
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Does Wal Mart sell better card decks? Sorry have to ask this stupid question.

If not, what about a place like Dick's Sporting goods? Where would I go to a brick and mortar to find better cards?
 
UPDATE: DAMN IT. meant poker.


I am hosting a poker party. Going to be a regular thing with some friends.

Probably having 6-7 people show. Maybe 8.

...

Need a new deck of cards also. Shoudl I get 2 decks?
...

When a friend hosted poker night regularly, I'd drop by Costco & buy a whole sleeve of packs for him.

For a one table affair, you won't need that many. I'd recommend 3 decks. 1 deck in play, another being shuffled, and the last is just a backup.
 
If you plan on playing for money, then you are going to need guns and/or bodyguards because it's more or less a fact of life that predators who prey on poker players/games will be after you sooner or later.
 
You may not want to toss a whole bunch of money into this without knowing whether it will become a regular thing. You can pick up a few decks of cheap cards and some cheap chips and see how it goes. If you decide to get a weekly game going, invest in some better chips and decks. I got a $40 set of poker chips a few years back with the anticipation of having weekly games which petered out real quick. I've used them once in the last three years. Admittedly, $40 isn't all that much, but for something that doesn't get used? What's the point?
 
Does Wal Mart sell better card decks? Sorry have to ask this stupid question.

If not, what about a place like Dick's Sporting goods? Where would I go to a brick and mortar to find better cards?

Not a stupid question at all, I have yet to find a B&M chain that sells anything outside of plastic coated crap cards. Not saying they don't exist, I'm just not sure where. And Kem & Copag's web sites have no "find a store" info, which sucks. I didn't think about the B&M thing when i suggested plastic cards.,

But perhaps someone on here knows something I don't about B&M stores, I'm sure a lot of gambling supple & rental places would sell them.
 
Personally I like the cheap poker cards like used in casinos. They are cheap, and when they get damaged I just toss them out. Personally, I would probably get something like this pack or if you don't like clipped cards then something like this set.
 
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