Anyone who loves poker knows the joy is amplified when it’s a poker night. Playing with friends or colleagues is far more pleasurable than strangers. Why? We love to beat our friends more than randoms don’t we? It’s about bragging and having a laugh. But you can’t expect a poker night to go swimmingly if you don’t have the right things in place. That’s why we’re going to let you know what you need for a poker night.
Home game Rules & Setup
You don’t need a 50-page document explaining what the game will involve or anything but ground rules are important. I recommend setting writing up of a list of things you want to explain and then just print them off. It can be as simple as the blind structure and how often the blinds will go up, it’s best if you setup a poker excel sheet for this. These are important facts for a poker night.
Table & Chairs
An easy but obvious one, you need a good-sized table and comfortable chairs for a poker night. Players don’t want to sit on the floor or on stools, particularly as some poker nights can last several hours.
Dealer
You don’t necessarily need a professional dealer but it should be agreed who is going to deal a poker night. Some people don’t have a clue so you may want to rotate it between the bettor dealers to keep the game ticking along.
Agreed Format
This is very important. Some poker players turn up thinking it will be a 6-hour cash game while others expected it to be a tournament. You need to communicate to all players what format you’ll be playing on your poker night. It’s also important to recognise players will be of different ability so you need to ensure the stakes are reasonable and fair to them. Players often employ different online poker strategy than they do in poker nights and you want to give everyone peace of mind that the format was agreed in advance.
Playing Cards & Chips
Everybody loves to play with real poker chips so don’t skrimp out and play with real money. Instead, invest in a proper chip set and ensure everyone understands the denominations correctly. You’d be surprised how often players accidentally bet the wrong amount because it wasn’t properly communicated. Obviously, you need several decks of playing cards in case one or two decks accidentally get marked.
Refreshments
Finally, ensuring your guests are comfortably catered to with snacks and drinks is important. We’ve all since movies with poker nights and players want to replicate that in your poker nights. If you have enough soft drinks, water and light snacks, you’ll keep your players suitably satisfied and happy to gamble.
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