Thanks to the popularity of online poker games and they hype given by the media to the Texas Holdem poker game through the television broadcasts of the World Poker Tour and through the latest James Bond movie Casino Royale, poker games are now played for fun in households rather than in smoky back rooms where they used to be relegated. There is no longer any need for you to go to Las Vegas just to enjoy a few rounds of Texas Holdem. You can simply round up your friends and host your very own Texas Holdem card party.
Preparing for Your Card Party
Informal as a card party usually is, a little preparation will go a long way to make sure that your card party will not be a bust. One big detail that you must attend to is to check if it is legal in your city to play poker games. No one wants to start a card party only to end it with the guests spending the night in jail. Before you even think of planning for your card party, make sure that the cops will not crash it right in the middle of the action.
If hosting a card party where poker games will be played is not illegal in your city, then you can proceed with planning your card party. What you would need for your card party are decks of cards, playing chips and a dealer’s button.
Figure out how many people would be going to your card party. From that information, determine how many tables you would need to set up at your place. If there are less than eight people showing up at your card party, then just one table will do. If there are more than eight people coming, then set up two or more tables. You will need to provide around four decks of cards for each table.
As for the playing chips, just having a sufficient number of them around will do. Buy chips in five different colors so you can easily assign them to different denominations without causing any confusion. Even if you are not playing for real money (and you certainly do not have to play for real money in your card party), having playing chips around will be helpful in determining who is winning and who is losing. You do not have to buy real casino chips if you think they are too expensive for you. Just get some cheap plastic chips in different colors.
A dealer’s button can also be a nice prop for your poker games, but it is not necessary for you to buy one either. You can just bring out some items or tokens that you can arbitrarily assign as dealer buttons