Poker Snacks Stuffed Jalapeno’s
This is a great spicy snack for your guests on poker night. We suggest that you keep allot of beer on hand, close to the poker table to wash this one down.
You will need
- 1lb. ground pork sausage
- 8oz. softened cream cheese
- 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1lb. fresh jalapeno’s
- Bottle of ranch dressing
Start by preheating your oven to 425degrees F. Next cook the sausage in a skillet until evenly browned. Drain the grease then mix the sausage, cream cheese and parmesan cheese in a bowl. Cut the jalapeno’s in half lengthwise, then stuff them with cheese/sausage mixture. Place them in a large baking dish and bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and turning brown. Serve with the ranch dressing.
Hot poker nights with stuffed jalapeno’s!
Poker Cut Card Use
First let’s discuss what a cut card is. The cut card is used to prevent the bottom of the deck from being exposed. The cut card can be purchased in a couple sizes, bridge size, which are narrow cards and poker size which are wide cards. When you purchase high quality playing cards a cut card of the correct dimension is usually included. Cut cards come in a variety of colors, it is best if you chose a color that contrasts your playing cards so that it is easily visible.
To use the cut card, the player that cuts the cards will place the cards he or she cut from the deck and place face down on the cut card. The dealer then picks up the remaining cards and places them on top of the cards that have been cut from the deck, picks all of them up and will begin to deal.
The cut card, easy to use, prevents mistakes!
Poker Rules Rule
Rules, rules, rules, I know, I get it. Nobody likes rules; in fact a lot of people hate rules. But rules are there for good reasons. They are to keep order, they are there to avoid confusion, they are there to avoid collusion and they are there so that when mistakes are made there might be some way to set things back in order so that we can get on with the game.
When players are sitting there with their playing cards in front of them, especially new players there might be the need for clarification of a certain rule before or sometimes even after an action has been taken. It is generally considered best not to rely on someone’s memory of a rule, but to use some kind of authorative reference. In the case of poker “Roberts Rules of Poker” is generally recognized as that authority. This is what almost everybody I play with uses and has settled many debates over certain questions or points as they arise.
Let us know what occasions you might have needed to run to the rule book!
Charity Poker
Recently, I was having a conversation at lunchtime with some of my co-workers. We were just chatting it up about all the important world events; you know stuff like baseball, football, golf and of course my favorite subject, poker. We noticed one of the ladies from the office coming around from table to table and appeared to be making some sort of collection. As she approached our table we found out she was collecting for a disaster relief fund for a recent disaster. All the guys had no problem reaching into their wallets and donating a few bucks. We yucked it up with her while everybody was getting their money out and one of the guys asked about how she was chosen with the chore of collecting the money. She said it was no problem and that she enjoyed doing it and how good it made her feel to be helping out. Next thing you know the end of lunch bell rings and we’re all off to our jobs.
Its a couple days later now and I’m at a buddy’s house, sitting around the poker table with the guys, again chatting it up about all the important world events. As we’re talking a thought creeps into my mind that I’ve been here before. You know it’s kind of like a déjà experience, I almost expected this woman from the office to be walking around taking up a collection. I told my buddies about the collection that was going on at work and one of them said that we should try and do something.
Well, we couldn’t imagine ourselves going around collecting money, but after a bit of conversation we came up with the idea that we would hold a tournament and the payout would be split with a charity.
I think this is a great idea and encourage anybody that has a regular game or tournament to do the same at one of them. Believe me, you will feel great when the dealings done!
Using All of Your Poker Senses
If you are playing a casual poker game with your buddies, it makes sense to have some friendly conversation and maintain a lighthearted nature. But when your are playing cards in a casino or competitive settings, it’s important to be at the height of your game. This means using all of your faculties to glean information about your opponents and the situation.
Even if you’re not in the hand, you should be constantly observing your opponents to pick up on tells, betting patterns and how they play in different positions. Each poker player is different, so just because you’ve played hundreds of thousands of hands doesn’t mean you’re excused from studying your current opponents. Remember: Poker is a game of constant learning, and you should pick up something new every time you sit down at the table.
A Sticky Situation
Recently I went shopping with my wife at the local club store, we usually have a list of things we usually pick up and then we go our separate ways to see what they have that we’re interested in. She got bogged down in the clothes area while I looked around basically the whole darn store. I was kind of just standing around and I heard an announcement for a promotion that these stores typically have. What caught my ear was a free gift for watching their demonstration. Hey, if it’s for free it’s for me, and I was just standing around anyway. I mosey over and I watch the demonstration. It was for a product called Mr. Sticky. This product is designed to replace those tape rollers that take the lint off of clothes. The guy doing the demo was great and sucked me right in. Yeah, you guessed it, I bought it. To me it’s a great product and we will never need to buy another tape roller again!
I catch up to my wife and she sees my purchase. She laughs and tells me I’m an easy mark. Next thing you know I’m doing the same sales pitch for her as the sales guy did for me. Well, I think she got tired of listening to me promoting this product and she finally agrees that it might be useful.
Needless to say my great product got tossed into the laundry room and forgotten about. That is until a recent tournament that I hosted. A couple of my buddies were passing a bowl of party mix back and forth across the table and wouldn’t you know it, it ends up spilled all over the middle of the poker table felt. They scoop up as much as they can back into the bowl but still there is small crumbs and salt all over the place. No problem I have a portable hand vac just for such a fiasco. I bring it over to the poker table, flip the switch and nothing. I shake it a few times and flip the switch several times and again nothing. Now I’m like what the hell! Nice mess and no way to clean it, but wait a minute I suddenly remember , I’ve got a Mr. Sticky, I break out that bad boy, roll it across the table a couple times and now, suddenly I’m vindicated, this thing works great, it picks up everything , the guys are looking at me like what’s that. I tell them about my shopping trip and my skeptical wife and we all share a great laugh.
To my surprise as the tournament ends a couple of the guys ask about the Mr. Sticky and want to know if I can pick up one for them. I tell them sure but now I’m in a sticky situation – Their Sold Out!
The Poker Cocktail
As anybody that knows me knows, I like to keep things simple when I’m hosting a poker night or tournament. The most obvious reason is that I like to spend as much of my time at the poker table as possible, that’s true, but also when you keep things simple it usually keeps the costs in check, and in this economy I’m all in for that.
In that spirit here’s an easy one named after my favorite pastime “The Poker Cocktail”. It’s prepared this way. For each drink – In a shaker with ice add 1 1/2oz white rum and 1 1/2oz sweet vermouth, shake, then strain into a cocktail glass, voila, there you have it. Now wasn’t that easy. I usually set everything out on the snack table and the guys make their own.
Drink and enjoy! I bet you really didn’t me to tell you that though!
It’s My Opinion
It could be that I see things from my small world prospective or maybe it’s true, in any case it’s my opinion that poker is one of the fastest growing games today. It seems that everywhere you look you see poker more and more moving into the mainstream. Not only are poker stars like Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak , Tom “durrr” Dwan, Doyle Brunson and others becoming household names with all the poker games you can see on TV now, but players from different arenas are joining in the action such as MMA fighters and movie stars, even hockey players are getting in on the action.
So maybe you want to join in on the action but you’re a little scared that your game is, well, let’s just say, it’s a little rough. Maybe it’s been years since you played with your college buddies or maybe you never played at all. No problem with all the media that’s available today all you need to do is pick up a poker instruction book or a DVD and you can be up to speed in no time. Now get together with your buddies and you’re on your way.
“Poker” easy to learn a lifetime to master!
Poker Party Beer Hot Dogs
Boiling hot dogs is one of the easiest things to do; we’ve just added a couple simple twists to give those dogs that extra something that make them taste great. This recipe is an easy one that actually spawned at a football party I had a few years ago. I know cooking dogs in beer is nothing new but give this a try at your next poker party.
You will need 2 or 3 dogs per person at your poker table. The guys that come to my game are almost always good for 3 each. Place about 30 hot dogs in a stock pot, add enough beer to cover the dogs, add 2 cups of water to give those dogs some room to move around, now you will want to add a 1lb. bag of sauerkraut. On high heat bring all this to a boil, and then turn heat down to a simmer. Your dogs are now ready to enjoy and you can simmer them for up to 2 hrs.
Be sure to put out all the usual condiments, I happen to like mine with some real hot Dijon mustard, it goes great with the beer and sauerkraut taste!
Disguising Your Big Hands
When you break out the clay poker chip set for a game with your friends, you probably aren’t playing for blood money. But just because the stakes aren’t high doesn’t mean that players don’t have an incentive to win. And any tension whatsoever at the table manifests itself in the face, emotions and demeanor of the person.
One of the hardest hands to play in poker is the monster. Say you flop a boat, flush or trips, what do you do next? The M.O. for most people to quickly act aloof, either looking away from the table, cracking a joke or making idle chitchat. Even if the player doesn’t realize it, he’s doing this to avoid intimidating the opponents. In line with this sentiment, most players check and call with their big hands, thinking this is disguising their strength. In fact, the best way to hide a monster is by coming out firing. Because most people play the game backwards—as I’ve mentioned above—strength is often interpreted as weakness, so you can use that to your advantage through a little reverse reverse-psychology.