Poker equipment

The following is a list of standard equipment needed for a game of poker:

• Poker cards: Standard Anglo-American playing poker cards are used. In home games it is common to have two decks with distinct backs, and to shuffle the unused deck while each hand is in progress. Casinos typically change decks after 15 minutes of use, because the quality of the poker cards declines with each shuffling. For friendly home environments, this is not an issue, but some dealers can perform intentionally corrupt shuffles even with a lightly-worn deck. Poker players are advised to have at least one "back-up" deck on hand to replace decks with worn, soiled, or bent poker cards. High-quality plastic-coated poker cards can be purchased for approximately $3.00, and last much longer than paper poker cards.

In some poker games, particularly stud poker it is not unusual for poker cards to become bent quickly, as players often read their "hole" poker cards by peeking at the corner rather than lifting the poker card. Poker card quality can be preserved for longer if players agree not to bend poker cards, and proper shuffling techniques are used.

Rarely, multiple decks are used in poker; however, this noticeably alters the game. Using additional decks will make certain hand configurations significantly more common than they are in single-deck poker.

• Poker Chips: Currency is difficult to stack or handle, so most poker games are played with chips, or coin-shaped tokens of uniform size and weight, whose money value is determined by their color. Traditionally, poker chips were made of bone; however, modern casino chips are often made of clay. Clay chips (which can cost as much $0.15 per chip, or $75 for a set of 500) are considered the most upscale variety of poker chip. Plastic chips are also available, at a wide variety of quality levels.

The standard color scheme for poker chips is as follows: $1 chips are white; $5, red; $10, blue; $25, green; $100, black; $500, purple; $1000, orange; $5000, gray; $10000, pink. There is no requirement that casinos use these colors, and there is much variance regarding the colors used for denominations above $100.

• Table: A typical poker game will have between two and ten players. For the sake of convenience, each player should be able to reach the central pot, so circular or oblong tables are best. A soft table top is preferred to facilitate picking up chips and poker cards.

• Lammers: Lammers are plastic, chip-shaped tokens with text written on them. Most commonly used is a "dealer button" with either the word "DEALER" or a "D" written on it; this item (also known as the buck) indicates who shall deal next. In a casino setting, lammers are also used to indicate which variant is being used, and whose turn it is to pay the blind.

• Cut poker card: This is a thick plastic poker card, the same size and shape of a playing poker card. The dealer will place the deck upon this poker card before dealing, in order to prevent the accidental exposure of the bottom poker card of the deck. While rarely used in home games, the cut poker card is universal in casino play.

Purchasing poker equipment

For most home games, high-quality plastic poker chips, still cheaper than clay chips, will suffice, though casinos generally prefer clay, considered the most authentic type of chip. Tables should have a soft surface; hard-surfaced "poker tables" are generally no more convenient than a standard dining table with a poker cloth. Poker card decks of reasonable quality can be purchased for about $3 a piece, and it's best to have at least three of them on hand.