Best Playing Cards for Poker: The Deck I Recommend for Home Games

People don't stop coming to your home game because of the table. They stop coming because of the little things and the first little thing every player touches is the cards. A deck that sticks, a corner nobody can read from the far seat, one bent card that everybody starts to recognize. So, in this video, I'm going to run one normal poker night hour by hour with the wrong deck and show you the exact moment each card problem breaks it. Then, I'll show you the deck I recommend and the 10-second check that stops the worst argument of the night before it even starts. Because when most hosts decide to upgrade, they start with the table and they'll spend a few hundred dollars on it before they spend 20 on cards. But, if you do it in the right order, it goes cards, then chips, then the table. Cards first because every player touches them on every single hand. Your friends can sit at that table for 4 hours and never think about it once, but they'll notice the cards every time two of them slide across the felt. So, here's the night. Six players, a regular home game, and a host who grabs the deck from the kitchen drawer, the same one that's been in there since last summer. 7:00, everybody sits down and the first problem shows up before anyone's even noticed it. The deck is missing the seven of hearts. Nobody knows, so they play three hands with 51 cards, and then Danny finds it under the couch. Now, Sam wants his last hand back because he was chasing hearts. So, does that hand count? Under Robert's rules of poker, it does. A card missing from the deck doesn't cancel a hand that's already been played. So, Sam's out of luck, the night's off to a grumpy start, and all it took was a deck nobody checked. The fix takes about 10 seconds, and I'll show it to you at the end because it also stops something a lot worse at 11:00. 8:00, somebody knocked over a drink an hour ago, there's salsa on half the table, and the paper deck has started to stick. Two cards come off together on the deal, and the second card off the deck flips face up. That's a misdeal, so everybody hands their cards back, and Marco had already peeked at an ace. And Robert's rules actually list sticky cards as a reason to bring in a new deck. That's the real plastic versus paper question. Not what the box says, but what the deck feels like at hour three. Because a plastic deck like the KEM 1546 is 100% PVC plastic. So, when something spills, KEM cards says you wipe the cards with a damp cloth and dry them and they're back in play. And there's one more difference you can see. Bend a paper card and the crease stays in it. Bend a plastic card the same way and it springs back flat. So, yes, plastic costs more up front, but a paper deck that goes sticky after one spill is a deck you're buying again. And that crease is going to matter a lot at 11:00. That KEM card set, by the way, is the one I recommend and I'll show you exactly what's in the box near the end. The link's in the description. 9:00. The river comes out and Adrian in his glasses at the far end of the table leans all the way across and asks, "Is that a six or an eight?" Two hands later, he asks again. And every time somebody asks, the whole table stops. It's not his eyes, it's the corners. The little rank and suit printed in the corner of every card is called the index. A jumbo index prints that corner a lot bigger on exactly the same size card. So, from the far seat, a six finally looks like a six. And while you're shopping, you'll see poker size and bridge size. Poker size is 2 and 1/2 inches wide and bridge size is 2 and 1/4, so it's a little easier to hold a handful of cards. Either one works. What fixes Adrian is the jumbo index, not the width. And the next problem has nothing to do with how the cards look at all. Now, 10:00 and this is where the night starts to drag. After every hand, five people sit there while the next dealer gathers the cards, shuffles, and shuffles again. The fix is two decks with different colored backs. While one deck is being dealt, the last dealer shuffles the other one, so the next hand is ready the second this one ends. Just never mix them. Under Robert's rules, if a card with a different colored back shows up in the middle of a hand, the whole hand is void and everybody takes their chips back. That's exactly why the second deck should be a different color, so a stray card is obvious. And now, 11:00, the one that ends the night. Remember the deck from the kitchen drawer? The ace of spades has had a little crease in the corner since last summer. Nobody noticed it at 7:00, but by 11:00, Priya's noticed it and so has Sam. So, when Danny raises and Marco folds in about 1 second, he just laughs and says, "Come on, I can see the ace." And now, Danny wants to know how long everybody's known. Sam admits it's been about an hour. Nobody cheated, but a bent card is a marked card and that's the kind of argument people are still thinking about on the drive home. So, that's the night. Nobody's upset about the table or the snacks, but a couple of those players are going to find something else to do next Friday because the game felt sloppy, and every single time it was the cards. So, here's what I'd change before the next game, and it's about $22. The KEM 1546 set, poker size, jumbo index. You get two decks, one red and one blue, each with 52 cards plus two jokers in a hard plastic case, and all of it is 100% plastic. KEM says it's been the official playing card of the World Series of Poker since 2016, so it's the same brand they deal at the World Series. So, the sticky deck, the far seat, the wait between hands, and the bent card are all covered by one box. That's the set I recommend, and the link's right there in the description. Just treat it right. KEM's instructions say cold water and a soft cloth, dry them completely, and never the dishwasher. And if one card ever does get damaged, KEM has a page where you can request a replacement card, so you don't have to throw out the whole set. And now the 10-second check I promised. Before the first hand, spread the deck face up across the table. You're looking for three things: all 52 cards, no duplicates, and nothing bent or marked. Pull the jokers out, and the duplicate is the big one because if two of the same cards turn up in a hand, Robert's Rules voids the whole hand, and everybody takes their chips back. And if a card starts to look different later in the night, switch to the other deck right then. 10 seconds at 7:00, and the missing seven of hearts and the bent ace never happen. Midnight. And the very last little thing is the end of the night when everybody's figuring out who owes who. That's why I built HG Poker. It tracks every buy-in and rebuy, and shows who owes who at the end, and it takes no bets, holds no money, and moves no money. So, run that same night one more time. 7:00, you spread a fresh deck, and it's all there. 8:00, the cards still slide. 9:00, Adrian reads the river from the far seat. 10:00, the next deck's already shuffled. 11:00, nobody's arguing about an ace. And at midnight, everybody settled up and already asking when the next game is. That's the little stuff. And cards are just the first thing they touch. The second is the chips, so watch my chips video next, and tell me in the comments, what's the one thing about your cards that bugs your group the most.