Best Poker Snacks

The red and black chips on the table shouldn't be the only chips you should be invested in. Serve a hearty appetizer that's easy to eat with one hand, so as to better conceal your cards, and delicious to boot. Unlike salsas or cheese dips, guacamole won't drip, so your card table will stay in pristine condition. Playing poker isn’t as easy as you may think it is, especially if you are playing at even a semi-professional level. If you want to play at your best, you need to feed your body properly to keep up both your mental and physical stamina. Here we have a list of some handy foods that can help to improve your game, both at home and at the tournament. 500 Count Ace Casino Poker Set - 14 Gram Clay Composite Chips with Aluminum Case, Playing Cards, & Dealer Button for Texas Hold’em, Blackjack, & Casino Games by Brybelly 4.5 out of 5 stars 250 $79.99. However, if you want to have that one poker night to remember or become the undisputed “best poker night host”, you’d better upgrade your poker game night snacks. Lucky for you, we are here to help. Food for Poker Night Recipes. We have scoured the internet for the best game night snack ideas so you don’t have to. Check out our poker game snacks selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our shops. There are 34 poker game snacks for sale on Etsy.

Table Of Contents

The age-old saying goes something like this: 'The guy who invented gambling was brilliant, but the guy who invented chips was a genius.'

Best Poker Snacks

The reason behind this saying is that chips remove from gambling the real world of money.

Gamblers tend to have very short memories. Once they purchase chips, they easily forget their real world value, making losses on the green felt seem relatively painless — at least until they go to cash out.

Home poker has largely embraced this concept.

Games that used to be played with silver change and paper money are now often played with the best poker chips.

If you're hosting a home game, you may well be considering the purchase of a cool poker chip set.

The best poker chip sets contain:

  • A set of 500 poker chips
  • Poker chips in three or four colors for different denominations
  • A deal button
  • A Big Blind button
  • A Small Blind button
  • Two decks of French cards

A poker chip set for home like this should be enough for your typical game of one to two tables.

Finding the best poker chips for your home games depends on your tastes and your budget.

Here's a summary of what's out there to help you find just the right chips for your game. To get a really good sense of all of your options, I suggest that you check out the online stores that specialize in poker supplies.

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Cheap Poker Chips: Plastic Chips

At the very lowest end of the chip market are the very lightweight, 2 gram or so, thin plastic poker chips that many of us played with as kids or in high school and college.

They are typically sold in packs of 100, often in red, white, and blue.

These are the chips available for purchase in nearly every large pharmacy and in groceries, right in the same area as the packs of playing cards.

They'll run you $2.50 to $3.95 or so. If you look around you might find a really inexpensive version of them in the dollar stores — selling for $1.00.

You can buy plastic poker chips online, too. In these case, these are your best options:

  • 100 Poker Chips by RINCO(Red and Blue)
  • 600 Poker Chips by U.S. Toy Co.(Red, White, Blue)

These cheap plastic poker chips are fine in a pinch, or with young or inexperienced players who have never been to a public poker room or casino.

But they feel and sound so much cheaper than what you'll find in a casino or other public poker room, that they may be inadequate for your more serious players.

Imitation Clay Poker Chips

One step up, and what I first purchased back in the early '90s when I started playing in casinos around the United States, are solidly colored, imitation clay poker chips.

These poker chips for home games are made of heavy plastic weighing 8 grams a chip or so.

Cool imitation clay poker chips for home games are generally marketed as 'super diamond chips.'

They can be purchased online for between $.06 and $.10 per chip, and sell in 'sleeves' of 25 single color chips.

These are the best poker chips of this kind:

These imitation clay poker chips are perfectly adequate for your home game, especially if you are running multi-table tournaments and want to be able to afford a lot of chips for a relatively little amount of money.

Since they lack any striping, spotting or design, some players might not prefer them.

But I've used mine in large tournaments and in home games for 25 years and never had a complaint (at least not to my face).

Clay Composite Chips

Slightly more expensive, and by far the most common chips that are sold to poker players today, are the metal filled, clay composite chips, with a myriad of different designs, strips, and spots.

Clay poker chips are usually sold as part of chip set, including an inexpensive aluminium carrying case.

These can also be purchased in sleeves of 25 from some companies, but are more typically sold in units of 500 or 1,000 as part of a poker chip set for home games.

These clay composite chips come in a large range of prices.

The 500-chip sets, for example, can be purchased online for anywhere from $39 or so up to $300 (not including shipping), based on the quality, design, and weight of the chip. Each chip weighs anywhere from 11 to 14 grams.

If you are looking for the best poker chips and you want to top chip set for home games, pick one of these. You can't go wrong with any of them.

I've noticed that at the very bottom of that price range, the clay composite chips tend to be of unacceptably poor quality.

I once purchased a 1,000-chip set for $90 and paid $45 to ship them (they're heavy, and shipping is generally expensive). The chips arrived with 20 red chips equaling the height of only 19 white chips.

They had many other defects in them as well.

I had to send them back for a refund — and got stuck with one way of the shipping.

If you are ordering these metal-filled chips, then, I recommend you order no cheaper chip than the ones selling for about $150 for 1,000.

Customized Ceramic Poker Chips

The next step up are the Ceramic poker chips that sell for about $.40-$.75 or so each.

Nevada Jacks is the most popular brand of these chips. These also come in sets of 500 or 1,000.

A nice poker set of the best home poker chips in ceramic is known for their brilliant colors and sharp detail.

These are the best poker chips to buy. They are not metal filled, and they don't make the metal clanging sound when they bump together.

Players rave about them.

The most expensive, regularly produced variety of chips are the casino-quality clay chips made by the Paulson company, typified by the Top Hat and Cane design.

These chips cost roughly $1.25 a chip, or from $1,100 to $1,400 for a set of 1,000.

If you want your home poker chips to be just like those in a casino and you don't mind paying for them, these are the ones for you.

The best ceramic poker chips for home games are:

  • Brybelly 500 Count Nevada Jack Poker Set - 10 Gram Premium Casino Grade Ceramic Chips with Aluminum Case

There is another option to consider.

Some chip manufacturers will customize your chips with your own design.

These can come as a 'hot stamped' imprint, as a printed label that is permanently affixed to the chip, or in the case ceramic chips the design can be built into the chip itself.

Prices for this option vary widely, so shop around if this interests you.

Poker Chip Cases

Keep in mind that you'll almost certainly want a case in which to store and transport your poker chip ser. There are a few options in this department as well.

The most common are these thin aluminium or vinyl attaché cases.

These are most frequently made with room for 500 chips, and a few extra spaces for cards. There are also chip cases that accommodate 250, 350, 750, and 1,000 chips.

They sell for between $20-$50 and can vary some in quality, though it's usually next to impossible to tell from the pictures which ones are more sturdily made. Look for reinforcements in the corners.

Also, the 1,000 capacity chip case, when filled with chips, will be too heavy for some to easily carry around.

You might be better off ordering two 500s instead. There is also, now, a 2,000-chip case that comes with wheels for easier transportation.

If you run tournaments or move your game from place to place, you might be tempted to get it, but I don't recommend it.

From everything I've read and heard, it is not built with sufficient sturdiness to survive much use. Tales of handles and wheels falling off upon first use are a legend.

There are a few other chip case options. One is a clear lucite chip case. It is built for 1,000 chips, stacked in chip racks of 100 each, and sells for about $50.

This is very useful if you run tournaments and want to easily have your chips organized for simple distribution to a large group of people.

Best Poker Night Snacks

It's also extremely sturdy, easy to stack, and doesn't dent, scratch, or otherwise deteriorate from regular use (unlike the aluminium and vinyl cases described above). It's what I use, and I recommend it highly.

Finally, for those who care about how your chip cases look, there are some very nice wooden storage boxes. They tend to be cube-shaped, come in a dark finish, and have shiny, small metal handles, one on each side of the box.

They aren't easy to carry, and so would be awkward and inappropriate if you transported your chips regularly.

Best Poker Night Snacks

Poker

But they do look nice sitting on a shelf. They sell for about $50 separately, but like all other chip cases, they are often included in the price of a chip set.

Other Recommendations

I would immediately rule out the very cheap plastic poker chips and the very cheapest of the metal filled chips.

Beyond that, however, I don't think there is really much of a difference in how your poker-playing guests will react to the chips.

I've played in home games with the best ceramic poker chips and with Paulson's. They were beautiful to behold.

But I noticed no one really seemed to care.

I've found that poker players are typically so completely engaged in how much they were up or down that the look of their chips was the last thing they cared about.

That being said, you might care about that, and might take great pride in having a truly beautiful set or chips that remind you of what you play with at the nearest casino.

One last item to consider — there are very few brick-and-mortar stores that sell a wide variety of poker chips (The Gambler's General Store in Las Vegas is a great exception).

Amazon, Target, Walmart and a few other retail chains may have boxed sets for sale, but the chips themselves will still be hidden.

That means for the most part, you'll probably be looking online at an image of a chip — not the real thing — when you contemplate a purchase.

For that reason, I recommend that before you buy a complete set of chips, especially an expensive one, that you either purchase or ask the company to send you for free some sample chips.

Catalogs, computer screens, and the like don't really do a chip justice. For that you'll need to see, hold, and use the chip itself.

Sure, it may cost you $5 or $10 to get a small sample set of chips from the manufacturer. But that's a much less costly option than ordering chips you don't want and having to return them.

About the Author

Ashley Adams has been playing poker for 50 years and writing about it since 2000. He is the author of hundreds of articles as well as Winning 7-Card Stud (Kensington 2003). He is also the host of poker radio show House of Cards. See www.houseofcardsradio.com for broadcast times, stations, and podcasts.

This article was originally written by Ashley Adams in August 2016. Last update: December 2019.

Photos: 'Ready for poker,' Laura, CC BY 2.0; 'Poker Chips,' Indi Samarajiva, CC BY 2.0; 'Poker XII,' Bastian Greshake, CC BY-SA 2.0; 'New custom ceramic chip set,' BigMikeSndTch, CC BY 2.0; 'Poker anyone?' uzi978, CC BY-SA 2.0;.

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The sixth article in our How to Host the Perfect Poker Home Game is another special one as John Donohue of Stay at Stove Dad has provided a meal plan for your epic evening of card playing.

Donohue is 42-year-old journalist and father of two who started the Stay at Stove Dad as a way of chronicling his effort’s to feed himself and his family. He’s since edited a book called Man with a Pan that features 21 writers and chefs discussing cooking.

If you like what you see here we highly recommend you check out his excellent Stay at Stove Dad blog.

Bon appetit!

Stay at Stove Dad Plus Poker

I’m not much of a gambling man, though I did have kids, which, truth be told, must be the biggest parlay of married life (and I doubled down, becoming a parent twice over), so I guess I’m not terribly risk adverse.

Back in my single days, I was once a part of a monthly poker game with some “card-playing friends” from work. I put that in quotes, because the only way our friendship could continue was if I stopped playing cards with them.

You must know that old saw about knowing who the sucker at the table is? Well, it took me about two nights around their table to figure out who it was. That was the end of my gambling days.

If I was going to have a poker party, though, I would have to serve food with it. I checked with some of my card-playing friends to see what kinds of things might work. Pretzels were the universal answer—It seems you don’t want anything sticky or greasy, lest you mess up the cards.

Well, pretzels would never satisfy me—I need to snack on protein or else I feel jangly and worn out—so I racked my brain, and came up with some other ideas.

They might be far afield, but I think they’ll meet the requirement that you hands remain more-or-less clean, and no matter what the cards turn up, you’ll be a winner with these two dishes—they’re rich in protein, and that will make you feel good, and keep going.

Mussels a la Plancha

For something savory, make mussels a la plancha. It is pretty foolproof—all you need (besides the mussels) is a cast iron frying pan. These would be good with beer, too.

  • 1 pound mussels
  • 1 cast-iron frying pan
  • Rinse the mussels well and pull any beards off them. Use only the intact ones that are completely closed.
  • Heat the cast-iron pan until hot.
  • Place the mussels on the pan in one layer.
  • Cook over high heat until the mussels open, release their juices, and the juices boil off. When the liquid is gone, the mussels are ready.

Eat them right out of the pan. They will be smoky and delicious.

This will serve about 2-3 people. Do up to 3 lbs of mussels in two pans for more folks.

Meringues

For something sweet, make meringues, which may be a dessert, but they are almost all protein, so you won’t suffer a sugar crash. These must be made well ahead of time. I don’t know if these would be any good with beer, or not.

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

  • 4 egg whites
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 t. vanilla extract
  • Beat eggwhites til frothy.
  • Add vanilla.
  • Add sugar a few spoonfuls at a time.
  • Beat until stiff peaks form.

Scoop onto parchment paper and bake (really, oven-dry) at 225 degrees for a long time (about a hour) -- depending on whether you like them chewy inside or crunchy.

Best Poker Snacks

Proper recipes will tell you to make sure the egg whites are at 70 degrees, and to sift the sugar. I'm lazy and don't do either. It is important to preheat the oven or you may burn the bottoms. Also, Joy of Cooking says that if you like chewy, 275 degrees; if you like crunchy 225 degrees. And leave them in the oven, with the heat turned off, and the door cracked open, to cool, for 30 minutes or so.

Best Poker Game Snacks

Serve with berries and ice cream on top, if you want the whole experience. Otherwise, just pop them in your mouth and keep playing.

More articles on How to Host the Perfect Poker Home Game:

  • Part 6: What to Eat

Additional Home Game Tools: