A list of the necessary poker supplies is quite simple. For a good game of poker, all you need is a deck of 52 standard playing cards, a table, some chips or something to keep track of the betting with, and some people that know the basic rules of the game.

A standard deck of cards contains 52 cards divided into four suits: spades and clubs in black and diamonds and hearts in red. Each suit has 13 cards numbered two to nine, a jack, queen, king, and ace in ranking order. This deck of cards is shuffled into random order and is the basis for the entire poker family of card games (though some poker games are played with modified decks or, in the case of Pai Gow, with special dominoes instead of cards).

A table can be any flat surface large enough for everyone playing in your poker game to sit around, and keep their cards in front of them. A felt-covered poker table with lines drawn for the placement of cards, and special sections for chips or cup holders is a nice touch and might make the poker game more fun, but isn’t a necessary supply.

What is necessary is a way to keep track of the betting. How else can you tell who is winning and who is loosing. The most popular poker supply to fill this role is a nice set of poker chips. Plastic chips can be purchased relatively inexpensively, but nothing compares to the heavy feel of clay chips in your hand or the sound they make when you push all-in on your best hand of the night.

One poker supply you can not do with out is people. While there are video poker games, and online poker sites, to have a real live poker game, you need some people to play with. Of all the other supplies mentioned as necessary for an enjoyable poker game, the cards, table, and chips, none are as important as the people.

Some other supplies that might help the game move along smoother are an extra deck of cards, automatic card shufflers, a dealer button, blind buttons, chip counters, and other accessories to fix up your poker game room like lights and a poster of dogs playing poker. Also helpful if you have a few new players at your table is a rank chart of poker hands like this one:

1. Royal Flush – A, K, Q, J, 10 of the same suit; the highest hand in poker.
2. Straight Flush – five cards in order of the same suit.
3. Four of a Kind – four cards of the same rank, also called a quad.
4. Full House – three cards of one rank, two cards of another.
5. Flush – five cards of the same suit, any rank.
6. Straight – five cards in rank sequence, any suit.
7. Three of a Kind – three cards of the same rank, also called a trip.
8. Two Pairs – two sets of two cards each with matching rank.
9. Pair – two cards of equal rank.
10. High Card – the highest card on the table by rank order.