This post is intended for an audience of adults age 21 and older. This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Bacardi. All opinions are mine alone. #SignatureSips #CollectiveBias
Today I’m throwing together a poker game night and sharing this fun and easy how-to with you. It’s fun to host a poker game at your home and I hope your crew enjoys it as much as we do! I’m going to get to it before everyone arrives. Otherwise, I’ll be focused on snapping photos rather than the math involved in kicking everyone’s butt at the table.
The Guest List
First and foremost, you need a guest list. Choose people you enjoy being around. This is a friendly poker night so invite people who fit your vibe and you know well. Your inner circle of friends is a good place to start your list and build out from there if need be.
Keep in mind you only have so many chairs and so much room at your table. Sure you could have a 50 person poker tournament, but c’mon, that’s ridiculous and your back porch might collapse when everyone goes out for fresh air. Invite five to eight people over for a nice friendly game of poker.
Psst… Print your guest list here.
Set a Start and End Time
This is no joke. Seriously. Set a start and end time for your poker game. Sure, you can let someone join after you start, but if you don’t set a start time people may show up way too late. You may end up with only one or two people to start your game…or be waiting around for everyone to show up.
End time. Set the alarm on your watch or phone so you know when it’s time to wrap up the game. If you don’t pick an end time, your game might run on well into the night and people will just get tired and grumpy. Make sure everyone knows what time the game will end! Don’t surprise them by calling the end of the game without notice. This is especially not cool if you’re winning or losing. You risk being called out, big time.
Feed The Crew
This one is always the fun part of hosting poker night. Did you catch my sarcastic drift? Well anyway, the last thing you want to worry about is the food and drinks, right? With that in mind, I have an awesome, time saving tip for you!
Wendy’s. Yup! Wendy’s. Their exclusive Signature Beverages make excellent drink mixers, and of course they have great food options too. This idea came to me in a dream. Okay, not really but it was pretty ingenious. I happened to find these drinks at Wendy’s and thought Bacardi Dragonberry would pair really well with the Strawberry Passionfruit FruiTea Chillers®. Guess what? It does! And of course rum cocktails are among the ten most popular drinks in the world, so everyone is sure to like them!
Get yourself a couple bottles of Bacardi Dragonberry, or if you’re like us, just pull them from your home bar. Use Wendy’s Strawberry Passionfruit FruiTea Chillers® as a mixer, the flavors go excellent together. Grab a small Wendy’s Signature Drink for everyone – or a couple large drinks. You’re the poker whiz, do the math and make sure there’s enough for everyone to have a couple drinks.
Make The Drinks
- Shake in a cocktail shaker:
- Ice
- Add 1oz Bacardi Dragonberry
- Add 5oz Wendy’s Strawberry Passionfruit FruiTea Chillers®
- Pour into a glass with ice
- Serve with a garnish.
Tip: Fill each glass with ice, then add ice to the shaker. Reuse the ice in the shaker for each cocktail. This prevents having to dump ice from the shaker to the cocktail glasses!
Add your ingredients to the cocktail shaker.
Give it a shake and pour into the glass.
Serve with a strawberry garnish. It’s as easy as that!
While you’re at Wendy’s, get a few orders of 4 piece Chicken Tenders and a couple Apple Pecan Salads. Super simple, super easy to serve your guests. When you get home, plate everything up and let your guests dig in!
Choose Your Poker Game
Now that we have the food, people and time all set. It’s time to figure out which poker game we’re going to play.
There are tons of different poker games. From 5 card stud to razz and everything in between. Choose a game that your guests will know. Usually Texas Hold-em is the best game to play with friends. It’s fast paced and everyone knows how to play. If you’re up for something different, try Omaha or Omaha Hi/Lo, my favorite.
Know the rules of the game and make sure everyone else knows the rules too. It’s okay if some people need help throughout the game. We’re all here to have fun!
The Set Up
Now that we have literally everything planned out, it’s time to set up our poker night party! We’re using the buffet sideboard where everyone can grab food and drinks before sitting down at the poker table to shuffle up and deal.
For the food, simply use your fancy bowls and plates. No, I don’t mean paperware. Break out the cool and funky stuff, nice platters, wooden display stand, and ice bucket.
Serve your drinks in nice glasses and have a nice garnish for guests to use. I’m using strawberries because people won’t be afraid to eat them afterwards. Right? Oh, and that cake? We’ll get to that cake.
Serve the Wendy’s Chicken Tenders on a nice platter.
People can grab them as they wish…
Place all of the dipping sauces along side so everyone can choose their favorite.
Stack the salads and let everyone serve themselves with salad tongs. Don’t forget a big bowl of popcorn for everyone to snack on throughout the night. Trust me, the ladies will come hunting for popcorn while they’re in the other room watching movies, so make enough to go around!
Don’t forget dessert! You could make this delicious Bacardi Dragonberry Cannoli Cake with a chocolate ganache dripped over the top… Crazy good. I taped some cards to a skewer and popped it right in the top. Fun poker decoration, yeah?
Add to the theme by using your wife’s light up sign for something other than flowery, inspirational junk. 😉
Let’s shuffle up and deal! If you have any tips or tricks for a successful poker night, I’d love to hear them! Give me a shout-out in the comments below!
What’s your favorite drink to serve when you host poker night?
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