Everyone knows one, some of us are one but few of us ever become the best of them. Poker players. All year round, they’re everywhere else but truly present inside their homes. From spending hours in front of their PC to earn a crust to hopping on and off planes in glamorous locations all to sit inside a casino playing their favorite card game, life as the partner or close friend of a poker career can be tough.
What can be even tougher is impressing them at Christmas. The yuletide period is one of procrastination and often boredom for poker players. Forced to spend consistent, uninterrupted time with those around them, any poker player could go mad. Here are five suggestions for you to become the calm in their storm, the saucer to their overspilled teacup.
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Organize Family Visits
To say that organization is rarely a poker player’s priority is a little like saying Popeye the Sailor Man isn’t the same without a little spinach in his diet. Poker players are often intuitive souls, which leads to some fantastic characters away from the felt, but organization in non-poker matters is not common.
If you can make sure that the poker player in your life doesn’t do the organization of Christmas visits, then not only are things going to get done in a much better order, but everyone will be better off. You’ll have a happy family, a grateful poker player and a lot more control over what can be a juggling act at the best of times.
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Purchase Presents
Buying a present for a poker player is tricky enough, but by now you should have already perused our gift-getting guide for the card sharp in your life.
If you’re able to handle buying a poker player some festive gifts, then why not go further and help that poker player with the purchasing job as a whole?
Buying presents isn’t easy with little time to check out ideas, so if you’ve a little more time available than your poker partner to search for presents this Yuletide, then it’s a great thing to be able to do for someone who may not have the time or organization to do it themselves.
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Cook the Best Christmas Dinner Ever
The way to a man’s heart is his stomach, so they say. Often the way to a poker player’s peace of mind is exactly the same and there’s no more important meal to organize than the traditional Christmas dinner. From turkey, roast potatoes and vegetables to a spread that lasts the 12 days of Christmas, the benefit of food at Christmas might be relaxation for most, but to poker players, it is often the chance to get into a decent routine of food and drink that makes sense.
Poker players are notorious for eating poorly and without routine, so providing it at the time of year when they need it the most and adrenaline is in short supply is perfect. From mince pies to Christmas pudding, parsnips to roast potatoes, there’s no end of good food you can put together on December 25th and any poker player will appreciate good home cooking as much as any other present at this time of year.
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Plan a New Year’s Party
Kicking back and relaxing is not something that poker players are so naturally gifted at. I mean, have you ever been a ‘Players Party’ at a live tour? You could draw a line down the floor and split the demographic into painfully shy and gloriously unhinged. Like watching FC Cincinatti attack on the flanks, there’s almost no cross over. The ideal party for a poker player is clearly to be held at home and there’s no better time than Christmas for one of those.
Inviting people is something that may be down to the restrictions placed on you by the government in the area you reside but the fun doesn’t need to be reined in. From drinks to party poker games, nibbles to banter, you can plan the killer New Year’s Eve party to end them all, safe in the knowledge that it doesn’t fall on a Sunday and therefore won’t spoil any online action.
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Set Up a Home Game
If there’s one a poker player loves it’s, well… obviously a game of poker.  Setting up a home game with some soft familial opposition, purely for fun, matchsticks or low stakes is a great way to reintroduce the professional or recreational player in your life to the game.
The last time this reporter played a home game, the people attending had no real clue how to play, but it was great fun, and I even made a straight flush. Sure, I would rather have landed one in a tournament for money, but the look on their faces when I turned it over was worth every glare over the wine glasses.
Setting up a poker game requires a little communication with the poker player themselves, but it needn’t be a surprise, so embrace the chance to collaborate with your poker partner on the subject they love and have fun playing the game yourself… maybe even with a fun prop bet on the side.
