Card games, and more specifically Poker, have been a big theme during lockdown.
I’ve played occasional face-to-face poker games with friends over the years and really enjoy it. In the first lockdown, my husband got involved in a regular online poker night with friends. It’s an all boys affair, but I joined them a couple of weeks in. Ten months later and it’s still a much enjoyed weekly fixture.
Our daughters were interested in what we were playing so we taught them. They love it. It’s actually good for learning about probability and brilliant for improving concentration and honing observational skills (matching cards and spotting winning hands such as flushes, straights, full houses etc).
All Quizzed Out
Aside from when it’s someone’s birthday, I find it can be surprisingly tough to organise a video chat with a few friends simultaneously. I think it’s a lot easier if there’s a focal point such as a quiz. However, I’ve become a little quizzed out. I was finding that coming up with rounds on a very regular basis was becoming more stress than fun.
Ladies Poker Night
As New Year approached, in the spirit of trying new things/activities, I asked a couple of female friends if they’d be interested in getting involved in a friendly game or two. They all liked the idea. I got them to set up accounts on PokerStars, which is the platform I use. I set up the game and we log in at the same time each Thursday. We run a Zoom meeting at the same time so we’re all looking at our individual hands and the table, but can also see each other.
We’re into our fourth week now and loving it. For the first two weeks we played with play chips ie no money involved, but for two weeks we’ve played for real money. It’s a £3.30 buy in so not huge stakes. I won this week and came away with £20 🙂 The poker play is great fun. Those that hadn’t played before have quickly picked it up though none of us will be giving it all up and heading to Vegas any time soon. However, unlike the ‘boys’ fixture the outcome is pretty secondary. We chat a lot. It’s the perfect way to get us all online together regularly and doesn’t require the effort of a quiz.
