Cardinal Professional Texas Hold 'Em Poker Set,: What a Deal!!
Written: Jan 02 '05 (Updated Jan 11 '05)
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Pros: Nice compact box with everything together.
Cons: Though stated as such on the box, it's not professional quality.
The Bottom Line: This is a fine set to have for the family. The chips and cards can be used for most any card game.
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| popsrocks's Full Review: Cardinal Professional Texas Hold 'Em Poker Set |
Texas Hold'em Poker has become a phenomenon that has the country crazy for it. Many TV shows highlight the game and I know in my business, that provides entertainment and casinos for fun, we get many people looking for us to have dealers and tables sporting this game.
One of my daughters received the Cardinal Professional Texas Hold 'Em Poker Set as a gift. She showed interest in the game playing on the Internet. Nope, no obsessive playing or gambling here, just some fun.
Contents
The game is all contained inside a tin about 9"x12"x4". By the weight of the box you know it's packed tightly. The outside artwork shows some cards dealt out and chips in and out of a rack. We are told the game is for ages 10 and up.
The box also notes that inside we will find
-200 Quality Poker Chips
-1 Deck of Poker Cards
-Felt Playing Surface
-Dealer Button
-Poker Chip Rack
-Easy To Learn Instructions
When you lift off the cover, Ta Da!! You get exactly what the cover says you'll get, but professional, Mmm?
Quality
The cover states "professional set" but I would not consider it so. The plastic rack holds 200 chips of four different colours, green, white, red and blue.
These are decent feeling and looking chips but are far from the heavy look and feel of the real clay ones you might find in a casino. They are not the very light cheap plastic chips and do have a good weight. The chips, though in different colours, have the same design of spades, diamonds, hearts and clubs printed around the perimeter.
The game comes with one deck of cards but the chip rack is designed to hold two decks.
The felt is approximately 30"x 48". It's not a good quality but does add to the feel of a real felt table and allows the dealer to manipulate the cards(in a good and professional way) on the table easier. Because the size of the tin the parts come packed in is small, the felt must be rolled fairly tight to fit in. Because some folds must be made before the roll, there are wrinkle seams.
Also included is one Dealer Button that looks and feels good. This is used to designate where the deal starts in that there is just one dealer but the hands are dealt from different clockwise rotating positions. More on that later.
The deck of cards that comes with the set are decent quality but if you play cards regularly these will only be used for a short time, as most are, and must be replaced.
The Game
The game comes with an instruction sheet that is easy to follow. The game is a based on regular poker games where a four of a kind, straight, flush, full house, three of a kind, pairs and high cards are sought using two cards dealt and others that are placed on the table.
Texas Hold'em seems to have basic rules that may vary a bit from place to place. In giving these directions I assume that the reader has a basic idea of the game of poker. I won't go into every nuance of the deal and play but I will delve into the basics.
The game utilizes a regular 52 card deck. Before the cards are dealt the first two players to the left of the dealer put money into the pot. This is the "pre-flop" bet. This position of being to the left of the dealer changes. I'll explain in a bit.
The game is generally played with one dealer who gives each player two cards. These are their "hole" or "pocket" cards. They do not show them and they never receive another card.
Betting starts with the third person to the left of the dealer based on the two cards they hold.
The next round of cards is given out but these go onto the table face up. These three cards are called the "flop". The cards stay on the table but are used by everyone to make their hand. Then another round of betting is done based on the two "hole" cards held in your hand and what you see on the table. This starts on the dealers left.
After bets are placed with "check", "raise", "call", and "fold" as in regular poker. When finished at this round another face-up card is dealt to the table, "the turn", and the bets continue.
After that's finished the last card, "the river", is dealt face up to the table. This is the last card that can be used by everyone to complete their five card hand. Once again, none of the total five face-up cards are handled by the players, They are community cards simply used to complete hands. One more round of bets goes on and everyone either folds or shows their cards to see who the winner is who then takes the chips in the pot.
Once that hand is finished the dealer once again gives out the cards but first moves the "Dealer Chip" to the first person on the left and then starts the deal at the next person. This is the method in which one dealer continues at that function but the deal, pre-flop bets and betting continues to rotate around the table in the usual clockwise pattern and the deal moves clockwise with each hand..
My Feelings
The game is an interesting one that pits people head to head using the same face-up cards. A lot of thinking and strategy comes into the game. I have found that lower hands like two of a kind and high card can win this game often. If you like poker and other card games, you should easily adapt into this game.
This set is perfect for the casual player. We don't play cards often in our family but when we do it's nice to have compact set-up and ready to play at any time. This set is fine for us.
Except for having to replace the cards on occasion I feel this set will last for years.
Other family game reviews by popsrocks
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Encore Deluxe Fun, Fun, Fun!!
CLUE A classic " Who dun it?" game.
Stratego A time tested game of strategy.
Fact or Crap A new game that is fun for 15-adult
Texas Hold'em Poker
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How to Host a Murder This is our favorite game of all!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): gift
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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