Hosting a home game, do you serve food to your guests. (3 Viewers)

When hosting a home game, do you serve food to your guests.

  • Yes

  • No

Results are only viewable after voting.
Tonysquander said:
I don’t have time to analyze all the response locations, but I’d be curious whether food provision is more common the further south you get. Growing up in Louisiana, it was just part of the culture to offer to feed guests no matter what the event was. Usually the first question after hello, how are you, was do you want something to drink followed by are you hungry because we have some ____, _____ and _______…lol

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Maybe so, but in my culture of central Jersey, we greet eachother with the saying, "J'eet yet?", to signify that we have food that we are willing to share. Most I-talian households don't listen to the answer and instead hand you a plate, saves time.
 
I dont provide a "meal" but I do provide lots of "grazing" options and if you come to play poker at my place you will likely not leave hungry.

A full on meal is too complicated /hassle for me when I'm hosting. We always play cash so players are more likely to arrive / leave at different times. Grazing food, gives players an opportunity to eat when they want and how much they want throughout the night.
 
NotRealNameNoSir said:
Maybe so, but in my culture of central Jersey, we greet eachother with the saying, "J'eet yet?", to signify that we have food that we are willing to share. Most I-talian households don't listen to the answer and instead hand you a plate, saves time.
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So true.

I'm Italian. Not serving food is a cardinal sin.
 
upNdown said:
I’m not interested in eating a meal or serving a meal.

All the time and effort and mess involved with some of the meals people discuss here - all that business is for the birds.

I put out hot dogs. But anything more expensive, messy, or time consuming than that, I’m pretty opposed to as a host or as a guest.
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Cue 'old man yells at clouds' meme.

Note to self: scratch upNdown from the invite list....
 
Here is cobbler (cherry and pineapple) and the spicy brats on the smoker, the regular brats will go on later the butcher boils them so they are mostly pre cooked - Time to grate the cheese for the mac and cheese.

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upNdown said:
Like I tried to say in the other poll, I’m not interested in eating a meal or serving a meal. But that’s why the hot dog roller is such a great think to have. Hot dogs are easy, cheap, quick and not messy. Perfect thing to have available to your guests.

All the time and effort and mess involved with some of the meals people discuss here - all that business is for the birds. And the money. I’m a weird guy with money. I don’t think twice about laying out $15 for hot dogs plus whatever soft drinks or cheap beer I have on hand. But if I went to somebody’s house and was expected to pay $10 for food, I’d be annoyed. I can take care of myself, you know?
And the last thing I want to do is sit around watching everybody else eat - whether it’s taking time away from the game or whether they’re eating at the table, I can’t decide which is worse.
So I guess my answer is technically yes - I put out hot dogs. But anything more expensive, messy, or time consuming than that, I’m pretty opposed to as a host or as a guest.
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100% agree with this. I do heavy snacks like mixed nuts and M&Ms and such - but just buy bags of em, plastic cups, and get new ones when they get wiped out.

Dealing with food or food orders, the game disruption, trying to make picky people (which almost all poker players are) happy, is a real focus away form the games. It's a dinner where you have a distraction of cards, not a poker game.
 
MrCatPants said:
100% agree with this. I do heavy snacks like mixed nuts and M&Ms and such - but just buy bags of em, plastic cups, and get new ones when they get wiped out.

Dealing with food or food orders, the game disruption, trying to make picky people (which almost all poker players are) happy, is a real focus away form the games. It's a dinner where you have a distraction of cards, not a poker game.
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Thats why when I serve a meal I let people know to show up at 5:00 to eat but the game starts at 6:30. They can decide when they want to show up.
 
SendThatStack said:
Thats why when I serve a meal I let people know to show up at 5:00 to eat but the game starts at 6:30. They can decide when they want to show up.
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Yup! Few times I have done meals (e.g. my league championship) that's what I do. Lunch at 11:30, contribute if you want in. Cards at 1:00 type of thing.
 
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Yes I provide food every single poker game and sometimes players on special events provide for everyone as well. Gotta eat! We use a hot dog roller, and BBQ drumsticks with Tri Tip on the norm. We find chicken drumsticks work great because they are easy to cook, low maintenance, $1.49 a pound on average ie: affordable, and you can eat them piping hot off the grill with just a single paper towel, without delay. Pictured here is an example of a special event I hosted/promoted last month.
 
In my experience you can’t not provide food. Squirrels cannot go any reasonable length of time without eating, even if they say at the beginning of the game - they are not hungry, don’t need food, or I already ate. It’s all bullshit. They are squirrels.

The few times I have told everyone to eat before the game, two hours in someone says “can we order pizza?” Then the rest of the table wants it too. Then I have to stop playing and order pizza, and everything else the squirrels want. So I figure, I will just get it over with up front and before the game. DoorDash link to everyone. They pick what they want. We all eat and the squirrels can nibble on the left overs all night. Everyone is happy. Squirrels will always be squirrels.
 
Goldfish said:
In my experience you can’t not provide food. Squirrels cannot go any reasonable length of time without eating, even if they say at the beginning of the game - they are not hungry, don’t need food, or I already ate. It’s all bullshit. They are squirrels.

The few times I have told everyone to eat before the game, two hours in someone says “can we order pizza?” Then the rest of the table wants it too. Then I have to stop playing and order pizza, and everything else the squirrels want. So I figure, I will just get it over with up front and before the game. DoorDash link to everyone. They pick what they want. We all eat and the squirrels can nibble on the left overs all night. Everyone is happy. Squirrels will always be squirrels.
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I'm not going to lie.

I am shocked that some here don't have food at their games, just some snacks.

I can't wrap my head around not serving food.
 
NotRealNameNoSir said:
Fantastic combination! Stumbled upon that in college when anything would mix with anything, but really liked it.

BUT having to mix drinks may get in the way of the more serious card players, best to not muddy the waters with concoctions.
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I usually have a few barrel aged cocktail selections, so nice and easy to add and ice cube and bitters and pour.

Beer and simple vodka/soda and crown/water cocktails are also go-to drinks for my group.
 
TomC727 said:
I usually have a few barrel aged cocktail selections, so nice and easy to add and ice cube and bitters and pour.

Beer and simple vodka/soda and crown/water cocktails are also go-to drinks for my group.
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You're right, sorry, was just a sarcastic shot at people who have the gambling blinders on lol. Mines mostly bourbon and beer but have the peripherals to fill gaps between.

At one point, I was dealing/teaching a few brand new people how to play and someone said I was just trying to get them drunk to take their buyins cause I was 'nursing' my Knob Creek 120. Told em the cards cost more than our mictostakes buyin lol, no complaints after that.
 
upNdown said:
I can’t wrap my head around not serving food at a dinner party. But we’re talking about a poker game, right?
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I'm assuming there is a typo in there.

No one is talking about hosting a dinner party. I'm not serving a 5 course meal here with wine pairings. I think you are reading a little too much into this.

When I host a game, the players coming to my house (I have a big group of regulars) are my guests. If I have guests over, I serve food. If you want to call this a dinner party, then so be it, but I feel obligated to treat my guests well, and this includes serving a meal.

Your players may not expect a meal, and if you were to ask my players, they probably don't expect one either, but this is where we see things differently.

My games are more than poker. This is about fun, socialization, hanging out, eating and drinking well, and playing cards. If I wanted to grind at a poker table for 8 hours and starve, I'd go play at a casino. I highly doubt my players would care that we might play 2 hands less an hour because of going back for leftovers 3 hours later or refilling a drink for a couple people.
 
upNdown said:
I can’t wrap my head around not serving food at a dinner party. But we’re talking about a poker game, right?
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I agree. Unless it's a day long session, then I can see having a stoppage for a meal type option. On a short 4-5 hour after supper night poker game, nothing wrong with supplying snacks, like nuts, potato chips, veggies tray, meat tray with cheese, and drinks on the house. Those snacks can be grabbed on the go, with a drink of choice and not make a mess.
 
My guys come in at 6:30 and leave at 2-3am. They'll need to have a bite at some point in the session. I'll have some snacks and drinks out, but usually people will bring food in. If I'm not working that day, I'll make a one pot dish for everyone to share. If not, we can always get some pizza.
TomC727 said:
My games are more than poker. This is about fun, socialization, hanging out, eating and drinking well, and playing cards. If I wanted to grind at a poker table for 8 hours and starve, I'd go play at a casino. I highly doubt my players would care that we might play 2 hands less an hour because of going back for leftovers 3 hours later or refilling a drink for a couple people.
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I agree with this. Look, I can most definitely play cards for 8 hours straight. But in a casual homegame with my friends, I want to take a break after a few hours and chill out a bit with some food and a drink in hand.
 
Machine said:
And here we are
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I love the mustard selection here. As a former Wisconsin boy I salute this entire offering!

But I need to tell you to get ahold of this stuff from Barbados. My wife went on a trip and brought it back and I don’t think I’ll ever eat another brat without it. In fact when she went in a second trip to Barbados she brought back a 2 liter bottle of it so I’m set for awhile.

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We usually order in some American Chinese food from a local place that is deeeelish. Home games usually last at least 8 hours so we pause for a half hour and try not to get sweet and sour sauce on the chips...
 

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