Holiday Season Special: Best Gifts For a Poker Player

It’s a very special time of the year with the Christmas bells and carols adding the holiday flavor to the days. If Santa has been busy giving away gifts on his ‘one horse and a sleigh’ so are most of us, ‘cause it’s the time to be jolly, and spend the cold wintery days and nights with friends and family as we gear up to say goodbye to the year.

Speaking of gifts, there’s a good run down of options ranging from technology to tools, book, courses and subscriptions that you can give to that ‘someone special’ who loves to play poker. For your best gang of buddies as well, there’s no better way to join in the Christmas celebrations than to go for a poker accessory or giveaway that they can use.

If money is a constraint, don’t worry, there’s an affordable range out there, fitting into even the most modest budgets. There are also exclusive and high-range options for the tech freaks and advanced players and then there are bestselling books, authored by some of the best poker players on the planet.

We bring you a list of top trending poker gifts that make for a perfect Christmas giveaway.

1. Poker Courses

Topping our list of gifting options are some of the most popular poker training subscriptions available today. If you have a friend or family member passionate about poker, this is one gift they will surely appreciate.

Run it Once – Phil Galfond’s poker training website offers access to the biggest poker library that boasts of a massive 4,428 advanced poker training videos with 2 new videos added each day. Whether its tournaments or cash games, detailed hand analysis, meta-game discussion or mindset issues, the Run It Once video library has some great videos on every topic.

Price: Essential plan – $24/month (~₹1,500/month), Elite membership – $99/month (~₹7,000/month).

Masterclass – PokerStars Team Pro Daniel Negreanu gives 38 lessons in the first Masterclass of poker. The website is currently hosting a holiday offer that will get you an additional All Access Pass to gift on purchasing one All Access Pass. Hurry as the offer ends on December 26 at 11:59 PM PST.

Price: Single class -₹7,775, Complete Masterclass access – ₹15,550/year.

Upswing poker – The site offers free resources for beginners and paid lessons for advanced players.

Price: Individual lessons – $7 (~₹500) (limited time offer on Postflop game plan lesson), Advance courses (tournaments and cash games)- $999 (~₹70,000).

RaiseYourEdge – RaiseYourEdge is known to offer some of the best poker strategy articles and videos.The Apprentice Class includes access to over 20 hours of content. The material focuses on Preflop Theory and Adaptations with Ranges, Implementation of GTO & exploitative play along with other strategy material.

In addition to the material in The Apprentice Class, the Expert Class includes –

• Additional 7 hours of video content
• Advanced ICM Preflop Shortstack Theory
• The Science Behind Resteals & Calling Them
• Perfect Push & Call as Shortstack.

Price: Apprentice Class $739 (~₹52,000), Expert Class – $1,294 (~₹91,000), Private coaching – €50 to €500 (~₹4,000 – ₹40,000) per hour.

2. Poker Tools

If that special somebody is hooked onto the monitor grinding online tournaments way after bedtime, get them one of these awesome tools that can drastically boost win rates for players!

PioSOLVER Pro

PioSOLVER pro is the perfect gift for intermediate to advance users and remains the most advanced GTO solver available in the market today. It solves flop/turn/rivers spots with optional multiple bet sizes. The pro version comes with the full version of PioVIEWER with features like –

• Save/load trees, build trees, choose accuracy/running time
• Fully scriptable
• Range explorer, node locking, aggregation reports

The only limitation of the software is that it uses up to 16 CPU cores to work efficiently, so before choosing to gift, do make sure your loved one has the requisite hardware to support such a powerful software. But for advanced players, PioSOLVER Pro is a tool they just cannot ignore making this the perfect holiday gift!

Price: Basic version-$249(~₹17,500), Pro version – $475 (~₹33,000) (offers two installs & scripting capability), Edge version – $1,099 (~₹77,000).

PokerTracker 4

PokerTracker 4 is the industry leading analysis, tracking, and heads up display (HUD) software. You also get to pick from two variants, custom made for Hold ‘em & Omaha players, so do find out which variant your friend likes to play, before ordering.

Price: $159.99(~₹11,000).

Holdem Resources Calculator

The Holdem Resources Calculator is a favored hands-on tool for many poker players, since it automatically analyzes entire sessions for potential mistakes and calculates tournament ICM effects before the final table. The software lets you calculate Nash ranges for not only push/fold situations but also for 3-bet and 4-bet situations.

Price: $9.95/month (~₹700/month), $99.9(~₹7,000) for 18 month pack.

ICMizer

ICMIZER is a Nash calculator which utilizes poker ICM theory, cutting edge FGS model, and a basic ChipEV model offering tools to optimize preflop Push/Fold playing strategy. A 12-month subscription is reasonable and includes ICMIZER, SNG Coach and Replayer. What’s more, it is one of the most consistent Nash calculators in the market, and can easily sneak into your long list of Christmas buys!

Price: Annual subscription – $159.99 (~₹11,000)

3. Poker Books

There’s no fun in poker unless you start delving deeper into the depth of the intriguing strategies and aspects of this mind sport. So if you’re hunting for a good poker buy to gift this Christmas, check out the different bestsellers that maker poker learning easy and fun.

Play Poker Like the Pros by Phil Hellmuth Jr.

Phil Hellmuth, Jr. demonstrates how to play and win in poker in this book. This beginner’s guide covers Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Seven-Card Stud, and Razz.

Reading Poker Tells Paperback by Zachary Elwood

This book guides you on how to analyze physical gestures, facial expressions, body posture, and verbal statements of other players.

The Theory Of Poker by David Sklansky

Another all-time classic, this book covers the theories and concepts that will help you in almost every variation of the game.

Power Hold’em Strategy by Daniel Negreanu

Daniel Negreanu gathers together the greatest young players, theorists, and world champions of hold’em, to present insider professional secrets and winning strategies.

Harrington on Hold ’em by Dan Harrington

This book provides poker strategies for every phase of tournament play, covering the early phase where the stakes are small to later tactics such as bluffing, flops, scare cards, playing short handed, loose games, and endgame strategy.

Every Hand Revealed by Gus Hansen

This book consists of an extensive, easy-to-follow analysis of the more than 300 hands Gus Hansen played during the 2007 Aussie Millions. Just the right buy for a fan of the ‘Great Dane’ and a good read that offers an insight into some of his strategies.

Excelling at No-Limit Hold’em by Jonathan Little

Popular poker strategy author Jonathan Little brings together 17 of the greatest no-limit experts in the world to discuss all aspects of the game.

Moorman’s Book of Poker by Chris Moorman

In this book, Chris Moorman analyzes 80 tournament hand histories played by co-author Byron Jacobsa. The adoption of a coaching format allows Chris to explain in clear detail exactly what is needed to lift your game to the next level.

Phil Gordon’s Poker Box Set

In a set of three books, Phil Gordon teaches ways to handle a variety of hands in No Limit Texas Hold’em. This boxed set includes two previously published titles and one new re-formatted title with 30% new material.

4. Poker Accessories

Poker Tables

Poker tables are an intrinsic part of game especially in the live setting – be it a cozy home game or the confines of a professional poker club or casino. Just like most poker accessories, poker tables too come in various types such as an actual table or a fold-out, covered with baize (a type of felt) or speed cloth (a Teflon-coated fabric) and the list goes on and on. It is important to know your options and check if they fit your budget and voila – you will find that perfect poker table to gift that perfect someone!.

Featuring in our list our the three most well-known poker accessory suppliers in the country today.

CasinoKart: Price – ₹24,000 to ₹1,70,000

Poker Stuff India: Price – ₹25,000 onwards

Casinoite: Price: ₹25,000 – ₹1,55,000

Poker Chip Set

Do books, software and other accessories sound boring to you? There is a whole range for choices in other poker essentials, like poker chipsets to go for. Chip sets are obviously a must-have for all poker aficionados and there are some good products going the rounds in the market. Based on what you are looking at, you can go for a home game or professional chip set. While most chips are made of clay, there are chips available in a variety of other materials.

CasinoKart: Price: ₹10,000 -₹35,000

Poker Stuff India: Price: ₹2,450 -₹12,500

Casinoite:

Poker Chip Sets (300 PCS) – Price: ₹1,999 -₹4,499

Poker Chip Sets (400 PCS) – Price: ₹2,499 -₹5,999

Poker Chip Sets (500 PCS) –Price: ₹2,999 -₹24,999

Poker Chip Sets (600 PCS) – Price: ₹6,999 -₹7,999

In addition to the above, there are a variety of other options available on popular e-commerce sites like Amazon and Flipkart.

Fashion Items

Poker inspires a fashion sense even in the most uninspiring of players. Call it necessity of the game but it’s a fact that poker players are some of the most fashionable people around. Here is a list of some trendy accessories to gift your special someone.

Headphones & Sunglasses

Headphones and Music players – Amazon/Flipkart – Music plays an important role in keeping the mind focussed during those long hours of grind on the felts. Since most times the play can stretch up to long hours of the evening, it’s always good to keep a pair of headphones and music player handy. Which is why, a music player along with a set of trendy headphones are a sure hit if gifted to a poker player.

Price: $119 (~₹8,360) onwards.

Sunglasses

A perfect poker face won’t help if the eyes say it all. Wearing sunglasses help a player mask his eyes, and are a great accessory that can be used even off the poker tables. Depending on whether you’re hunting for a classic pair like aviators or the trending hot buys, there’s a huge variety of branded sunglasses to go for.

Price: $149 (~₹10,468) onwards

5. PokerGO Subscription

PokerGO is a Netflix-style digital video subscription service from PokerCentral which gives 24/7 access to exclusive live poker events, original shows, programming and behind-the-scenes poker content.

Since it is the exclusive WSOP partner for live-streaming, a PokerGo subscription is a MUST if your special somebody is crazy about the World Series especially given the huge Indian contingent that joins in the proceedings at the series every year.

In addition to WSOP, the subscription gives access to live tournament action from Super High Roller Bowl, World Poker Tour (WPT), U.S. Poker Open, Poker Masters and others.

Get the PokerGO subscription here.

Price: Monthly pass – $10 (₹700), Annual pass is for $99 (~₹7,000)

So here it was, a complete list of some of the top gifts you can pick for those poker-fond mates of yours. Check them out and get on with your shopping. Happy holidays!