Advanced Poker Training Gift Card
Billed as “The Quickest Path from Average to World-Class Player”, there really is no site like it for serious poker players. It offers several different interactive exercises that teach players how to exploit every player archetype out there. Players can simulate almost any scenario they can imagine.
Our coaches love Advanced Poker Training so much, they lent their expertise to its growing roster of poker coaches in the “Beat the Pros” feature, where you can challenge the best in a simulation with annotated pro advice based on your actions.
Pick up an Advanced Poker Training gift card to make the poker player on your Christmas list a better player overnight.
Live Poker Player’s Journal
Noting down hand histories from live play is not necessarily new, but it is vastly underrated and until now consists of haphazard notes scrawled between action. James “SplitSuit” Sweeney’s Live Poker Player’s Journal: Black Edition is the ultimate live poker tracking journal, if only because it’s the only one out there. But open the pages and you’ll see tons of thought and effort went into creating a pleasing design that efficiently helps you track hands as they go down, with the minimal amount of notes necessary. Looking back on live hands in this manner will give your lucky giftee a huge edge — and if you’re a player too, that makes more edge for two as you can compare notes and discuss hands without worrying about remembering every detail.
Jonathan Little’s Excelling at No Limit Hold ‘Em
Excelling at No Limit Hold ‘Em is not an official Red Chip Poker book, but Little does coaching videos for our site, as does Dr. Tricia Cardner, who is also featured in this book. Add in a cast of poker all-stars devoting entire chapters to very specific strategy concepts, and you get the Super/System of our day. This book is a safe bet for any poker fan. It will make beginners aspire to learn the more complex aspects of the game, and will help intermediate and advanced players gain perspective on avenues of strategic thought they may have not previously explored.
Portable Smartphone Charger
Ok, if your player was paying attention and not pulling out their smartphone all the time, they might be scooping more pots. That said, there are plenty of legitimate reasons to drain a smartphone battery during a lengthy poker session. And, more importantly, there are plenty of times when we forget to charge our batteries and end up crawling around the poker room for an awkward outlet connection.
Until USB charging ports are standard on a poker table, we recommend picking up a portable smartphone charger for your poker buddy.
More juice, more time at the tables. More time at the tables, more profit.
Massage Gift Certificate
We know, this list was supposed to be all about making your friend or family member a better poker player. But hear us out. Poker can be a stressful game, and nothing’s more stress-reducing than a massage. With all the stress and hunched-over posturing, it’s no surprise there are often masseuses in the poker room! Nothing focuses a player to make the best decisions possible like entering a hand in a state of total relaxation. It’s the perfect pre- or post-tournament routine, and great in the middle of cash games. A relaxed player is a player that plays better and stacks more chips.
Brybelly Acrylic Poker Carrier
Most poker chip sets come in cheap aluminum cases that look like a gun case out of an 80s action movie. These acrylic poker carriers are a real out-of-the-box gift for the poker home game host, and bring them as close to the casino as they can get, case-wise. This is a great gift for the poker aficionado who already has a set of chips but is looking to upgrade his case. It comes with no chips, but virtually any kind will fit in its 10 chip racks that are included. This is all you need to walk to the table like a casino boss.
How does this earn your player chips? Well, home games are full of fish. Equipping their home game with cool gear to keep things interesting will keep the fish in the tank a lot longer. Ok, it’s a stretch, but 90% of poker strategy gifts are going to be books or websites, we wanted to keep things diverse!
Bonus: Stocking Stuffers
Quality Playing Cards – Don’t even bother buying a poker player cards from a gas station or grocery store. Order Kem or Copag cards. Both are well-respected, casino-quality brands. They’ll seem expensive compared to Bicycle cards, but they last far longer, and are much more satisfying to shuffle, deal and hold.
You can go even further out of the box and find unique custom decks like this set of “Glitch” playing cards, if your poker fan is more of a collector of poker ephemera.
Handmade Poker Jewelry – There’s a lot of cliche poker jewelry out there. Don’t disappoint. Look for something unique and handmade on a site like Etsy. In a few minutes of browsing we found these sterling silver, minimalist “suited” cufflinks with personal engraving, this sweet vintage-inspired tie clip and a big, fat poker ring cast from precious metals. We even found some great poker-themed wrapping paper.
Stop! 10 Things Good Poker Players Don’t Do – One last Red Chip Poker plug. This is our most recent book, and brings several of our top coaches together to fix common leaks in your typical casino poker player. If your giftee is a recreational player looking to play more in the casino, this small but powerful book will be their survival guide.
Real Casino Chips – Our final suggestion is sure to please — just visit the brick-and-mortar poker room your giftee frequents the most, sidle up to the cage, and buy them a stack of chips to stuff in their stocking. They might disappear after Christmas dinner, not to return until later the next day, but at least you’ll know you made a poker player very happy.
As a bonus, we made this custom gift card for you to include with your gift of chips, so it’s a little less like handing someone money. Even if you don’t get it, we’re sure they will!
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