The Home poker game scene is one of the fastest growing leisure activities around just now. With the explosion of TV poker there is an enormous interest in the game and of course people want to try it for themselves.

One way to play of course is on the internet in the online poker tournaments, but if you'd rather experience the real thing, setting up a poker game at home is the ideal choice for most people. So what do you need to get started playing your home poker games?

Firstly of course, you'll need some friends! One of the greatest things about poker is of course the flexibility of the game and the fact that it can be played by any number of players. Around six to eight is probably best for an average home poker game.

Almost as important as having friends however is to make sure that what you are doing is legal. In some parts of the world gambling is illegal, even if you are doing it in the privacy of your own home so check it out before you start.

You'll need to decide what game you are playing and for this I would look no further that Texas Holdem as it is the easiest game to learn and of course most people know how to play it as it has become the standard game for TV poker.

Next youll need to get your equipment sorted out for the home poker game. The main things youll have to get for this are pretty obvious of course, a poker table, a couple of decks of cards and a set of poker chips.

Lets take the table first. What, youve already got a poker table in the spare room? Great! Youre all set to go. Most of us however wont have the luxury of a ready made poker table so what are the options? Well if you dont want to get too technical about it, any old table that can comfortably seat the players would do. If you want to get a bit more professional however you can either buy a ready made poker table or make one yourself.

Poker chips are the next thing on your list and theres a huge variety of them available. Plastic, clay and plastic/clay composite are the three main materials used to make the chips and there is a big difference across the board in price and quality. Im not saying for a moment that your friends would cheat, but if you have a regular game and are using freely available cheapo plastic chips there might be a temptation for somebody to bring a couple of their own!

As with the poker chips, playing cards vary considerably so try and get yourself a couple of decks of decent quality cards.

Now youre friends are all set and youve got the equipment sorted out, theres only one more thing to consider before youre ready to go. People are going to be there for a few hours, so youll have to lay on a few snacks and nibbles at least for them.

You might even want to lay on a couple of beers!