Plastic cards are right way to go. Paper cards are cheap, but you get so little play time from a deck that paper cards are no bargain even with a low price point.
My player pool runs a little older than average ( I think ). Large index format works best for my players because they can't see as well as they once did. It has gotten to the point they regular index decks have become objectionable - meaning that I get complaints about "these cards are hard to see" when I bring out regular cards and I end up playing only the large index cards.
The same sort of thing is true if you are playing in a poorly lit gaming area. Even though the players are young enough to have good eye sight, they will benefit from the larger index cards when the lighting is weak. This happens more than you might think - bars and pubs generally have dim lighting as do a lot of garages.
I host roughly once a week now and have a lot of experience with different card vendors. I rotate decks every session so it is unpredictable when a specific deck is going to come into the game. Not that I have ever had a problem with cheating or people gaining an advantage of a nicked up card being readable from the back. but why take chances? There are at least three dozen different decks in the poker room right now.
There are distinct difference between plastic card vendors. The decks can be stiffer or they can be thicker or thinner. The thinnest decks can be a little cheaper, but those decks start getting a curl in the cards that I think quickly becomes unacceptable.
Another problem some vendors have is the marking on the cards gradually wears off. You can mitigate this type of damage by cleaning your table often - the dirt and dust act like a fine sandpaper on the faces of the cards.
Some of the well known brands are not as good as you might expect from their reputation - Copag, Kem, Modiano, Dal Negro, Mint, Da Vinci, Guild, and Gemaco cards. They are either too thin, too thick, attract and retain dirt/grime, are easily damaged, prematurely fade, or are prone to warping.
I have had set ups from all of these vendors. They were certainly adequate even if their playing life was shorter than desired. Some of these cards come with a premium price - - - adding insult to injury, paying extra for cards than are going to last a shorter period of time.
My preferred cards come from two vendors, Piatnik and Desjgn. Perhaps these vendors aren't as well known, but their products are clearly better. However it can be hard to find these cards in the desired format.
Piatnik offers a lot of "pretty bridge" styles of decks that might not be what I would select for my poker game. My last order of Piatnik cards had to be shipped from Europe, which took months (but was well worth the wait ) Piatnik is based in Europe and it seems like that is the market they are most interested in.
Desjgn is a small domestic card vendor. Sometimes it can be hard to find these cards in stock, or if in stock perhaps not in the color / format desired. At the moment, Desjgn is running a kick-starter for bridge sized, large index offering (link below). The kick-starter price ranges from $15/setup for a single set up to less than $10/setup in quantity. This is a huge bargain as these cards often cost $18 to $20 per set up. They are worth the $20 price - I have more of these cards than any other. But why pay $20 when you can pay $15 or less?
I also have a soft place in my heart for a plucky small business trying to break into an established market. Made in the USA, small businessman offering a better quality product at a competitive price point. The kick-starter offer closes late in May, but you can find these cards after that at various on-line retail outlets.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...lassic-baroque
Bottom line for me - - - don't cheap out on your cards. Players might not notice good cards, but they will certainly notice bad cards. And after they get "trained" on good cards, they really notice problems with bad cards.
DrStrange