Pre-Planning and History, Initial Design Ideas, Options, Research, etc. The history of my initial planning, research and building of my first table. This section is some history, overview information, etc. Read it if you want the "executive summary" on how to build a poker table.
The poker table. Buying one, or building one. I wanted to have a standard gaming table that would add and compliment our regular poker game. After hunting down various sources on the net, I found that my choices were either purchasing a Vegas quality / style table at the cost of anywhere from $1500.00 to $2500 for the table I would want, or, purchasing the kit to build one (which sells for about $300.00 and includes everything other than the wood) or purchasing the traditional octagon poker table top to throw on top of your existing dinning room table ($65.00 from several vendors on ebay).
I came to the conclusion that I would build one for the following reasons.
1) I don’t have the space to house a “Vegas” style table which are found in the casinos. One day, we’ll have a Great Room that will be complete with a Hold’em table, until then....
2) I found someone who had the fold up style Texas Hold’em table that is sold on ebay and other places for about $350. Although this is a nice and usable table, I wasn’t impressed with the construction of it. After looking at that, I thought I would take on building one that had a few other features that I wanted.
So begins my journey of building a Texas Hold’em table with a few hours of time and minimal expense.
My basic requirements were the following:
1) Texas Hold’em shape table that would seat 10 people (measuring 96” x 40”).
2) Low cost, yet high quality. My Labor is free.
3) Cosmetically pleasing and not an eyesore after a year of use.
4) Semi portable and can be moved from my house to another for game night. (if needed)
5) Can be stored in a small enough space in my garage and allow the Wife to park the car.
My biggest and most important issue was the top. Either find a 100% wool (commonly referred to as “speed felt” or Billiard Felt) in the proper width or some other material which would be acceptable. I play cards at a local card room which has both a felt table and a velveteen type material. Both are acceptable to play on. I started hunting fabric stores for table top material. Open your yellow pages and search for “fabric” and you will find a load of stores. I visited a few different stores and in search of 100% wool felt and found that it is not commonly sold in widths greater than 32 inches. This would not work as my width was 40”. I started searching for something else that would be acceptable for cards, had a pleasing touch to it and would look and wear decently after some use, and most of all, came in a width of 40 plus inches. I found a faux suede like material that was great to the touch, smooth, strong, 54” wide, and most of all, $7.00 / yard. I needed 3 yards, so I figured $21 isn’t a bad deal, unless I wanted to special order wool felt in a 54” width, which I wasn’t willing to wait for. And I was not dead set on having to have a felt top for my table.
Next was to hunt down the foam. Most fabric stores sell rolls of foam, however they again, come in widths of 32 inches, which is a standard width for material ‘bolts’ to be manufactured in. However I could not find any ¼” thick foam in any of the fabric stores I visited or called. Everything was ½ inch. I’ve played on tables with both, and seem to prefer the ¼ inch foam. My hunt continues. While at the fabric store, I learned quite a bit of useful information from a woman who was very knowledgeable in fabric and upholstery business. She recommended visiting an upholstery store for the foam and as well for possible table top fabrics. Although I had purchased the faux suede material which I was very happy with, I could always return it, should I find something else I liked more.
I looked up an upholstery store and found that they had ¼ inch foam in 54 inch width. Problem solved. While there, I also noticed that they had rolls of material that were a short nap velvet type material that were used for chairs, sofas, etc. While looking at it, rolling it out on a flat surface, the look, the feel, and smoothness and consistency of this material was great. I asked him how much this material costs. He indicated that it was $28 / yard. More than I wanted to spend. He said there wasn’t much more than 10 feet left on that roll, because it was a “run off”. After further explanation, a “run off” is the last bit of a roll, usually 10 to 15 feet which is sold off or thrown away due to it not being a big enough piece to be used or sold for something such as a couch. Learning this, we settled on a deal of $10.00 for this piece of fabric. Plus the ¼” foam, which ran $6.00 / yard. You can find foam at a lesser price, however it’s important to buy and use what is called “Closed Cell” foam. Closed Cell foam will not break down and become flat after years of use. It’s a few dollars more, however in the long run, I wouldn’t have spots on the table where the table had flat spots in it due to usage and wear.
Now that the foam and top piece of fabric was found, of which I had two pieces to choose from, I needed to pick up a few things at Home Depot for construction and start building my table. At Home Depot, I bought a piece of ¾” finish grade (meaning one side is finished smooth without knots or holes, which would be the working side of the table) ply wood, a can of 3M Adhesive Spray and some dry wall screws. I already had the table frame I was going to start with, which is much like the folding tables that are found on the Internet or any start-up software development company and used as desks. I found that you can buy just the folding leg assembly and attach those to your table top, however I wanted the added strength and durability of the underside rails and folding leg assembly which comes on these tables from the manufacture. Plus, I already had two of these tables in the garage, rarely used. They can be bought in a variety of sizes, mine were 6 foot in length.
Basic Construction / Material List:
(see detailed & complete build list in the "Materials" section)
Folding Legs
Plywood / Wood
Foam (rail / play surface)
Vinyl (rail)
Felt / Play Surface
Adhesive / Glue
Staples
Misc. screws, nails, etc.
Tools needed:
Jigsaw
Circular Saw
Drill / Cordless Screw gun
Staple gun. (Electric / pneumatic)
Misc. / hand tools (square, hammer, pliers, pencil, tape measure, etc)
Optional:
Router
