Inzaman's DIY Poker Table

[inzaman]

I know this is not strictly HC related but for the past 18 months or so a few mates and i have a game of texas holdem once a month.

I have been looking at other peoples DIY builds but dont really have the room for a dedicated table, which is a shame, so i built a table that fits over our current dining room table. When not in use this just stores away under the spare bed.

Heres some pics of the build.
These first four are the marking out of the playing areas and the rail, to enable it all to fit together i had to label the wood with N,S,E,W.

[inzaman]

Glueing the rail wood to the rail, sanding it (as my jigsaw skills are not the best), and adding T bolts so that i can replace the playing surface easily. You can use wood screws but T Bolts make for a smarter finish and make it easier to unscrew the rail from the playing surface.

[inzaman]

Applying foam to the playing area and foam to the rail, screwed together to ensure that they fit together well and that the T Bolts are all lined up.
To stick the foam i used spray adhesive, two cans worth.

[inzaman]

Up until now it was relatively straight going, then i hit the hard bit; applying fabric to the rail. You can actual buy foam rails etc but i wanted it to look quite professional with a leatherette rail. I purchased the leatherette fabric and started to apply. Just doing this took me the same amount of time as all of the build so far

For the inside of the rail you have to make many cuts so that the fabric all goes on in one piece and there are no joins. At this stage i nearly cut too far on some of the corners, the fabric was tearing etc but i just got away with it. I also had to remove some two/three hundred odd staples and start again. I think in all i used about a thousand staples. Once this was on i applied gaffer tape to cover the staples.

[inzaman]

The finished article on my dining room table and ready to go.

Where the screws go into the T Bolts at the bottom i covered these with foam and gaffer tape so that they would not scratch the table.

I also have a wrinkle in one of the corners of the rail but i can live with that.

[inzaman]

The total cost was about £100 which includes all materials of Ply Wood, Chip Board (for the rail) Leatherette for the Rail, WSOP Grey playing surface, Bolts and T Bolts, and Foam. I also has to buy sanding pads, spray adhesive, no nails, clamps, jigsaw blades, and staples.
I already had or borrowed the tools so didnt need to acquire those.

The foam on the playing surface is 10mm soft foam and feels very nice, the grey cloth is also great, the cards glide along and it looks and feels really nice. Its also nice to lean on the rails when having a game of poker.
The foam for the rails is a recycled foam, i would have gone with the normal hard foam and had more of a rounded feel had i made a complete table but as it was sitting on the dining room table i needed the squarer shape due to the shape of the dining room table. I also had to drop the inner track due to the size of my dining room table, (approx 4ft by 5.5ft, as opposed to 4ft by 8ft of a poker table)

The hardest part is the rail and if i was to do it again i would still make the rail but would probably pull the inner side of the foam down with the fabric as opposed to glueing all the foam first.

Has it helped my poker skills, well the first game on it was two weeks ago and i didnt win so no

[Johnny Thunder]

Top job Inz.
Love Texas Holdem.

[CodeThief]

Very cool, looks nice and sturdy!

Dave

[Matt Horne]

Nice one.. I have a large 10 seater fold up one... though its a bit of a pain to carry round to the house holding the game.. the monthly game has become very popular...

[Zef]

Looks great - one question - where did you get the actual playing cloth from ?. Ive been looking at getting the real stuff from the US..

[inzaman]

Thanks Guys.

Zef i got the cloth from a US ebay seller, i ithink if you type in WSOP then the cloths should come up.

[mca]

Stumbled across this thread after a google search for diy poker tables... a quick question for inzaman; where did you get the foam for the table top?