Poker Tables – What Do You Do?
So you got yourself a nice set of poker chips. Now what, do you think you’re ready for your home game? Before you can actually start your home game, you need another vital piece of equipment – the poker table. In this respect, you have more flexibility than with the poker chips. In deciding to get a poker table, you have three options – buy one, build one, or make use of any table available.
The last option is perhaps the most economically feasible. All you need is to clean up an old table at home, line the top with velvet or a similar sort of fabric, and you’re good to go! Especially for Texas Hold ‘Em, you can buy table tops which are foldable. However, for most people, this is just a quick fix – something that you would do when you are just starting out. After a while, you can save up and buy or build yourself one.
In this article, I’m going to focus on ready made tables (I’ll leave the building of poker tables for another article…)
There is a plethora of poker table makers all over the world, with the US leading in numbers. In general, poker tables may be shaped in a circle, a rectangle (with rounded corners), and an octagon. There is no hard and fast rule regarding which shape is the best so it’s entirely up to your preference. Regarding the size, however, there are some standards. For Texas Hold ‘Em, a full sized table measures in at 91 inches by 46 inches. A full sized table can accommodate the maximum of 8 players.
No matter what the shape is, each poker player who owns a table goes out of his way to “pimp” his table. The basic components however are: the table top, the rail, and sometimes, drinks holders. If you don’t have the time or the skill to build your own table then you can contact poker table makers and they will be more than happy to build you the poker table of your dreams. Of course, this comes for a price.
If you want a more portable table, you can opt for folding tables – complete with folding legs. These kinds of tables are more popular for Texas Hold ‘Em Poker. You just whip them out when it’s time for a home game and then store them in the closet when the game’s over.
There’s a new trend in casino poker tables – electronic poker tables. These are fairly new, especially for Texas Hold ‘Em. With these tables, you don’t need a dealer and you don’t need poker chips. Though really high technology and very efficient, some people still prefer playing with a dealer and toying with their chips. Of course, it is highly unlikely that you will actually buy an electronic poker table for your home game. Well, unless you win the WSOP and you have enough cash to spread around. Then again, you’d probably want a “real” custom made wooden table with everything in it if you were a WSOP winner!
If all else fails, try searching Ebay. That’s all I did when I bought mine… 
Andrew Kicak is a poker enthusiast, a writer, researcher, speaker, and consultant. You can visit his blog and sign up free to get 
