Raised Rail Poker Table Build Questions (1 Viewer)

[cruzer]

About to start building my first poker table and had a few questions I'm still hung up on before I really get started! I am currently planning on having a raised rail with a 1" plexiglass reveal. No lights just painting the back of the plexiglass so the cards don't nick up the paint. I found a conference table for free on offer up I am using as the base to save some money on plywood. So installing 1 piece of plywood for the playing surface and then building a rail that consists of a bottom piece of plywood, spacers and a top piece of plywood (picture a sandwich). I will round the edges so the rail is comfortable. I have plenty of tools to use between my neighbor and a friend that does custom furniture/cabinets.

1. How is shuffling/dealing with a raised rail? I am the dedicated dealer in my home game and I sit in a usual dealer spot. I was thinking of having a cutout from the rail but don't want to further complicate plans if I don't have to.

2. Is it worth it to have professional upholster the rail? I keep reading this is the hardest part of a lot of builds and am leaning towards paying the extra cost to have it done correctly. Rail padding and whisper vinyl is from YAT.

3. Is there a material I could use other than plexiglass for the reveal that may be cheaper/more accessible/easier to work with? I am planning to paint it a secondary color of my custom @T_Chan felt but am also considering black to match the whisper vinyl rail. Haven't really been able to find a lot of plexiglass readily available to me and have no experience cutting.

That's what I have for now but am sure more will come up! Any other tips/insight from your builds would be great!

 

[Machine]

1 inch is a bit large, I would do 3/8 - 1/2

It will affect the height of the table and legs. The constant of the top of the chair will be more difficult to adjust. There is a comfort range between the distance of the bottom of people's legs / top of the chair, to where their elbows rest above their legs. Having a 1 in raise rail will likely be too much. This largely depends on height of the people at your game.

 

[cruzer]

That’s a great point @Machine I think at this point it’s just more work that’s unnecessary. I was also hoping that eventually I’d get chairs with adjustable height for all players but that’s still a ways away.

If I do no reveal and the rail sits at a normal height with the playing surface, how tall of a spacer do I need the rail to sit on? I want it just high enough so that I can deal a card across the table and there’s no chance it ramps up over the rail and off the table. I have a conference table for a base, and using 1/2” plywood for the playing surface piece and the rail. Using 1” foam I believe it is from YAT.

 

[merkong]

1 inch is a bit large, I would do 3/8 - 1/2

It will affect the height of the table and legs. The constant of the top of the chair will be more difficult to adjust. There is a comfort range between the distance of the bottom of people's legs / top of the chair, to where their elbows rest above their legs. Having a 1 in raise rail will likely be too much. This largely depends on height of the people at your game.