The ideal home poker table! (1 Viewer)

[dkersey]

I'm agreement with the majority here. No racetrack, slide in cupholders. Now, a little story on my cupholder purchase(s).

They only come in 2 sizes, large and small. Looking at the measurements on the web page, I ordered a pack of "large" ones. When I got them, they held most glasses, but a beer bottle would easily topple over. So I returned them, and got a pack of "small" ones. They could hold a beer bottle, but nothing else. Grrrrrr. So I kept those, and re-ordered the large ones again. Now depending on your beverage of choice, I have a the perfect holder for you. Technically, I think the small is too small and the large is too large. They really need a "medium" sized one.

I hope this helps future slide in cupholder purchasers...

 

[MikesDad]

I'm agreement with the majority here. No racetrack, slide in cupholders. Now, a little story on my cupholder purchase(s).

They only come in 2 sizes, large and small. Looking at the measurements on the web page, I ordered a pack of "large" ones. When I got them, they held most glasses, but a beer bottle would easily topple over. So I returned them, and got a pack of "small" ones. They could hold a beer bottle, but nothing else. Grrrrrr. So I kept those, and re-ordered the large ones again. Now depending on your beverage of choice, I have a the perfect holder for you. Technically, I think the small is too small and the large is too large. They really need a "medium" sized one.

I hope this helps future slide in cupholder purchasers...

I have some of both sizes. Although the large ones are too big for a beer bottle or soda can, they are just the right size if the bottle/can is in a "cozy" and also the right size for short glasses of bourbon. The small ones are great for bottles/cans

 

[Jomama]

No racetrack, I am a fan of the drink carts or side tables. My table is 96 x 44 or 42 I can't remember!

 

[Mental Nomad]

Name one casino (casinos are where professionals play) that has in the rail cupholders.

I'll wait.

Borgata, Tropicana, oh wait, you said one...

That said, I like slide-unders just fine.

Also, after all the hate for racetracks, I thought I'd mention that I like them just fine. I also like it fine without one. I think they look really good, and they don't bother me at all - I say if you personally like it, don't be dissuaded by the haters.

I do hate, however, dealer trays in a poker table at a home game. I don't even like a dealer position cutout, unless you really have a dedicated dealer. Otherwise, I'd much prefer a clean rail line.

No to shufflers because, as others say, they run into a lot of trouble - the only reliable shufflers tend to cost much, much more than your table will - and the cutout complicates felting and re-felting your table.

If your lighting is bad, the LED rail may help looking at hole cards, but otherwise, it's just visual bling that some love and some hate. Don't feel that it's a necessity - no "classic" poker table ever had LEDs, and none of them are ever faulted for not having them.

Most of all - enjoy the process and good luck with it!

 

[Irish]

X2 pretty much everything @Mental Nomad posted above. If built right, I find that a racetrack table really adds a level of class that you can't get from even the nicest full felt table. That being said, there are a couple of things you want to keep in mind - the transition from the felt to the track should be seamless (flat with no gaps) and avoid putting cupholders in the track (they instantly become chip catchers). For those who really don't like the racetrack feel but like the look, you can also do a "mini" racetrack design, where the racetrack is only a few inches wide. I've done a few of these, from <2" wide:

To a little over 3" wide:







The table above has been one of my personal tables for years and I love it. Gives you just enough room to stack chips two barrels deep, but it's small enough where your cards remain on the felt to make it easier to pick them up.

The LEDs are a cool novelty but honestly for any table that's going to be set up and taken down frequently (i.e. stored on it's side), I would probably avoid it. Another nice upgrade/option for a portable table is to go with a decorative wood inlay around the inside of the rail:

 

[upNdown]

Something I read from the guy who had the shuffler and then took it out of his table - I think one of his big reasons for doing so was the fact that the shuffler stays in one place but (in most home games) the deal rotates. I think THAT is the biggest reason not to install an auto-shuffler on a home table.

 

[bigblind]

I prefer wooden racetrack also easier to put cup holders in wood racetrack

 

[TheBigTater]

Wooden racetrack, many say they look good but really dislike them. (n) :thumbsdownn) :thumbsdownn) :thumbsdown:
Felt racetrack that is same level as playing area (can also serves as a betting line). (y) :thumbsup:
Custom felt with betting line is great if you can get it. (y) :thumbsup:
In rail cup holders, again really dislike them, almost guaranteed to have a spill. (n) :thumbsdown:
Slide under cup holders (better than in rail but don't like beverages on table really).
Side tables if you have plenty of room around your table (y) :thumbsup: otherwise probably not (they will get in the way and get bumped around), just go with slide unders.
Card shuffler (that's not a human). (n) :thumbsdownn) :thumbsdown:
Dealer tray/cutout (only if you always have a dedicated dealer). (n) :thumbsdown:

Currently my table is portable with folding legs (as I have no dedicated poker room) but I want a custom table with a dining top that kind server the multiple functions.

Good luck with your table!

 

[Trihonda]

I prefer wooden racetrack also easier to put cup holders in wood racetrack

You're new. Welcome to the forum.

We welcome all advice and opinions. However, I pretty much disagree with this 100%.

Wooden racetracks are beautiful to look at. Yes.

Wooden racetracks are like nails on chalkboards when shuffling/handling nice clay chips on them.

Wooden racetracks are horrible as a receptacle for cupholders (unless you want to play golf AND poker at the same time).

Wooden racetracks are more susceptible to catching edges of cards and chips as they slide back and forth over the joint. Yes, this can be minimized by good design and construction, but not entirely eliminated.

They look good, but play horribly. Can you play a racetrack table without issues, sure, but a full felt table plays much better.

 

[bigblind]

I guess I like to play golf and poker at the same time. But this is just my opinion and that is his.
I also must have built a great table because my felt and wood racetrack are level. I use it as the betting line. you will get opinions on both sides of the fence just build what you like.

 

[David O]

Now don't get me wrong PZ, I agree with you on in-rail cup holders... But....

View attachment 72663

View attachment 72665

I spy a spotted bird!

 

[Shaggy]

I spy a spotted bird!

just one

 

[joseywales]

Has no one mentioned a padded, vinyl wrapped racetrack? I had a local guy build my tabletop and I asked for the padded track. It's great. My rail is black and the race track is a brown naughuhyde looking vinyl.

I have cupholders in my rails. Never a problem. Guys use beer bottles. That said, I added glasses this year, so they can use those for beer or drinks.

I have nice Yeungling glasses and others that fit the cupholders perfectly and you can't spill.

Adding a picture of my table. A few things of note:

1 - The glasses and the small water bottle fit so they won't wobble if hit = no spills, even if the glasses are near full.

2 - my race track is NOT even with the table cloth. It's been 5 years at least, so I can't recall if that was product of design or construction, but I like it. I knew it would be like that, so prior to picking up the tabletop, I picked up some fabric cord. Once I had the tabletop, I cut and installed the fabric cord to "cover" the seam between the speed cloth and the track. It was fine without it, but I thought the cord added some pop. In addition, it keeps cards from falling into the track. Can it happen, sure. Over 5 years, I think we've had a handful of misdeals because of the track.

It's hard to notice, but the cord is a 3 color twine of burgundy and gold. I'm not a fan of gold, but the situation demanded it. By that I mean, and this is important to any build, I matched my room and/or surroundings. So before you order a custom cloth, make sure it matches the them/colors of your room.

In my instance, the burgundy cloth made sense and gold matches burgundy well. So, gold in the cord and brass cupholders. In fact, you can't see it, but the chairs I got off CL are a dark brown, with small gold designs on them - happy accident, but the chairs could have been pink and I was buying them at the seller's price!

Recently, I've contemplated changing out the cloth and that has led me to evaluating the table overall. Here are the changes I'd consider:

a - making the table bigger. Currently, it's 54" corner to corner. There were room constraints and possibly fabric constraints at the time. You'll notice my rail is hand stitched and I believe that was because the maximum size the fabric only came in 54".

b - I was thinking of a larger track, so I could get another row of chips to fit in there. The downside of course would be that cards could fit more easily as well. For our cash games, the track is fine, maybe we just color up more on the rare occasion it's necessary. I thinking more about future tournaments, but they would be only a few times per year.

Good luck on the build!!

 

[Poker Zombie]

Has no one mentioned a padded, vinyl wrapped racetrack? I had a local guy build my tabletop and I asked for the padded track. It's great. My rail is black and the race track is a brown naughuhyde looking vinyl.

I have cupholders in my rails. Never a problem. Guys use beer bottles. That said, I added glasses this year, so they can use those for beer or drinks.

I have nice Yeungling glasses and others that fit the cupholders perfectly and you can't spill.

Interesting concept. Pics please!

 

[joseywales]

Hah! I was adding pictures as you were typing!

 

[Poker Zombie]

Very sharp looking tabe. The height difference between track and play surface would be an issue for me, but it would be easily overcome by the sheer beauty of the table.

54" corner-to-corner is a pretty good size. It gives you ~50" between facing players, and roughly 20"-21" of elbow room on the rail. If going bigger with an octagon, I would not go much bigger than 56" between facing players (24" elbow room) as that starts to create a "dead zone" in the middle of the table that players cannot reach. I pick the 56" number because that's what my octagon measures, and everyone can reach the middle except for short busty women - which is a "problem" not everyone needs to contend with.

Funny thing about octagons, is the taller your players, the more likely their knees will bang each other under a shorter table. Bigger tables create the dead zone shorter players cannot reach. Selecting the best octagon requires a bit of player sizing.

 

[joseywales]

Haha...well, if a woman that busty sits at my table, I assure you, reach might be a problem for me as well!

Funny you mention player size, my table is mostly filled with Italians and Jewish guys, so no banging knees. Not to mention the stouter guys not getting close enough to the rail to bang their knees anyway.

Thanks for the compliment on the table. I purchased an oak table on CL for $50 and used the pedestal for this table. Someone on PCF makes a spacer for the pedestals and I should probably look to swap out my homemade spacer with that.

Good point about the 60" though. At 54" I fit 7 players comfortably and 8 is ok. I've had 9, but guys are sitting sideways a bit. This was built to be a social table, so to go bigger maybe requires an oval and that doesn't play too well without a dealer. What I did do was make more space around the table and that was a big help.

I like the look of the offset between the surface and the track and it hasn't been an issue in play. Part of the reason for it, IIRC, is that the surface unscrews easily from below to replace the cloth. What I liked about it is that anytime you removed something, it never seems to go back seamlessly, and I mean seamlessly in the literal sense. I'd always notice something about it and that would drive me nuts. So the offset, with a fabric cord, and any sins that could occur during re-installation, are hidden.

 

[bigblind]

Has no one mentioned a padded, vinyl wrapped racetrack? I had a local guy build my tabletop and I asked for the padded track. It's great. My rail is black and the race track is a brown naughuhyde looking vinyl.

I have cupholders in my rails. Never a problem. Guys use beer bottles. That said, I added glasses this year, so they can use those for beer or drinks.

I have nice Yeungling glasses and others that fit the cupholders perfectly and you can't spill.

Adding a picture of my table. A few things of note:

1 - The glasses and the small water bottle fit so they won't wobble if hit = no spills, even if the glasses are near full.

2 - my race track is NOT even with the table cloth. It's been 5 years at least, so I can't recall if that was product of design or construction, but I like it. I knew it would be like that, so prior to picking up the tabletop, I picked up some fabric cord. Once I had the tabletop, I cut and installed the fabric cord to "cover" the seam between the speed cloth and the track. It was fine without it, but I thought the cord added some pop. In addition, it keeps cards from falling into the track. Can it happen, sure. Over 5 years, I think we've had a handful of misdeals because of the track.

It's hard to notice, but the cord is a 3 color twine of burgundy and gold. I'm not a fan of gold, but the situation demanded it. By that I mean, and this is important to any build, I matched my room and/or surroundings. So before you order a custom cloth, make sure it matches the them/colors of your room.

In my instance, the burgundy cloth made sense and gold matches burgundy well. So, gold in the cord and brass cupholders. In fact, you can't see it, but the chairs I got off CL are a dark brown, with small gold designs on them - happy accident, but the chairs could have been pink and I was buying them at the seller's price!

Recently, I've contemplated changing out the cloth and that has led me to evaluating the table overall. Here are the changes I'd consider:

a - making the table bigger. Currently, it's 54" corner to corner. There were room constraints and possibly fabric constraints at the time. You'll notice my rail is hand stitched and I believe that was because the maximum size the fabric only came in 54".

b - I was thinking of a larger track, so I could get another row of chips to fit in there. The downside of course would be that cards could fit more easily as well. For our cash games, the track is fine, maybe we just color up more on the rare occasion it's necessary. I thinking more about future tournaments, but they would be only a few times per year.

Good luck on the build!!

View attachment 73040

nice table

 

[hod]

A deep rail would be my preference. Cupholders in it are very practical, but don't look as good. The racetracks posted by Irish look excellent and practical, others I've played on have been a PITA.

For the cupholders, it depends on your crowd - mine are 50% drunken halfwits by the end of a session, and have all the table manners of a 2 year old, so stuff gets spilled everywhere. I've only got a cheap table so no big deal, unless the chips get it. That's an issue.

 

[BGinGA]

I have some of both sizes. Although the large ones are too big for a beer bottle or soda can, they are just the right size if the bottle/can is in a "cozy" and also the right size for short glasses of bourbon. The small ones are great for bottles/cans

@Lars built some ingenious dual-size cup holders for his table at The Shed. The top diameter of the holder is 'jumbo' size (so drink glasses, cozy's, and oversize water bottles fit), but the bottom section contains a recessed 'small' size holder -- so beer bottles and soda cans also fit perfectly without tipping. Maybe he can post some pics or a link.

 

[bigblind]

when I built my table I found those dual size cup holders on eBay. they work great!

 

[Lars]

@Lars built some ingenious dual-size cup holders for his table at The Shed. The top diameter of the holder is 'jumbo' size (so drink glasses, cozy's, and oversize water bottles fit), but the bottom section contains a recessed 'small' size holder -- so beer bottles and soda cans also fit perfectly without tipping. Maybe he can post some pics or a link.

I should have time tomorrow to post up some pics.

 

[AdamAAAA]

I think I'll basically just show them a picture of @Trihonda's table and ask for that.

 

[Trihonda]

I think I'll basically just show them a picture of @Trihonda's table and ask for that.

You wouldn't be the first... one of my better poker friends played my house, and then had to have a table just like it. I steered him to Chanman tables.. I talked him out of having Chan re-create my base, and I also talked him into getting a custom aluminum diffuser (which is completely baller on his table). So now the tables aren't identical.

 

[T_Chan]

Custom diffusers are my specialty (y) :thumbsup:

 

[Trihonda]

View attachment 73511

Pretty baller when he turns the lights a shade of nuclear floro green No pics of that, but here's some nice ones.

 

[jbutler]

?????????????????

In what world does any pro ever play on a table with in rail cupholders? Name one casino (casinos are where professionals play) that has in the rail cupholders.

I'll wait.

Borgata, Parx, Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, Harrah's AC, Bally's AC, Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, Harrah's Cherokee, Isle Casino (Pompano Beach), Harrah's Philadelphia, Sugarhouse (Philadelphia), Golden Nugget AC. I could go on, but those are the ones I can confirm from firsthand experience.

 

[AdamAAAA]

You wouldn't be the first... one of my better poker friends played my house, and then had to have a table just like it. I steered him to Chanman tables.. I talked him out of having Chan re-create my base, and I also talked him into getting a custom aluminum diffuser (which is completely baller on his table). So now the tables aren't identical.

Unfortunately being in the UK, I'm not sure it'll be financially viable to get one from him, as awesome as it would be I'm sure as this table looks excellent!

 

[GoStumpy]

Borgata, Parx, Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, Harrah's AC, Bally's AC, Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, Harrah's Cherokee, Isle Casino (Pompano Beach), Harrah's Philadelphia, Sugarhouse (Philadelphia), Golden Nugget AC. I could go on, but those are the ones I can confirm from firsthand experience.

Mic drop.

lol

 

[Poker Zombie]

Borgata, Parx, Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, Harrah's AC, Bally's AC, Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, Harrah's Cherokee, Isle Casino (Pompano Beach), Harrah's Philadelphia, Sugarhouse (Philadelphia), Golden Nugget AC. I could go on, but those are the ones I can confirm from firsthand experience.

Went back and deleted my post. When I'm wrong, I'm happy to be corrected... I'm just not usually this wrong, unless I'm calling what I thought was a bluff.