A Folding Poker Table will jazz up your home games

My poker friends and family have met in our kitchens and dining rooms for years. We always loved the thrill of competition to see if we could out play each other and who was going to take home the winnings. We would spread out our old army green blanket on the kitchen table, and break out the department store plastic poker chips and paper cards, and off we went. Little did I know what we were missing.

I had no idea a few years ago that there were actually real poker tables and casino size chips available that were affordable enough for home use, until I was online one day. Then my world changed! I was amazed at the plethora of poker goodies from poker tables and tops, clay poker chips with their heavy weight and realistic size, and plastic playing cards. That's it, I was hooked.

The problem with getting a poker table in your home was the cost. With craftmanship equal to pool tables it was a pretty stiff investment early on. The other issue was space. Not everyone has room for a full size table in their home, especially since most of us didn't even have a rec room.

Then I saw a folding poker table. Not only were they a fraction of the price, but they fold in half providing for much less space needed to store them between games. That's right, the legs fold up under them and then the top itself folds in half.

These tables generally come in 2 sizes, 8 player and 10 player. But what amazed me the most, were the features! The professional tables you find in casinos have padding under the felt. Who cares you might ask? That is what gives them that soft muted, clinking sound when the chips hit the pot. Without the padding it would sound like your kitchen table with a blanket on it, a wooden echo and the chips would bounce all over the place. Not a pretty picture for a casino. A folding poker table has the padding under the felt as well, plus some other touches like cup holders for a place to put your beer (a poker accessory), and padded armrests which are very welcome if you have ever played for 6 hours or more on a kitchen table with your arms pressing on the edge of it, ouch!

The down side? Man...these things are heavy! At around 80 lbs it's best to have 2 people move this around and set it up. What's worse, these monsters will not fit in the trunk of most cars even folded, so either everyone has to have one, or you are probably better to look at the next option if you play your Texas Hold'em tournaments at different friend's houses.

If you lack a good sized room (and chairs) to setup a folding poker table, and/or you need to be able to take your game to a different location, a folding poker table top is a good alternative to a poker table. They are much lighter and fold up even smaller than a folding table. They are small enough for the trunk of your car, but when unfolded can support as many as 8 players.

All you have to do is unfold it and set it on your existing kitchen or dining room table, and you are ready to play.

But what about all those great features we wanted on a poker table? No problem, the high end poker tops even have padded felt and cushioned armrests just like the tables. These tops are also made of wood, which adds to their longevity and durability. On the low end, you lose some of these features, but seem to pick up other features like poker chip trays and colorful casino markings. They are made of a foam like substance which gets their weight under 20 lbs so they are better for the traveling games.

The best part of a table top is their price. They can be had for as little as about $40. So even though the foam tops don't have near the durability of their more expensive cousins, they can be replaced much cheaper when needed, which is nice if your poker buddies are slobs like mine :).

Since I purchased my first poker table top (which I still use occasionally), and then later my poker table, our home games are more fun than ever. I could never go back to playing on a kitchen table again. It has added all the thrills and excitement of playing at the casino (ok, well it still beats the kitchen table).