How To Build A Folding Poker Table Top

4/7/2022 admin

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While I have a fairly solid grasp on how to play fundamentally sound poker, I often find myself calling a bit too often with good, but second best, hands when my opponents are willing to put all of their money in the pot. I have been working hard to plug this leak, and this hand demonstrates my progress.

In a recent $5,000 buy-in live partypoker event in Montreal, I started the hand with 280,000, which was a ton of chips at the 1,000-2,000 level. I raised with A Q from first position to 4,500. A tight, passive player who had 120,000 chips called from middle position. An excellent tight, aggressive player with 200,000 chips also called from the small blind.

Hosting a party can be a lot of fun. The days before are packed with preparation and meal planning.
You can build your own hexagonal poker table in a day - and for a fraction of what you would spend at a store. If you're not only a poker enthusiast, but also a woodworking hobbyist, you can build it with tools you already own. The next time it's your turn to host the game, you can entertain your poker buddies at your homemade poker table.

Build Your Own Foldable Poker Table Top If you enjoy a game of poker with your friends and would like to have a permanent but not so obvious poker table in your home, here is our easy DIY. Often when ordering a readymade poker table, the size is all wrong for the proportions of your home. The top layer of foam and the vinyl wrap over the long outside edge of the armrest and are attached under the table base. Practice cutting and stapling the foam and vinyl on offcuts of timber to master the technique of upholstery before covering the armrests. Finish the table with timber and brass cup holders as a special feature.

The flop came Q 9 6, giving me top pair, top kicker. The small blind checked. I certainly want to make a bet to get value from numerous worse made hands, like K-Q, Q-J, and A-9, while also protecting my hand against various draws, such as 5 4 and K-J. Of course, I do not expect anyone to ever fold a premium draw to any reasonable bet. The idea of betting a large amount to try to force the premium draws to fold will almost never work. I bet 12,000 into the 17,500 pot. This bet easily allows worse made hands that I crush to call while giving the draws poor pot odds.

The middle position player thought for a while then called. The small blind then started thinking, and thinking and thinking, for about three minutes total. While he was thinking, I realized that the small blind would probably only raise with a set, Q-9, 9-6, or a premium draw. Against the sets and two pairs, I am crushed. Against the premium draws, I will win roughly 60 percent of the time. Against exactly that range, A-Q is in terrible shape, winning only 25 percent of the time.

While the small blind may occasionally run a big bluff, since our table was decently soft, I did not think he would want to make an overly risky play. He may also check-raise with a marginal made hand such as K-Q or Q-J to try to price out the draws, but I thought that was unlikely because it is a generally bad play, given I could easily have a premium hand. If he check-raises with Q-J, he will usually only get action when he is against a strong draw or when he is crushed, which is a terrible result for him.
He eventually check-raised to 38,000.

As soon as his chips hit the felt, I folded my hand. The middle position player thought for a while and then called. The turn was the 3. The small blind went all-in for the middle position player’s remaining stack. The middle position player instantly called with 6-6, which he was quite happy with, but he lost to the small blind’s 9-9.

I dodged a bullet! Maybe I am the next Phil Hellmuth.

In the past, I would have lost a few more chips in this situation, usually by calling the flop raise and then folding to the turn bet. Many players would simply go all-in on the flop, putting the small blind on a draw or a marginal made hand that A-Q beats.

Most players don’t even consider that the middle position caller could have a strong hand. Even though this was actually a fairly easy fold once the small blind check-raised due to my poor chances of winning at the showdown, it is important to make sure you are folding reasonably strong hands when you are almost certainly crushed by your opponent’s range. ♠

Jonathan Little is a professional poker player and best-selling poker author with over $7,000,000 in live tournament earnings. If you want to learn how to play fundamentally sound poker and increase your win rate, check out PokerCoaching.com. Click here to try PokerCoaching.com for free.

This page will instruct you on how you can build an eight player poker table step by step. The finished poker table is shown in the photograph below. The table is octogonal and has cut outs to hold cards, poker chips and beverage cups. The board is finished with stain and glossy clearcoat varnish; also the playing surface is covered in felt. All materials are cheap and readily available at any builders providers or hardware store. This table could easily be made over a couple of weekends depending on your woodworking experience and using modest woodworking tools. It would make for a very neat addition to any man cave! I got my poker table plans here.

How to build a folding poker table top tables

Step 1 - Materials and Tools

Materials List and approximate prices:

$72
$26
$21
$48
$14
$16
$43
$9
$3
$5
$3
$5
$7
$8
$5
$7
$16
$306

Tools I used:

Circular Saw
Hand held sander
Electric Staple Gun
Plate joiner kit

How to build a folding poker table top set

Step 2 - Cutting for each side of octogan

Firstly, start with your 6'x8' 3/4' thick pine boards. These will be cut into 8 pieces and will form the perimeter of the top surface of the poker table. These will be routered out later to allow space for cups and chips/cards.

Step 3 - Cutting edge piece/molding

Next take your 6'x3' 3/4' thick long pine boards and using a drop saw or hand saw (with mitre box!)cut them roughly 1' longer than the longestedge of the 8 pieces that you have just cut in Step 2. These will be nailed and glued along the edge of the table top as a finish molding.

Step 4 - Gluing up each side of octogan

The next step will involve nailing and gluing the pieces cut in step 3 to the pieces cut in step 2.

I did mention that the pieces cut in step 3 ought to be about 1' longer than the longest edge of the piece cut in step 2. This difference will be split so that the pieces from step 3 will stick out 1/2' on each side of each piece (longest edge) from step 2. This was to ensure that there is enough material to trim off at the appropriate angle i.e. flush and inline with edges of the pieces made in step 2. Nails out to be punched below the surface and then later filled with appropriate colored wood filler.

Step 5 - Cutting each side to correct length and angle

The next step is to trim up the assembly on both sides such that each edge of the assembly is at the same angle. This is done using the mitre saw. Please ensure that your mitre saw is at the correct angle. Double check to be sure! Run your finger along the cut edge to ensure that the surface is smoothe and the edge of each piece is aligned.

The image on the right below shows the desired result.

Step 6 - Cutting out for cup holder

Using a hole saw cut a hole wide enough to allow the cup holders to fit snugly.

Step 7 - Cutting out for chips storage

The next step involves cutting the rectangular hole out which will allow each player to store his/her chips/cards. I did this by drilling a hole within the outline of the rectangle to allow the jigsaw blade to get started then slowly and carefully cutting out the material. Patience is key here, as I would imagine you want a smooth straight finish. Tip: Clamp a piece of straight edge to run your jigsaw against. This will ensure a very straight cut. This isn't shown in the diagram by the way.

Step 8 - Dry Assembly

At this stage, all going well, you should have 8 assemblies exactly like that in the picture above on the right. It would make very good sense at this stage to dry fit the assembly to ensure that all edges join up with no gaps, if you what I mean. They then can joined permanently.

Step 9 - Gluing up final assembly

Assuming that step 8 went well, the next step will be to cut out holes for the biscuits using the jointer and then gluing up the assembly. The pieces will be held together using clamps in the positions shown on the image on the right below.

Once the glue has dried, the two halves are then glued together on the flat as shown below in the picture.

Step 10 - Cut plywood base

The next step is to cut the plywood base onto which the assembly above will sit.

Using the octagon ring made in step 9, measure the inside diameter and this will give you the measurement to mark out the outline of the base onto a sheet of plywood. I actually had to join two plywood sheets together as one would not suffice. It's all about measuring twice and cutting once here!

Step 11 - Cutting out for cup-holders in plywood base

The holes for the cup holders will now be cut out in the plywood base. This is done by fitting the top octagon ring (from step 9) to the plywood base (from step 10) and then using the top holes as a guide for the hole saw to cut holes into the plywood base.

Step 12 - Router the top edges

To give the table top a nice appearance I rounded all the edges with a router and a rounding bit.

Paying particular attention to the joints, I sanded all the surfaces with 120 grit paper on a hand held sander. I finished off the sanding with a 220 grit sandpaper. The surface was very smooth at this stage ready for stain and a finish. But that will come later. Next to cut out the centre octagon.

Step 13 - Cut out centre octagon

Next, the centre octagon (play surface) is cut out and wrapped up with felt. This piece is cut using a 4' x 4' sheet of 3/4' birch plywood. Remembering that batting & felt will be wrapped around this piece it is important that there roughly a 1/8' gap all around to allow for the thickness of the felt.

The batting is glued to the plywood using a spray adhesive. The edges are then wrapped around the edges and stapled to the other side. The same is done when gluing the felt (green) to the batting.

Step 13 - Making the foot of the table.

The foot of the table is simply a plywood octagon which can be made to any width you desire. Mine was made 5/6 the width of the octagon centre piece mad in step 13.

Step 14 - Making the pedestal

The pedestal is the base onto which the table top rests. The pedestal consists of an upper pedestal and a lower pedestal. The upper pedestal slides over the bottom pedestal such that the table can be easily dis-assembled and transported from one place to another.

The top (&bottom) pedestal is square and is made from 3/4' plywood. The pedestal is nailed and glued together.

The bottom pedestal is constructed in the same way as the top pedestal but is nailed to the plywood foot. This is shown in the photos below.

Both the top and bottom pedestal edges are finished with a pine trim.

Step 15 - Finishing

The next step involves staining all surfaces that will be visible when the table is fully assembled.

All surfaces are given a sanding firstly with 120 grit sand paper and then secondly a rub with 220 grit sandpaper. All surfaces and brushed and rub with a tack cloth to remove any dust.

Uneven staining is a common problem when staining softwoods like pine, thus the wood is first preconditioned to allow the stain to stain the wood more evenly. The stain is allowed to dry, lightly sanded and rubbed with a tack cloth. The wood is then given a coat of polyurethane.

Step 16 - Attaching the top pedestal to the plywood base

Once the polyurethane has dried you can now proceed to attach the top pedestal to the plywood base.

On the underside of the plywood base mark out a section in the middle and apply glue. For extra security the top pedestal is screwed to the plywood wood base.

Step 17 - Cutting & gluing fabric in chip holder cut out

The table is assembled. The octagon ring will give the correct positions for the batting and felt cut outs. The method of securing the batting to the plywood base and then the felt to the batting is identical to the method used in step 13.

Once the fabric fitting is complete lay the octagon ring on top.

Step 18 - Ready to Play some Poker?

Poker Table With Top

The table is ready for some fun nights of poker playing with friends or family.

10 Person Folding Poker Table

I hoped that you have realised just how easy it is to make your own poker table. I used some plans that I bought online and they were well worth it. I have had many a fun night poker with my buddies, you can too.

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