Home game "equipment"

Hello all, I was wondering what most of you have in the way of "equipment" for home games? For example, presently I use the kitchen table, cheap plastic chips, and cheap cards.


In the near future, I'd like to purchase a poker table & chairs, some high quality chips (clay) and carrying case, some nice cards (KEM I guess), and some plastic racks. Can anyone reccommend a website which offers all (or some) of these products, and secondly, from which of these sites am I most likely to receive the best price?


-- Thanks, Homer J.

I think the best way to get chips is on EBay. I got a nice set of 500 clay chips, plus case, for under $100. Search for this listing:


500 Casino Clay Poker Chips + Case WITH BONUS


The maniacs on Ebay are bidding these up over $100 oftentimes, but the company selling these adds new ones every day, and they set the "Buy It Now" option at $85. Rarely have I seen the end selling price less than $85...go figure.


They also sell some nicer chips which usually go for $150-300 for a set of 500 with case, in aluminum cases or oak cases.


I got Kem cards from www.kem.com (http://www.kem.com) They are sooooo nice.


Good sites:

http://www.oneeyedjacksgaming.com/ (I got a nice 10 seat holdem table here.)

http://www.gamblersgeneralstore.com/

http://www.empiretables.com/

"Can anyone reccommend a website which offers all (or some) of these products, and secondly, from which of these sites am I most likely to receive the best price?"


One of our ads is Gambler's General Store. They should have all your needs. I'm known them for a long time and they are super to do business with. Just click on their name under Advertisers in the left hand column.

Thanks for the info. After I posted the question I did a little looking around, and noticed the cheapest chips were on e-bay (from 5stardeals), as you said.


If I could ask you another question: How do you like your hold-em/stud table you got from one-eyed jacks? Has it held up well (is it well-built and sturdy)? Forgive me for asking, but I only do so because the price advertised on their site is very good compared to the price of similar tables on different sites.


--Thanks again, Homer J.

I got the table a few months ago. It is a heavy sucker, strong, sturdy legs, nice playing surface. I think it is going to hold up well for the long term. The only complaint I have is that the felt is attached to the table along the bottom with staples and they didn't do a very good job of making that look nice. But since the the padded rail is then attached on top of the edge of the table, it secures the felt. Only a problem if you look at the table from the bottom.


Everyone loves the table though. And it has held up to the few klutzes that spilled on it. I'm happy with it.


By the way, the picture on the site shows 10 spots (cup holder for each). The table you get has only 9 cup holders. But 10 players fit ok.

www.pokerships.com (http://www.pokerships.com) sells the racks, chips, and Kem cards. They also have some small tables.


They have very nice chips but they are far from cheap. They have some lower end models, but the chips i like are casino quality with colour printed inlays. These chips are actually better than the ones i use at the casino. If you want to see some of these chips in action watch rounders, they made all the chips for the movie.


The inlay chips are great if you have several players coming and going, not all of which could be considered 100% honest. If you can buy a set on ebay for $85 then so can anyone else in the game, and it only takes someone slipping in an extra $100 chip unnoticed for your home game experience to be one you are wanting to forget in a hurry. This allows the inlay chips to pay for themselves pretty quickly.


You can get evreything at ggs but the chips there are pretty crappy.

Soory thats www.pokerchips.com (http://www.pokerchips.com)


Also both ggs and pokerchips.com have Kem cards cheaper than you can buy them directly from Kem. I have some Arrow wide cards and they are a dream to play with.

I purchased a vinyl tablecloth piece of material which I lay down over our table. It is a cheap alternative but I find it is a good texture for the cards and is klutz proof.


We use 8.5 gram clay chips - no inlays as of yet but a plan for the future.


We also have chip trays - purchased from one eyed jacks.


Pardon my ignorance but I only just heard of Kem cards from this discussion. We usually use either Bicycle, Bee or those cheap casino used decks (depending on their quality - some are better than others). What do the Ken cards provide? We go through a few decks in a night. Do these things last much longer? How are they different than the casino decks you get in Vegas tourist shops?

You could build your own table pretty cheaply.


Using a piece of plywood that is the right size, get some foam to put cover it. You can use the eggshell foam that they sell for beds if that is all you can find. The get some felt. You can order it from a company that sells pool table supplies (or at a fabrics store). You stretch the felt over the foam and staple it to the plywood on the bottom side.


This can then be put ontop of a table or you can build legs at the height you want.


If you want to get fancy you can drill in drink holders, etc or even put a leather or wood border on the edge.


It's A LOT cheaper than a store bought table and you can easily make one that seats ten people. The foam makes dealing easier since you can get your fingers udner the cards and shuffle rapidly wihtout having to pick up the deck and flash cards.


Good luck,


Paul Talbot

Kem cards are easily the best cards. Bicycle and Bee are very good as far as vinyl cards go but Kem are miles ahead.


Kem are 100% plastic cards. They last much longer (at least 10 times, but really more like 100 times longer) have better feel, dealing and slide properties than any other cards. They also do not crease, and are washable. In the event they do get lost, marked, or split, you can order replacements on an individual card basis.

What is the height of a casino poker table? What is the length of a HE table? Thanks

Is the link to empire tables correct. Can't get to the web page.

We play twice a week in one game, and players are amateurish with shuffling...we went through a deck a night easily. The Kem plastic cards have had coke spilled on them, are manhandled nightly, etc. They are worth every penny and will save you big time in the long run compared to normal cards. Besides, they just feel better.


Mojay

I had no idea.


I'll have to get me a deck or two...we go thru cards pretty fast.


Thanks for the info!