converting dining table (felt/foam/design suggestions)

[homegame]

I have a nice dining room table that I'd like to use as a pimped out poker table 1x/month. I don't have the skills to construct a full blown table, but definitely want the best foam/felt and DESIGN.

The table is a circle 54x54 or an oval 54x65/76/87 depending on how many extensions I use and I'll need to convert it back after playing to keep peace with my roommate.

Any advice on material, design and/or construction.

[jalsing]

I would suggest a nice piece of 1/8-1/4" foam cut to size (headliner material might be a good choice here) plus a piece of velveteen or other nice material pulled tight and secured underneath the table would make a nice temporary table which could be put together in a few minutes. The only problem is at 54" wide, I'm not sure what materials are available in that width. The velveteen I always see at i.e. Joanns is 45" wide...

..alternatively, do a google or ebay search, I've seen some fabric pieces designed to put over existing dining room tables, etc, and convert to a poker table. These come in round or oval I believe with a drawstring type mechanism used to pull it tight. Here's an ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=35749&item=6147014 782&rd=1) item I found. Note it says for 50" wide YMMV.

[smoore]

You should be able to get 9 people at a 54in round table just fine. If it had leaves in it to make an oval it would probably be too big. (I can reach all the way across my 44in wide holdem table from the dealer box, I'm 6ft tall). I was thinking of a cool rail system to convert my dining table into a part time poker table too...

I picture having foam cut to size with the felt overcut so that it wraps under the table. The rail would be built up like every other wooden/foam/vinyl rail. It would be very snug. My "innovative" idea is to put some grippy rubber on the bottom of the rail so that as you push it over the felt it grabs and pulls it tight. Should suffice for a night of drunken abuse. I think you could make the rail hinged for easy storage too.

[warewulf]

A game that I play at also uses a dining table -- he bought one like this: http://www.5stardeal.com/deals/10Expand.asp?ProductCode=10-PT10GR
and ordered it w/o the folding legs. He just sets it on top and stores it when not needed.

[msb]

I made one myself... it was a quick and dirty method, but it works pretty well for a 60" round table. However, now I'm looking to improve upon it.

I went to WalMart and bought a cheap, green table-cloth that was designed to fit one of those small, round, accent-tables. It's round and about 72" in diameter (make sure it has a built-in hem around it).

I then went to a fabric store and bought some thin elastic roping (I think it's called "shock cord") and a rope stopper (like you see on your sweatshirt). At the fabric store I also bought some headliner foam... unfortunately, it only came in 54" width, but I bought it anyway.

I brought all this stuff home... threaded the cord through the hem in the tablecloth, cut the foam to fit the table (with a little left off on two sides).

Now, when I want to play, I place the foam down, put the tablecloth overtop and pull the drawstring tight. Works like a charm and I spent less than $20 on the whole thing.

Like I said, though, I want to improve on it. I want to get some better material for the top, foam that will fit the whole table (or get two pieces and make a smooth seam), and possibly iron-on or silk-screen a nice logo in the middle. (I'll need to get some help with the sewing, though /images/graemlins/confused.gif)

Can anyone recommend a good material to buy for this sort of thing?

[smoore]

Cool idea for a budget table, msb. How many people have you sat at your 60in table? Is it hard for short people to rake thier pots?

yourautotrim.com pokerfoam.info and casinosupply.com have table supplies ranging from adequate to top of the line.

Some fabric company (http://www.americanhomeandhabitat.com/catagories/fabric.htm) has REALLY wide fabric.

sunshinefoam.com is supposed to be really cheap, good service. I have never used them.

I have used casinosupply.com's custom rail (or whatever they call it) and it's high-quality pipe insulation. He's selling it for just about as cheap as the local microbrewery can get it for. It slip fits on a 3/4 to 1in table very well but drunk people will push it off quickly. The ones that aren't too drunk usually are alright.

The poker speed cloth from casinosupply.com is just about bulletproof. Not the most attractive stuff in the world but really tough. Thier table padding sucks.

[megabit]

Most upolstery supply places have wider cloth too.

[msb]

We can get 9 people easy, 10 is a little snug at the 60" table, but we've had up to 11 play. The reason we're using that big of a table is because that's what is at the clubhouse where we play /images/graemlins/wink.gif. They are the big, white plastic-type tables that you can get at BJ's or Sam's Club. With the foam and cover, it's actually quite nice to play on...

I also play a lot on the long, traditional, casino-style tables, too, but I think I like the big round tables for home games where the deal rotates.

So, I guess I'm looking for 66"+ wide fabric and 60"+ foam. I'm going to check with a local fabric store this week to see what they can come up with in those departments. I wouldn't mind creating a seam and using 2 pieces of foam as long as it's pretty smooth.

Now... one more thing. Someone in here suggested getting an air-brushed logo in the middle, which I find terribly cool. Is there any specific material that this would work with better than others? Has anyone tried the iron-on stuff, either? I want it to look cool, but not interfere with the cards sliding over it when dealing.

[deaconblues]

Because I was interested in doing something quickly and cheaply here's what I did:

Spray-glued HD foam to table top with excess over ends, then green faux-suede upholstery fabric (microfiber) from Joanne's secured underneath with long staples. How well you do this will basically determine how nice the table is. The fabric I used was on clearence and has held up very nicely and resist stains to-boot.

For the rail, I used a large piece of foam pipe-insulation (4" diameter with a 2" diameter hole) the dark-gray stuff. This has a slit to fit around the pipe and was placed on the edge of the table like a the letter 'c'. Before securing I cut a piece of real nice soft black vinyl to the right size and painstakingly tucked this under the pipe insulation stapled it to the top side of the table (staple goes through foam, then vinyl then top of table) and then pulled it tightly around the top-outer surface of the pipe insulation and stapled it to the bottom of the table.

It looks as good as the amount of time you are willing to spend getting it to be nice and tight and sleek and is a lot cheaper than some alternatives found online. Both fabrics I found at Joannes for relatively good prices though I may have gotten lucky as I didn't compromise on either, they were both real nice looking seude/leather type microfiber suitable for fine furniture.

[homegame]

so here's what I did...called pool halls and fabric stores...then drove to billiard supply store... he was willing to sell me used or new cloth... good stuff, but only the new would fit my 54 inch wide table and $75 was more than I was willing to pay for it (old stuff between $30-40)... then went to foamorder.com's store in SF and bought 2 yards of volara foam... the guy helping me says that everyone is buying it for their poker tables, even the nearby indian casino, which also tested out some freaky stretchy material, kinda like my ex-girlfriends panties.... next stop Joanns where I cleaned up with some clearance material and the horny women, cloth is slick maybe too slick, but the cards slide nice the material doesn't pill. Even bought some nylon cord, witchery tape and drawstops to create a pokercats type thing--the chic helping me was an angel. No rail yet, but considering options. The table looks pretty plain jane but is extremely functional... let me know if you want in on a homegame in the Bay Area, San Francisco...

[jalsing]

How'd that witchery tape work out? I made a pokercats style drawstring top too, but I didn't want to hem the whole edge and instead put like 20 eyelets around the fabric. It worked great, but it only pulled in those 20 spots, and the "in between" fabric just hung down and mostly just didn't look right. I didn't even know that tape existed, else I might have gone that route instead.