With all the variations and styles available, which should you choose? This article will help you find a folding poker table at an affordable price that meets your needs. There are always a lot of retailers online selling several versions of these products due to the large number of people searching for them. The one you invest your hard earned money into should fit your needs and the those of your poker partners, work with the space you have available for it, and not clean out your bank account.

To keep things simple, poker tables can really be broken down into about 4 categories. Poker table tops, fold up poker tables, folding legs poker tables, and furniture poker tables. The furniture models are more like billiard tables and cost well over a thousand dollars and cannot be folded so they will not be dicussed here.

A Poker Table Top is the least expensive of all since they do not have legs or a frame to add weight, shipping size, and cost. If a large area is not available for a table, these can be used directly on your table in your kitchen or dining room. Your current chairs will work fine. There are a wide variation in the size, shape, and quality of these tops depending on price. The best, or premium models, are made of solid wood with padding under a relatively high quality felt, giving them a more authentic “muffled” sound when the poker chips hit the pot. You can usually find them to also have a padded armrest. While the premium table tops generally run in the low 100 dollar range with shipping, the lowest priced tops start in the 40 to 50 dollar range. Usually they are made from a foam type material, and no armrests. They seem to be more colorful with casino style graphics and more games than just poker, like roulette and craps. If your game travels to different locations, their light weight makes them ideal. Trays for your poker chips with built in cup holders for your favorite drink are also commonly seen on these.

Fold Up Poker Tables are the next price range up. These range from about 160 to 250 dollars delivered. With the same top of the line features like padding under the felt, arm rests, and cupholders, and the plywood base, the top bi-folds to store them easily. The primary advantage of the bi-folding top is the reduced shipping cost since it folds into about half the size of the folding leg tables. Shipping dramatically increases with size and weight. They can also be shipped using UPS or Fedex eliminating the expense of using a trucking company. The other advantage is they can be stored away in a smaller space like a closet. The primary disadvantage is the place where the 2 halves come together when unfolded. When you deal you have to take care that the cards don’t trip over the fold and flip up. While this is not much of a problem to me, I have been told by some that they would rather pay more to get a solid top than have the fold.

Folding Leg Poker Tables solve the problem. The wood top is one solid piece for a long, smooth playing surface with no obstructions. Unfortunately, this also increases the shipping method and cost, so they tend to run in the high 200 to 400 dollar range. The folding legs still do allow you to store them away but most often by leaning them against a wall, since they are far too large for most closets.

Folding poker tables come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on your need. For smaller rooms like in an apartment or kitchen, you can use a 48 inch octagon table. Comfort is a problem though, since the players will be sitting knee to knee if trying to fit 8 people. I would limit the number of players to about 6. Longer oval tables are usually 73 to 96 inches in length and have positions for up to 10 players comfortably. But these tables are 7′ and 8′ long and as much as 4′ across, you should consider the space requirements. Plus you need to have chairs for each of your players.

Hopefully you now have the information you need for finding a folding poker table that fits your needs, space, and price. Nothing beats playing your game on one of these, unless of course you go to Vegas.

By Poker Guy
The author is the owner of a home poker supply store and poker enthusiast.
If you are interested in seeing some of the Folding Poker Tables described in this article, please visit us.