HOME IMPROVEMENTS: Tips for Creating Your Very Own Poker Room

The centrepiece of many a great man cave, poker is an easy and accessible path to having a great evening of competition between friends. While the classic card game can be played anywhere, creating a dedicated space that emphasizes the comfort and ambience of the retro aesthetic of poker will only heighten the experience. So, here are a few tips to help create your own custom home poker room.

Understanding the Game You’re Catering to

The appeal of poker that it’s easy to pick up, but offers a lot of depth and variety through the decisions and calls players can make. Once you’ve got to grips with the rules of poker Texas hold’em in particular, you’ll find that very few hands play out the same way. Still, every player has to put a lot of thought into each play, sizing up the cards and players.

Throughout this process, players will want to keep their cards close to their chest, not giving away what they have to either coax others into betting more or hide that they’re bluffing. As a result, you’ll be wanting a fairly large and preferably square room so that you can fit in a round table that gives everyone their own space and allows for maximum comfort and room to manoeuvre throughout. You can adjust this to an oval table in a rectangular room, though.

As it’s an intense game where you’re playing the players just as much as the cards, the preference is for a quiet room. However, if this isn’t readily available, there are plenty of sound-proofing options available. In a game of high concentration and intense stand-offs, getting the lighting right can also make a big difference. While you want a well-ventilated room, being able to make it dark beyond the table can really emphasize the play.

Key Fixtures for Any Home Poker Room

First up is the table. You probably won’t be exclusively using the room for poker, so having a potentially large round table set up and ready isn’t always ideal. Instead, you could buy or build a regular four or six-seater rectangular table and then build a round tabletop from MDF or similar material with an under-frame to let it fit snugly on the existing table without moving if bumped from the side.

This way, it can be easily removed when necessary. If you can fashion some hinges through the middle of the round top, it’d be even easier to store. Once you’ve found the ideal location for the table, work on the lighting. Ideally, you’d run a switch for full room lighting when poker’s not in play and then a separate light fixing that beams onto the table and players, increasing the focus and intensity of every hand. Hanging ceiling lights or a classic bar fixing will work.

Finally, assuming that you’ve got a deck of cards and some chips, the last thing you need is some comfy seats. Poker’s a long game and the hefty sessions are invariably the best ones as you each slowly try to whittle out your pals, so you need comfy seats. Padding on seats is essentially a necessity, and you can up the comfort levels by picking chairs with armrests, too. However, you don’t want lounging or wheeled chairs due to height and movement.

Creating the ideal poker room is all about comfort and atmosphere, but around the table, you can personalize and accentuate your space however you see fit!