It's come time to re-felt our poker tables. The original felt is essentially billiard table felt, and it's lasted pretty well for the last 4 years.

We re-felted it with "Velvet Speed Cloth", but it's absolutely terrible for a poker table. It's like dealing onto flypaper.

I'm not sure if I want to use regular "speed cloth" because I think it might be a bit too slick... but I'm open to suggestions.

My criteria is a durable, soft material that doesn't irritate your skin, and has some grip so cards won't just fly off the table, but doesn't stop cards in their tracks either. I don't want anything printed on the material, I just want a plain color that I can put on the tables.

I don't mind spending a bit more for a quality material that will last, if necessary. Anyone have suggestions on what material to obtain, and where?

I'm fascinated that you think the nylon velvet is bad material for tables, I put it as the standard on every table I make. I have yet to hear of anyone complaining or saying that it's not extremely comfortable and playable. I even do quick tests once the playing surface is on to make sure there is decent glide. If you have brand new felt I'd suggest "wearing it down" by throwing it in the dryer or even lightly ironing it to get the nap down. That may help you. Otherwise the regular suited speed cloth is very slick but rougher to the touch.

I'm quite a fan of "regular" speed felt. Cards do fly on it, but after you first pitch or two you've got a hang of it. All of my "bad" dealers can get cards all the way across the table.

I've always bought from YAT. Fair prices and a good reputation.

+1 to all of this. I've used Suited Speed Cloth on both of my tables, with zero complaints (except the guy who can't control his arm speed and pitches the cards across and off the table, but screw him )

I plan on giving the NVSC a shot when I refelt my secondary table in the near-to-mid future. I'm a bit surprised that you've had such a negative experience with it, especially given HP's resident table-building expert's wholehearted endorsement.

Yeah, the number of people who now pitch cards across the table and into the bumper are vastly outnumbered by the "bad" dealers who can now get a card all the way across the table... It's net positive, for sure.

I'm a huge fan of speed cloth and just replaced my perfectly good 3 month old custom gaming suede cloth because I hated the way it played.

One thing the OP mentioned was "soft material that doesn't irritate your skin"
That is one thing suited speed cloth isn't. It can be like sandpaper but for me it's advantages (slide, durability, waterproof) fair outweigh a little bit of roughed up hands.

Good luck.

Last time I re-felted a table I went to an auto upholstery supplier and looked at the fabrics they sell for roof lining. I found something I liked, took a chance and bought it, and it worked out wonderfully.

What you want is gaming suede. It's exactly what you're describing. The problem is...

In my experience, the only folks who sell *good* gaming suede are the custom cloth folks. Various venders stock & sell the velveteen, nylon velvet, and the suited/unsuited speed cloth in lots of colors because it's relatively inexpensive, and thus attractive to the DIY builder and they can sell enough of it that it's not sitting in the inventory for months. The gaming suede material is 2-3 times more expensive, so it's not profitable to stock in numerous colors because most DIYers won't spend the extra money to upgrade. Hence, if you want it, you have to order a custom color. They'll run between $225-$300 a cloth from the better vendors (big slik, all-in, custom poker cloths). You can also look to a wholesale printer, it'll be cheaper ($130-$150) but it may take a few months to get your cloth and the customer service will not be the same as the folks I mentioned above. If you want more info feel free to shoot me a PM.

I always thought they just stocked it in white, and dye-sub'd whatever the customer desired. I'm sure they could dye it a solid color, maybe for less than a "standard" custom dye job...

That's exactly what the custom cloth guys do. You may get a slightly lower price on a solid color, but usually the prices do not include the getting art work set up or modified. As far as the actual printing - a custom cloth costs the same as one with artwork.

edit to add: my overall point was that if you want the gaming suede, there aren't a lot of options - you either get it from a custom cloth supplier or you use another material.

The problem with speed cloth in my particular case is that my table has chip trays in it. So if people pitch the cards, they won't hit the back bumper... they will end up in someone's tray.

Gaming Suede sounds like what I want. Anyone have any good sources for it? I don't want anything printed on it, just a solid color. Thanks...

If you go with gaming suede make sure you listen to the advice posted earlier.

The quality and characteristics vary greatly from one type of cloth to the next. The gaming suede I just took off of my table was awesome except for one thing, cards stuck to it like glue. If I ran a casino or had a dedicated dealer at my home game I wouldn't use anything else. If you are seated in the middle of an oval table and know what you are doing you can stick the cards exactly where you want them to go. If you are dealing from the end on an 8 foot oval, forget it you can't get the cards to the other end of the table no matter how well you deal.

I too think you are going to have a difficult time finding a good quality cloth in a solid color that is reasonably priced.

One option you might look into is finding out if there are any billiard shops in your area. You should be able to get a stock felt from them that has what you are looking for and they should have standard colors like (blue, red, and green) to pick from. I sure they would also allow you to roll the felt out on the floor and pitch some cards to see how they slide. One advantage billiard felts have as well is that they are very durable and will not pill up like some other cheap alternatives.

Good luck.

Something else I've considered is just using a material similar to what was on it for the last 4 years, essentially, billiards felt:

http://www.thefeltpeople.com/pages/c...willicloth.htm

You have octagons right? Two yards of classic speed felt won't cost so much that it's not worth testing.

[Just tryin']

Decagons... yeah. I actually went to visit a bunch of people I know in the area that have poker tables to test out the various materials they used in person.

I'm pretty sure from those tests that putting speed cloth on the tables we have would be like covering a linoleum floor with Crisco...

Go on, I'm listening...

Let's just say that I extended your "hole cams" idea to a pay-per-view business model.

Keeeeep talkin'

That'll cost you $9.95 per month, sir.

Cards did not glide on nylon velvet? I think I've played on a table covered with this, and they glided great. I can't imagine we're talking about the same stuff.

If you deal at any sort of an angle, the cards stop dead in their tracks.... even if tossed with some force. That can be worked around by dealing low, and with some spin on the cards... but since our game is "pass the deal" that means attempting to train a whole lot of people.

More annoyingly, once cards are on the surface, such as a flop, they are very stubborn about being moved. It's difficult to rake in the cards, and difficult to adjust the flop once it is out, etc.

We had two tables done with Nylon velvet speed cloth... both are equally bad. It's possible there is a "break in" period, but I'm not optimistic at this point.

Did you buy this stuff from YAT or a local vendor? I'm with eneely, I just cant ever think of a time that I've had that kind of issue with NVSC.

The dude with that table has not hosted in a while, so I can't easily double-check what he has. He bought it from a local table builder.

It is a big table, and we always remarked how nicely the cards glided across it. And believe me, we do not have exceptional dealers in our game. The felt on his table helped a lot.

I recall it was a soft velvet-like fabric and had a slight nap to it.

http://www.yourautotrim.com/nyvespcl.html