I bought someone’s old used poker table. Traditional oval shaped, 10-seater, with a racetrack. They have a weird puffy padded felt on it, the racetrack is an old 80s wood brown color, and the padded rail has seen better days.

I’m going to re-felt it, put on a new padded rail, and paint the racetrack black.

I can’t decide what color felt to go with, though. I was thinking a charcoal speed cloth would be nice with the black racetrack but I’m not set on it.

What color felt does everyone think would be nice for a project like this?

Instead of recommending directly I’ll just give an example of what I went with - no racetrack but if you do black here is an option orange suited speed cloth.

Also found a not great picture of my first build with blue and light wood stain racetrack. Looks like I have to post it separate.

Sounds like a fun project! GL and share photos!

Charcoal sounds nice, maybe also a red/maroon. Something to contrast the black, but not be too loud, like a yellow.

Good luck, post before & after pictures.

Dang image quality really degraded..

My WIP

I stupidly forgot to take before pictures but I did manage to get a screenshot of the table from the ad the guy posted on OfferUp. But I’m not sure how to post pictures here.

I prefer black/grey or something very dark.
I've played on red and green tables and they can make the cards hard to see. Both whether someone is holding cards and the suits of the cards on the board.

Alright, I ended up going with a platinum speed cloth. So the rail will be standard black vinyl, the racetrack will be a glossy black, and the felt will be a grayish black platinum color.

Next question: given the color scheme, should the cup holders be silver/chrome to offset the black or should I go with a glossy black for them, too?

Also, build update:

I have taken apart the old table completely and removed the felt and rail. Under the felt, they had used about a 1.5” thick pad instead of the standard 1/4”. Why they did this, I don’t know. But it took a lot of staple removing, nail removing, and sanding to get it all off. Under the rail was even worse. The padding was also moldy which, I assume, was from spilled drinks and such. It has taken me hours to get this far but I think we’re finally about ready to start painting and re-upholstering.

Welp, scratch that bit about upholstery. They had cut the rail and the racetrack wrong. It was up to a half inch off in some places. So they decided to use a series of wood blocks to connect the rail to the table rather than just cutting it. This raised the rail up significantly to the point where cards were clearly likely to slide underneath and get lost.

We took out all of the blocks and are now remeasuring and recutting the racetrack and the rail. Basically, I’m building this table from scratch with the added work of having to take apart all the janky “fixes” they decided to use. Basically, this sucks.

For the cupholders, I'd go with chrome for the contrast, then might consider matte black/silver/gray for a more muted contrast.

Caveat: I'm the worst ever at visualizing colors until they're actually on the wall.

Ended up going chrome/silvery. The size we needed didn’t come in black.

We just did the speed cloth and it’s nice and flat and smooth and tight. But I must have pulled tighter on one side than the other because there’s a slight wave in the pattern.

Is that pretty normal for those of you who have built your own with speed cloth? Will it eventually straighten itself out with time or should I just learn to manage my OCD better and deal with the slight wave in the pattern?

What do you mean by a “wave” in the pattern?

It has the typical speed cloth pattern and it’s straight except for a small wave at one point. I’m not really sure how else to describe it.

Haha ok - sorry wasn’t sure if you meant like a bump/bubble in it our just and angle change. I didn’t notice that in the two I did but it’s certainly possible if subtle. A bump I’d definitely redo. In the end it’s all up to your preference. I can be super anal about my work so I get the dilemma Sounds like you need to play a few games and decide .

The best poker table is one that gets used!

Yes, like an angle change wave. Definitely no bumps or bubbles. That would drive my OCD nuts and I’d redo the whole thing. I’m tempted to redo it because of the angle wave thing but part of me kind of wants to keep it as proof that it is definitely a homemade table. I’m trying to look at it from the perspective that it adds a little character.

I wouldn't worry about it unless it causes pitched cards to fly, personally.

We’re working on the rail after a bit of a delay (family emergency) and I’m noticing the cup holder holes they drilled aren’t the standard size. So I have cup holders that will go in but the lip of the holders is maybe 1/16th of an inch too small to fully grasp the edge of the holes. Any suggestions on how to make them fit snugger?

If I understand this, you have cylindrical cup holder inserts that are loose within the holes in the table.

Can you find some kind of rubber gasket at HD or an auto parts store to fill the gap? If not, maybe try a line of clear silicone around the insert, let it dry. Should be flexible enough to let the insert slide in & out for cleaning (I hope).

Good luck, you should post a picture. It sounds nice.

I tried a gasket fix but it didn’t look great. Clear silicone might be the way to go. Thanks for the tip! I’ll post pics once all is said and done. Still need to finish the rail then figure out the legs.

Depending on your skills and equipment you could make an insert that fits the hole in the table which has a hole itself to fit your cup holders. You could make this insert out of wood and then stain it. Or you could have a machine shop make it out of metal. Could be brass or you could use a base metal and get it chromed or anodized or powder coated almost any color.

Also a bit on unsolicited advice. This is the second (or more) time you started something on this project only to be surprised it wasn’t constructed as you expected. I would suggest closer investigation and measurements before ordering or proceeding. Easier to get it right the first time vs. finding a fix later. Like the old carpenter saying measure twice and cut once or the old dry assemble before you open the glue do the final assembly.

It’s pretty much done with the exception of finishing the rail and putting legs on. It wasn’t a matter of not measuring or reckless ordering of parts. It was because as I dug into the build they did, I uncovered more and more corners they cut. With the cup holders, the measurements are correct and they fit inside but the lip on the cups is just a hair short. They actually fit at the right angle but if someone has a beverage inside, the weight may push it through.

Specifically with the cup holders, there are really only two sizes available on Amazon and casino supply stores. One is far too big so I ordered the smaller in the hopes it would work even though I knew it’d be cutting it close. It was the best option available to me.

Put a big washer around them. I'd make them out of a nice contrasting wood.

Also a good idea. The racetrack is black but I can do a dark stained wood or something for contrast.