Materials List. The poker table cloth, foam, vinyl and cupholders can all be purchased via the links at my website.

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1 Thanks for downloading my poker table plans. This is a great DIY project that you can complete this weekend. The result is an amazingly beautiful poker table that will be the star at your next poker tournament. Materials List The poker table cloth, foam, vinyl and cupholders can all be purchased via the links at my website. You will also need to make a trip to the hardware store. That list is on my site as well as below x4 sheet of ¼ Pine cheaper plywood can be substituted, but I would stay away from MDF x4 sheet of ½ Birch this will be the visible wood on the table, so make sure it s nice. I like birch because it stains nicely and has a soft look x4 sheet of ¾ Pine again, cheaper plywood can be substituted, but I would stay away from MDF (a type of plywood). - Sandpaper fine and rough grade. I used an electric sander and was so glad that I did. - 3M Super 77 Multipurpose Adhesive - Miniwax wood finish I used cherry stain - Miniwax fast drying polyurethane - 8 clamps that can hold together 2 pieces of plywood (roughly ¾ thick) these aren t necessary but make things a heck of a lot easier. - Elmer s wood glue. - Banquet Table Legs these are sold by the pair and are in a flat white box. They have them at Home Depot for sure. - 2 paintbrushes for the stain and the poly. I spent a little extra on the poly brush. - 1 yardstick found in the paint dept. of Home Depot - 12 Finishing nails ½ - 12, ¾ wood screws - 12, 1 ¾ wood screws - 12, 1 ¼ wood screws Tools Required - Power Drill, although a couple of screwdrivers would work too - Electric Sander, although sandpaper will work. - Jigsaw a router can also be used, but I find the jigsaw works perfectly and is more common around the everyday home. - Tape measurer - Razorblade - Staple Gun

2 Making the Cuts This table is going to use 3 sheets of plywood. Sheet #1 - ¼ Pine for the foamed rail. Sheet #2 - ½ Birch for the rail lip, racetrack, and playing surface. Sheet #3 - ¾ Pine for the table base. Sheet #1 You will start with Sheet #1 to get you used to cutting with the jigsaw. Using a jigsaw is very easy, but since the rail will be covered any errors that you may make will not show. First, we must draw out the circles where the jigsaw will cut. The method below is the quickest way to make perfect circles and will be used throughout the cutting of all three pieces of wood. The first step is to drill two small holes in the center of your yardstick at the 1 and 25 marks. This leaves a 24 gap between holes on the yardstick. You will want to nail the yardstick at the 1 mark so that the 25 mark lines up with the end of the plywood. Make sure to center the hole across the width of the plywood which should be at the 2 foot mark. If you swivel the ruler so that it is perpendicular to length of the plywood, the 25 hole should match up perfectly on each side. Next, drill a hole at the 21 mark on the yard stick. Take a pencil or a sharpie and place it upright in the two holes (25 and 21 ) and trace out your half circles. The pictures to the right show the nailed down yardstick and the beginning of the semi-circle that is at the 25 mark of the yardstick (24 from the nail). The inner circle will be on the 21 mark and create a perfect 4 rail. Repeat the steps above for the opposite side of the plywood and then use your yardstick to connect the two inner semicircles. The end result is that you will have a perfect 4 rail drawn out on the plywood. See Diagram on next page.

3 The rail will be 4 wide and is represented by tan oval in the diagram to the right. Note that outer edges of the straight-aways are the outer edges of the plywood. The next step is to make the cuts. It doesn t hurt to have a helping hand with step, but if the plywood is secure it can easily be done by one person. Start by cutting of the corners. Make sure that you are consistent with the speed of your jigsaw and amount of power you are using. You don t want to make sudden starts and stop and splinter the wood. Use a smooth, wood cutting jigsaw blade. Once you have the outer circle cut you will need to start on the inner circle. Because we are not going to use the center piece of Sheet #1, you can drill a small hole inside the inner circle and begin your jigsaw from there. Sheet #1 Diagram 24 ` Nail Ruler 24 from edge of table 20 Once the inner cut is made you should have a 4 piece of wood for your rail. Set this aside for the time being as we will come back to it later. The center piece if this sheet is scrap wood although I offer a suggestion for it later in the book. Cutting inner circle of Sheet #1 Finished cut Sheet #1

4 Sheet #2 Sheet #2 is the ½ sheet of birch. The pieces that will come from this sheet are the lip for the padded rail, the racetrack, and the playing surface. MAKE SURE TO DRAW THE LINES ON THE SIDE OF THE TABLE THAT YOU WILL NOT BE VIEWING WHEN COMPLETED. You re going to use the same techniques as with Sheet #1 to draw the circles. Use the 25 mark for the first semi-circle. You will then need to drill holes at the 23 ½ and 16 marks on the yardstick and draw out the other two circles. The 1 ½, tan colored, outer ring will be secured to the bottom of the rail ring from Sheet #1. The 4.5 green ring will be the racetrack. This piece of wood will be the only visible area, so it is VERY IMPORTANT that the cut between it and the center piece is as straight as possible. The straight edges can be cut with a circular saw if you are not comfortable with making a straight line with the jigsaw. I m no woodworker and I didn t have any problems with the jigsaw. 24 ` Nail Ruler 24 from edge of table The difference between this sheet of wood and the last one was that you will need to use some skill to start your inner cuts with your jigsaw blade. I used a very small drill blade and worked it back and forth until I had a cut wide enough to get my jigsaw into. DO NOT simply try to make the initial entry point with the jigsaw. You will quickly find out that it won t work and have to make another trip to the hardware store to get another piece of wood. Sheet #2 ½ Birch

5 Sheet #2 with Lines Drilling Entry Point for Jigsaw Making the Cut 1.5 Rail Lip Before separating the 3 pieces from each other make sure that you make a mark on each of the pieces so that you can line them up again when you are putting the table back together later. Take the three pieces from sheet #2 and set them aside. The last cut that you re going to make is coming up!

6 Sheet #3 I ve saved the easiest cut for last. Setup the ¾ Pine sheet so that you can make the final cut. Again, you will be using the same techniques as above to make the semi-circles. This sheet will be your table base and because I didn t want it to be flush with the side of the rail, I choose to cut off 1 ½ from around the base. This makes it much less visible when looking that the table from the side. The tan-colored, center oval, will be the table base. This cut can be made quickly as it will not visible. I m sure you sick of cutting wood by now. The last step to making the cuts is to sand all of edges of your new pieces. This is where having and electric sander comes in very handy. You don t really have to sand sheet #3, but if you re a perfectionist like myself, then go ahead. 24 ` Nail Ruler 24 from edge of table Sanding has never been easier when electric Sheet #3 ¾ Pine

7 Building the Rail The first step is that you will need to glue the 1 ½ rail lip from Sheet #2 to the 4 rail from Sheet #1. The two pieces should match up correctly, but there may be a few small discrepancies because they came from two pieces of wood. Sand any major imperfections down. The rail will be covered in foam and vinyl so they will not be visible. Next, use wood glue to adhere the two pieces together. The easiest way to keep the pieces together is to use small clamps like the ones pictured to the right. I have always used 8 of them and have never had a problem. Let the rail sit overnight. Once the glue has dried use some finishing nails around the rail to secure it even more. I used about a dozen.

8 Next, lay the rail on the ½ thick foam and mark off hash marks ¾ from the inside of the rail. Also, make marks 1 ½ from the outer edge of the rail. Once you connect the lines it should look like the picture to the right. Use a razorblade to cut along the lines that you have drawn. The next step is to use the 3M spray adhesive to adhere the foam to the top of the rail. The foamed rail is pictured to right. Note that the plywood underneath the rail is only there to support the rail. It s not part of the table at this point in the build.

9 Covering the Rail This is arguably the toughest part of building a poker table. I would suggest using two people on this step. It will make it much easier and your rail will turn out much better. The first step is to lay your foamed rail upside-down onto the back side of the whisper vinyl. The vinyl is 54 wide and will not need to be cut on the outer edges. However, the length may need to be trimmed up so that it is easier to work with. Begin to work your way around the rail with a staple gun. USE A TON OF STAPLES! I literally left less than a ¼ between staples. I m making it look very easy in the picture, but you need to really pull the vinyl tight to have a nice smooth rail. This is the part that can easily be botched for a beginner because they don t spend the time to make sure it is tight. Flip the rail over every so often to make sure that you are looking good. Make sure you staple to the rail lip rather than wrapping the vinyl all the way around the lip. The lip will eventually have to fit back over the racetrack. I always start with a straight-away and then work myself around the oval. When you get to the curves, it is ok to bunch up the excess vinyl as long as it isn t bunching up in front of where you are stapling. Once you trim the vinyl later, you won t have any more bunching.

10 Once the outer edge is stapled, you will need to cut a large square in the middle of the vinyl with your razorblade. Leave enough room so that you can wrap the inside of the rail without showing the cuts in the vinyl. Use your razorblade to cut long triangles on the inside of the semicircle. You will thank me for this tip once you start stapling the inside of the rail. Lastly, you will need to work your way around the inside of the rail. If you weren t pulling the vinyl tight before you should start now. It s not too late to make this rail the envy of all of your friends. Flip the rail over every couple of feet to check your progress. You can always undo the last foot or so if necessary. We are looking for clean lines and no wrinkles. PULL HARD!!

11 Trim off the excess vinyl and admire your new rail. You ve worked hard. It s time to boast to friends or spouse.

12 Staining the Racetrack If you are going to build the poker table as a weekend project I would definitely stain the racetrack on the first day/night. The Minwax stain suggests allowing at least 8 hours to dry. First, you should sand down the birch racetrack until the surface is silky smooth. The sheet that I bought was pretty darn good and it only took a minimal amount of effort. Next, you will want to clean up your shop or garage. Get rid of all that sawdust from earlier. If you don t have a clean workspace, you ll likely wake up to messy stain. Use a paintbrush to apply the stain. Feel free to be very liberal with the stain, but make sure that you are applying it WITH the grain of the wood. Continue to go with the grain even on the turns. Always keep a wet edge and work your way around the entire surface. Be conscience of any area that may have a pool of stain sitting on it. We are looking for a very even coat. I used the Minwax Cherry color stain and it looks great. After about 5 minutes take a towel and wipe up an excess. After the staining is complete let the racetrack sit overnight. I only used one coat and was very happy with the color.

13 Once you have the stain color that you desire you will need to apply polyurethane to protect the wood and give it a nice finish. Make sure that you work area is free from dust before you begin. Use a good paintbrush that doesn t shed. Use smooth strokes and spread the poly evenly. The poly takes at least 4 hours to dry. Between coats you will want to VERY LIGHTLY sand the previous layer of poly. Use very fine sandpaper and use 1 or 2 VERY LIGHT strokes over the entire surface. Apply another coat until you are happy with the finish. I used 4 coats of poly on this table.

14 Covering the Playing Surface The next process can be a messy one, so I suggest doing it in the yard. Lay the playing surface on the ground. Make sure that you lay it down with the correct side up because this piece will have to fit back together with the racetrack. Line up the ¼ foam so that it will completely cover the playing surface. Next, use the 3M adhesive to adhere the two pieces. I attached about 2 feet at a time. Do not be shy with the adhesive. You don t want these pieces to come apart later. Once the glue has dried (about 10 minutes), take a razor blade and cut off the excess foam. It is important that you make a smooth cut that is flush with the wood. Do not leave any excess.

15 I chose to do the next step indoors to protect the suited speed cloth. Lay the playing surface on top of the suited speed cloth. Note that the first picture is simply showing the materials used. You will want to flip both pieces over before beginning. Much like you did for the padded rail, you will want to cut large triangles around the rounded part of the playing surface. This will allow you to pull the cloth more easily and decrease bunching. Begin to staple on one of the straight-aways and work your way around. Flip the board over occasionally to make sure that there are no wrinkles and that the pattern on the cloth is lined up properly. Make sure that you are pulling the cloth very tight as you staple around the edges. The last thing you want is a wrinkle or loose area on your playing surface. Once you are done you should have a beautiful playing surface where you will hopefully make fortunes.

16 Attaching the Table Legs Before putting the table all together, you will want to attach the table legs. Lay the legs out on the bottom of the base so that there is about two inches between the bottoms of each leg. Measure the width of the base and secure your legs to the middle of the base with the hardware provided with the table legs. Test out the new legs by turning the table over and standing it up. You should have a sturdy base to build that table upon. There are thousands of options for table legs, but because I wanted to store the table when not in use, I went with the folding legs. Get creative if you are going to use your table as a piece of everyday use furniture.

17 First, you will attach the playing surface to the base. Use a tape measurer to make sure the surface is directly in the middle of the base. You should have 7.5 of base showing from underneath the playing surface. Attaching the Playing Surface Use two people for this step. One person should make sure that the surface doesn t move while the other person drills in ¼ screws in the base. Remember that the base is ¾ thick and the playing surface is ½ thick (not including the foam surface). You do not want the screws to come through the foam!! I ve seen it happen, so work slowly. Next, you will want to use your excess foam to pad the base around the playing surface. This will allow for the racetrack to be flush with the playing surface. Some people like a raised playing surface, but I don t. I think that table looks much more professional when the surfaces are flush. You could use extra 1/4 plywood, but this will add weight to an already heavy table.

18 Place the racetrack over the playing surface. Make sure that you line the two pieces up as they were cut out of the sheet previously. I eyeballed the placement of the 10 cup holders but made sure that they were all 1 inch from the playing surface. Drilling the Cupholders Trace around the bottom of the cup holder and then drill a large entry hole for the jigsaw. Cover up the playing surface before making the cut. You don t want to get sawdust all over your new playing surface. Be very careful when making the cut. You can always cut the hole bigger, but you could be in a world of trouble if you make the initial cut too big. Continue to try and put the cup holder in the hole until it is snug. Once you have all 10 holes cut, remove the racetrack. You should have holes that look like the one pictured to the right. You may also choose to a hole-cutter drill bit that cuts a perfect 2 ½ hole, but I have never used one personally. I don t know if it would be able to cut through the entire thickness of the base, foam, and racetrack.

19 Next, you will want to attach the racetrack and the padded foam. These pieces should fit together according to your marks that you made on them earlier. If necessary, use a long screwdriver as a lever to make the two pieces fit together snugly. Use ¾ screws around the entire edge of the racetrack to hold the two pieces together. I used about a dozen screws. The last step is to attach this newly created piece to the table base. Use 1 ¾ screws to attach these pieces. Make sure to screw the holes as close to the edge of the base as possible. You want the screw to go through the wood in the rail, and not through the top of your racetrack. I have also seen this happen, so please be very careful before drilling.

20 Finished Table