Bringing In The Chips With Folding Poker Tables
Another use for folding poker tables besides home poker players is using them to raise funds. A Texas Holdem tournament is a good idea for fundraising.
Tournaments attract big names on television lately. Fans who see them game after game are increasingly getting more interested in poker. Spurned on by the popularity of these programs, more and more people have desired to put on a tournament themselves at home with thier family and friends.
Running a tournament has become popular recently for charities also. If you or your club are leaning this way too, what do you really need to pull it off successfully? What should I spend and will it pay off?
Particularly for a charity event but even for a private tournament, you need to have a casino atmosphere. Department store plastic poker chips and a cheap poker layout or blanket on a table are really not going to cut it. While this might be fine for a home poker game with a few friends, it would be a bit cheesy for a real game. But the cost of a poker table and casino chips can get a bit expensive.
Here are a couple ideas to manage your costs.
1. Folding Poker Tables: These are far less expensive than a permanent poker table. More easily stowed away since they are folding, they still make for that casino feel your game needs. These tables have some great features like padded felt and armrests just like real casino tables. This gives them a more authentic sound and feel when the chips hit the table or splash the pot. Plus the armrests are great for those long tournament games to help keep the players comfortable.
2. Composite Poker Chips: To avoid the cheap plastic poker chip feel and sound, these are a great alternative but still reasonably priced. Composite chips are made by mixing plastic and clay. Real casino chips have a better stacking and feel to them because of their clay makeup. By mixing the clay with plastic material, they are able to produce a somewhat similar feel. ABS poker chips are an even cheaper alternative. These are made of a hard compressed plastic that is very durable and even lower cost than the composites, but they don’t stack quite as well. They are used by many not-for-profit clubs due to their authentic size, weight, and casino colors, in addition to their reduced cost. Additionally they are tougher than clay or composite poker chips.
3. Prizes: Not all the players need to win money. You can add a nice touch to the game by offering some poker themed prizes to the players that maybe didn’t do so well, or maybe even for the main winners. Plastic poker playing cards such as the Copag line make a great prize as well as poker bracelets, poker hats, and tee shirts.
As a grand prize for the winner, consider maybe a folding poker table or poker table top. For less than 60 dollars you can get an inexpensive table top.
4. Poker Table Tops: If your club already has folding tables, a folding poker table top might be just what you need and be even cheaper than getting poker tables. Some of the premium tops even have padded felt and armrests just like the tables. A table is needed to support a poker top since it does not have legs of it’s own. Many poker clubs use these to keep their prices down. Plus you can stow them away in a smaller area.
Putting on a Texas Hold’em Tournament to raise money for a charity or as a great activity for your group, can be done at a lesser price than you would expect.
Your contestants will be grateful.