Poker is a game that is played both on a professional level as well as between friends who get together once every week to enjoy some quality time of their own, playing either with stakes or without them and one of the most important equipment that is required to conduct a game of poker other than the card sets is a poker table. To enjoy the card game to the fullest extent, it is imperative that the poker table you buy have a surface that is both smooth as well as soft.

You can play poker on any normal tables but the advantages of using a proper poker table to play the game is that you can easily pick up both the cards as well as the chips from the table. Another disadvantage of using any other table is that the chips will be stuck on the surface and the cards will get creased and fold in certain areas when you pick them up from the rough surface. Furthermore, it is always a possibility that the cards or the chips might slide across the table and fall on the ground, which is considered a huge disaster if you are serious about the game.

With different companies coming up plenty of different types of poker tables that will hardly cost you a $ 100 or so, it is better if you buy yourself a poker table if you are serious about the game and if your friends are serious as well, everyone can chip in with some money and reduce the burden as well. Nowadays, there are foldable poker tables available that will not take up too much space if you live in a small apartment and you can easily fold the table up and keep it in a corner when you are done playing.

In the usual cases, poker tables are round in shape and can seat between 6 and 8 people. Ideally, most people opt for these round tables because these enable each player to sit near the other and it also negates the chances of someone cheating, even if it is a friendly tournament. The tables come in various other shapes and sizes as well. For example, the oval poker tables have gained some popularity in recent times but this table can be used to its full advantage when there is a nominated card dealer among the group, who can then sit in the middle and conduct the game.

Another shape that is slowly gaining popularity in the poker table market is the octagonal one. These tables are available either as a fully fledged table or as table tops which are kept on top of a normal table when the game is being played and then removed and kept away when it is not being used. In today�s market, everything is available easily and on a cheap and hence, it is only wise that if you like a friendly game of poker, you can go out and buy a table for yourself.