TonZaga
Straight
Now would be as good of a time as any to go ahead and start the thread for my local poker club here in Louisville, KY. Just wanted to give myself and those attending a place to reminisce as well as for those not involved an opportunity to see how we host our games, laugh at our bad jokes and bad beats, offer suggestions, draw inspirations, ask questions, etc. I started poker in the Moneymaker boom when I wasn't even old enough to legally gamble. I never thought coming from playing those little $5-10 social tournaments with cheap dice chips about 2 decades ago would have lead me to starting this club but here we are! I've been able to keep relationships with old friends while building new ones. Enough about me, let's take a journey through the life of The Cardinal Club.
It all began on a cheap eBay folding poker table that could barely fit 8 comfortably back in 2018. When that inevitably broke, I was also getting into board gaming pretty heavily so I built myself a raised rail gaming table equipped with black SSC that would double as our new poker table.
The gaming table worked fine as a poker table (until I decided that I wanted a pool table and the card table could double as the gaming table if need be) but everything changed when I caught wind of this Barrington 10 person folding table. I liked the fact that I could fold it up/store it when not using it to save space. Lucky for me, I was able to pick one up when they were still ~$150 shipped on Amazon. Not long after, I happened to stumble on this forum and into the Barrington mods thread (HERE). And I guess you can say "the rest was history". Out with the stock blue felt and in with the new black SS cloth, deeper cup holders, and USB chargers to elevate the home game experience.
*First poker game in the new house*
*OLD - Board gaming section in a finished basement vs. NEW - Pool table*
*Poker table getting fitted with speed cloth and USB chargers*
With the new Barrington table, we were still unfortunately using the dice chips until my buddy had decided that he would purchase some Majestics for his small home games and let us use them until we could upgrade. It wasn't until Apache came along with the Royal blanks (HERE) that we decided it was time! I was able to design, print, laminate, cut, and apply my labels in-house.
*28 labels per sheet - hours of printing, laminating, cutting, applying over a few days*
*Final cash game chip mockup*
*Chips finally in play*
We've since added a cabinet from FB marketplace to store all the chips, cards, cashbox, etc. and even modified it with motion LED lights on top and bottom, casters to be able to roll it around and hopefully soon, a flush mounted shuffler.
*Official cut cards* from group buy organized by @Eloe2000
*Seating and show chips*
We used to just allow anyone to choose their seat when they arrive but have since changed to me drawing my seat first, then everyone that shows up draws/sits according to my seat number (because I sit near the middle of the table). We've also added a special show chip (per buy-in/rebuy) that forces a mucked hand to show.
The coveted, most sought-after workhorse in the game - the hot dog roller for those hungry donkeys/sharks
The most recent addition is a custom table topper for the Barrington. Design and purchase through @rjdev7
Future plans are to purchase/mount Shuffle tech in the rolling cabinet as well as build/purchase a nice, full-size permanent poker table and use the Barrington as a second table (when needed). Stay tuned for more updates and poker action!!
It all began on a cheap eBay folding poker table that could barely fit 8 comfortably back in 2018. When that inevitably broke, I was also getting into board gaming pretty heavily so I built myself a raised rail gaming table equipped with black SSC that would double as our new poker table.
The gaming table worked fine as a poker table (until I decided that I wanted a pool table and the card table could double as the gaming table if need be) but everything changed when I caught wind of this Barrington 10 person folding table. I liked the fact that I could fold it up/store it when not using it to save space. Lucky for me, I was able to pick one up when they were still ~$150 shipped on Amazon. Not long after, I happened to stumble on this forum and into the Barrington mods thread (HERE). And I guess you can say "the rest was history". Out with the stock blue felt and in with the new black SS cloth, deeper cup holders, and USB chargers to elevate the home game experience.
*First poker game in the new house*
*OLD - Board gaming section in a finished basement vs. NEW - Pool table*
*Poker table getting fitted with speed cloth and USB chargers*
With the new Barrington table, we were still unfortunately using the dice chips until my buddy had decided that he would purchase some Majestics for his small home games and let us use them until we could upgrade. It wasn't until Apache came along with the Royal blanks (HERE) that we decided it was time! I was able to design, print, laminate, cut, and apply my labels in-house.
*28 labels per sheet - hours of printing, laminating, cutting, applying over a few days*
*Final cash game chip mockup*
*Chips finally in play*
We've since added a cabinet from FB marketplace to store all the chips, cards, cashbox, etc. and even modified it with motion LED lights on top and bottom, casters to be able to roll it around and hopefully soon, a flush mounted shuffler.
*Official cut cards* from group buy organized by @Eloe2000
*Seating and show chips*
We used to just allow anyone to choose their seat when they arrive but have since changed to me drawing my seat first, then everyone that shows up draws/sits according to my seat number (because I sit near the middle of the table). We've also added a special show chip (per buy-in/rebuy) that forces a mucked hand to show.
The coveted, most sought-after workhorse in the game - the hot dog roller for those hungry donkeys/sharks
The most recent addition is a custom table topper for the Barrington. Design and purchase through @rjdev7
Future plans are to purchase/mount Shuffle tech in the rolling cabinet as well as build/purchase a nice, full-size permanent poker table and use the Barrington as a second table (when needed). Stay tuned for more updates and poker action!!
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