Big 5 Poker Table
A typical casino poker table has a length of between 92 and 104 inches (234 and 264 cm), a width of 44 inches (112 cm), and a height of 30 inches (76 cm). You can expect to also add 4 inches (10 cm) to the length and width for the outer “racetrack” railing. The weight commonly ranges from 170 to 200 pounds (77 to 91 kilos ) but can go up to as high as 350 pounds (159 kilos).
Outside of casino models, there is no official or standard sizing for poker tables as it all depends on who is making it and the shape of the table. In fact, there is pretty much a table out there to fit any space. From roll-up poker mats to octagon, round, and oval folding poker tables, with and without legs. And, of course, you have the high-end professional versions that are meant to simulate casino quality tables. Let’s take a look at the various types and shapes found in home poker tables, what they are made of, and how many people they typically seat.
ESPN 10 Player Premium Poker Table With In-laid LED Lights No Assembly Required. 4.3 out of 5 stars (18) Total Ratings 18, 66% agree - Would recommend. Big 5 Blackjack for Free & Our Bonuses. Big 5 Blackjack gets its name from the fact that it uses five decks to play. Also known as Big 5 Blackjack Gold, this Microgaming table game is a decent casino game, with quality graphics, a house edge of only 0.47%, and several of the classical blackjack rules, worked into its design. If you keep your table in a bustling game room, consider a poker table cover to protect the felt from spills and other potential damage. For an elegant and classic game table in your family room, consider a sleek black poker table with leather trim or a homey oak poker table. Most professional online poker players make a large part of their long-term profit from rakeback and other poker bonuses. The more you play poker, the more rakeback you earn. If you play poker on multible tables simultaneously and put in long sessions, you might make big 5-figures on a yearly basis from rakeback alone.
Please note, dimensions will be listed in the following format in inches: Length x Width x Height (cm conversion)
Oval Poker Tables
Oval poker tables are the most common design and home models usually fold up for storage.
- Sizes
Permanent home versions are often 92x44x30 (234x112x76). Foldable models are usually about 84x42x30 (213x107x76) but can be as small as around 73 inches long and 32 inches wide. - Weight
54 to 85 pounds. - Materials
Tops are usually felt-covered wood, the railing vinyl, and the legs steel. Materials can vary based on the quality and price point. - Number Of Players
Most oval tables are designed to hold 9 or 10 players, however, some of the smaller models typically only hold 6 or 7 comfortably. To truly hold 9 or 10 players, 84-inch width and up is recommended.
Octagon Poker Tables
Octagonal tables have grown in popularity since most home poker games consist of 4-6 people. These tables are nice and compact and handle that number of people easily.
- Sizes
48x48x30 (122x122x76) for foldable models. Tabletop versions are usually the same size but occasionally are found a bit bigger, around 50 inches wide. - Weight
45 to 60 pounds with legs, 20-40 pounds for tabletop versions. - Materials
Folding octagonal tables are usually felt-covered wood, the railing plastic and occasionally vinyl, with the steel legs. Tabletop versions are often felt-covered plastic, with a plastic border or “railing”. Again, materials can vary based on the quality and price point. - Number Of Players
Most octagon-shaped table, like this one found on Amazon , are designed to hold up to 8 players. However, most versions will comfortably hold 5 or 6.
Round Poker Tables
Round poker tables are actually the least common design you will see and are typically only available in permanent options.
- Sizes
48 to 60 inches wide. Tabletop versions are hard to find but are about 48 inches wide. - Weight
Too rare to put a common weight. - Materials
Varies. - Number Of Players
There’s a reason round tables are out of vogue; they just don’t hold as many people as oval or octagonal models do. Most round poker tables hold 4 people, 5 if you squeeze in.
Square Poker Tables
Square tables are also rare and about 34 inches across. Since they only hold 4 people, most people opt for a different shape, or just use a square table from Walmart. Even so, if you only hold small games, they can be a decent option.. if you can find one. Tabletop versions that can be set on an existing dining room table do exist, however, my advice is to instead get a rectangular mat… covered in the next section.
What About Poker Mats?
Poker mats are an excellent option for the occasional impromptu card game. They are light and portable as is humanly possible, since they are made of either cloth or rubber, and typically come in a rectangular or oval shape. Poker mats, like this one found on Amazon, are usually about 72×36 (183×91).
Space Needed For A Poker Table
Ideally, you want at least 3 feet (1 meter) of clearance around a poker table to allow for adequate seating and movement around the room. If you have a small square poker room, I would suggest an octagon-shaped table, as these seem to fit best in small spaces while allowing for a maximum number of people to be seated. If your room is rectangular, any oval table like this nice Amazon model, that fits within the parameters of the space will do fine.
Important Tip: When choosing a poker table make sure that you look at the actual total dimensions of the table including any railings. Often, the sale listing of a poker table will only include the dimensions of the actual playing area of the table
What About Chairs?
Remember to always leave ample space and elbow room around your poker table for people to be able to get in and out of their chairs and maneuver their poker chips. I would recommend just getting folding chairs for your poker buddies unless you are playing at a dining room table that already has nice sturdy chairs. On that front, I suggest that you invest in some heavy-duty chairs that will hold players who might be on the heavy side. Here are some that should do the job nicely. They have a really high weight capacity.
Do Covering Types Affect Table Size?
All types of table coverings can be affixed to any table dimension. Even so, while covering types do not directly affect the space that a table will fit, you may want to consider using a faster cloth in more enclosed spaces. With standard cloth, the cards will not move across the surface and someone dealing at the end of the table in a recreational game will have a hard time sliding the cards all the way to the other end on slower cloth. There are two common options for poker table coverings, or felt; standard felt or speed cloth.
- Standard Felt
This is the standard choice for the most poker tables, especially lower-priced versions. The surface has a roughness to it and often it is challenging to get the cards to slide all the way out to where you want them while dealing. However, this is the least expensive surface and is fine for most players. Even so, some people like to upgrade to a “professional” surface, called speed cloth. - Speed Cloth
A lot of poker enthusiasts and professional poker players prefer the surface they play on to be a bit faster than standard felt. Therefore, they often want to play with speed cloth. Made of a more slippery type of polyester, you will have no issues getting cards to slide from one end of the table to the other end while dealing. However, players not used to a faster surface may grumble that the cards are sliding too fast, and sometimes flying off the table. The vast majority of poker tables do not come standard with speed cloth, as it is usually an upgrade only if one is willing to pay for the option.
A Brief History of Poker Table Sizes
The earliest card tables show up in the 1700s in response to the growing popularity of card games around Europe. In fact, it was common for people to buy card tables as fine furniture for their home, prominently displayed. Many versions even had a folding top, which allowed them to function as another piece of furniture when not in use. The wealthier classes paid exorbitant amounts for higher-end tables. Most of the designs were semicircular or oval and typically 36 inches in diameter.
For more about finding the right poker table, I also wrote a comprehensive poker table guide to help you in your search. Thanks for stopping by!
Big 5 Poker Table Sets
The number five in the game’s title refers to the five largest animals that live in Africa. Microgaming has a large number of poker machines based on a safari theme and this title is one of them. Other pokies with this theme include Lions Pride, The Forgotten Land of Lemuria, and Untamed: Wolf Pack. The graphics on this particular title are relatively crude compared to some of the other safari-inspired machines, and this game doesn’t have any animations or short video clips, common features in Microgaming’s video pokies collection, even on more traditional games.
Bet Variety and Jackpots
The betting options on Big 5 are nearly as simple as the reel and line arrangement and the interface and virtual case the reels are set in. Players can wager one, two, or three coins per spin on the title’s single pay line. To change the number of credits you wager, select the option you want using the buttons underneath the title’s three spinning reels.
The value of the coins can be any of five available denominations. That’s an outstanding variety for a traditional game with just one pay line. The lowest denomination is $0.25 and the largest is $5 apiece. The player has a choice of setting the value at $0.25, $0.50, $1, $2.50 or $5, for a total range of bets between $0.25 and $15 each time the reels are set in motion. High rollers won’t be satisfied with such a low max wager, but the available bets make it a good match for budget-conscious gamblers.
The biggest payouts on the game’s pay table come from three-coin wagers, but bettors can take a shot at those big cash prizes for as little as $0.75 per spin; that represents three coins set at the minimum denomination of $0.25 each. It isn’t exactly a penny pokie, but with a max bet that costs less than $1, low rollers willing to spend a little outside their comfort zone may be swayed by the fact that a three credit bet of $0.75 could earn them $600 if they land the highest paying combo for a reward of 2,400 credits.
Layout & Reel Symbols
Looking at the game, it is easy to see why it is considered classic or traditional – the game’s case is decorated by a simple graphic featuring the five largest African safari animals crowded around the poker machine’s logo. The water buffalo, lion, elephant, rhinoceros, and leopard shown side by side with the red and yellow title would be a nice addition to the pay table as reel symbols, but only the lion (the king of the jungle) makes it onto the reels.
It would be nice if Microgaming’s designers had stuffed a few more animal symbols into the actual game, rather than just featuring a drawing of them on the case, but at least bettors still get to see the beautiful lion on the three reels. It makes sense that the lion is the animal selected, since he is also the most valuable symbol on the game’s pay table.
Speaking of the pay table, it sits just to the right of the animals and the three spinning reels. This sidebar shows every combo and its value to the player should they line up on the game’s one pay line. Seven different combinations lead to payouts. Besides the majestic lion, three game symbols in varying numbers and combinations will lead to a prize.
An image of a bunch of cherries, a line-up of the very traditional poker machine bar symbols, and a stylized and bright gold number five set against another bar (known as a Bar-Five) all fill out the rest of the winning combo schedule. The table also shows the value of each win broken up by the size of the player’s wager: one credit, two credits, and three credits.
Why Some Gamblers Love Classic Poker Machines
For fans of casino gambling, the history of the games can be really intriguing. Poker machine history is just as fascinating as the tales of table games like roulette, also known as the Devil’s Wheel, or craps, which takes its name from the French word for “toad,” weirdly enough. Classic pokies like this Microgaming release have a loyal following in land-based casinos and Internet betting venues alike.
Every poker machine game in the world, from the latest progressive ultra-HD multi-bonus game in a Las Vegas casino to the simple safari-themed Web-based poker machine covered in this review, can trace its lineage back to a single inventor in late 19th century America. The first such game was invented by an American named Charles Fey. It was intended to be a mechanical distraction and was first installed in frontier saloons as a novelty item. Back then, players fed a coin into the game, pulled a lever to set the reels in motion, and hoped to line up a matching set of cherries, stars, or playing card images.
At first, the prizes weren’t in cash; in fact, they could hardly be called prizes at all. The machine would spit out a piece of paper or a token that could be exchanged at the bar for a small trinket like a piece of candy, a cigar, or if they were really lucky, a shot of whisky. So while Big 5 is similar to Charles Fey’s original games (the first of which was called Liberty Bell and had three reels and a single pay line) the prizes can’t be compared. What’s a cigar or a piece of gum compared to Big 5’s maximum jackpot of $9,500?
So why are classic games with very simple rules and small pay tables still popular? Some players are looking for a game they can play without much thought; think of this game as the junk food of casino gaming, easy to digest, inexpensive, and strangely addictive. No bonus games, no wild symbols, no scatter images, no side bets, no progressive jackpots – there are more things missing from this game than features that are present, compared to other modern pokies.
Big 5 Poker Table Set
See also:
Big 5 Poker Table Ideas
But that simplicity is a major reason for the title’s popularity. Who should play this title? Beginners trying to learn the basics of pokies or gamblers who just want to wind down by playing a mindless game are all ideal targets.