The game's afoot with high-end poker tables

The game's afoot with high-end poker tables By Paul Whitefield Los Angeles Times In simpler times, everyone had a card table. It had myriad uses: It became a bridge table when Bill and Edna came over on Wednesday nights, the kids' table at festive gatherings, the crafts table at Scout meetings, and, on special occasions, the gift table. People make millions playing poker now, and millions watch them on TV. We envy the sunglasses, those piles of chips -- and that cool poker table. You want one, and furniture makers are listening. What they're hearing, though, is that style is as important as function. Game tables also must be stylish, able to blend with upscale furnishings, or convert from game table to regular table. And, as befits an era of entertainment centers with $10,000 plasma TVs and Surround Sound, many of the offerings are priced to match. Fedde Furniture in Pasadena, Calif., for example, carries large game tables by Maitland-Smith in the $3,000 to $5,000 price range, with matching chairs at about $500 each. Smaller tables are closer to $2,000. As manager Melinda Kinney explained, Maitland-Smith, based in High Point, N.C., makes collector-quality pieces. Customers who have spent thousands on a room for entertaining want furniture of equal quality, and price is not a factor, she said. For people seeking quality and function but who also must weigh price, I.M. David Furniture offers tables for about $1,000, with matching chairs for about $500. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal reported that 65 companies planned to show game tables at a trade show in 2004 in North Carolina, compared with just seven in 2000. Looking for a high-quality reproduction of an 18th-century English game table? San Francisco's Burton-Ching Ltd., founded in 1995, specializes in heirloom-quality furniture built exactly like the originals. Although the company's pieces cost less than the actual antiques, they're not aimed at the casual customer. For example, a George II walnut folding game table, 36 inches by 36 inches, retails for $6,600, and a similar-sized George III octagon-shaped mahogany table runs $7,650. Like to shop online? Stine Game Tables, at www.stine gametables.com, invites you to build your own table, choosing wood, felt color, accents and pedestal style. Its tables are about $3,800. Of course, if you have champagne tastes on a beer budget, there are alternatives. Costco, for example, carries a game table that includes craps, blackjack, roulette and chess, but converts into a desk or end table, for $279.99. It also offers a rosewood pedestal poker table for eight players, at $479.99. And Bombay Co. recently had the Monaco card table and the Newcastle game table marked down to $99.