Private Poker Tables online can fill the gap between home games and playing yourself on the internet. Playing poker online is great fun and can be financially rewarding, but sometimes you miss the companionship of playing with your friends at a home poker game.

You can have private Poker Tables available at one of the major online site. You can use this table to play. You can invite players on your table to play with you. Though it's not quite the same as playing poker at home, but at least you can get to your bed afterwards without having to throw everybody out!

Party Poker now has Private Tables facility which you can set up very easily and be playing within ten minutes, here's how you do it.

1. Open your Party Poker client (that's the downloaded file to let you play on your computer) and click on the ?Options? pull down-menu at the top, just under the ?Welcome to the http://PartyPoker.com Lobby? message.

2. Click ?Create Private Tables? - the first item in the pull-down menu. You will get a small pop-up form where you choose the type of game you want to play and the stakes or buy-in. You are also asked to create the password for your table. If you choose Texas Holdem and select the stakes option, for example $1/$2, you are playing a limit table. In this case the small blinds are $0.25 and the big blinds are $0.50. To get a no-limit Texas Holdem you must select one of the fixed price options, for example ?NL $25?.

3. After you have completed the form you will then have 10 minutes to take your seats at the table. Here's the bit you need to watch out for ? how to find your table. To get to your table you need to use the panel on the far left of the client. It is in a directory tree type formation, divided into five sections ?Real Money, Party Poker Million, Sit & Go, Tournaments and Play Money? each with their own subsections. You need to go to the top section ?Real Money? and click on the small box with the ?+? sign in it to expand the listing. From the list underneath select the game you signed up for; Texas Hold'em, Omaha or 7 Card Stud and the amount of stakes that you selected in step 2. You will see your table in the list; it's called "YourName's pvt table 1", click on the table and join as you would normally do.

4. You play poker ? may the best player win!

Here are couple of tips that you should keep in mind when setting up your private Poker Tables.

Remember, after booking the Poker Table, you only have 10 minutes before the game begins. So, make sure all of your friends with whom you have to play are online at that time. Don't rush to make you friends sign up and get ready in those 10 minutes. It won't work. Make sure all players know the password and are aware of how to find the table. Email them a copy of this article if you want or else provide clear instructions yourself as to how to get there.

If they can't find the table, you won't be able to take their money off them!