Why Are Paulsons The Best? (2 Viewers)

[drdr]

Gotcha. So I guess it's really just a premium product then. It sounds like it's not great for rigorous use either?

They're both the two premium chip products. Made with the same technique but slightly different recipe/compositions. The wearing happens in casinos noticeable because the chips are used constantly. But the chips wear much slower in home games where they are only used weekly to monthly. Slower if a PCFer has multiple sets they rotate in use.

 

[upNdown]

It sounds like it's not great for rigorous use either?

Not sure where you're going. It's one thing to say that paulsons aren't worth the premiums that PCFers are often willing to pay - everybody has to make that decision for themselves. But what the hell is rigorous use? I've never seen a poker chip broken in a casino or a home game. I've played with plenty of paulsons in plenty of places and I assure you, they're up to the task. Yes, they will get worn down after years of 24/7 play in a casino. (They don't break at that point or get any less functional, they just show their wear.) But for a typical home game, they'll probably last forever.

 

[CirrusVII]

Not sure where you're going. It's one thing to say that paulsons aren't worth the premiums that PCFers are often willing to pay - everybody has to make that decision for themselves. But what the hell is rigorous use? I've never seen a poker chip broken in a casino or a home game. I've played with plenty of paulsons in plenty of places and I assure you, they're up to the task. Yes, they will get worn down after years of 24/7 play in a casino. (They don't break at that point or get any less functional, they just show their wear.) But for a typical home game, they'll probably last forever.

Haha, I've seen people talk about how durable they are in videos of chips/manufacturer videos so it came to mind. Not planning to blow up some chips or anything

 

[Taghkanic]

This has got me curious, how durable are they? Does anyone know the protocol at a casino/card room if a Paulson broke in play?

I don’t think they break in play unless something highly unusual happens. Never seen it happen anyway.

Paulsons do get softened edges as they are played. Eventually they can become what people here call “bicycle tires.”

But it is highly unlikely you will ever turn minty or even lightly-used Paulsons into bicycle tires in a home game.

The amount of use chips see in casinos is exponentially more than home games. I host about 20 games a year and expect my custom set (made from used THCs) to last a lifetime.

It’s more likely that I’ll get restless and want to make a new custom set long before my Paulsons even begin to look worn.

 

[Taghkanic]

P.S. My preference is for lightly-used Paulsons over dead mint ones — for actual gameplay. They shuffle better with a touch of wear.

 

[LeLe]

I like my Casino grade Plastic as much as I like my Paulson.

Some like CPC over Plastic/Paulson, that's why we always say get Samples first.

 

[Machine]

No. Is a $10 paulson twenty times better than a 50 cent chinese ceramic hybrid chip? Of course not. It's a silly indulgence. But I can tell the difference, and I love the feel of the old leaded paulsons so it's worth it to me.

I think you need therapy, you're the guy that they told boys don't cry, and then in the lonesome dark he crys. Its okay to cry, its okay to be a chipper, I think you need to meet Bob (Robert paulson, aka Meat Loaf) from fight club. Its NOT a silly indulgence and yes they are 20 times better than CC.

Repeat after me, "I will not devalue myself or my hobby because other people don't understand us"

Now, to repent, have a group hug at the next poker night or meetup! You are a valued member and chipping is nothing to be ashamed of!

As long as you're not starving yourself to buy chips it's okay, look at least your not a washer machine or barf bag collector!

 

[basementplayer10]

Hi all, still fairly new to chipping.

Why are Paulsons the best? A genuine answer would be much appreciated— I understand they are the favorite among professional card rooms and casinos, but why are they so beloved among everyone? Why is it the holy grail? I have heard many people say it "feels" better— why? How?

Paulsons are also way out of my budget.

Thank you in advance,
CirrusVII

What is the cheapest you can generally find a set of 500 paulsons for

 

[ChipFinderSK]

I think you need therapy, you're the guy that they told boys don't cry, and then in the lonesome dark he crys. Its okay to cry, its okay to be a chipper, I think you need to meet Bob (Robert paulson, aka Meat Loaf) from fight club. Its NOT a silly indulgence and yes they are 20 times better than CC.

Repeat after me, "I will not devalue myself or my hobby because other people don't understand us"

Now, to repent, have a group hug at the next poker night or meetup! You are a valued member and chipping is nothing to be ashamed of!

As long as you're not starving yourself to buy chips it's okay, look at least your not a washer machine or barf bag collector!

I should probably starve myself to buy chips…win-win in the short term

 

[mr11]

I should probably starve myself to buy chips…win-win in the short term

Maybe sell the car to buy tigers? Then I have tigers and can’t go to work … win-win

 

[Poker Zombie]

I'm not sure that Paulsons are the best.

Yes, they have the best feel, colors, and sound. But customs from CPC are my favorite. Getting to select exactly what spots, colors, mold, and inlay are miles above pitting a sticker on somebody else's chip. I even (after a lot of negotiating) got a spot pattern that never existed before (or as far as I know, since).

I have 11 sets in my poker arsenal for multi-table games.

• Plastic slugged chips with a custom sticker
• Custom ceramic chips
• CPC full custom chips
• China clay tournament chips with custom labels
• Casino chips and custom plaques
• China clay cash game chips with custom labels
• Paulson tournament chips
• Plastic chips without the metal slug
• Casino-grade plastic chips
• Paulson cash game chips
• China clay 43mm chips

I can honestly give you reasons why every one of these is the best, which is why they all stay in my rotation. If God himself came down and told me "you can only take one set to heaven with you", I would have to ask, "Does the devil play cards?"

 

[ekricket]

What is the cheapest you can generally find a set of 500 paulsons for

It’s not impossible to find them for under or around $1 a chip. Even in this day and time. Used for sure, RHC probably.

But generally you could get by around $2 each. Used for sure but starting to include some THC.

 

[Machine]

set of 500 paulsons

no one sells 500 because its not enough to spread a game with, only dice chips come in 500 sets

 

[ekricket]

no one sells 500 because its not enough to spread a game with, only dice chips come in 500 sets

A STT can be accommodated comfortably with 500 chips

 

[upNdown]

What is the cheapest you can generally find a set of 500 paulsons for

$850 from a long-time site vendor might be the best you can do right now, but if you wait and watch, you could probably find something for under $500.
https://www.apachepokerchips.com/product/500-jumers-casino-paulson-poker-chips/

 

[Felt_Lizard]

no one sells 500 because its not enough to spread a game with, only dice chips come in 500 sets

@TheChipVault would like to speak to you.

 

[ExileExistence]

I also just started my chipping journey, but here are my thoughts: few months ago I also just wanted to upgrade my ABS Chip set and ordered samples of a few other ABS chips, China Clays and Ceramics. But as always, I wanted the real thing (real casino chips aka Paulsons or atleast real compression molded clay chips).

Now I ended up having a nice ceramic tournament set and a used cash set of Paulsons (nearly completed).
Paulsons have beautiful colors, the best sound, great shuffling and stacking ability and for me most prominent: a great inlay. It's not a sticker, and you tell the difference instantly. It just feels like much higher quality.

I never had CPCs, so can't talk about them, but if you want to go cheaper, I'd say CC are getting 'relatively' (with still a large gap) close to Paulsons regarding sound, feel and shuffling ability. Ceramics can be nice aswell, but also have their flaws.

However, many of my casual friends might not even notice and for them the 'chip upgrade' is not really a big deal. Also realistically speaking, Paulsons are definitly more expensive >$1.5/chip. But you get what you pay for.

 

[ExileExistence]

The durability is also something I am thinking about. My first Paulsons are casino used, not complete bike tires, but many flea bites (common for RHC mold as I think). Only my $100s are near mint, and that is really a difference again. Look so much nicer in a stack.

But makes me wonder, how fast the sharp edges wear off or flea bites occur in a regular (monthly home game)? For the price I would be really sad to see them fade, on the other hand I know Paulsons are made for heavy casino use (no comparison to regular home games). So for me it's just fine as I can play with my friends without worrying too much about the chips, but I think I certainly need to own a set of mint Paulsons aswell..

 

[BPTDirector]

I don’t think they break in play unless something highly unusual happens. Never seen it happen anyway.

Paulsons do get softened edges as they are played. Eventually they can become what people here call “bicycle tires.”

But it is highly unlikely you will ever turn minty or even lightly-used Paulsons into bicycle tires in a home game.

The amount of use chips see in casinos is exponentially more than home games. I host about 20 games a year and expect my custom set (made from used THCs) to last a lifetime.

It’s more likely that I’ll get restless and want to make a new custom set long before my Paulsons even begin to look worn.

This.

 

[Seeking Alpha Social Club]

Hi all, still fairly new to chipping.

Why are Paulsons the best? A genuine answer would be much appreciated— I understand they are the favorite among professional card rooms and casinos, but why are they so beloved among everyone? Why is it the holy grail? I have heard many people say it "feels" better— why? How?

Paulsons are also way out of my budget.

Thank you in advance,
CirrusVII

Sorry my friend, but if you're expecting for Paulsons to be the Holy grail, then you need to meet Mr TRK...LOL. WAY more stupid money to be spent there.

 

[Old State]

Because so many casinos use(d) them. I remember hearing 85% of casinos worldwide. They defined what a real casino chip was/is.

Hmmmm. 98% of casinos has Kem cards too ….and 99.9% bridge sized cards

 

[puglia82]

B&G are very high quality and much more durable than Paulson.
Many european casinos have B&G in play (chips or jetons).
Personally found plastics B&G much better to play than bike tires Paulson

 

[Taghkanic]

Hmmmm. 98% of casinos has Kem cards too ….and 99.9% bridge sized cards

So KEM cards are now the best cards, since casinos use them?

NOTE: The last few casinos I played in were all using Faded Spades.

The exception was a WSOP Circuit Event (not held in the casino’s cardroom), which seemed to be using flimsy bridge-sized COPAGs. When a player at my table called the floor to complain about how warped and wrecked the decks were, and to ask for a fresh deck, the floor said no.

Assuming that casino or other “official” choices are by default the best choices is silly.

 

[Old State]

So KEM cards are now the best cards, since casinos use them?

NOTE: The last few casinos I played in were all using Faded Spades.

The exception was a WSOP Circuit Event (not held in the casino’s cardroom), which seemed to be using flimsy bridge-sized COPAGs. When a player at my table called the floor to complain about how warped and wrecked the decks were, and to ask for a fresh deck, the floor said no.

Assuming that casino or other “official” choices are by default the best choices is silly.

Here we go

I was pointing out the contradiction in logic based on their Paulson/casino usage comments …and also being a little sarcastic

The major casino cards rooms choose the cars they feel will last and aren’t easily marked or creased when they are paying for them.

But…If Copags sponsorship of WSOP works like most product sponsorships…they are giving the cards to them for free. Faded Spade also does this with WPT and other live events

One of the reasons I not only dislike faded spade products, but also the company, is because of their marketing. They are sponsoring TV events and giving them product, then leveraging that in their marketing as if these casinos are paying for them and buying theirs cards. Years ago I saw a Borgata WPT event with poker sized FS cards. I play as Borgata frequently and know for a fact they have never used anything but Kem cards in the actual card room since they opened in 2003

We have already established you don’t go to major casinos, but if you did you would quickly see Kem is still the overwhelming choice of majors casino cards rooms in Vegas and AC….as well as Foxwoods etc. I’ve only seen Copag and FS cards used at small cards rooms outside of Vegas and AC featured in poker vlogs. I’m not aware of any major casinos that use Faded Spade.

According to your “logic” just because many career mechanics choose Snap On tools doesn't mean they feel they are the best. Right

 

[BigGrizz]

How is the next-best alternative (seems like its CPCs)? Are they at least 80/90% of Paulsons?

I was thinking if CPC just added triangular spots and like 10 more colors then Paulson wouldn't have much of anything on them. Also, for all the people who like the leaded chips from Paulson, CPC could add a gram or 2 of tungsten powder to the mix for a premium addon. Tungsten is so dense that it likely wouldn't impact the color in any real way.

 

[Old State]

I bought my ASM set (CPC) 23 years ago. They only offered the 321 three edge spot design but were only $1 a chip when ordering over 1000.

A few years later I saw Paulson Niors on sale for $1 a chip from some website. My initial thought was “wow those are pretty and have cool edge spots…but for the same money I can get custom chips with my label”. So at the time I didn’t see the value. I knew what Paulson chips felt like from playing in casinos.


In hindsight I would have bought a set knowing they would be valuable, but at the time I always felt that CPC were the far more interesting option because they are fully customizable (now far more customizable). Being able to have a fully customized set that was all of your own has always been far more interesting than collecting old casino chips or some fantasy casino chip. For me it would be full custom, CPC‘s or a generic chip like the Niors. Murdering chips seems to be a laborious task.

From a practical standpoint…if you host a lot, smooth ceramic chips are the way to go IMO. They don’t pick up sputz and are easily washable. My ASMs tend to get tacky after a few dozen games. I moved to a set of BR Pro customs as my main cash chip and dump them in a bucket of soapy water over night once or twice a year. Then rinse and dry.

I’d recommend Tina chips first to anyone before they invest in CPCs or Paulsons

 

[KHarp1]

+1 for TRKing

 

[ef28]

So what is the appeal of TRKing? The rarity since they’re no longer made? The feel of the chips? There is currently another thread on a hoard of TRKs found and it’s getting a lot attention. TRKs are the one chip I have never personally held/shuffled.

 

[upNdown]

So what is the appeal of TRKing? The rarity since they’re no longer made? The feel of the chips? There is currently another thread on a hoard of TRKs found and it’s getting a lot attention. TRKs are the one chip I have ever personally held/shuffled.

They could be the best feeling shuffling chips - they definitely feel unique. As with paulsons, I'm talking specifically about non-murdered, inlaid, leaded TRK small crowns. Other TRKs pale in comparison.

 

[Poker Zombie]

Agreed - TRKs feel the best from a shuffling point of view. However, I find TRKs tend to be well worn and feel "thin" to me. I had some TRKs and sold them without ever putting them in play.

I get the TRK appeal, but it's just not for me.