Have Chinese cards mold replica sets gone too far? (7 Viewers)

Actual card rooms are just using cards mold chips now

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We know several thousand of them made it out, but it just isn’t easy transporting chips. Unless a seasoned vet like @TheChipRoom @The Chip Exchange acquired them, how many totes can you really fill up and carry without opening yourself up to theft etc and getting caught.

I might be naive because I probably believe Ryan more than most people here. The short answer is I don't think anyone involved cared.

The Rio was purchased by a new organization who announced renovations and closed down large parts of the Casino. They hired a third party to clean out a wing of the RIO and were told to throw everything out. A bunch of workers found a room filled with WSOP chips that were squirreled away for whatever reason (I have theories about this too). They asked some middle management person about it and they said just trash them like everything else. They decided to keep the chips because they assumed they had value and showed Ryan who fell ass backwards into the biggest score of his life and bought them and released them on eBay for a six figure score.

I'm guesstimating around 7-12K chips Ryan ended up selling. 1/3 of the members of these forums have more chips than that and could move them in a few hours. They would be difficult to sneak out, but I don't think they had to. They just threw them in boxes in the same truck as the chairs, desks, and drawers they were trashing and grabbed them later and nobody cared.
 
Curious as to your theory of why they were squirreled away. These chips are nostalgic for me (for a lot of others I’m sure) and enjoyed reading of their journey. Luckily I was able to get at least one off his eBay sales.
 
Curious as to your theory of why they were squirreled away. These chips are nostalgic for me (for a lot of others I’m sure) and enjoyed reading of their journey. Luckily I was able to get at least one off his eBay sales.
I’m sure a few employees had enough common sense chippin’ in them…
 
Curious as to your theory of why they were squirreled away. These chips are nostalgic for me (for a lot of others I’m sure) and enjoyed reading of their journey. Luckily I was able to get at least one off his eBay sales.

When it was announced that the WSOP was moving away from the RIO, people were asking members of the RIO staff constantly what would happen to the chips and if they could get their hands on a few. The RIO owned the chips, not the WSOP. People wanted souvenirs of the iconic chips and were inquiring about them even though RIO staff knew they would be destroyed.

An enterprising individual with access to the vault grabbed as much as he could while no one was looking and hid them in a room in the RIO. If you walked into the RIO poker room between 2022-2023 and asked the right person the right question, they would walk away and come back and hand you a few chips in exchange for cash. A member here DM'd me in January 2024 showing they were in possession of some of the Main Event high denom final table chips a year before they showed up on eBay.

Then the RIO went into renovations, parts of the casino were closed to everyone, and the enterprising individual suddenly lost access to his supply. Later, the cleanup crew workers would discover his stash while cleaning out the furniture. That is where the Ryan/Chipthechipguy saga began.

This is all speculation on my part. Apologies for completely derailing this thread with RIO WSOP theories.
 
When it was announced that the WSOP was moving away from the RIO, people were asking members of the RIO staff constantly what would happen to the chips and if they could get their hands on a few. The RIO owned the chips, not the WSOP. People wanted souvenirs of the iconic chips and were inquiring about them even though RIO staff knew they would be destroyed.

An enterprising individual with access to the vault grabbed as much as he could while no one was looking and hid them in a room in the RIO. If you walked into the RIO poker room between 2022-2023 and asked the right person the right question, they would walk away and come back and hand you a few chips in exchange for cash. A member here DM'd me in January 2024 showing they were in possession of some of the Main Event high denom final table chips a year before they showed up on eBay.

Then the RIO went into renovations, parts of the casino were closed to everyone, and the enterprising individual suddenly lost access to his supply. Later, the cleanup crew workers would discover his stash while cleaning out the furniture. That is where the Ryan/Chipthechipguy saga began.

This is all speculation on my part. Apologies for completely derailing this thread with RIO WSOP theories.
This info needs to be added to the WSOP 2007 Rio Primary thread!
 
I have no problem with the Tina replicas. I am not willing to fork over ridiculous amounts of money to build sets when I can have replica sets made at a fraction of the cost.

My Trump Mahal, Mirage cash, and Mirage tournament sets aren’t leaving my basement poker room. What others decide to do is on them.
 
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I mean there’s no noticeable differences in photos anymore with dead on copies.

My only questions are 1 - how do we have vendors who “own” these molds, since, you know, they’re legitimately just copying shit.

2 - when are we going to see house molds as well as direct copies of the wsop chips, jacks, IGs, Paris, etc etc etc.

I don’t care beyond thinking this is dumb and objectively no bueno, but I don’t think we’re even close to reaching the end. I’m here for the shit show in 5+ years when enough of these have flooded the market that anything bought off PCF/in person is a question mark until you get it in hand.

Can’t wait for someone to drive 8 hours for a marketplace find to flip and it’s Tina THC solids :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:
 
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I mean there’s no noticeable differences in photos anymore with dead on copies.

My only questions are 1 - how do we have vendors who “own” these molds, since, you know, they’re legitimately just copying shit.

2 - when are we going to see house molds as well as direct copies of the wsop chips, jacks, IGs, Paris, etc etc etc.

I don’t care beyond thinking this is dumb and objectively no bueno, but I don’t think we’re even close to reaching the end. I’m here for the shit show in 5+ years when enough of these have flooded the market that anything bought off PCF/in person is a question mark until you get it in hand.

Can’t wait for someone to drive 8 hours for a marketplace find to flip and it’s Tina THC solids :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:

I don’t think those are dead on copies (spots) but your point is well taken. I think weight is a good way to tell still. Unleaded TRKs pffft good luck.
 
I don’t think those are dead on copies (spots) but your point is well taken.
Ah, I prob don’t know the chips well enough. I thought the spots and colors matched the real thing.
I think weight is a good way to tell still. Unleaded TRKs pffft good luck.
Oh yeah, I don’t think they’ll ever be exact copies to the point you can’t really the difference in person, the $ to produce that wouldn’t be worth it.

But…..you can’t tell weight through an internet photo.
 
I see it! It’s the uhhhhh…the curvature of the spots. They’re….different. Because the degree of the curvature. Or something like that.

Plus obviously that faux green spot is at least 2 degrees on RGB color numbers from the right hue of green!

(Did I guess the differences right?)

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I see it! It’s the uhhhhh…the curvature of the spots. They’re….different. Because the degree of the curvature. Or something like that.

Plus obviously that faux green spot is at least 2 degrees on RGB color numbers from the right hue of green!

(Did I guess the differences right?)

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You are correct. Those are exact copies.
 
Ya those stunned me. Probs cause I have real ones but just wow. Kinda surprised by the guys at the other site? I guess I don’t really know em and haven’t peaked over there much but thought they were more old school chippers.

I don’t have too much concern about being confused by fake listings for this specific type of example. You’re not buying $40/chip + MT $25s without knowing what you’re doing.

But I’m sure some noobs will get fooled on other sets, if they haven’t been already. Or an older chipper coming back to the hobby and not realizing fakes are out there.

I’m more just saddened by the state of creativity. When designers like Cratty can make the whole range of OC and well done tributes (like the Apes), why do this?
 
I don’t think those are dead on copies (spots) but your point is well taken. I think weight is a good way to tell still. Unleaded TRKs pffft good luck.
Oh yeah, I don’t think they’ll ever be exact copies to the point you can’t really the difference in person, the $ to produce that wouldn’t be worth it.
Any collector that is going to pursue authentic TRKs I would assume would do a lot of research on any potential set or singles for that matter before making a purchase.

Most collectors of TRKs know where the authentic chips and sets are and I can’t imagine a newer collector not putting lots of time and effort into figuring those things out also.

There’s enough public knowledge on the forums to know what’s legit and what isn’t IMO.
 
As I own 1 original $5 I just took some photos so you can see side by side. HTH.

Post in thread 'The Official Mail Showcase Thread (poker related)'
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...wcase-thread-poker-related.34406/post-2728763
I don't have anything against, or care what you order or who produces them.

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But yeah, they're the same. To any layperson in the world, there are chips being produced that are copies.

Not sure why you would, but hopefully you don't care either. If you do, it wouldn't make any sense to order these.

They look fantastic by the way! As long as you and your players enjoy them, don't listen to anyone who puts them down or says otherwise. Lol, and don't go read through this whole thread.
 
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Everyone can enjoy the hobby however they want.

I don't care about Tina and the whole thing because I don't have concern for "the hobby". I don't care if Vegas has clay or plastic or electronic, I don't care about the overarching history of chips or casinos, none of that does anything for me. I like to host, I think having nice chips are cool, and I have an amazing time playing with some PCFers - that's my focus. I display mostly custom samples, and I have a couple cash sets that have a personal meaning to me. That's it.

I would imagine there's tons of folks like me.

But, there are some folks who do care about "the hobby". And if they do, they should absolutely despise the exact copies and Tina shenanigans. I think it's chuckle worthy to see the same folks who are head over heels about "the hobby", integrity of the hobby, and constantly steeped in the history of chips also be cool with copies. They mostly say things like "I am not engaging in anything bad, I wouldn't resell these falsely, I and my friends wouldn't be tricked" - super common anecdotal fallacy.

It's pretty obvious the issues that will result from this over the next 5-10 years. Some will benefit, some will be hurt, and tons of us will be laughing. It was prob going to happen regardless, I'm just glad we to be around and watch it from inception all the way to sh*tshow.

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Everyone can enjoy the hobby however they want.

I don't care about Tina and the whole thing because I don't have concern for "the hobby". I don't care if Vegas has clay or plastic or electronic, I don't care about the overarching history of chips or casinos, none of that does anything for me. I like to host, I think having nice chips are cool, and I have an amazing time playing with some PCFers - that's my focus. I display mostly custom samples, and I have a couple cash sets that have a personal meaning to me. That's it.

I would imagine there's tons of folks like me.

But, there are some folks who do care about "the hobby". And if they do, they should absolutely despise the exact copies and Tina shenanigans. I think it's chuckle worthy to see the same folks who are head over heels about "the hobby", integrity of the hobby, and constantly steeped in the history of chips also be cool with copies. They mostly say things like "I am not engaging in anything bad, I wouldn't resell these falsely, I and my friends wouldn't be tricked" - super common anecdotal fallacy.

It's pretty obvious the issues that will result from this over the next 5-10 years. Some will benefit, some will be hurt, and tons of us will be laughing. It was prob going to happen regardless, I'm just glad we to be around and watch it from inception all the way to sh*tshow.

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Hey Jeff,

Danny asked me to ask you if you’re still his huckleberry on those LE $4s?
 
Hey Jeff,

Danny asked me to ask you if you’re still his huckleberry on those LE $4s?
What a bizarre message since he has my email, and hasn't emailed me. I wonder why he would ask you to publicly message me on PCF to see if I would like to purchase from him, strange indeed.

But to answer, nope, $500 a rack without a way to utilize them or complete the set doesn't make sense.

I'll have to wait for pocket aces to relinquish his limit set if it happens one day.

Thanks for checking in.
 
I don't have anything against, or care what you order or who produces them.

View attachment 1528744

But yeah, they're the same. To any layperson in the world, there are chips being produced that are copies.

Not sure why you would, but hopefully you don't care either. If you do, it wouldn't make any sense to order these.

They look fantastic by the way! As long as you and your players enjoy them, don't listen to anyone who puts them down or says otherwise. Lol, and don't go read through this whole thread.

They’re not the same. Tina spots too small.

I was mostly talking about the cyan $25 where it’s more noticeable.

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