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Custom chips for $10 buy in- is it worth it? (1 Viewer)

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wearherwoman02

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Howdy! New here, so if I'm not posting in the right place please redirect me:) my friends and I do a weekly game that's a $10 buy in (we're broke grad school students) so the chip values we play with are $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, and $1.00. Love our games but I recently played a real game at a $200 buy in. Seeing the dollar amount on the coins really upped the adrenaline and enjoyment of the game. I'm considering getting some custom chips with the amounts we play with, but...is it worth it? Worried seeing how low the amount is could lessen the satisfaction. Maybe I could just do 10, 25, 50, and 100, but also think the cents could be kinda fun. Curious if anyone has ever ordered custom chips for a low buy in and has any opinions on its imapct on the gameplay? Thanks y'all!
 
Nice chips make any game better, but I would not spend a lot on a micro stakes set. Instead I would look for Tinas or chips that are relatively inexpensive. Also, you'd be better served using 5c, 25c, and $1 chips rather than 10c and 50c chips.
 
wearherwoman02 said:
Howdy! New here, so if I'm not posting in the right place please redirect me:) my friends and I do a weekly game that's a $10 buy in (we're broke grad school students) so the chip values we play with are $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, and $1.00. Love our games but I recently played a real game at a $200 buy in. Seeing the dollar amount on the coins really upped the adrenaline and enjoyment of the game. I'm considering getting some custom chips with the amounts we play with, but...is it worth it? Worried seeing how low the amount is could lessen the satisfaction. Maybe I could just do 10, 25, 50, and 100, but also think the cents could be kinda fun. Curious if anyone has ever ordered custom chips for a low buy in and has any opinions on its imapct on the gameplay? Thanks y'all!
Click to expand...
These 5c chips cost me around $1.50 each, and the 25c chips around $2 each.
IMG_7394.webp

It that a problem for a nickel & quarter game? Hell no!
Get the chips that make you happy and enjoy your game.

But I also recommend 5c, 25c, $1, $5 increments. No 10c or 50c needed.
 
Last edited:
Colquhoun said:
These 5c chips cost me around $1.50 each, and the 25c chips around $2 each.
View attachment 1596710
It that a problem for a nickel & quarter game? Hell no!
Get the chips that make you happy and enjoy your game.

But I also recommend 5c, 25c, $1, $5 increments. No 10c or 50c needed.
Click to expand...
Dibs pick chips at $1.65. Flip for 10%? Nom. Nom.

Seriously though buy some used Tina hybrids here for a major upgrade at roughly 35c / chip second hand.

—Diz
 
wearherwoman02 said:
Howdy! New here, so if I'm not posting in the right place please redirect me:) my friends and I do a weekly game that's a $10 buy in (we're broke grad school students) so the chip values we play with are $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, and $1.00. Love our games but I recently played a real game at a $200 buy in. Seeing the dollar amount on the coins really upped the adrenaline and enjoyment of the game. I'm considering getting some custom chips with the amounts we play with, but...is it worth it? Worried seeing how low the amount is could lessen the satisfaction. Maybe I could just do 10, 25, 50, and 100, but also think the cents could be kinda fun. Curious if anyone has ever ordered custom chips for a low buy in and has any opinions on its imapct on the gameplay? Thanks y'all!
Click to expand...
You're asking the members of a poker chip forum if it's worth it to order custom chips? :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:

Regarding low denoms. Very popular around here. Almost every set I've put together has a nickel chip.

This is my first set - relabeled china clays. I used to play almost exclusively nickel/dime blinds with $20-$30 buy ins.

20201015_151431.webp


Soon after I started to get involved in cards mold ceramic group buys. You didn't mention what your budget was, but you did say broke college student, so I'm guessing you're not planning to spend thousands on a custom CPC set. Which means you might be interested in chinese ceramics from who we call "Tina." While the custom route is a good one, there is another even cheaper option you're probably not aware of. The above mentions "cards mold" ceramics.

Two cards mold sets that were very popular back then were the Aria tributes and the New China Club tributes. Both have low denom chips. The Aria's only have nickel and quarter fractionals. Ignore the color bleed on some of the chips. I think these are of pics of prototypes. The final chips look great. I can find you or direct you to better pics if you're interested.

Cash Aria proofs.webp


But the New China Club set has 5c, 10c, 25c and 50c chips. Great design for low stakes games.

20210715_142003.webp


Since the hybrid chips came out, these can often be found listed for a very reasonable cost. Probably around 30-40 cents a chip. You'll end up spending around 55-60 a chip if you get custom hybrids.

Good luck, and let us know what you are thinking about in regards to customs.
 
Just do non-denominated and use the numbers to represent cents. Then you can grow into the set later and add fracs as needed.
 
BigGrizz said:
Just do non-denominated and use the numbers to represent cents. Then you can grow into the set later and add fracs as needed.
Click to expand...
To each their own, but to me, non-denominated chips suck. Sounds like what he wants is chips with the denominations of his games, and there is no good reason not to go ahead with that.
 
wearherwoman02 said:
Howdy! New here, so if I'm not posting in the right place please redirect me:) my friends and I do a weekly game that's a $10 buy in (we're broke grad school students) so the chip values we play with are $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, and $1.00. Love our games but I recently played a real game at a $200 buy in. Seeing the dollar amount on the coins really upped the adrenaline and enjoyment of the game. I'm considering getting some custom chips with the amounts we play with, but...is it worth it? Worried seeing how low the amount is could lessen the satisfaction. Maybe I could just do 10, 25, 50, and 100, but also think the cents could be kinda fun. Curious if anyone has ever ordered custom chips for a low buy in and has any opinions on its imapct on the gameplay? Thanks y'all!
Click to expand...
Do it.

Also if you want I got a cheap set I could sell you.

Long live micro stakes!!!
 
TX_Golf_N_Poker said:
To each their own, but to me, non-denominated chips suck. Sounds like what he wants is chips with the denominations of his games, and there is no good reason not to go ahead with that.
Click to expand...
Sorry. I shouldn't have said non-denominated. Chips without currency symbols is what I meant. They'd have numbers but no cents, dollars, pounds, euro, or yen symbols like tournament chips. I prefer chips without a currency symbol personally.

But ya. Misspoke. No numbers would drive me insane.
 
You won’t be a broke grad student for long. So don’t invest a ton now.

I would buy a cheap set of custom Tina’s with the recommended spreads above. I used super diamonds in grad school and the upgrade to Tina’s would have been awesome.

I wouldn’t buy a high cost custom set you intend to expand upon as you make more (e.g., buy 5¢/25¢/$1 now and add $5/$20 later), because it’s very likely you’re going to stare and your micro set and think of a million ways to improve it- take it from me and a ton of other folks here.

So buy cheap, play hard, and let your design tastes settle in. Then, when you’re making more, you can buy the nice set of your dreams (custom or real casino) and feel good about it.
 
@Booshme yes, I've considered pink chips for a .5$ frac. 🤩
 

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wearherwoman02 said:
Howdy! New here, so if I'm not posting in the right place please redirect me:) my friends and I do a weekly game that's a $10 buy in (we're broke grad school students) so the chip values we play with are $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, and $1.00. Love our games but I recently played a real game at a $200 buy in. Seeing the dollar amount on the coins really upped the adrenaline and enjoyment of the game. I'm considering getting some custom chips with the amounts we play with, but...is it worth it? Worried seeing how low the amount is could lessen the satisfaction. Maybe I could just do 10, 25, 50, and 100, but also think the cents could be kinda fun. Curious if anyone has ever ordered custom chips for a low buy in and has any opinions on its imapct on the gameplay? Thanks y'all!
Click to expand...
Hi Warherowoman,

Interesting question... Is it worth it? Hmmmm... I think so, but there is a good argument that its a bad idea. A better way to look at it is, whats your views about branding. thats the point to a custom set. I went down the relabeling road to personalize my game. I did it because i just wanted to and that's the best answer i have to the is it worth it question?

In my case YES, 100%!!! I love my chips with my Theme.

As for game play - Its a hard no. only a few people will even notice the chips. Game play is about people. Chips wont change that.

1763948227206.webp
 
Where are your 25c, $1s, and $5s? :)
 
chippitydoodah said:
Just listed:

Thread 'BCC spotted FOC set! 604 chip micro stakes' https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/bcc-spotted-foc-set-604-chip-micro-stakes.138144/

Ask @Ben8257 anything. He'll be more than happy to fill your dm inbox :LOL: :laugh:
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This is the real rubber meets the road question, that's a killer set for a very reasonable price that's pretty much everything you could ask for in something "affordable". If you're a broke grad student, it's probably not the wisest thing to spend money on, but if you're wanting to upgrade to something quality, that's the kind of thing to do it with.
 
NoNamePokerGuy said:
This is the real rubber meets the road question, that's a killer set for a very reasonable price that's pretty much everything you could ask for in something "affordable". If you're a broke grad student, it's probably not the wisest thing to spend money on, but if you're wanting to upgrade to something quality, that's the kind of thing to do it with.
Click to expand...
Christmas is coming ;)
 

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