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Advice for Compiling a set of Starburst (1 Viewer)

HannibalSmith

HannibalSmith

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After looking at many of the suggestions you all sent on compiling a new set, I'm thinking about trying to put together a set of Starbursts.... I see many of you have done so I'd love some guidance on the best way to do it (and not over paying).

Thanks in advance!
 
HannibalSmith said:
After looking at many of the suggestions you all sent on compiling a new set, I'm thinking about trying to put together a set of Starbursts.... I see many of you have done so I'd love some guidance on the best way to do it (and not over paying).

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Talk to @allforcharity and you win!
 
Thanks for the shoutout!

Sadly, I have decided to get out of the Starburst game and have sold/auctioned off just about everything. I have a just a small pile of Charcoal, Off-White, and a couple handfuls of Red (2 shades) but that's all, and I don't expect to get any more. If you want solids that you can (mill & re-)label, then I'm your guy, but I won't be good for much else except bad jokes and a happy demeanour!
 
allforcharity said:
Thanks for the shoutout!

Sadly, I have decided to get out of the Starburst game and have sold/auctioned off just about everything. I have a just a small pile of Charcoal, Off-White, and a couple handfuls of Red (2 shades) but that's all, and I don't expect to get any more. If you want solids that you can (mill & re-)label, then I'm your guy, but I won't be good for much else except bad jokes and a happy demeanour!
Click to expand...

I'm sure some one can add a star stamp to those solids ;)
 
HannibalSmith said:
(and not over paying).
Click to expand...

Well now that's the key, isn't it? :) Starbursts are an interesting wrinkle in the chipping world - it can be very rewarding to put a set together, but also very frustrating, depending on your tastes/requirements. A few things to take into consideration:
  • Are you looking to assemble the set quickly or can you wait? I've found these go up for sale (either here or eBay) in bursts - you'll see a small flurry of activity, and then all activity drops - for months.
  • What condition are you looking for? They can often be found in excellent condition, but you have to be patient, especially if you're looking for them in quantity. Most starbursts were pressed and stamped decades ago, so a lot of what's available has more miles on them.
  • Given the point above - keep your eyes on peeled eBay & craiglist - my best starburst scores have come from folks selling their fathers/grandfathers/husbands old sets on craiglist.
  • Or you OK with overstamps? If so, this will double to quadruple your success/speed in acquiring them. If not, make sure you're very specific in communicating this with those selling/trading them. It really sucks getting that barrel/rack you've been looking for, only to realize that 2 or 3 chips are overstamps. If you get into starbursts, you'll soon find the dolphin/shark overstamps, they're all over.
  • What colors are you looking for? Red, white, munzel green, light blue - all relatively easy to come across. Colors like yellow, pink, arc yellow, day blue/green are much tougher - often because a lot of folks use these for fractionals for either mixed sets or casino sets that don't have fracs. You'll typically pay a lot more for these color too.
  • How's your OCD with color shades? @Taghkanic can probably relate, but there are a several colors that have soooo many different shades. If slight color variation really tweaks you, you should reconsider starbursts.
  • Starburst chippers often like to trade instead of sell, especially when you get to the less common colors. That's often the only way you'll pry a barrel or rack of an awesome color away from a collection, lol.
To summarize - the more flexible you are with mixing conditions, color shades, stamps, and the colors themselves, the quicker you'll be able to build a set. They're out there, it just often takes patience to assemble a set. Got any to trade yet? :sneaky: :LOL: :laugh:

244438
 
Irish said:
Well now that's the key, isn't it? :) Starbursts are an interesting wrinkle in the chipping world - it can be very rewarding to put a set together, but also very frustrating, depending on your tastes/requirements. A few things to take into consideration:
  • Are you looking to assemble the set quickly or can you wait? I've found these go up for sale (either here or eBay) in bursts - you'll see a small flurry of activity, and then all activity drops - for months.
  • What condition are you looking for? They can often be found in excellent condition, but you have to be patient, especially if you're looking for them in quantity. Most starbursts were pressed and stamped decades ago, so a lot of what's available has more miles on them.
  • Given the point above - keep your eyes on peeled eBay & craiglist - my best starburst scores have come from folks selling their fathers/grandfathers/husbands old sets on craiglist.
  • Or you OK with overstamps? If so, this will double to quadruple your success/speed in acquiring them. If not, make sure you're very specific in communicating this with those selling/trading them. It really sucks getting that barrel/rack you've been looking for, only to realize that 2 or 3 chips are overstamps. If you get into starbursts, you'll soon find the dolphin/shark overstamps, they're all over.
  • What colors are you looking for? Red, white, munzel green, light blue - all relatively easy to come across. Colors like yellow, pink, arc yellow, day blue/green are much tougher - often because a lot of folks use these for fractionals for either mixed sets or casino sets that don't have fracs. You'll typically pay a lot more for these color too.
  • How's your OCD with color shades? @Taghkanic can probably relate, but there are a several colors that have soooo many different shades. If slight color variation really tweaks you, you should reconsider starbursts.
  • Starburst chippers often like to trade instead of sell, especially when you get to the less common colors. That's often the only way you'll pry a barrel or rack of an awesome color away from a collection, lol.
To summarize - the more flexible you are with mixing conditions, color shades, stamps, and the colors themselves, the quicker you'll be able to build a set. They're out there, it just often takes patience to assemble a set. Got any to trade yet? :sneaky::LOL: :laugh:

View attachment 244438
Click to expand...
Oof. That’s a good picture. Great info, too!
 
Irish said:
A few things to take into consideration:
Click to expand...

Epic list and beautiful pic. I agree with these points wholeheartedly.

Regarding the color variation mentioned, I find this is most pronounced in shades of purple and red, e.g. Fuchsia, Lavender, etc. But Irish is absolutely correct that you can go mad trying to match colors, even mint-to-mint barrels.

He’s also right that you’ve got to really quiz sellers about condition and overstamps, and if possible ask for extra photos showing both the faces and the edges, both loose and in stacks. Especially when buying off eBay/Craiglist, from sellers who are not chippers, they will not use consistent terminology to describe their chips, and will not inspect them carefully to check for overprinted chips. Monogrammed Starbursts (usually with initials on one side, stars on the other) are another leftover from the Paulson home game era. Ditto warped “spinners,” flea-bitten chips, etc.

I have not decided whether I’m ever going to mill and relabel any of my Starbursts. But if that’s part of your plan, then the overprint possibility should mainly save you money.
 
As far as breakdowns, FWIW:

CASH: For my cash set I currently have a 600-chip set consisting of five colors (Gray 1s, Light Blue 2s, Radiant Red 5s, Day Green 25s, and a barrel of either Yellows or Purples for 100s). This allows me to run a one-table cash game at either 1/2 or 1/3 Hold’Em, 2/4 PLO, or 2/5 Hold ’Em. But it would be flexible, I think, for either lower or higher stakes. For these stakes, the big thing is to have enough 5s; with my relatively loose gang of cash players, most bets are in larger increments.

Initially I printed out on yardstick a couple of small charts showing pics of the chips with their values, which we no longer need now that everyone knows the deal; but if I change stakes can just make a new card.

TOURNEYS: My tournament set for two tables is way larger, excessively so (more like 2,900 chips) and consists of White 100s, Red 500s, Dark Green 1Ks, Black 5Ks and Pink 10Ks, plus some Lavenders if necessary for a higher denom which I can decide on the fly—rarely needed. Our tournament usually caps blinds at 10K/20K, and anyway we’re often done at the 5K/10K level.

I could get away with less than half of that... The size reflects a bad habit of tending to buy any minty chips in my Tourney colors which pop up, in the event that I go to 3 tables, or decide to try a labeling project. Also we used to do rebuys (now just an add-on) so it was important to keep in mind how many chips one might need for extra stacks and color ups.

I tend to give players starting breakdowns with deeper stacks consisting of mwoar chips rather than the bare minimum, since it seems to make people happier and keep ’em coming back. A 24K starting stack consisting of 15-20 chips feels less generous and plays less gambly than the same 24K at 40-50 chips. I find that especially the weaker players prefer to start with a “bigger” stack (even though the value is the same). This also reduces the need to constantly make change at lower levels; I play in another private tourney which never provides enough of the small denims for the starting stacks, so players are making change for each other practically every hand—very annoying.

So for example, in a tourney with a starting stack of 24K and initial blinds of 100/200, I’ll start with three stacks of 15 (15 White 100s, 15 Red 500s, and 15 Dark Green 1,000s, plus an on-time Black bonus chip of 5K for those who arrive by 7:30 pm). This also makes it easier for me as a host to just level the stacks when setting up, making any counting errors visually obvious.

But you can find waay more info on other threads on recommended tournament breakdowns.
 
And to add to my earlier point on color variations, Paulson has a pretty extensive color palette, especially the blues. Here are 5 different blues that I believe are all actually different Paulson colors, not different shades of one color:

244592


244593


I'm still trying to figure out what colors these actually are, my best guess left to right is Horizon Blue , Blue Grain, Day Blue, Aqua (or maybe Dolphin), and Sky Blue.

Now imagine you have a rack/barrel of one of these colors, looking for second. Trying to match them from pics provided by an eBay seller is just about impossible. I've bought several lots that I thought were close, just to get them in hand to find they didn't match by a mile. Collecting a starburst set sometimes requires a bit of trial and error (and luck). :)
 
Starbursts are not for the OCD crowd for mostly this reason - colour variation. But it might be less of a problem if you only have 4-5 colours/denoms max on the table at any one time, and you keep your chips to one colour grouping that's easily distinguishable (i.e. all Blues are 0.25, all Whites are 1, all Reds are 5, etc.) Overstamps don't affect playability at all, they just don't look as clean as a single starburst hot stamp.
 
Irish said:
Now imagine you have a rack/barrel of one of these colors, looking for second. Trying to match them from pics provided by an eBay seller is just about impossible.
Click to expand...

Aaand on top of that, the craziness induced by the fact that even Paulson sample sets are not consistent.

I have 3+ sample sets (yes, I’m that demented) and when I’ve lined up all the “same” colors there is sometimes 1 of the 3 which doesn’t align. This may be due to batch variation, or leaded/non-leaded variation, or “recipe” changes over the years, or who knows what other factor.

I also have at least one sample chip on which I am 95% sure the name of the color is mis-printed (one of these blue shades, in fact).

Also... Oiled vs. not oiled colors.
 
Taghkanic said:
Aaand on top of that, the craziness induced by the fact that even Paulson sample sets are not consistent.

I have 3+ sample sets (yes, I’m that demented) and when I’ve lined up all the “same” colors there is sometimes 1 of the 3 which doesn’t align. This may be due to batch variation, or leaded/non-leaded variation, or “recipe” changes over the years, or who knows what other factor.

I also have at least one sample chip on which I am 95% sure the name of the color is mis-printed (one of these blue shades, in fact).

Also... Oiled vs. not oiled colors.
Click to expand...
So your telling me to stop now?!
 
HannibalSmith said:
So your telling me to stop now?!
Click to expand...


By no means. Starbursts are nice to collect and play with. But it requires:
a) a LOT of patience
b) a LOT of searching
c) a fair amount of money

...just like anything else. Good luck with your search.

(Last year, I sold a full set useful as a cash set, all in excellent condition. Many considered it. It sat for a little while in the Classifieds before being bought by a newly registered member. Many others have since come out saying they regret not buying the set when it was available, because it can take a long time to put together.)
 
I got into the starburst craze thanks to @Irish (that picture in this very thread drove me nuts) and @allforcharity was pretty much my starbursts supplier. I had to basically hang around the classifieds for months but most of it paid off!

244963

244964

The most accurate and useful advice I can give you is to decide if you want to assemble the chips fast or you want it cheap(er). You can have one or the other but not both.
 
Oh and the colour difference mentioned previously can be seen in the purple chips. The pinks and oranges that I have look alot more uniform to the naked eye.
 
Borrowing an ultrasonic sonic cleaner to clean several chips. Will run the starbursts through it and then oil them too.
 

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