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My First Cash Game Set...Milanos? Majestic's? or Pharaoh's? (17 Viewers)

jdom1023

jdom1023

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Hey all,

I have purchased multiple sample chips and am narrowing down my choices for a home cash game set. Ultimately...I'll get a custom CPC set...but for my first cash game set, I am down to three finalists: the Milanos...the Majestic's and the Pharaoh's. The price difference is negligible to me.

I'll order between 600 and 750 chips.

What is the better overall chip that will last me for several years to come?

Thanks,
Dominic
 
They are all arguably very similar. Milano’s are the oldest design and have some very minor qc issues compared with the other two and also tend to fade more than the other two. Majestics are the newest design and arguable the best qc. It probably comes down to aesthetics more than anything else.
 
jdom1023 said:
I can afford any of the three. I have samples of all three. I was more looking to see if anyone has had a set of either of these for multiple years and which held up the best.
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Maybe look at some ceramics the day of the dead chips are fantastic
 
I have had Majestics & Milano's, both are comparable in terms of "holding up" and how they look/feel after years of use.
IMO it all comes down to which one you want to look at.
 
I think the consensus for China Clay chips are to buy your whole set (whichever line you choose) in one single transaction. There have been multiple instances of quality control issues between batches (slight colour variation, stack height, etc.) that members have noticed. If you buy all at once you can probably minimize these variations if your stock comes from a single factory run.
 
Either Milano or Majestic will hold up fine depending on what you like to look at, my concern with both is security. I'm sure you trust all your players but you probably shouldn't. I would get either set as blanks and have personal labels created. This way someone can't spend 12 bucks on Amazon and buy a barrel of your $25 chips. It will be an extra cost but the result will be a kick ass cash set that is exclusive to your game. Maybe custom ceramics may be a less expensive or as expensive alternative, if you like the look and feel of ceramics. Good luck!
 
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I just bought Royals as my first cash set, they are 43mm but would still throw those in for consideration. Before royals, I probably would of selected Pharaohs because I liked their .25 chip the best.
 
Darthhoodie said:
Either Milano or Majestic will hold up fine depending on what you like to look at, my concern with both is security. I'm sure you trust all your players but you probably shouldn't. I would get either set as blanks and have personal labels created. This way someone can't spend 12 bucks on Amazon and buy a barrel of your $25 chips. It will be an extra cost but the result will be a kick ass cash set that is exclusive to your game. Maybe custom ceramics may be a less expensive or as expensive alternative, if you like the look and feel of ceramics. Good luck!
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I'm assuming I can find a label vendor that will has labels that will fit in the Milano or Majestic on this forum pretty easily?
 
I was looking at these same 3 a while back. I liked the Majestics the best of the 3 as I thought the colors were more vibrant. I later decided the black label would not be enough contrast to my table with black speed cloth so I went away from these. Instead I bought Milanos for my tournament set and Pharoahs for my cash set. The only change I made was changing out the 10K label on the Miloano chips for 25K using the @Gear vendor here. For each, I thought the colors in the respective denominations had the most contrast. I'm happy with my selections and plan to keep them as my primary sets for a long while.
 
IaHawk said:
I just bought Royals as my first cash set, they are 43mm but would still throw those in for consideration. Before royals, I probably would of selected Pharaohs because I liked their .25 chip the best.
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I don't have any Royals samples, but I like the look of them for sure.
 
I was in your position awhile back. Majestics, Milanos, or Pharaoh's. I ended up going with Dunes because of the Golf Course label :tdown:. Majestics to me stand out because of the black label, and that would have ultimately been my choice.

Go with what you think looks best would be my advice.
 
Royals are a very nice option if you like the 43mm chip. I have come around on them and now have multiple sets of 43mm chips. If you are going to relabel, you could do the lower denominations as 39mm and the higher ones as 43mm since the royals and the majestic have the same mold pattern. Not sure if you are ok with having a mixed diameter set.
 
allforcharity said:
I think the consensus for China Clay chips are to buy your whole set (whichever line you choose) in one single transaction. There have been multiple instances of quality control issues between batches (slight colour variation, stack height, etc.) that members have noticed. If you buy all at once you can probably minimize these variations if your stock comes from a single factory run.
Click to expand...

+1 for this. Especially true of the Milano’s. I adore my Milano’s but hate the fact that the set essentially cannot be added to later. My understanding is this becomes more of as issue the longer a CC set is around, because the manufacturer (factory) changes.
 
I would not recommend re-labeling china clays if your end objective is a CPC set. It's just a waste of money. The chips themselves are around 40c and then spending 20c to 30c per chip on labels seems disproportionate. Also, the resale value of china clays is minimal at best so don't expect much, if any, back. The only exceptions to this would be if you're able to score very cheap chips (e.g. the 8v blowout) or unique chips (e.g. the royals).

My advice would be to search the classifieds - there are often deals to be had. For example, there is a 500 chip set of lucky dragon ceramics listed for under $200. Or buy a set of royals - for me, they're the best china clays out there.
 
Darson said:
I would not recommend re-labeling china clays if your end objective is a CPC set. It's just a waste of money. The chips themselves are around 40c and then spending 20c to 30c per chip on labels seems disproportionate. Also, the resale value of china clays is minimal at best so don't expect much, if any, back. The only exceptions to this would be if you're able to score very cheap chips (e.g. the 8v blowout) or unique chips (e.g. the royals).

My advice would be to search the classifieds - there are often deals to be had. For example, there is a 500 chip set of lucky dragon ceramics listed for under $200. Or buy a set of royals - for me, they're the best china clays out there.
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I love the royals but the fact is I can buy the $100 chip for $.49, my concern is security.
 
Depends on the game. Unless you're playing a really high end game, I wouldn't expect to see many hundos on the table, and when you do, I'd think people would pay attention.

I definitely understand your concern though.
 
Darthhoodie said:
I love the royals but the fact is I can buy the $100 chip for $.49, my concern is security.
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If you're playing with $100s then you should not be looking at 49c chips period. I would not play in a game where the amount of cash was that high and the chips were easily obtainable unless I trusted everyone I was playing with. Now for a 25c/50c game, different story.
 
For the record...our game is $60 buy in...and cash on the table plays. So I would never have anything more than $1 & $5 chips most likely. We've only played 1 game so far...and we used crappy chips. I'd like some better quality. If we ever got the game where a $100 came into play...I would for sure get the custom CPC chips with my Elk Design and some more text on it.
 
My Majestics are so vibrant oiled up. Royals are beautiful too but are larger in diameter than the standard china clay. It's a preference thing, but I really love the black inlays on the Majestic and Royal chips. Contrasts nicely with the rest of the very bright chips.
20190806_221358~2.jpg
20190818_002014.jpg
 
For security, I agree with the folks above. Now, if we are talking about a .25/.50 game, maybe not, but a 1/2 or 2/5 game would be concerning. Being a chip that literally anyone has access to can be problematic. Even an easily obtainable chipset like Horseshoe Cleavland really do step the security factor up due to the fact that outside of this forum, they are not often found. Of course there is eBay, but I’d say that’s a small risk.

China clays + labels would get you close to the realm of some of the cheaper Paulsons that show up regularly on the classifieds. I picked up my first Paulson set for well under $1 a chip. GV primaries, wish I never sold the $1’s :unsure:

I digress. My suggestions:
1. Cheap Paulson set ~80c a chip
2. CC+ labels ~60c a chip
3. Freddie’s of Fife ceramic set ~15c a chip
4. Big Top Poker set ~all the money
 
JMC9389 said:
My Majestics are so vibrant oiled up. Royals are beautiful too but are larger in diameter than the standard china clay. It's a preference thing, but I really love the black inlays on the Majestic and Royal chips. Contrasts nicely with the rest of the very bright chips.
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Very pretty set. Note that the currently available Majestic blue is significantly darker than the ones pictured there, the dark spots fade into the chip much more.
 
StormCrow said:
Very pretty set. Note that the currently available Majestic blue is significantly darker than the ones pictured there, the dark spots fade into the chip much more.
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These also aren't the standard quarter chips in the Majestic set. I bought the blue chips that were relabeled from $10 to quarters from a member here. Fits the rest of the set much, much better than the dark pink quarter that Apache sells. The blue quarters with the yellow and blue nickels and orange fracs for a micro stakes game looks so nice in a splash pot.

20190818_003707.jpg
 

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