Absolute beginner, need a lot of help.. (1 Viewer)

[Maderia]

Hey everyone.

I'm looking to get a set of 1500~ custom poker chips made, with 5 different denominations.
I'm mainly asking how to start the process?
Do I get some sort of logo made first? If so, where do you recommend I commission said logo?

Are there artists on this site that you can commission to design chips based on what you need?
Honestly any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Beakertwang]

Hi, @Maderia, and welcome to PCF! You've come to the right place! We love helping other chippers spend their money.

Some important questions:

• Do you play tournaments and/or cash? If cash, what stakes?
• How many players?
• Are you looking at CPC's or ceramics?

There are some really good designers on here. @p5woody, @Quicksilver-75, @Johnny5, @MoscowRadio come to mind off the top of my head, but there are several others that I can't recall at the moment.

Get samples, take your time, get exactly what you want, and get more than enough chips.

 

[Steamtrain]

Any inlay theme ideas?

 

[Poker Zombie]

More important questions:

• What is your budget? Chips vary wildly in price from 40 cents to upwards of $3 per chip.
• Full custom or semi-custom? CPC and ceramic chips can be 100% the way you want them to look. China Clay or relabel projects can be cheaper, but you are limited to the label design.
• Resale - This one is rarely considered, but it should be. A very personal set has far less resale value. "Tom's Card Room" restricts your resale opportunities to guys named Tom, or people willing to mill or relabel the chip.

 

[allforcharity]

And do you really need 1500 chips? It is likely you may not. Answering some of the earlier questions will allow you to calculate a reasonable breakdown based on number of players, stakes, rebuys, game expansion, etc.

 

[Frogzilla]

Custom chips you have three options and my guess at rough pricing per chip

-Custom stickers over non-custom chips ($0.30 + cost of chip)
-Custom printed ceramics ($1)
-Custom inlaid clay chips from classicpokerchips.com ($3)

 

[Darson]

Have you thought about what type of chip you will be getting? The standard mantra here is to get samples. There are many different types and many different price points for custom chips. For example:

- Cheap plastic: Pre-made chips where you replace the existing labels with your own design (approx 15c per chip plus 30c for custom labels)
- China clay: Pre-made chips where you replace the existing labels with your own design (approx 40c per chip and up plus 30c for custom labels)
- Ceramics: Totally custom chip design for the whole chip face and edges (70c to $1.50 per chip depending on size and quantity)
- Premium plastic: Plastic chips where you chose the colours from a set of available patterns and add your custom inlay ($1.50 per chip and up)
- Compression clay customs: Totally custom chip where you chose the chip colour and edge spot pattern and also the label which is embedded into the chip ($1 to $10 and up per chip depending on the spot complexity)
- Casino chip relabel: Ex casino chips where you either remove or label over the inlay (80c to $10 and higher plus 30c for labels)

Setting your budget will narrow your options but first get samples to see what you like. It's a cheap way to see what you like before blowing a lot of money on a set that you may or may not be happy with.

 

[Phish1321]

Hello and welcome

 

[Maderia]

Hi, @Maderia, and welcome to PCF! You've come to the right place! We love helping other chippers spend their money.

Some important questions:

• Do you play tournaments and/or cash? If cash, what stakes?
• How many players?
• Are you looking at CPC's or ceramics?

There are some really good designers on here. @p5woody, @Quicksilver-75, @Johnny5, @MoscowRadio come to mind off the top of my head, but there are several others that I can't recall at the moment.

Get samples, take your time, get exactly what you want, and get more than enough chips.

Hey @Beakertwang - thank you for your reply
- We will be playing tournaments.
- Based on the amount of tables we have, the maximum amount of players at this time is 48.
- I'm leaning towards ceramics.
Thank you for tagging some designers, I will definitely reach out!

More important questions:

• What is your budget? Chips vary wildly in price from 40 cents to upwards of $3 per chip.
• Full custom or semi-custom? CPC and ceramic chips can be 100% the way you want them to look. China Clay or relabel projects can be cheaper, but you are limited to the label design.
• Resale - This one is rarely considered, but it should be. A very personal set has far less resale value. "Tom's Card Room" restricts your resale opportunities to guys named Tom, or people willing to mill or relabel the chip.

Hey @Poker Zombie - thank you for replying!
- My budget is $1500, but I'd prefer to spend around $1100-$1200 if possible.
- I'm willing to go semi-custom if the end product still looks good. I feel that I want to get an actual logo designed, and have that logo on the chip. So I'm leaning more towards full custom.
- The name of the league is Patriot Poker - so it would be themed around that. Would reselling something like that be an issue?

And do you really need 1500 chips? It is likely you may not. Answering some of the earlier questions will allow you to calculate a reasonable breakdown based on number of players, stakes, rebuys, game expansion, etc.

Hey @allforcharity - thanks for the reply!
Let me break down the denominations that I had in mind for the maximum amount of players we can handle at this time.
We have 6 tables that can hold 8 players (9 if we absolutely have to squeeze a few in), so lets consider our maximum as 54 players.
Each player gets a starting stack of 20k chips, with the following breakdown:
100 chip - 10x
500 chip - 2x
1000 chip - 8x
5000 - chip - 2x
So that's 1188 chips for starting stacks.
Then we need 10k chips for chipping up. Once we reach the 10k/20k blind levels we remove every other chip in play.
So if we had 54 players, there would be 1.08m chips in play, so we would need 108 10k chips.

So if I'm calculating correctly, I would need this breakdown:
100 chip - 540x
500 chip - 108x
1k chip - 432x
5k chip - 108x
10k chip - 108x
Total: 1296x chips

Custom chips you have three options and my guess at rough pricing per chip

-Custom stickers over non-custom chips ($0.30 + cost of chip)
-Custom printed ceramics ($1)
-Custom inlaid clay chips from classicpokerchips.com ($3)

Hey @Frogzilla , appreciate the reply!
I'm definitely feeling that custom printed ceramics would be my best bet.

Have you thought about what type of chip you will be getting? The standard mantra here is to get samples. There are many different types and many different price points for custom chips. For example:

- Cheap plastic: Pre-made chips where you replace the existing labels with your own design (approx 15c per chip plus 30c for custom labels)
- China clay: Pre-made chips where you replace the existing labels with your own design (approx 40c per chip and up plus 30c for custom labels)
- Ceramics: Totally custom chip design for the whole chip face and edges (70c to $1.50 per chip depending on size and quantity)
- Premium plastic: Plastic chips where you chose the colours from a set of available patterns and add your custom inlay ($1.50 per chip and up)
- Compression clay customs: Totally custom chip where you chose the chip colour and edge spot pattern and also the label which is embedded into the chip ($1 to $10 and up per chip depending on the spot complexity)
- Casino chip relabel: Ex casino chips where you either remove or label over the inlay (80c to $10 and higher plus 30c for labels)

Setting your budget will narrow your options but first get samples to see what you like. It's a cheap way to see what you like before blowing a lot of money on a set that you may or may not be happy with.

Hey @Darson - thank you for replying!
I'm very confident about ceramics being my choice, as they are the chip type I work with the most and I feel have the most freedom when it comes to design options - not to mention they fall into my budget.

I will 100% get samples before I order regardless though!

 

[suited67]

Welcome

You'll get plenty of help

My Best Jeff

 

[johnjohn]

Browse around for 2 months and get samples. Buy, sell, buy, sell. Then go long on cigars and aged rum or whiskey. Plan a trip to vegas and harvest. Contact gear. Then order a CPC set each year with the intention of your kids inheriting them. done.

Perhaps that's just me.

Welcome!

PS. hot dog roller.

 

[yone]

Hello and welcome! Great info and things to think about already said. I love customs, I have done 2 sets so far, both cash sets. I have a set of Matsui’s and a semi-custom set made from ABC. I love doing my own label design because it feels more personal.
Would be happy to help you out!

 

[Coyote]

Hello and welcome @Maderia !
@Darson said it all and his post should appear automatically on every new member's screen
@Poker Zombie : "Jim's Card Room" or "John's Card Room" would command a considerably higher resale value than "Tom's", according to this:
https://names.mongabay.com/male_names.htm

 

[Beakertwang]

Hey @Beakertwang - thank you for your reply
- We will be playing tournaments.
- Based on the amount of tables we have, the maximum amount of players at this time is 48.
- I'm leaning towards ceramics.
Thank you for tagging some designers, I will definitely reach out!


Hey @Poker Zombie - thank you for replying!
- My budget is $1500, but I'd prefer to spend around $1100-$1200 if possible.
- I'm willing to go semi-custom if the end product still looks good. I feel that I want to get an actual logo designed, and have that logo on the chip. So I'm leaning more towards full custom.
- The name of the league is Patriot Poker - so it would be themed around that. Would reselling something like that be an issue?


Hey @allforcharity - thanks for the reply!
Let me break down the denominations that I had in mind for the maximum amount of players we can handle at this time.
We have 6 tables that can hold 8 players (9 if we absolutely have to squeeze a few in), so lets consider our maximum as 54 players.
Each player gets a starting stack of 20k chips, with the following breakdown:
100 chip - 10x
500 chip - 2x
1000 chip - 8x
5000 - chip - 2x
So that's 1188 chips for starting stacks.
Then we need 10k chips for chipping up. Once we reach the 10k/20k blind levels we remove every other chip in play.
So if we had 54 players, there would be 1.08m chips in play, so we would need 108 10k chips.

So if I'm calculating correctly, I would need this breakdown:
100 chip - 540x
500 chip - 108x
1k chip - 432x
5k chip - 108x
10k chip - 108x
Total: 1296x chips



Hey @Frogzilla , appreciate the reply!
I'm definitely feeling that custom printed ceramics would be my best bet.


Hey @Darson - thank you for replying!
I'm very confident about ceramics being my choice, as they are the chip type I work with the most and I feel have the most freedom when it comes to design options - not to mention they fall into my budget.

I will 100% get samples before I order regardless though!

It appears that you're on the ball!

Out of curiosity, what chips have you been using up to this point?

 

[ekricket]

There’s some interesting group-like or individual buys/sales going on now to get a feel for how some things can work here

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/43mm-project-discussion.35646/page-29#post-780455

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/roadhouse-casino-value-chip-sale-thread.41960/#post-779538

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/secret-menu-item-group-buy-through-2-22-19.37064/

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/new-stock-denoms-added.36521/

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/news-from-key-west-no-price-increase-in-2019.36520/

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/exclusive-pcf-member-specials.13637/

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/february-12th-multi-casino-sale.17972/

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...casino-43mm-sun-fly-hybrids-discussion.34907/

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/matsui-cash-set-emerald-bay-club.41609/

 

[Maderia]

It appears that you're on the ball!

Out of curiosity, what chips have you been using up to this point?

This will be the first chip set purchased - this is a new business.

 

[ekricket]

This will be the first chip set purchased - this is a new business.

Business? You’d be interested in security too. Adds more, limits choices

 

[Coyote]

Game security demands full customization - at least.
Cost should be brought down, also, unless this is going to be a very exclusive niche-market card room. You 're not going to use these chips for your own personal enjoyment.
Verdict: Full custom, ceramics or high-end plastics. Again, if you knew you would only have very picky and chip-friendly clientelle from here, CPC would be the way to go

 

[Just1Better]

Hello and welcome, I will definetly be keeping an eye on how you do and what chips you get, so I hope you will be keeping us all up to date on your progress. Sounds like you are about to have a ton of fun!!!

 

[Changster]

My advice is don’t do what I did... come on here looking to order customs then start buying Paulsons.

 

[allforcharity]

Wow, starting out with a 6 table tournament set? That's bold! I know you said max 54 players, but just calculate for 60 to allow for extras to cover losses, damage, and colour ups.
So 600x T100, 120x T500, 480x T1K, 120x T5K, 120x T10K = 1440, If you add 60 bounties that will bring you to an even 1500.

 

[Rhodeman77]

Browse around for 2 months and get samples. Buy, sell, buy, sell. Then go long on cigars and aged rum or whiskey. Plan a trip to vegas and harvest. Contact gear. Then order a CPC set each year with the intention of your kids inheriting them. done.

Perhaps that's just me.

Welcome!

PS. hot dog roller.

I thought that was just my life story!

 

[ekricket]

Hey @Beakertwang - thank you for your reply
- We will be playing tournaments.
- Based on the amount of tables we have, the maximum amount of players at this time is 48.
- I'm leaning towards ceramics.
Thank you for tagging some designers, I will definitely reach out!


Hey @Poker Zombie - thank you for replying!
- My budget is $1500, but I'd prefer to spend around $1100-$1200 if possible.
- I'm willing to go semi-custom if the end product still looks good. I feel that I want to get an actual logo designed, and have that logo on the chip. So I'm leaning more towards full custom.
- The name of the league is Patriot Poker - so it would be themed around that. Would reselling something like that be an issue?


Hey @allforcharity - thanks for the reply!
Let me break down the denominations that I had in mind for the maximum amount of players we can handle at this time.
We have 6 tables that can hold 8 players (9 if we absolutely have to squeeze a few in), so lets consider our maximum as 54 players.
Each player gets a starting stack of 20k chips, with the following breakdown:
100 chip - 10x
500 chip - 2x
1000 chip - 8x
5000 - chip - 2x
So that's 1188 chips for starting stacks.
Then we need 10k chips for chipping up. Once we reach the 10k/20k blind levels we remove every other chip in play.
So if we had 54 players, there would be 1.08m chips in play, so we would need 108 10k chips.

So if I'm calculating correctly, I would need this breakdown:
100 chip - 540x
500 chip - 108x
1k chip - 432x
5k chip - 108x
10k chip - 108x
Total: 1296x chips



Hey @Frogzilla , appreciate the reply!
I'm definitely feeling that custom printed ceramics would be my best bet.


Hey @Darson - thank you for replying!
I'm very confident about ceramics being my choice, as they are the chip type I work with the most and I feel have the most freedom when it comes to design options - not to mention they fall into my budget.

I will 100% get samples before I order regardless though!

Your not just trolling us are you? Because you know that the law says you have to tell us if we ask you directly.

 

[arch3r]

Let me break down the denominations that I had in mind for the maximum amount of players we can handle at this time.
We have 6 tables that can hold 8 players (9 if we absolutely have to squeeze a few in), so lets consider our maximum as 54 players.
Each player gets a starting stack of 20k chips, with the following breakdown:
100 chip - 10x
500 chip - 2x
1000 chip - 8x
5000 - chip - 2x
So that's 1188 chips for starting stacks.
Then we need 10k chips for chipping up. Once we reach the 10k/20k blind levels we remove every other chip in play.
So if we had 54 players, there would be 1.08m chips in play, so we would need 108 10k chips.

So if I'm calculating correctly, I would need this breakdown:
100 chip - 540x
500 chip - 108x
1k chip - 432x
5k chip - 108x
10k chip - 108x
Total: 1296x chips

So no re-buys? No add-ons? Bounties?

I think you can optimize your starting stack a bit and your chip denomination selection. That will help lower the number of chips you will need to buy.
You could probably reduce the number of T100s you need and make the higher denomination a T25k. I suggest you check out the poker chip calculator and see what you come up with. And there are plenty of people here who can help with optimal starting stacks and blind structures if you so want.

Either way, welcome to the site!

 

[Maderia]

Your not just trolling us are you? Because you know that the law says you have to tell us if we ask you directly.

Can't tell if this question was pointed at me.
If so, no lol I'm not trolling. Genuinely seeking advice. (theres been a ton so far, so thank you everyone)

So no re-buys? No add-ons? Bounties?

I think you can optimize your starting stack a bit and your chip denomination selection. That will help lower the number of chips you will need to buy.
You could probably reduce the number of T100s you need and make the higher denomination a T25k. I suggest you check out the poker chip calculator and see what you come up with. And there are plenty of people here who can help with optimal starting stacks and blind structures if you so want.

Either way, welcome to the site!

This is a bar poker league, so there's certain things we can't do to keep the operation legal, including rebuys.
We can do bounties, but not for any monetary gain - so yeah, we'll need bounty chips.

Regarding the optimization of stack sizes, we're structuring it this way because it's what the players are used to - we don't mind splurging a bit to insure they're happy.

 

[Poker Zombie]

So no re-buys? No add-ons? Bounties?

I think you can optimize your starting stack a bit and your chip denomination selection. That will help lower the number of chips you will need to buy.
You could probably reduce the number of T100s you need and make the higher denomination a T25k. I suggest you check out the poker chip calculator and see what you come up with. And there are plenty of people here who can help with optimal starting stacks and blind structures if you so want.

Either way, welcome to the site!

If he is starting with T100s as the lowest denom, then 10x is the fewest chips that is acceptable. At no point would 5x T100s be a good idea. The 200-400 level would be a change making nightmare. I even find the 2x T500s to be extremely light, but I have seen a few blind structures where that would work in a pinch.

If the OP is running this as a buisness, then I would recommend buying extra chips. Some could get lost or pilfered as souvenirs. I understand that harvesting chips from businesses is a thing.

 

[Mongoose]

Welcome aboard. You found the right forum to answer all of your questions. There’s a lot of people here who know ALOT about all of that. Have fun, enjoy the journey!

 

[BGinGA]

- We will be playing tournaments.
- Based on the amount of tables we have, the maximum amount of players at this time is 48.
- I'm leaning towards ceramics.
- My budget is $1500, but I'd prefer to spend around $1100-$1200 if possible.
- I'm willing to go semi-custom if the end product still looks good. I feel that I want to get an actual logo designed, and have that logo on the chip. So I'm leaning more towards full custom.

A 1300-chip full-custom ceramic set from ABC/BRPro (same company) certainly fits within your targeted budget (78c x 1300 = $1,014). So would custom ceramic hybrids from Sun-Fly (63c for 39mm chips, or 81c for 43mm). I wouldn't go with anything cheaper -- both options are very nice for your price range. Throw in design fees and matching dealer buttons, and you're still well within budget.

http://abcgiftsandawards.com/39mm-totally-custom-ceramic-poker-chips/
https://www.brpropoker.com/store/p18/Custom_Poker_Chip_-_Standard_39mm.html
https://www.sunflycasinochips.com/pokerchips-polyinno-chips.html

We have 6 tables that can hold 8 players (9 if we absolutely have to squeeze a few in), so lets consider our maximum as 54 players.
Each player gets a starting stack of 20k chips, with the following breakdown:
100 chip - 10x
500 chip - 2x
1000 chip - 8x
5000 - chip - 2x
So that's 1188 chips for starting stacks.

So far so good, although I really don't like having just 2x T500 chips per stack. A much better T100-base 20K starting stack breakdown would be 10/4/7/2 (23 chips).

Then we need 10k chips for chipping up.

No, you don't. You are much better off using T25K chips as your next higher denomination, as T10K chips are a very inefficient use of your chipping dollars. And your first two color-ups (T100 and T500) should be done with T5000 chips, because those will eventually become workhorse chips -- and you'll need more of them on the tables.

Once we reach the 10k/20k blind levels we remove every other chip in play.

This only works if you plan on doubling the blinds in later levels (pretty bad idea, generally speaking) -- you won't be able to go from 10k/20k to 15k/30k, for example, with T5000 chips no longer in play. Much better to color-up and remove each denomination chip once it is no longer used for posted blinds, instead of leaving a bunch of unneeded lower denominations hanging around in play -- which will definitely slow down the game.

So if we had 54 players, there would be 1.08m chips in play, so we would need 108 10k chips.
So if I'm calculating correctly, I would need this breakdown:
100 chip - 540x
500 chip - 108x
1k chip - 432x
5k chip - 108x
10k chip - 108x
Total: 1296x chips

This is a much better set breakdown for 54 players:

540 x T100
216 x T500
378 x T1000
141 x T5000 (includes 33x for T100/T500 color-ups)
16 x T25000 (used for T1000 color-ups)
-----------
1291 chips, with 157 total chips in play at event end