After UK Custom Quality Chips for Home Game (1 Viewer)

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Biohazard

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Hi everyone,

I've recently started up my own home cash game. Until now, we've just used a fairly basic set, with the intention of upgrading to a premium, customised set in the near future.

We typically play 1/1, but wouldn't rule out the option of 0.25/0.50 or 1/2. Possibly even 2/5 at some point.

Typical buyin for 1/1 would be £250. 8 players, one table, with rebuys (just to give a gauge on depth).

I'm after a customised chip set to cover these games. High quality, thinner but heavier chips preferred. Needs to be good for shuffling, and satisfying sound and feel. Available in the UK.

I'm happy to design the chips, but I love the example attached as a guideline.

Happy to get samples, but I don't have a clue where to start in the UK, in terms of availability and cost, so it'd be great to get some ideas to get me started?

Budget, £100 - £250, perhaps? Hard to say.

Thanks in advance for any support. :)
 

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Welcome to PCF!

You will not get high quality chips on that budget. Only option to get customs at all in that range would be cards mold (search on this site) ceramics, but if they have to orginate in the UK, that option is also out.
 
Thanks Eriks. What sort of budget would be expected here? Could be flexible on this... To an extent. If we eliminated the lower denominations and kept to £1/5/25 and a small handful of possibly £100, would that help?

Doesn't have to be manufactured in the UK, just concerned about shipping costs.

I've seen these at £299: https://www.premierpokerchips.com/c...-500-piece-8-stripe-14g-custom-poker-chip-set

But I have no clue what is good and what isn't. They don't need to be the highest quality going, but I do like the feel of the premium chip!
 
I had a good read of that thread before I posted, but I don't think it provides me with specific examples for my circumstances - that's where I'm hoping I can get some guidance? I can then explore those options and perhaps order some samples, if available in UK of course.

Going by that thread, it looks like I could, in theory, get 500 custom ceramic chips for ~£250, no?

Also the link I shared lists them as 14g clay chips. What's the indicator I should look for to know that they are rubbish?

Thanks for your support so far.
 
Biohazard said:
Hi everyone,

I've recently started up my own home cash game. Until now, we've just used a fairly basic set, with the intention of upgrading to a premium, customised set in the near future.

We typically play 1/1, but wouldn't rule out the option of 0.25/0.50 or 1/2. Possibly even 2/5 at some point.

Typical buyin for 1/1 would be £250. 8 players, one table, with rebuys (just to give a gauge on depth).

I'm after a customised chip set to cover these games. High quality, thinner but heavier chips preferred. Needs to be good for shuffling, and satisfying sound and feel. Available in the UK.

I'm happy to design the chips, but I love the example attached as a guideline.

Happy to get samples, but I don't have a clue where to start in the UK, in terms of availability and cost, so it'd be great to get some ideas to get me started?

Budget, £100 - £250, perhaps? Hard to say.

Thanks in advance for any support. :)
Click to expand...
What’s the biggest amount you’ve had in play?

How many rebuys at £250 do you get on average?

What is your starting stack made up of? I’d be tempted to load it with £5s.

£1 x 10
£5 x 38
£25 x 2

You’re not going to get anything half decent for that kind of budget. If you’re after quality custom chips you’re looking at well over a grand.

Chips cost around £1.50 to £2 each and upwards. You can check out the classifieds here and see what’s happening.

Golden rule: don’t rush in and get samples before you order a set.
 
Wow, okay, a lot more than I was expecting that's crazy!

£1 x 15
£5 x 27
£25 x 4

As standard. I think we'd need £100 chips to mitigate issues when the game runs deep, but it generally isn't that deep of a game. Fairly passive 1/1 most of the time.

Is it worth spending the extra for the premium quality chips you're referencing?

Which chip type (E. G. Clay) offers the closest match to what we're after? Prefer slightly wider, but thinner, with good weight to it.
 
Biohazard said:
Wow, okay, a lot more than I was expecting that's crazy!

£1 x 15
£5 x 27
£25 x 4

As standard. I think we'd need £100 chips to mitigate issues when the game runs deep, but it generally isn't that deep of a game. Fairly passive 1/1 most of the time.

Is it worth spending the extra for the premium quality chips you're referencing?

Which chip type (E. G. Clay) offers the closest match to what we're after? Prefer slightly wider, but thinner, with good weight to it.
Click to expand...
With that starting stack you probably want a set that has

£1 x 120
£5 x 600
£25 x 60
£100 x 20

That gives you a bank of £6620 which should be more than enough. You can add or subtract racks of £5s depending on your needs.

Spending more money on quality chips is a matter of preference. My mates think I’m mental for spending so much on chips.

The main benefit of custom chips is security (in other words it’s more difficult for someone to add chips into their stack).

Ultimately it’s up to you how much you want to spend. Getting a custom made set from Classic Poker Chips is the ultimate in custom clay chips but you’ll pay £2 and upwards per chip.

You can buy Paulson chips in the classifieds and they cans range in price from £1 a chip to £20 and upwards.

The cheapest option is as Eriks says above and get cards molds made from China. There’s usually a group buy going on and you’ll get more info by searching for cards molds. Nowhere near as good as clay chips but they’re cheaper and they’ll do a job.

This is probably the worst website in the world for someone on a budget. On here you’re looking at Rolexes when a Sekonda might do you.
 
Welcome to PCF! We here all know the coveted feel and sound you seek. I totally agree with what @BonScot says above. The minimum I think you will be satisfied is taking a blank or labeled set of Royals, or Majestics from Apache poker chips. These chips are the cream of the crop China Clay chips. At 55 cents each, and another quarter for labels, you can then have semi custom for around 75 cents per chip. Many have done this here with spectacular results. Getting any deeper will cost exactly what he says. Good Luck on your quest. You are going to develop a love hate relationship with this hobby.
 
Thanks both, this is actually extremely helpful. Really appreciate you taking the time. Personally, I get the appeal of the truly premium chips, it's whether I can justify the cost for a simple 1/1 home game among friends. Perhaps one day.

In the meantime, I'll get a few cheaper samples and check out the link that you sent @BonScot .
 
Biohazard said:
Thanks both, this is actually extremely helpful. Really appreciate you taking the time. Personally, I get the appeal of the truly premium chips, it's whether I can justify the cost for a simple 1/1 home game among friends. Perhaps one day.

In the meantime, I'll get a few cheaper samples and check out the link that you sent @BonScot .
Click to expand...
Don’t mention it. If you’re not sure about anything just ask and lots of people on here will be happy to help.

There’s a few UK based members on here. This thread might be useful

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/uk-chip-sets.81715/
 
Biohazard said:
Also the link I shared lists them as 14g clay chips. What's the indicator I should look for to know that they are rubbish?
Click to expand...
YES!

14g is a dead giveaway that they have a metal slug in them; if they have to advertise 'Casino Weight' that too is an indication.
 
Last edited:
Not sure there’s much more education required. I have a battered rack of Paulson’s (RHC) that I got fleeced for last year. Paid $400, you can have them for free if you pay postage. Will give you an idea of what real clay is.

Ultimately only you can decide if getting nice chips is “worth it”. I received my full custom CPC set yesterday, I certainly think they were worth it. Although none of my players do :ROFL: :ROFLMAO: they cost over £3000 when all is said and done, you can prob knock up a set for half that though, with help from @mattross1313. He’s also your guy for all things cards mold.

Check out the links in my signature for more info. I came here during lockdown looking for the same thing as you. I’m now in for around $10k :ROFL: :ROFLMAO: and compared to most round here, that’s nothing.
 
As mentioned above, get some samples of the various chips types and see what takes your fancy, and can be realistically be had within your budget (which will inevitably increase the more you look around here, it happens to all of us!). If you end up with Paulson chips and want to go custom you'll need to factor in the label costs, which add up. You could also look at Card Mold chips from Tina in China - these give you fully custom colours and designs, but not the same quality as Paulson (obviously). Just as a point of reference, I have 2 sets from Tina totalling around 1200 chips - with a landed UK cost to my door of just under £500. I did the design work myself which saved some extra costs, but I am very happy with them.

Happy Hunting :cool
 
Last edited:
Thanks everyone! Given me a lot to think about.

Out of interest, how would I go about relabelling? Is there a vendor that does this, independant of the chip sale? Or is it a DIY job?

I had a quick look around Apache poker chips, but couldn't find anything regarding customisation.

Follow up question - do the labels look rubbish? In my head I keep seeing some cheap kid's stickers over the top of an existing chip design...
 
Solid chips are sometimes cheaper. You can make nice sets with them. Labels are around 40c to 50c per chip (ie both sides) so it can add up. For example this 1000 chip set was $300 in labels (I didn’t have to relabel the blue $1 chips).

Plus if you get them milled you’re looking at another 60c a chip roughly.

IMG_7489.jpeg
 
Surely manufacturing costs can't be that high for some labels?! Is the markup just huge or something? Or is the label quality just exceptional? This is enlightening.
 
JP1984 said:
Once I admitted defeat and started buying RHCs it took me about 3 months I guess. For your reference, these cost me around $2300 inc the labels and @mattross1313 exorbitant design costs!
Click to expand...
@Biohazard don’t worry. If you stick around, numbers like these will soon feel very reasonable, cheap even. Most came here looking to buy like a $300 set
 
Biohazard said:
Surely manufacturing costs can't be that high for some labels?! Is the markup just huge or something? Or is the label quality just exceptional? This is enlightening.
Click to expand...
There are lower cost labels out there. Check out this thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/my-sticker-mule-labeling-experience.73483/

@Gear is considered the best of the best, does great color matching, etc. (Testimonials.) He has a long waitlist. @dickthebaker does great work too. (Testimonials.)

(Note that I DIY my own labels with a Cricut machine, self-adhesive laminate, and printable vinyl sticker paper. I haven't used any of the above services, so it's based on the experience of others on PCF.)
 
TheOffalo said:
There are lower cost labels out there. Check out this thread: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/my-sticker-mule-labeling-experience.73483/

@Gear is considered the best of the best, does great color matching, etc. (Testimonials.) He has a long waitlist. @dickthebaker does great work too. (Testimonials.)

(Note that I DIY my own labels with a Cricut machine, self-adhesive laminate, and printable vinyl sticker paper. I haven't used any of the above services, so it's based on the experience of others on PCF.)
Click to expand...
Thanks Offalo. I didn't mean any disrespect by my post, I'm just learning - finding all of this eye opening.

Also thanks to everyone for the advice, links and tags in other threads with sets on sale. I really do appreciate it. I'm not in a position right now to fork out that much for a set, even with my dream of luxury chips in mind. But in the future, almost certainly.
 
Check personal UK based ads here, and also look at ceramics, as there are several UK sellers stocking these and they're approx 50 - 70p per chip. If you find a UK vendor selling Sunfly chips you're sorted.

Go anywhere outside the UK and you can expect to pay another 30% tax on top of the cost of the chips and shipping.
 

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