Beginners Guide to Buying Chips (1 Viewer)

My first bit of advice... and this is a good one!! Never read my posts!! They are all God awful books and don't honestly contain that much value!
Ye be warned this be another Ben book!!

Many people join here and get drawn in by all of the amazing chips and want to jump in with both feet! It gets very expensive quick!! You will find your bank accounts drained in no time trying to figure out what you can sell to buy more chips. It doesn't happen to everyone but if the chip bug gets you... it is over!!

So my first advice is to buy a quality table and chairs, build an awesome poker room and environment to host your poker game in. Build a table, buy a table... figure out your space and what type of table will fill that space appropriately!

You are going to be spending endless hours in this set up, it should be comfortable and inviting to others. Proper lighting over the table, not too bright but not so dark that people with sight issues can't see their cards or chip denoms.

While a fancy table is beautiful it is not really necessary, a nice padded rail and quality cushioned seats are going to serve you much better than top quality chips! The fact of the matter is that unfortunately 80 - 90% of home poker players couldn't care less about what the chips are, edge spots, or what company made them... you can spend hours explaining it to them and why these are rare and valuable... likely they will not their heads and say ok.... are we ready to play?

Most of the time from my experience you can hand a noob a barrel of ABS slugged plastic chips and a barrel of paulsons and they will pick the heavy chips almost every time, because well they are heavier and feel real!

Build your room, an inviting space that will bring players back time and time again. Once its builtforgure out your budget for chips! Theres nothing wrong with Chinese ceramics or Sunflys, hell even slugged chips if that is what you can afford! I have seen it many times where members will have a chip set worth $3,000 or even more and be playing on a table topper or mat. If that is all your space allows, it you don't have room for a table then that is fine... but a nice table can usually be found for less than $1,000, quality chairs $25 - $40 each, a hot dog roller $160 (yes this is a must, if you can afford it go large and get one with the warming try for the buns underneath!) Lol

Also buy quality plastic cards that will last a while, dealer buttons and thick plastic cut cards cut cards.

Do all of these things before even thinking of buying a chip set... or get a lower end set so you can set up and be playable as you build your room. Players love bright colored chips with large easy to read denoms on the chips.

Seriously before attempting to guess how many chips you need serch the endless threads about proper chip breakdowns for the number of players you plan to have in your games!!

Best of luck and always around if I can help... feel free to shoot me a PM anytime!!

Fellow Chipper Ben
 
Ignore most people and buy what you like and makes you happy. Shaped inlays, leaded, paulson, spot progression, mint, it's all crap if you don't like it. If it makes you happy when you pull them out for a game go with it. Fuck what anybody else says.

I agree 100%, no matter what you do or buy someone will not agree with YOU

however it is YOU that has to live with what YOU buy/design/trade


Good luck on getting what YOU want and F$%# what others say, now if they offer to fund your purchase than maybe listen to them a little bit


One thing is ask questions, people around here will offer help and advice, but it is going to be varied, so pay attention and get and learn what YOU want
 
Post your design ideas on this site. Members much smarter will do a good job on discussing the possible pitfalls like dirty stack risks and stuff like that.

Also, if you have any desire to really design custom chips, get inlays. I regret not having inlays done on my CPC blank tourney and cash sets.
 
I stand by using a spreadsheet for your purchases and sales. It helps track your price paid when you go to sell.
Excellent advice and transferable to guitars and amps, too, lol. Keeps you aware of your spending and able to make rational decisions.
 
Once you have amassed a collection, keep a copy of your purchase spreadsheet, with the PCF web address, within your estate documents. This should help ensure that your chips make it into the proper hands after your “final game”. My kids don’t know shit about poker chips and would otherwise likely donate them to a St Vincent de Paul thrift store.
 
This is what i needed to read before buying my first set :dead:
 
If you found this site your halfway home. YouTuber Hobbyphilic was a big help to me. Seeing the chips in action was more beneficial for me than reading about them. I went with the ceramic Tiki Kings as my first set. A good ceramic set was best for me until I learn about clay chips.
 
Get help with your set breakdown. Buy more than what you "think" you'll need.

Oh, and when you ask for help with a breakdown and 15 members all say the same thing. LISTEN!!
 
Biggest point, Slow Down. Honestly most people jump in all gung-ho and waste a lot of money buying stuff without any research or knowledge. You should take at least 2-3 months and do nothing but read through as much of the forum as possible, take in all the knowledge you can before you even think about making any type of purchases.
I went gung-ho and now I’m doing the research. I guess I just wanted the instant gratification! The more I read, the more I wish I had waited a bit before jumping in.
 

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