Building a Budget Set? (1 Viewer)

[mconn116]

Hey y’all about monthly a host a casual cash game for close friends at the house. We’ve been using my brother in law’s dice chips (which honestly work fine) but I’d like to have my own set with a little more personality and maybe a small step up in quality. I’ve been reading a bunch here and have ordered some samples from the poker store and discount poker shop but am wondering if y’all have other suggestions to check out? I’m not looking to spend too much at this time as we just started this regular game up and don’t want a big investment in it till I know we will keep it going. The samples ordered as of now are the lucky horseshoe from discount poker shop, stealth casino royale and eclipse from the poker store. Keeping in mind for around 500-600 chips I’d like to be around the $120-$140 mark are there others you’d recommend getting samples of? Thanks in advance!
Some pics from their websites (not my photos)

 

[Freeroll]

I personally don't have experience with any of these sets, but I love the look of the lucky horseshoes, especially for a cash game (the 100s and 500s might have some dirty stack issues if it is for a tournament)

 

[wickedwonka121]

Instead of the lucky Horseshoe I personally would consider the Monacos. They are pretty close to the LHS, but I've used the Monacos at my buddy's house and they are decent for discount chips.

I do like the frac of the royales versus the other two sets.

 

[aurumity]

I would also check out https://www.thepokerstore.com/

They have a couple more options around that price point as well as some nicer sets around $200 (I’m a fan of their turbo set but don’t own one yet).

I personally use this set and like it. It gets the job done. https://chipcave.com/products/600-desert-heat-poker-chips-with-acrylic-carrier

(Desert heat Claysmith chips)

And then there’s always a chance you find a good deal on PCF

 

[NVFlip]

In my experience I regret not spending a little extra than my original budget when I bought my first set, but that was before I knew about PCF. In the long run I could've saved some money since I've upgraded that $160 set. Have you looked at the Broken Arrow group buy yet? I also recommend looking at sample sets from Apache Poker Chips. I love my Penthouse set from them. Happy hunting!
Edit: here's my Penthouse sample set from Apache Poker Chips.

 

[BigJackJones]

Welcome to PCF

I second the recommendation to check out Apache. Compare China Clays (Majestics, The Bank, and Royals) and Cards Mold ceramics (Empire, Penthouse, Taj)

 

[PLOdonk]

Tinatinatinatinatinatinatinatinatina.

Spend a little more and get something that doesn’t feel like the lowest quality plastic that China can produce.

 

[apchipper]

Tinatinatinatinatinatinatinatinatina.

Came here to say this.

 

[andrebttx]

Another important factor in budget is making sure you get an efficient distribution of chip denominations. I don’t know what stakes y’all play, but here are some possible examples of inefficiencies that could result in you buying chips you don’t need:

- Having redundant values, like a 25¢ and a 50¢, or a $1 and $2 chip. They don’t really expand your bank or facilitate good play - just eat into your budget. Having a bunch of denominations in a set is cool to look at, but not friendly on the wallet. The general rule is the next chip should be 4-5x the previous one (which is why 25¢, $1, $5, $20/$25, $100 is so popular)

- Having chips so big they never get into play. $100 and $500 chips are cool, but think about if those will ever actually hit the felt. If you’re playing for quarters… probably don’t need a 2000 BB chip in your set.

- Strictly following what’s best for longtime hobbyist. There’s a big trend on this site to get a lot of $5s, like, a LOT. And that’s great for when you’re building a long term set or designing the customs of your dreams, because more chips is fun! But when you’re balling on a budget, that’s just excessive.

 

[mconn116]

Thanks for the input so far, I did check out the group buy and they look very nice but a little out of the budget. I’ll take a look at some of the others that were mentioned as well. As far as breakdown I’m still trying to decide on that like I said we usually play .25/.50 and max buy in we’ve played is $100 but it’s usually around $60 max.
For breakdown what I’m considering is something like this:
0.25 x 100
1.00 x 200
5.00 x 150
25.00 x 50

With maybe adding a few here and there to make it 600 pc set if needed

 

[Sparkynutz]

My suggestion-
for 500pc set-
200x 25c
200x $1
80x $5
20x $25

600pc set-
200x 25c
200x $1
180x $5
20x $25

 

[mconn116]

My suggestion-
for 500pc set-
200x 25c
200x $1
80x $5
20x $25

600pc set-
200x 25c
200x $1
180x $5
20x $25

I appreciate that, looking at the 500 of breakdown makes sense since in our current games we mostly use 25c and $1 most anyways

 

[allforcharity]

Personally, I have never seen a 0.25/0.50 game that needed more than 100 quarters. I think you're better off investing in $1 and $5 as your game will grow over time. If you can afford 600 chips, I'd go to 600.

 

[Machine]

Hey @mconn116 have you seen the link in my signature for break downs? (landscape on mobile)

I run a game with 60 total .25 chips, I have chippers that make fun of me and ask me to put 200 in, but I only ordered 60, so thats all that ever goes in. I would not necessarily recommend it, but it works for me.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

My suggestion-
for 500pc set-
200x 25c
200x $1
80x $5
20x $25

600pc set-
200x 25c
200x $1
180x $5
20x $25

Hey, I love fracs but this is crazy for a 500 pc set. The quarters aren't the workhorses, shouldn't be 40% of your chipset.

 

[icypanda44]

I am in a similar boat to you and was ready to buy a set of 500 chips off of Amazon just before Thanksgiving, then I discovered this rabbit hole.

Now I have little stacks of sample chips sitting on my desk and in my pocket - Love my Tiki Kings and my Dia de los muertos (both BR Pro Poker)

 

[benjaminbreakfast]

I have a set of 500 stealth casino royale chips that I purchased from the poker store 3 months ago.
I used them once before I got some Paulson chips. They work great and my players liked them.
I just really wanted some Paulson chips. I could ship them to you for $100.

breakdown

500pcs
175x 25c
200x $1
100x $5
25x $25

 

[KHarp1]

Hey @mconn116 have you seen the link in my signature for break downs? (landscape on mobile)

I run a game with 60 total .25 chips, I have chippers that make fun of me and ask me to put 200 in, but I only ordered 60, so thats all that ever goes in. I would not necessarily recommend it, but it works for me.

You ABSOLUTELY need more of those quarters! I'll rephrase, Matt and I would love if you bought more of those beautiful chips!

 

[Sparkynutz]

I prefer more quarters because people I play with would rather bet what they have than make change many times defeating the purpose of playing small stakes.
Also handy if you ever have 2 tables going at first.

 

[KHarp1]

A lot of it depends on how your game plays. Most of the .25/.50 games I play in tend to play more like $1/$2, sometimes $2/$5 games, so a boatload of quarters is almost in the way. A good dealer can make change quickly and easily, if any is needed at all. On the other hand, if you're playing with guys who are just having some fun and don't want to bet heavy, then more quarters may be the way to go. In reality, what Machine says is 100% correct, you can easily get by with 100 quarters, or, less. A rack for an 8-10 player cash game is more than sufficient if you're trying to build a budget set. Purchase a set that you can add onto later and you can do it with less than 500 chips initially.

All of this is dependent on how much you honestly think is going to be on the table. Are 8 guys going to buy in for $50-$80, and, some only fire one barrel? Definitely you can build a set with less than 500.

If this is the route you're looking to go, then, you should consider buying chips that are easily added on to. Start small and build out.

Good luck.

 

[Sparkynutz]

A lot of it depends on how your game plays. Most of the .25/.50 games I play in tend to play more like $1/$2, sometimes $2/$5 games, so a boatload of quarters is almost in the way. A good dealer can make change quickly and easily, if any is needed at all. On the other hand, if you're playing with guys who are just having some fun and don't want to bet heavy, then more quarters may be the way to go. In reality, what Machine says is 100% correct, you can easily get by with 100 quarters, or, less. A rack for an 8-10 player cash game is more than sufficient if you're trying to build a budget set. Purchase a set that you can add onto later and you can do it with less than 500 chips initially.

All of this is dependent on how much you honestly think is going to be on the table. Are 8 guys going to buy in for $50-$80, and, some only fire one barrel? Definitely you can build a set with less than 500.

If this is the route you're looking to go, then, you should consider buying chips that are easily added on to. Start small and build out.

Good luck.

Could definitely be the way to go.
Start with less-
maybe
100x 25c
100 $1
100 $5

That way you can add more denoms you feel you need.

 

[Beakertwang]

Don't listen to all the chips snobs here. Some of the chips in the price range you're looking at are decent. Others are terrible. I had the Monaco set from Discount Poker Shop (as far as I can tell, they're the same material, but I prefer the look of the Monaco mold and labels). They were great. Not too slippery, stacked alright, and had nice smooth edges. Nice colors, too. I think the Monte Carlos are decent, too.

Regarding breakdown, our .25/.50 game here plays big, so I only put 100 quarters in play for 9 players. I think if you work on teaching everyone how to make change properly, it won't be an issue, even if your game is smaller. I'd definitely get more $1's and/or $5's. Those will be the workhorse chips.

 

[mconn116]

Hey @mconn116 have you seen the link in my signature for break downs? (landscape on mobile)

I run a game with 60 total .25 chips, I have chippers that make fun of me and ask me to put 200 in, but I only ordered 60, so thats all that ever goes in. I would not necessarily recommend it, but it works for me.

Hey thanks for the advice! I actually did come across that and after rereading it again it makes more sense to me now. Our games are really hit or miss whether they play like a real 25c/50c game or if it’s more like 1/2. I’m thinking I may err on the side of having less fracs (100-125) and with these chips being seemingly very available I can always add some more later if it’s needed.

 

[mconn116]

Don't listen to all the chips snobs here. Some of the chips in the price range you're looking at are decent. Others are terrible. I had the Monaco set from Discount Poker Shop (as far as I can tell, they're the same material, but I prefer the look of the Monaco mold and labels). They were great. Not too slippery, stacked alright, and had nice smooth edges. Nice colors, too. I think the Monte Carlos are decent, too.

Regarding breakdown, our .25/.50 game here plays big, so I only put 100 quarters in play for 9 players. I think if you work on teaching everyone how to make change properly, it won't be an issue, even if your game is smaller. I'd definitely get more $1's and/or $5's. Those will be the workhorse chips.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to drop some more cash on a serious set and may down the road but for the time being it seems like I can get 500 for around $120 and that just makes sense for me right now. Plus I’m not the only one hosting my brother & father in law also like hosting at their place so having a lower cost set to tote around to other places just makes sense to me.

 

[aurumity]

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to drop some more cash on a serious set and may down the road but for the time being it seems like I can get 500 for around $120 and that just makes sense for me right now. Plus I’m not the only one hosting my brother & father in law also like hosting at their place so having a lower cost set to tote around to other places just makes sense to me.

Forgot to mention this earlier - but take a look at facebook marketplace in your area. I look there sometimes in my area and have found people selling decent stuff at a good price (albeit 80% of the postings were regular dice chips)

 

[cwang1113]

I ended up getting a 600 chip set for a .25/.50 game

100 - 25c
200 - $1
200 - $5
$75 - $25
$25 - 100

I got the milano chips for $200

 

[ThrowBack]

If you are on a real budget, work with a local crafty house wife who can cricut up some stickers. Denominations on one side, club logo on other. Slap them on your cheap set. Save and buy a nicer set

 

[SteveEH]

but I’d like to have my own set with a little more personality and maybe a small step up in quality.

The majority of my friends, and most poker players, don't give a shit about the quality of chips, and the $$$ I'm spending on chips for me alone.

The step up will be for you alone, and if you're like most of us here at PCF, a small step up won't be enough. If I was on a tight budget, I'd save up a little more and start with a custom Tina cards/no mold set. Maybe your theme could be something meaningful to all of your players, but even then they'll probably barely appreciate them...

 

[mconn116]

A little update, samples from thepokerstore came yesterday: eclipse and stealth casino royale. For anyone else looking at these I didn’t weigh them but they are definitely on the heavier side but IMO they’re not so heavy it’s unmanageable. The flashing on the edges of the eclipse chips are pretty excessive though, that may wear down over time if regularly used but it definitely turned me off from them. The stealth casino royales don’t have the flashing problem though. To me they look and feel great… I know a lot of people on here say these aren’t an upgrade over dice chips but compared to the super cheap dice chips we’ve been using they are a noticeable step up. Have some arriving hopefully today from discountpokershop and curious how those will compare to the casino royales.

On another note, my kids (4&5 year old) are thrilled I don’t like the eclipse chips cause they do and were thrilled to play a heated high stakes game of go fish last night with their new “poker chips”.

 

[mconn116]

After playing around with some samples (shuffling chips at my desk while I really should be working) I’m really leaning towards the outlaws right now. I have a few more to check out but I’m really leaning towards a set of 550-600 outlaws for a cash set. I figure worse comes to worse if I fall deeper into this PCF rabbit hole this will be a perfect set to travel with for those games that are hosted are at friends/families homes.