China Clay vs Paulson (1 Viewer)

[Gubbins]

Good Afternoon All,

I've been on this forum for almost 2 weeks. I've gone from wanting China clays, to Card moulds and now to Ceramics / Paulson's.

I've had samples of the Card Moulds and wasn't that keen on them in fairness. I'm just wondering how close the feel of the China Clays to that of Paulson's? Are they closer than the Card Moulds?

I'm half way through organising some Paulsons from a mixture of sets, but if the China clays aren't far off in feel, then I would still at least consider some china clays.

Can anyone offer any input? Or potentially a sample or 2 of some China clays? I will of course pay delivery etc, preferred EU/UK.

Kind regards,

Chris

 

[LeLe]

China Clay is actually closer to plastic than to Clay.

You can’t compare China Clay with Clay, that’s a reason why one is priced much more than the other.

Even in Clay itself, there a lot of differences

RHC THC CPC ASM TRK etc

Leaded Unleaded, Used Mint Worn condition also play a big part

 

[davislane]

Cards mold a ceramics. China clays are not clays. Some sort of bastardised compression molded plastic.

A fairer comparison to Paulson would be to look at CPCs vs Paulson. CPCs are available in the UK.

 

[Gubbins]

China Clay is actually closer to plastic than to Clay.

You can’t compare China Clay with Clay, that’s a reason why one is priced much more than the other.

Even in Clay itself, there a lot of differences

RHC THC CPC ASM TRK etc

Leaded Unleaded, Used Mint Worn condition also play a big part

Yeh this is what I figured, when I held the card moulds next to the Paulsons, it’s night and day. Not held any china clay yet though so was looking to see if they’re similar to cards mould.

I’m working on picking up racks and barrels of different Paulsons really, but stil intrigued to feel what a better china clay is like.

 

[cpac54]

I'm just wondering how close the feel of the China Clays to that of Paulson's?

 

[mrplacey]

I have some samples of the most common China Clay stock (Majestic/Pharaohs variety) as well as Tiki Kings ceramics and most importantly Paulsons that I can pass on. Shoot me a PM and we’ll figure out the details.

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

I'm just wondering how close the feel of the China Clays to that of Paulson's?

It's as close as a home-made pizza you can eat in a "crotto" in Italy is with a Dr. Oetker one you just put in the micro-wave.

 

[Nymor]

Yeh this is what I figured, when I held the card moulds next to the Paulsons, it’s night and day.

The prices are also night and day.

I was able to get a feel of a big variety of chips a few weeks ago and the high-end chips are indeed lovely but I also found the card-molds more than acceptable - imo. One day I may splurge but for now I intend going with Tina for my first set.

 

[London24]

I could mail over samples of the China Clay Dunes from Apache so long as you can mail them back when you're done (they'd be out of my live cash set).

I've been on here 2 weeks also and have my first Paulsons chips arriving this week - similarly building up a couple of cash and tourney sets from bits and pieces that come up here, so would be good to share notes!

 

[MeridianFC]

Pauslon (and any compression molded clay chip) is going to be miles better than China "clays" or ceramics IMO. Handle them then you will know.

Ceramics do have some potential upside as far as art possibility (you can print on the whole damn thing).

When China "clays" and the various other ceramics come into their own is cost. Let say round .40USD/chip on the low end, the prices keep moving though so you need to see what it costs today. Paulson/CPC, etc you are looking at $2.00USD as a bare minimum and probably more in the $3-5/chip range.

If you say a 500piece set is a minimum (and I do say that) you're talking the difference between $200 (plus shipping, art, etc.) and $2,000.00 (plus shipping, wait time, availability, etc.).

 

[upNdown]

I'm just wondering how close the feel of the China Clays to that of Paulson's? Are they closer than the Card Moulds?

Yes. Very much closer to Paulsons than card molds. But that doesn’t mean they’re close.

 

[OKYJJ]

Yes. Very much closer to Paulsons than card molds. But that doesn’t mean they’re close.

This sounds like a good answer, what the OP was looking for.

These things are somewhat subjective.

When you handle a lot of chips you come to feel the subtle differences. People who have only used plastic dice chips will think that China clays feel pretty darn close to Paulsons, at first. Experts on this board will think they are not even comparable. That's the nature of a hobby basically.

I live in kind of a clay desert. Casinos here use ceramics. Hobby players use mostly cheap crap plastic. I am happy with my China clays and people I play with think they're great. Someday I may get the real thing, but probably not till I'm old. And pretty soon the wife is going to start objecting to the sheer volume of chippage...

 

[Boomer34]

Newbie question....are the CPC custom chips considered China Clay? If not, what are they?

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

Newbie question....are the CPC custom chips considered China Clay? If not, what are they?

CPC is manufactured in US and is a compression-mold chip.

China Clay are manufactured in China, are injection-mold chips and are not as premium nor durable as CPC chips.

 

[NeoViny23]

..are the CPC custom chips considered China Clay? If not, what are they?

…well, they „are“ great well, not as great as Paulsons as most of the chippers here will probably say, but they are real casino chips with very good quality and great customization options… I love my ASM set (CPC = former ASM)

 

[Rome]

Good Afternoon All,

I've been on this forum for almost 2 weeks. I've gone from wanting China clays, to Card moulds and now to Ceramics / Paulson's.

I've had samples of the Card Moulds and wasn't that keen on them in fairness. I'm just wondering how close the feel of the China Clays to that of Paulson's? Are they closer than the Card Moulds?

I'm half way through organising some Paulsons from a mixture of sets, but if the China clays aren't far off in feel, then I would still at least consider some china clays.

Can anyone offer any input? Or potentially a sample or 2 of some China clays? I will of course pay delivery etc, preferred EU/UK.

Kind regards,

Chris

I'll probably be banned from PCF for this statement, but having played many times with paulsons and played many times with a couple different China Clays...

... the price difference of the Paulsons is not commensurate with the quality difference for a home poker game. Meaning, I don't think a Paulson is 3-4x better playing experience than a good China Clay. It may still be worth it to you (and most people on PCF of course) to spend 3-4x to have and play with Paulsons vs a China Clay, I just don't think the value is there on a pure "price/performance" ratio. Its a premium product with a premium/luxury price tag imo.

You also seem very unsure which chips you want, but if you are already kind of stuck on Paulsons you might regret settling/buying anything else. If you're already scoping out and building mental sets of paulsons, just get the Paulsons if you can afford them lol. If there isn't a suitable smart budget available for Paulsons, but you want something as close to real clay feel as you can get for way less, China Clays are certainly the best option.

Assuming you aren't totally loaded and budget is a real factor, it also might be worth considering the size of your game. If you have a regular 6 handed cash game, Paulsons could be super sweet for that and not cost that much. If you want to run 2-3 table tournaments, buying Paulsons for that would kill my entire poker bankroll! Seems some people might get a small high end clay set for cash games and a larger china clay or ceramic set for tournaments since the cost is so much easier in bulk.

Samples are a really good idea in your position, and it looks like some people already offered to lend you some! Awesome You may find you don't like the sharp edges of the Paulsons for example, as some people I know feel this way, and prefer China clays with more rounded edges regardless of the price difference! You can't know til you handle them if the feel/durability/status/luxury/customizability is worth the cost of real compression clay for you.

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

Well Paulson nowadays will cost more than 3-4x the cost of CC.

However, I think that solid hotstamp CPC's with a cheap mold and non DG colors are a better bang for the buck than CC.

 

[allforcharity]

You want price/performance, get a pile of plastic Super Diamonds at 6c each and use a sharpie to mark your denoms.

Most of us are here for the esthetics, so the chips will cost what they cost. It only matters if they constitute value for you.

I doubt many people have said that Paulsons handle so much worse than China Clay that they would never buy/play with them.

 

[BGinGA]

I'll probably be banned from PCF for this statement, but having played many times with paulsons and played many times with a couple different China Clays...

I don't think a Paulson is 3-4x better playing experience than a good China Clay.

Yes, Mods: please remove this imposter immediately.

some people might get a small high end clay set for cash games and a larger china clay or ceramic set for tournaments

Samples are a really good idea in your position

Okay, you can stay. Samples and multiple sets are the way.

 

[AlbinoDragon]

Have you ever had "orange pie"? Lemon meringue doesn't count. I'm thinking "orange pie".

I'm not sure as I don't bake much, but I have never seen "orange pie", but I bet you have had apple pie.

There's the difference.

China Clays are perfectly functional, low-budget chips, but the two are wholly different and should not be compared against each-other.


Unfortunatly, there is not a 1:1 commensurate difference. Never in a million years. China Clays are like the Honda Accord you use to commute to work every day. Functional, practical and mostly non-offensive. Many people have them, have no problems with them and do exactly what they are intended to do. We here have "champagne tastes and caviar dreams" and want to be the 1% that drives the Bentley or Aston Martin.

Unfortunately, many of us are waist-deep the Dom and Ossetra crew (card carrying and pinky-out member here) and tend to try convince the new folks that this is the only way, but having come to this group of maniacs long before PCF was even a concept, I learned there are a great number of surprisingly affordable ways to elevate ones chip-game without emptying their bankroll.



Not tot get on my soap-box, but personally I wish we (Royal-we... and I'm guilty of this too), would be a little more "gray" with our recommendations, not always jumping into the "Paulson good, others bad" group and maybe start sharing the love for some of the better lower-budget options that are available.


(sorry... partly inebriated Friday night rant, but the elitism expressed in the group at times does annoy me now and then)

 

[BGinGA]

China Clays are like the Honda Accord you use to commute to work every day. Functional, practical and mostly non-offensive. Many people have them, have no problems with them and do exactly what they are intended to do. We here have "champagne tastes and caviar dreams" and want to be the 1% that drives the Bentley or Aston Martin.

Unfortunately, many of us are waist-deep the Dom and Ossetra crew (card carrying and pinky-out member here) and tend to try convince the new folks that this is the only way, but having come to this group of maniacs long before PCF was even a concept, I learned there are a great number of surprisingly affordable ways to elevate ones chip-game without emptying their bankroll.

Not tot get on my soap-box, but personally I wish we (Royal-we... and I'm guilty of this too), would be a little more "gray" with our recommendations, not always jumping into the "Paulson good, others bad" group and maybe start sharing the love for some of the better lower-budget options that are available.


(sorry... partly inebriated Friday night rant, but the elitism expressed in the group at times does annoy me now and then)

I've long been a vocal proponent for mid-range 43mm Sun-Fly ceramic hybrids (3 sets) and more recently, the low-budget cards mold ceramics from China (2 sets). Both provide a lot of performance and value for their respective prices. I also have two other no-name ceramic sets and two low-end plastic sets.

I was also a big fan of china clays before the early versions began disintergrating and later offerings became too plasticized (and doubled in price). There are better available alternatives, imo.

Just because I'm a chipes exbert and clay chip snob doesn't mean I don't appreciate, own, or use non-TRK/BCC/GPI chips.

I like my Mitsubishi just fine.