CPC vs China Clay (1 Viewer)

“There's just not a lot of demand for chips someone else customized to their liking (even though they are remarkably easy to relabel).”
people liked to buy Paulson chips , which are twice as expensive as CPCs but still “someone else customized to their likings”. I say CPCs are the best because it is the only hand made clay chips on the market that I can fully customize. Everything else is either gimmicks or cheap quality.
 
people liked to buy Paulson chips , which are twice as expensive as CPCs but still “someone else customized to their likings”
I think there’s a little bit of a divide in the hobby between people who think customs are great and people who don’t. It’s not really something we argue about, but we probably should.
 
people liked to buy Paulson chips , which are twice as expensive as CPCs but still “someone else customized to their likings”. I say CPCs are the best because it is the only hand made clay chips on the market that I can fully customize. Everything else is either gimmicks or cheap quality.
I’ve worked in table games for over 25 years. I prefer the feel and sound of Paulson chips. They can be more expensive than CPC, but if you keep an eye out, there are good deals. I bought mint HSI $1 Paulson chips for $115 a rack.
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You can customize them with custom inlays, but you can’t customize the chips themselves. When it comes to high denom Paulson chips, they are ungodly expensive. For me, this is where CPC comes in. I plan on ordering a tourney set from CPC sometime next year. I have an appreciation for both.

Your Final Table set is amazing! You did well designing those.
 
Similar to wine tasting.

Cheap and expensive Wine are going to taste about the same to wine amateur / beginner and they not going to understand what the fk is the differences even when being explained to.

These things take time to develop and understand.

Oh. I’m jumping on this one.

One of Park B Smith’s (IYKYK) favorite bottles of wine, was a $12 bottle of Cartlidge and Browne Chardonnay. It’s pretty much his daily drinking wine.

…And even when people learn the nuances of the different types of chips, they may still say, “Meh. Not worth it”. People like what they like.
 
At the end of the day, it’s your money so as long as you are happy with what you buy, that’s all that matters. Who cares if a bunch of randoms on a forum don’t agree with you. Buy chips that suit you and your game, not others.

With that being said, get lots of samples, try all the chips out. You’ll find your tastes might change over time.

Good luck on your journey!

100% this.

I’m not saying I agree with this because I have a ton of experience with every variety of poker chips. I’m agreeing with this as someone who has a few different hobby collections I’ve spent a good bit of time working on. I find the journey and the discovery to be the best part, not necessarily the ending. But there comes a point where you can sit back, smile, and say “FK IT. This is good enough”…and just enjoy what you have, knowing it’s not the absolute pinnacle of the hobby.


I’ve worked in table games for over 25 years. I prefer the feel and sound of Paulson chips. They can be more expensive than CPC, but if you keep an eye out, there are good deals. I bought mint HSI $1 Paulson chips for $115 a rack.
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You can customize them with custom inlays, but you can’t customize the chips themselves. When it comes to high denom Paulson chips, they are ungodly expensive. For me, this is where CPC comes in. I plan on ordering a tourney set from CPC sometime next year. I have an appreciation for both.

Your Final Table set is amazing! You did well designing those.


Ok. If I could find $1 x 250, $5 x 150 and $25 x 100 of this chip set, I’d probably call it a day. If I could add $100 x 50, that would be gravy.
 
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Oh. I’m jumping on this one.

One of Park B Smith’s (IYKYK) favorite bottles of wine, was a $12 bottle of Cartlidge and Browne Chardonnay. It’s pretty much his daily drinking wine.

…And even when people learn the nuances of the different types of chips, they may still say, “Meh. Not worth it”. People like what they like.
Chinese chips are Boone’s farm compared to CPC’s Jordan Cabernat.
 
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Retraction:
I ordered a bunch of different sample of all kinds of chips and played around with them for a while. Premium chips are premium for a reason. You guys were right; I was less right. China clays suck, and CPC's are actually awesome. I was initially thrown off by the weight, coming from abs metal slugs. Still waiting for the paulsons to come in. I'm curious to find out if I will love enough to bridge the price gap over CPC. Hopefully not. I might go broke. We'll see. Having fun with it.
 
Retraction:
I ordered a bunch of different sample of all kinds of chips and played around with them for a while. Premium chips are premium for a reason. You guys were right; I was less right. China clays suck, and CPC's are actually awesome. I was initially thrown off by the weight, coming from abs metal slugs. Still waiting for the paulsons to come in. I'm curious to find out if I will love enough to bridge the price gap over CPC. Hopefully not. I might go broke. We'll see. Having fun with it.

He has seen the light! Hallelujah!

(but good luck raising your wallet from the dead - sometimes ignorance can be something close to bliss)
 
Retraction:
I ordered a bunch of different sample of all kinds of chips and played around with them for a while. Premium chips are premium for a reason. You guys were right; I was less right. China clays suck, and CPC's are actually awesome. I was initially thrown off by the weight, coming from abs metal slugs. Still waiting for the paulsons to come in. I'm curious to find out if I will love enough to bridge the price gap over CPC. Hopefully not. I might go broke. We'll see. Having fun with it.
Congratulations and condolences to your wallet.
 
Chinese chips are Boone’s farm compared to CPC’s Jordan Cabernat.

I didn’t say they weren’t. I’m saying, “some people won’t give a shit”. When you’re stepping up from the plastic wafer chips, and you don’t want to design your own chips, the China Clay very well could be good enough for a lot of people.
 
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I didn’t say they weren’t. I’m saying, “some people won’t give a shit”. When you’re stepping up from the plastic wafer chips, and you don’t want to design your own chips, the Chinese Clay very well could be good enough for a lot of people.
I get it but my comment was more aimed at the fact Chinese chips do not even qualify as a $12 bottle of wine (IMO). I agree with you they will get the job done and some will not care.
 
I didn’t say they weren’t. I’m saying, “some people won’t give a shit”. When you’re stepping up from the plastic wafer chips, and you don’t want to design your own chips, the Chinese Clay very well could be good enough for a lot of people.
I hate to make a correction like this because it almost feels like correcting somebody’s grammar. But it’s called China Clay - it’s like a term of art within the hobby, to describe a specific thing. And that thing is plastic chips made to feel closer to clay, that generally smell bad. When you say Chinese Clay, somebody might assume you’re talking about actual clay chips from China, which don’t actually exist. (I realize somebody could make the same mistake when they read China Clay, but let’s try to minimize our misleading phrases.)
 
I hate to make a correction like this because it almost feels like correcting somebody’s grammar. But it’s called China Clay - it’s like a term of art within the hobby, to describe a specific thing. And that thing is plastic chips made to feel closer to clay, that generally smell bad. When you say Chinese Clay, somebody might assume you’re talking about actual clay chips from China, which don’t actually exist. (I realize somebody could make the same mistake when they read China Clay, but let’s try to minimize our misleading phrases.)

Wasn’t intentional. Never heard them referred to as Chinese Clay, and I wouldn’t mindfully key it that way.
 
I hate to make a correction like this because it almost feels like correcting somebody’s grammar. But it’s called China Clay - it’s like a term of art within the hobby, to describe a specific thing. And that thing is plastic chips made to feel closer to clay, that generally smell bad. When you say Chinese Clay, somebody might assume you’re talking about actual clay chips from China, which don’t actually exist. (I realize somebody could make the same mistake when they read China Clay, but let’s try to minimize our misleading phrases.)
I go one step further and refuse to capitalize china clay. Similarly, I never start a sentence with them, either.
 
Retraction:
I ordered a bunch of different sample of all kinds of chips and played around with them for a while. Premium chips are premium for a reason. You guys were right; I was less right. China clays suck, and CPC's are actually awesome. I was initially thrown off by the weight, coming from abs metal slugs. Still waiting for the paulsons to come in. I'm curious to find out if I will love enough to bridge the price gap over CPC. Hopefully not. I might go broke. We'll see. Having fun with it.
I think this is how most of us started down this hole. I went from Outlaw chips from Amazon because at the time I couldn’t imagine upgrading to Nevada Jacks… Then I got my hands on some Paulson samples and it all went downhill from there.

Like you, I wasn’t super impressed with CPC chips at first either because I think the Atlantic and Rounders sets are sort of drab overall with colors, patterns and even the inlays. Go to the custom chip section of the forum and see what people are creating and you may change your mind.
 
Retraction:
I ordered a bunch of different sample of all kinds of chips and played around with them for a while. Premium chips are premium for a reason. You guys were right; I was less right. China clays suck, and CPC's are actually awesome. I was initially thrown off by the weight, coming from abs metal slugs. Still waiting for the paulsons to come in. I'm curious to find out if I will love enough to bridge the price gap over CPC. Hopefully not. I might go broke. We'll see. Having fun with it.
It's interesting to see a change of heart. Can't help but wonder if you (or anyone) would still feel the same way if you were never told, "These are the superior product".
 
Like you, I wasn’t super impressed with CPC chips at first either because I think the Atlantic and Rounders sets are sort of drab overall with colors, patterns and even the inlays. Go to the custom chip section of the forum and see what people are creating and you may change your mind.

The key wests are what got me hooked on CPC. The Atlantic club is all right, for a stock design it does the job. Never was into rounders (I won’t share my opinion on the movie here)

Now my only decisions are whether I should have a 600 or 800 chip set. Or both. And a 1000 chip set to backup. And how many of each… rip
 
It's interesting to see a change of heart. Can't help but wonder if you (or anyone) would still feel the same way if you were never told, "These are the superior product".
I let my noob friend play with all of my sample chips (without telling him anything about them). THC,CPC , 2 different ceramics, two different china clays, and dice chips. He picked the paulsons as the best, and CPC second.
 
I've had numerous sets of chips. Different china clays, different slugged chips, some retired Paulson casino chips, Nexgen,.so and so on.

I will say this. I do have a soft spot for China. Clays.
My friend had a set of CPC chips way before. I did. Probably bought them about 10 years ago or more.

I liked them But I thought they felt lighter than Paulson and to me I equated that as not as good.

Then I got my first set. Not looking back. They are super expensive but not as expensive as Paulson.

I'm working on another set. And I'll still buy China clays again sometime. If you love chips, you love chips. But I would not call CPC inferior by any means. I actually have grown to like them more than Paulson chips. Except for leaded chips but that's another story
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To me, it’s the fact that CPC when they’re brand new are super sharp edged so they’re hard to shuffle and frankly I don’t like the way they feel

Compared to a Paulson chip they’re lighter and harder.

Maybe after oiling and a lot of play they come into their own but damn I’m already waiting 6 months and paying a premium

Not to say Paulson chip prices aren’t completely ridiculous right now. $4 a chip is ridiculous, not all of us play high stakes or make $250k a year

I thought I was a chip snob but after getting some Greek and Web mold Tinas I was sold. They’re not perfect but the customization options (infinite) and the 40-50cent price is a no brainer. IMO they sound super close to Paulson clays and I liked them better than the CPC sample set I got


All that to say there is no correct answer for best chip. It’s all subjective and you need to get samples and find out for yourself
 
Not to say Paulson chip prices aren’t completely ridiculous right now. $4 a chip is ridiculous, not all of us play high stakes or make $250k a year

Would it help to know that a lot of us that spend $4 per chip (and sometimes much more) for Paulsons are using them for nickel and quarter games?

And if I made 250k per year, I'd probably be on solidgoldtoiletseats.com instead of here.
 
Would it help to know that a lot of us that spend $4 per chip (and sometimes much more) for Paulsons are using them for nickel and quarter games?

And if I made 250k per year, I'd probably be on solidgoldtoiletseats.com instead of here.

That’s the stakes for my home game.
 
Then you have our permission to spend as much as you want on your poker chips. And there's no need to mention the 'ridiculousness' of it all (besides, we already know).

Oh no there is a reason I’m salty from my Chiptalk days lolol

It’s all in good fun my guy

I just don’t see how $1000 racks are getting snapped up like they are. It’s really a new day everywhere, the grocery, houses, even poker chips now lolol

I find it hilarious how when Paulson released their new home sets back in the day they were universally lambasted and now they’re revered.
 
if I made 250k per year, I'd probably be on solidgoldtoiletseatsforum.com instead of here.
^ fyp

when Paulson released their new home sets back in the day they were universally lambasted and now they’re revered.
They are only revered by a few.

The PAULSON CHIPS mold still sucks, the CdIC inlay is still poorly designed, and the Classic TH&C inlay colors are still horrendous.
 

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