Anyone else feel defeated by chip prices? I get it.. supply and demand I totally embrace it. But dang that sting when you know you’re gonna spend a bunch of money on poker chips. I guess I can appreciate the the amount that most chip vendors will retain value (when it comes to the top tier). I can also understand that it’s similar to an investment. Im just beginning this journey on building a poker set and I’m not gonna settle for less when I know what I’ll be happy with. Just a rant I guess. Wonder if there will ever be relief in sight over the next 10 years? What’s yalls take?
Defeated (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Drok5
- Start date
Maybe when the market crashes we will see better prices? Until then customs are the sweet spot for me.
mnebesny
Flush
There's actually a newish thread with alot of information on this topic: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/value-of-paulsons.85171/ But here's my take:
If you want compression clay chips, the only options anymore are CPC or Paulson/GPI. Unfortunately CPC prices continue to increase most years and wait-times continue to grow as more and more people get in line, it gets tougher to get CPC chips. On the Paulson/GPI side where chips are no longer available to the home market, the only option is to buy from closed casinos. But this supply method is also unlikely to grow, especially as more and more new casinos buy plastic chips instead of clay. So with more chippers every year, demand continues to grow, and I don't see chip prices falling except as the result of a major market shock, for example CPC greatly expanding their production capabilities, Paulson resuming selling chips at low prices to the home market, etc.
Yes. Defeated in a way. I’ve given up on the finest chips and sold them off - just can’t justify expanding sets where the chips are worth over a grand a rack.
No, not defeated in that I’ve come to terms with it and learned to loved the ones I’m with.
Yea I agree. I wonder if everything will wonder over to ceramics in the casinos? I know people talk about digital world but I really don’t see the integrity or lack there of holding if that takes over. Wonder if ceramics will ever turn into the new normal?
Do you think long term if you had to choose one route you would choose custom, casino or stock sets?
I've sold and benefitted in this market.... and also I've been stung by buying in this market. So for me, it's a wash.
If I was new to chipping and looking for chips, I might feel quite defeated.
If I was new to chipping and looking for chips, I might feel quite defeated.
And here I am! Lol. Starting to somewhat regret not jumping in when I first found this forum a couple years back. I would be a lot further ahead. But everything is still relative in the end when it comes down to it. Still would probably have been a wash by now if I had capitalized.
Can’t be “defeated” in this way. Getting new chips is full of “win”.
I would hang tight for more ChipRoom sales. I know they're not all that often, but its the best chance to get premium chips at the best price they'll ever be.
Definitely casino for me, but that is a totally personal decision - what’s right for somebody isn’t right for somebody else.
And many people around here end up going all three ways.
I’m thinking about getting into pinecone collecting. That forum is really catty though and the market for really large or really tiny cones is already getting overheated. My son also thew most of my interesting samples into the fire pit last weekend so Im trying to replace those losses.
ekricket
Royal Flush
I can help you. Needles as well - I have the good ones, not the crap they sell at the hobby stores. The real stuff, from you-know-where. Spotted, striped, even the unicolor toned cones. No squirrel ridden rejects, just pure forest bliss.
Your son is savage.
ChipFinderSK
Full House
This
gopherblue
Straight Flush
There will always be more casinos rebranding or changing out chips. ChipRoom sales are the way.
Although I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of unicorn sets eventually made it back out into the wild.
I hear you... I have a excellent+ condition mixed set of leaded paulsons I'm working on and only need 2 racks of $1s to finish it. However price / availability has got me down and im thinking of abandoning the project and cashing in...
JScott
Flush
Those won't be cheap though.
Nanook
Full House
My opinion on that is no, it won't. My reasoning is that ceramics have been available to the casino's now for about 20 yrs or so and they have not taken a significant share of the market yet so it seems unlikely that they will. My personal view of ceramics is that they are viable for the home market, but do not hold up well to the heavy use they get in a casino. They wear badly causing unsightly chips and terribly wobbly stacks.
Lots of different answers and pros and cons. To me there isn't a compelling enough reason to go with a stock set so I would just cross those off as a waste of money.
Casino:
Easy to sell down the road, but less unique/secure and will not have any sort of personal meaning.
Custom:
Next to impossible to sell down the road without taking a big hit, but totally uniqu and chips that have a personal meaning to you can be made.
I have both and like both.
If you want really nice chips at a somewhat reasonable price, there is currently no better way.
No doubt that over time this will happen, but if you are defeated by current prices then it stands to reason that you aren't going to be interested in chips that are going to cost 2-10x what a nice set of Paulson Casino chips like from one of the many TCR sales.
TKEUofM
Flush
Stock CPC sets are likely your best option to get your first set. Still around $2 a chip and you can Rounders or Atlantic Club pretty quickly. That will get you clay and then you can take your time looking for a unique Paulson set or build out a mixed set.
1) whatever makes you happiest if you keep them forever
2) casino if you need liquidity. I “feel” those will hold their value the most
I appreciate your response--- cutting to the part above^ (not trying to come off uppity) as much as the price stings I can afford the rates at which most are offering --- key word most-- I guess I just look at things like buying a car--- do a bunch of research, set your limit and use it till the wheels fall off. Its the psychological thought spending X dollars (expecting high) when the male logic kicks in and says "man do you REALLY need to spend that much?" when the others will do the exact same thing. Its the battle of creature comfort and joy over the logical aspects. My brain spins on this each time I get the itch to just commit to one or the other. The struggle is real.
gopherblue
Straight Flush
True. But they'll sell for far less than they cost.
Never buy what you can't afford. Just like you don't gamble with more than you can afford to lose. Goes for a lot more than poker chips.
Rhodeman77
Straight Flush
The very upper echelon chip prices have sky rocketed, but there are lots of great casino chips at very reasonable prices. And if you put chips on a scale of dice chips as a 1 and leaded shaped inlay THC as a 10, RHC chips are much closer to the THC chips on the scale than to the dice chips. But on the price scale RHC chips are close to dice chips than THC.
Any game I go to that has any Paulson chips in play is a huge improvement. Realizing that Paulson (or any compression clay) chips are better than 90% of home games out there.
Any game I go to that has any Paulson chips in play is a huge improvement. Realizing that Paulson (or any compression clay) chips are better than 90% of home games out there.
I guess my advice would be to wait for something that really floats your boat.
I have two Paulson cash sets. One is a complete set with a bank that can cover a full table of the stakes I like and also the next level of stakes up. The reason I have these is that the price was right, but more importantly, they're the first chips that really caught my eye on PCF. At the time, they seemed way too expensive, so I never bought them. Now, years later, they're on the lower end of Paulson chips, cost-wise, but I still love them. They mean something more to me than whatever the latest Jacks or Horseshoe set (from the chip room) would ever mean.
My other set is a work in progress. I've been putting it together mostly as singles. But these are the chips that were in play at the first casino I ever played in, back in the '90s. So they're kind of special.
Whether it's a casino you have a connection to, or a fantasy set that reflects an interest of yours, or a custom set that had personal meaning, or even if it is the latest Jacks or Horseshoe release, but you REALLY love the colors, go for a set of chips that speaks to you.
I have two Paulson cash sets. One is a complete set with a bank that can cover a full table of the stakes I like and also the next level of stakes up. The reason I have these is that the price was right, but more importantly, they're the first chips that really caught my eye on PCF. At the time, they seemed way too expensive, so I never bought them. Now, years later, they're on the lower end of Paulson chips, cost-wise, but I still love them. They mean something more to me than whatever the latest Jacks or Horseshoe set (from the chip room) would ever mean.
My other set is a work in progress. I've been putting it together mostly as singles. But these are the chips that were in play at the first casino I ever played in, back in the '90s. So they're kind of special.
Whether it's a casino you have a connection to, or a fantasy set that reflects an interest of yours, or a custom set that had personal meaning, or even if it is the latest Jacks or Horseshoe release, but you REALLY love the colors, go for a set of chips that speaks to you.
I guess it also depends on what you're buying. If you want to talk about boat chips, and other group buy chips that people are chasing for their sets, or leaded/shaped inlay old school chips, yeah the prices suck. But you can still get more recent RHC and other chips that are mint for great prices. Sucks to ay, but you could just lower your standards a little and settle on chips you'll still love and not part with a kidney.
Nanook
Full House
Only chips that I can say I am keeping forever for sure are customs. I have sold thousands and thousands of chips that most here can only dream of: TRK Kings Crown, lDunes, Vineyards, Crystal Parks, Le Cove, PNY, Paulson Pharaoh’s, Presidents Biloxi, Mirage Springs, etc, etc. Do I regret selling? Sure, but at the time I got more than what I thought was fair on all of them so it's all good.
this is the reason that this is the "Safe" route.
RainmanTrail
Straight Flush
Customs. 100%. I've owned everything from the cheapest of China Clay sets to the best and worst of both BCC & Paulsons, and even the most elite of TRK sets. For me, it's all about the customs. And they're reasonably priced too.
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