First impressions from a newcomer… (1 Viewer)

[inthehiggs]

New to the chip world, but not to playing. Shameful to admit my personal set was a set of dice chips and we often play with a set of old Monte Carlo poker clubs. With that, I’ve already acquired 7 sets of sample chips in the last few weeks, and have 700 Majestic card rooms on the way… figured someone might be interested in hearing my thoughts on what I have so far:

Monte Carlo PC (new edge style from the poker store.com): unbelievable heavy and sort of cheesy looking, but the edge feels great compared to the old. If you can get past the weight, they actually shuffle ok…

Showdown: by far my least favorite. Heavy and really hard edges. Just feel sort of sloppy feeling to me. Colors aren’t bad though, but I wouldn’t pay for a set.

Milano: I’m not the biggest fan of the dull colors or labels, but these shuffle really well. Texture sort of feels cheap to me though. I wouldn’t be super upset with these for the price.

Dunes: if it weren’t for the deal I scored on the majestic, I would have a set of these. The labels are awesome and I love the weight. They shuffle decently and feel great. Such a good looking chip for what it is.

Majestic: I really like these chips. The feel and texture is great. They shuffle well, and are simple. I might be biased since I just bought a set.

Royal card room: despite not wanting to like these because they’re oversized from looks, I actually really like the in the hand feel. Is it normal to already be thinking about a second set of chips and you haven’t put a first together? Jokes aside these have grown on me. There not for me right now, but I see the following behind these. The oversized shuffle really well.

The majestic star… I bought these not expecting to be blown away, but I have to say after playing with these, I get it. A set similar won’t happen anytime soon, but I totally get it.

Again, figured it might be interesting for someone to hear input on a bunch of popular chips from a new chipper. Thanks for the warm welcome! Makes me wonder how I’ve played this long without being pulled into this rabbit hole. Cheers!

 

[Ben8257]

Welcome to the forum @inthehiggs awesome little write up. Absolutely never anything wrong with sharing you opinions. Unfortunately with chips you will see a thousand debates on here of what is better, but in reality it is different for everyone. I have a few players that think those Monte Carlos are the best simply because they are heavy. I even admit before joining the forum I was in the heavier is better category. Guess I kind of still am as I definitely prefer leaded chips over non leaded.

Hopefully the Majestic will be enough to keep you happy... but with a review like that I have a feeling you will be looking for more!

Fellow Chipper Ben

 

[RadicusScout]

The majestic star… I bought these not expecting to be blown away, but I have to say after playing with these, I get it. A set similar won’t happen anytime soon, but I totally get it.

You say that won't happen anytime soon but Paulson Ownership has a funny way of sneaking up on you around here. I originally planned out a set using Majestics just like you but one blasted left turn in the Classifieds and now I have a complete micro set all locked and loaded.

Welcome to the madness!

 

[LinkyBabe]

Is it normal to already be thinking about a second set of chips and you haven’t put a first together?

I don't know what you're talking about... never happened before on this site, that I know of. Has anyone else heard about this?

 

[inthehiggs]

Welcome to the forum @inthehiggs awesome little write up. Absolutely never anything wrong with sharing you opinions. Unfortunately with chips you will see a thousand debates on here of what is better, but in reality it is different for everyone. I have a few players that think those Monte Carlos are the best simply because they are heavy. I even admit before joining the forum I was in the heavier is better category. Guess I kind of still am as I definitely prefer leaded chips over non leaded.

Hopefully the Majestic will be enough to keep you happy... but with a review like that I have a feeling you will be looking for more!

Fellow Chipper Ben

Ben, I'm scared you are correct and I will be looking for more eventually... I can see how they lead to so many debates, but I have to say for the around 0.10 a chip, the Monte Carlos wouldn't make a terrible set. Reminds me of a saying I've heard being an engineer: If you put 3 engineers in a room by themselves you will end up with 15 different opinions. I guess the same applies to chipping

 

[inthehiggs]

You say that won't happen anytime soon but Paulson Ownership has a funny way of sneaking up on you around here. I originally planned out a set using Majestics just like you but one blasted left turn in the Classifieds and now I have a complete micro set all locked and loaded.

Welcome to the madness!

It certainly is madness, it is rather contagious. I may or may not have already been following the classifieds far to close.... Cheers.

 

[Welshman]

New to the chip world, but not to playing. Shameful to admit my personal set was a set of dice chips and we often play with a set of old Monte Carlo poker clubs. With that, I’ve already acquired 7 sets of sample chips in the last few weeks, and have 700 Majestic card rooms on the way… figured someone might be interested in hearing my thoughts on what I have so far:

Monte Carlo PC (new edge style from the poker store.com): unbelievable heavy and sort of cheesy looking, but the edge feels great compared to the old. If you can get past the weight, they actually shuffle ok…

Showdown: by far my least favorite. Heavy and really hard edges. Just feel sort of sloppy feeling to me. Colors aren’t bad though, but I wouldn’t pay for a set.

Milano: I’m not the biggest fan of the dull colors or labels, but these shuffle really well. Texture sort of feels cheap to me though. I wouldn’t be super upset with these for the price.

Dunes: if it weren’t for the deal I scored on the majestic, I would have a set of these. The labels are awesome and I love the weight. They shuffle decently and feel great. Such a good looking chip for what it is.

Majestic: I really like these chips. The feel and texture is great. They shuffle well, and are simple. I might be biased since I just bought a set.

Royal card room: despite not wanting to like these because they’re oversized from looks, I actually really like the in the hand feel. Is it normal to already be thinking about a second set of chips and you haven’t put a first together? Jokes aside these have grown on me. There not for me right now, but I see the following behind these. The oversized shuffle really well.

The majestic star… I bought these not expecting to be blown away, but I have to say after playing with these, I get it. A set similar won’t happen anytime soon, but I totally get it.

Again, figured it might be interesting for someone to hear input on a bunch of popular chips from a new chipper. Thanks for the warm welcome! Makes me wonder how I’ve played this long without being pulled into this rabbit hole. Cheers!

New here also. Like you I’ve played for many years with dice chips. I replaced them with Monte Carlos not to long ago before I found this site.
I’ve bought 7 or 8 sample sets and really like the Royals and Majestics. So I’m looking to upgrade to the Royals even though the MC’s have only been felted twice.
Also really like the look of the Aria card mold chips.

 

[Ben8257]

New here also. Like you I’ve played for many years with dice chips. I replaced them with Monte Carlos not to long ago before I found this site.
I’ve bought 7 or 8 sample sets and really like the Royals and Majestics. So I’m looking to upgrade to the Royals even though the MC’s have only been felted twice.
Also really like the look of the Aria card mold chips.

I bought a bunch of Monte Carlos before joining the site also

We felted them.one time for a single table T2k SS game and pretty quickly joined them.forum and began upgrading... unfortunately they have been sitting on the shelf ever since, next to an even bigger slugged set that has never been felted!

This hobby should seriously ome with a warning label... "DANGER, THIS HOBBY IS MORE ADDICTIVE THAN CAFFINE, TABACCO, HEROIN, CRACK COCAINE OR CRYSTAL METH! PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION!! LMAO

BTW nothing wrong with a rotation of different chips to put in play, give your players some variety.

 

[Welshman]

I bought a bunch of Monte Carlos before joining the site also
View attachment 857061
We felted them.one time for a single table T2k SS game and pretty quickly joined them.forum and began upgrading... unfortunately they have been sitting on the shelf ever since, next to an even bigger slugged set that has never been felted!
View attachment 857063
This hobby should seriously ome with a warning label... "DANGER, THIS HOBBY IS MORE ADDICTIVE THAN CAFFINE, TABACCO, HEROIN, CRACK COCAINE OR CRYSTAL METH! PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION!! LMAO

BTW nothing wrong with a rotation of different chips to put in play, give your players some variety.

LOL. I saw your pictures in another thread. Now I know there is at least one person who has more MC’s than me. I have a cash set and a 3 table tournament set. I’ll keep them and use them when I have three tables which is only a couple of times a year. Most of the time we play cash or 2 table tournament.

 

[LinkyBabe]

I bought a bunch of Monte Carlos before joining the site also
View attachment 857061
We felted them.one time for a single table T2k SS game and pretty quickly joined them.forum and began upgrading... unfortunately they have been sitting on the shelf ever since, next to an even bigger slugged set that has never been felted!
View attachment 857063
This hobby should seriously ome with a warning label... "DANGER, THIS HOBBY IS MORE ADDICTIVE THAN CAFFINE, TABACCO, HEROIN, CRACK COCAINE OR CRYSTAL METH! PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION!! LMAO

BTW nothing wrong with a rotation of different chips to put in play, give your players some variety.

These chips are still useful... at propping doors open as you usher in new chip shipments.

 

[philhut]

What we are all really missing is the greatness that was homepokertourney.com That site was such an amazing resource and helped me become aware of what products were available with a central hub for review. PCF is great but that is the one feature (chip reviews) we miss and I can only imagine the work the creator went through to make that site.

 

[jbarnard2012]

Hello everyone, I’m also new here and recently ordered several sample sets to figure out what I want to get for my first real set. I mainly play cash games 60-100 buy ins. I got samples of majestics, royals, Monte Carlos, dunes, Pharos, Nile clubs, banks, tiki kings, Nevada jacks, desert sands (I think is the name), maybe a couple others. What I’ve taken from handling all of these is that I really enjoy the feel of the ceramics compared to the cheaper ones but I also very much like the majestics and royals as well.
We’ve only got cheap dice chips so any of those mentioned would be a huge upgrade but I also don’t want to go down the path of buying a set only to want to buy another set soon after. In our games we start out .50/1 and raise the blinds up to 3/6-4/8 eventually as it gets too late. I want to have a 50cent chip in my set which makes me lean towards the majestics.
I also consider a semi custom ceramic set to get the 50cent chips but at double the prices for ceramics it’s tough for me to decide. I’m think 800 chip set max but I might just go for 500 first.
Any thoughts? I’m sure some of you have been here before.

 

[inthehiggs]

Hello everyone, I’m also new here and recently ordered several sample sets to figure out what I want to get for my first real set. I mainly play cash games 60-100 buy ins. I got samples of majestics, royals, Monte Carlos, dunes, Pharos, Nile clubs, banks, tiki kings, Nevada jacks, desert sands (I think is the name), maybe a couple others. What I’ve taken from handling all of these is that I really enjoy the feel of the ceramics compared to the cheaper ones but I also very much like the majestics and royals as well.
We’ve only got cheap dice chips so any of those mentioned would be a huge upgrade but I also don’t want to go down the path of buying a set only to want to buy another set soon after. In our games we start out .50/1 and raise the blinds up to 3/6-4/8 eventually as it gets too late. I want to have a 50cent chip in my set which makes me lean towards the majestics.
I also consider a semi custom ceramic set to get the 50cent chips but at double the prices for ceramics it’s tough for me to decide. I’m think 800 chip set max but I might just go for 500 first.
Any thoughts? I’m sure some of you have been here before.

Well, I will warn you that I started here about two months ago with the view of "one set and done". My advice if that is your plan is to build your perfect set once, and never log back onto PCF. Since this post I've finished my majestics cash set, started a Royals tournament set, got side tracked with stuff out of stock, started planning to get in a card mold group by, and now I'm looking to put together a mini set of Paulson's to keep growing. @Ben8257 was spot on the money, the longer you hang around here, the more you just "have to have" a set of Paulsons. In all seriousness, I have been really happy with my set of Majestics and learned a lot with putting my first set together. I would be happy to give some input and advice of stuff I had to learn the hard way (and not because of a lack of advice from PCF, mainly because I am just guilty of being hard headed). It is a HUGE upgrade from dice chips, and I've gotten constant compliments at my home games since and as you mentioned they're a great deal.

Couple of questions, are you planning to only play 0.50/1 and larger blinds and with how many players total? That would be helpful to know in terms of a breakdown. There are still many people here more qualified to give input than me but I will try my best.

I'll give some insight with the approach I took to my first set of majestics, what I could/would have done differently looking back. I tried to make a one set does all set for my home cash games. I'm in an interesting situation where I regularly host two games primarily (well we actually play a lot of different games, but two different set of stakes) -- one I host with coworkers as a more social game (Not really players, but enjoy it) where we play 0.05/.1 or 0.1/.25 micro and another game where we play anywhere from 0.25/0.5 to 1/2+ depending on the night. This obviously called for an interesting set, but I ended up with denoms of 0.05/0.25/1/5/20 and a barrel of 100's just in case. We regularly play single table anywhere from 6-8 people sometimes even 9-10, so I ended up with right around 1000 total chips. Most nights were 6-7, and I honestly could get away with a lot less chip, and I certainly went frac happy (and could've made a lot less) when it came to making the 0.05/0.25 -- I could get away with a lot less with smaller starting stacks and I really don't think It would affect play a ton. For your case, if .5/1 is the lowest you'll play, unless you're planning to play huge tables you could probably get away with a single rack of 0.5, since the 1/5 is really going to be your workhorse chip. I'd recommend sticking with a consistent break down of something like 0.5/1/5/25/100 If you're wanting the 0.50 chip, and avoiding stuff in between like 10, etc. unless you just like a bunch of different chips.

Other two things I'd like to mention. First I've learned with China Clays, ceramics, etc. always order an extra 25 for each denomination at least. That way when one is damaged or lost, you can replace it, but the color between runs can vary quite a bit if you go to order one at a later date. For the extra few bucks its worth preventing a headache later. Second, if you're really interested in the majestics and want to customize colors for cheap, check out this thread for NOS labels you could put on blanks: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/factory-originals-originals-majestic-card-room-labels.29962/ -- @Gear and @Wifey will get you setup for an absolute steal of a price at $0.08/label, and there is no wait on these labels to ship since there already in stock. I couldn't be happier with the quality of these labels I used on some blanks. You're gonna here it over and over around here, but they do awesome work.

Like I said, give us some more specifics and myself and everyone here will happily try to provide input. As a new chipper myself there is so much information around here it is like drinking from a fire hose, so If I said anything wrong in this someone please correct me. If you hang around here long enough, I promise the temptation of other sets will become real. I guess this is long enough to quality as my first "ben book" post too.

 

[LeGold]

I originally planned out a set using Majestics just like you but one blasted left turn in the Classifieds and now I have my first a complete micro set all locked and loaded.

FYP.

 

[jbarnard2012]

I’ll likely end up with a few sets down the road and a project set to gradually work on. But my first priority is lower stakes cash games since that’s the majority of our games. I won’t really play lower than .50/1 so I figured if I just got a rack of .50 that would cover the fracs. Average players is probably 7-8 but sometimes we play with 6 or sometimes 9-10 max but not as often.
Also, great idea about ordering back up chips just in case. I already know my OCD would be crazy if I didn’t do that now that you mention it and I lost or broke a few chips.
And I’ll definitely look into the majestic labels if I go that route.
I appreciate you taking the time to respond and sharing your opinions/findings.

FYP.

What does this mean?

 

[inthehiggs]

FYP.

Funny how Majestics seem to be the "gateway drug" of the chipping world.

 

[LeGold]

Funny how Majestics seem to be the "gateway drug" of the chipping world.

Paulsons are, no matter which theme.

 

[Tonysquander]

Same here, dice chips, have Monte Carlo's and finally decided to upgrade for my home games. Came here to research the china clays, decided casino Paulson's were the way to go and before I knew it, I was purchasing custom CPC's and a CDI 98 set (to "tide me over" until those arrived). Still haven't gotten the used casino set (but am working on it right now). Good luck and stay away from the Classified section.

 

[Eriks]

What does this mean?

Fixed your post

 

[grebe]

FYP

FYP

 

[RadicusScout]

FYP.

HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT MY 'PROJECT'?!!! Er, I mean... WHAT? I'M CONTENT WITH THE SET I HAVE. LOOK, ALL CAPS!!!

Oh btw @inthehiggs I hope you're equally inspired by the Skunk Works approach to project building - as a nod to your SR71 profile image - because your set building (and other accessories - such as cut cards, dealer buttons, bounty chips, etc) will definitely feel like it sometimes.