Hi PCF!
Casual poker fan here who has had a decade-long fascination with great chips. First started playing with some dorm-mates in college around 2004 just as the boom was starting. Spent many all night sessions in the juicy PartyPoker games of the day and played a weekly 0.25/0.50 NLHE game that rotated around different dorms.
I think it was maybe junior year when I decided to build a table for our basement barroom. At the time I thought those dice chips were pretty awesome, haha! This table stayed with the house once I was done with school, wonder if it's still there...
It was year later that I first got my hands on a half barrel of Paulsons that my buddy would constantly shuffle during our long online sessions. I was in immediate awe of the chips... how perfectly they stacked, the sound they made, their texture in hand. Found chiptalk and spent many hours lurking and oogling the pr0n.
But as my school days ended live poker took a backseat in my life. Started working at a tiny startup, life got very busy, and did not know any local players.
But every now and then a chiproom email would catch my attention and get me thinking about chips again. When the Empress chips went on sale I grabbed a couple racks of $5s and $25. Some time later I found myself unable to resist some minty Benny's and Terrible's $1s, with the idea of assembling a mixed set. It was only when these arrived that I suddenly understood the impracticality of mixing worn and mint chips. And how mixing molds would tilt me.
Everything went into storage.
As our startup grew we started getting some new toys at work. When a laser cutter/engraver showed up, my attention again returned to chips, with the idea of engraving a set of customs. I ordered samples of all kinds of cheap chips... slugged, Nexgens, CC Pharoahs, etc. Created a few decent samples, but in the end decided against doing a whole set. They were a LOT of work, and I still didn't have a game to put chips in, just liked fooling around with them.
(250? WTF? LOL)
Fast-forward to the beginning of this year. I'm working a new job at a larger company, and have met some poker players. Start attending a friendly home game that rotates a few different hosts, all using pretty lousy chips. Drag my small stash out of storage and set my sights on completing a playable cash set. Start off by cleaning the incredibly gunky Empresses by hand:
Next up ... naively start looking for the matching $1s ... no problem, I'm sure!
Yeahhh... not so much.
And oh, my - the prices these days!
So instead I land two racks of hotstamped Lucky Derby $100's and start learning about relabeling. So far, the project is off to a great start. Excited to order some Gear labels and finally make this set a reality.
So that's where I'm at now. Glad to be here, and looking forward to being a part of this awesome community.
Cheers!
Casual poker fan here who has had a decade-long fascination with great chips. First started playing with some dorm-mates in college around 2004 just as the boom was starting. Spent many all night sessions in the juicy PartyPoker games of the day and played a weekly 0.25/0.50 NLHE game that rotated around different dorms.
I think it was maybe junior year when I decided to build a table for our basement barroom. At the time I thought those dice chips were pretty awesome, haha! This table stayed with the house once I was done with school, wonder if it's still there...
It was year later that I first got my hands on a half barrel of Paulsons that my buddy would constantly shuffle during our long online sessions. I was in immediate awe of the chips... how perfectly they stacked, the sound they made, their texture in hand. Found chiptalk and spent many hours lurking and oogling the pr0n.
But as my school days ended live poker took a backseat in my life. Started working at a tiny startup, life got very busy, and did not know any local players.
But every now and then a chiproom email would catch my attention and get me thinking about chips again. When the Empress chips went on sale I grabbed a couple racks of $5s and $25. Some time later I found myself unable to resist some minty Benny's and Terrible's $1s, with the idea of assembling a mixed set. It was only when these arrived that I suddenly understood the impracticality of mixing worn and mint chips. And how mixing molds would tilt me.
Everything went into storage.
As our startup grew we started getting some new toys at work. When a laser cutter/engraver showed up, my attention again returned to chips, with the idea of engraving a set of customs. I ordered samples of all kinds of cheap chips... slugged, Nexgens, CC Pharoahs, etc. Created a few decent samples, but in the end decided against doing a whole set. They were a LOT of work, and I still didn't have a game to put chips in, just liked fooling around with them.
(250? WTF? LOL)
Fast-forward to the beginning of this year. I'm working a new job at a larger company, and have met some poker players. Start attending a friendly home game that rotates a few different hosts, all using pretty lousy chips. Drag my small stash out of storage and set my sights on completing a playable cash set. Start off by cleaning the incredibly gunky Empresses by hand:
Next up ... naively start looking for the matching $1s ... no problem, I'm sure!
Yeahhh... not so much.
And oh, my - the prices these days!
So instead I land two racks of hotstamped Lucky Derby $100's and start learning about relabeling. So far, the project is off to a great start. Excited to order some Gear labels and finally make this set a reality.
So that's where I'm at now. Glad to be here, and looking forward to being a part of this awesome community.
Cheers!
