How long does it take to build a quality set of poker chips? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Granadol
- Start date
horseshoez
4 of a Kind
Whole array of answers that can be given to this question. That all depends on what you’re looking for.
First of all, welcome to the hobby. Going to thoroughly enjoy it, learning about the different chips, followed by narrowing down which ones suit your taste and budget.
1) Craigslist can be really tough to scour for chips. Unless you’re constantly searching the entirety of their database using code or a platform that allows you to, very rarely do you come across decent chips in quantity.
2) You’re able to find stuff on eBay, but be prepared to pay a heavy premium. Example, something that costs $3/chip here will usually be on eBay for $5-6+. Which leads me to 3.
3) You’re going to have a lot more success acquiring chips and/or sets here than any of the above two sources. More often than not, pricing here is a lot more reasonable than the other sources unless you happen to come across a gem of a deal where they’re not very concerned with what the market value is for those respective chips. There’s a good bit to be found on the classifieds and if that doesn’t work, our vendor @TheChipRoom has sales every so often from casinos that have closed their doors or have been rebranded.
My recommendation if you haven’t owned many chips in the past, buy a bunch of samples. Ceramic samples, CPC, Paulson, everything. Once you have them in hand you’ll easily figure out what you like the most as well as which of those you’re willing to spend on. Once you cross that bridge, go get what you like and above all else, don’t hesitate to ask anybody questions. In threads, in private messages, ask away.
Happy chipping and welcome.
First of all, welcome to the hobby. Going to thoroughly enjoy it, learning about the different chips, followed by narrowing down which ones suit your taste and budget.
1) Craigslist can be really tough to scour for chips. Unless you’re constantly searching the entirety of their database using code or a platform that allows you to, very rarely do you come across decent chips in quantity.
2) You’re able to find stuff on eBay, but be prepared to pay a heavy premium. Example, something that costs $3/chip here will usually be on eBay for $5-6+. Which leads me to 3.
3) You’re going to have a lot more success acquiring chips and/or sets here than any of the above two sources. More often than not, pricing here is a lot more reasonable than the other sources unless you happen to come across a gem of a deal where they’re not very concerned with what the market value is for those respective chips. There’s a good bit to be found on the classifieds and if that doesn’t work, our vendor @TheChipRoom has sales every so often from casinos that have closed their doors or have been rebranded.
My recommendation if you haven’t owned many chips in the past, buy a bunch of samples. Ceramic samples, CPC, Paulson, everything. Once you have them in hand you’ll easily figure out what you like the most as well as which of those you’re willing to spend on. Once you cross that bridge, go get what you like and above all else, don’t hesitate to ask anybody questions. In threads, in private messages, ask away.
Happy chipping and welcome.
Phish1321
Full House
Depends on what you play. Tourneys or cash, how many players?
I built a fantasy chip set in less than a year (Paulson 05 CDI) but I was buying and selling basically whole sets all at once and adding onto them as needed. It depends on your expendable income. Of course it is advantageous to be able to have funds ready for purchase, sometimes this means buying a set or rack of chips with intentions to sell one of your other sets shortly thereafter to recoup those costs. All transactions done on PCF.
My timeline as a newbie:
(OCT 2019)
Buy a $500 Bud Jones set and add on 3 racks of 5's
Ultimately decided I wanted to move on to a different set, but continued to use this one as I searched.
(FEB 2020)
Scouted for a while and had my eye on certain fantasy lines eventually saw a 440 piece Paulson CDI set pop up for sale, from Sweden! I immediately bought it and spent nearly $1000 for it, and another $200 for fracs. At this point I was $1700 in but had intentions to sell the Bud Jones set. I was also trying to add on and round out the Paulson set to get it to work for cash and tournament play.
(APR 2020)
Had pretty much sold a lot of the Bud Jones set off at this point except for the remaining racks of 5's. I swapped those 5's for a set of primary Horseshoe Cinci's and had an easier time selling that set to recoup the rest of the initial cost of the Bud Jones purchase.
(JUL 2020)
Added on higher denominations and rounded out the workhorse chips to get enough for my breakdown:
$0.25 - 100
$1 - 200
$5 - 140
$25 - 140
$100 - 110
$500 - 10
I have a barrel of $1000's and some extra shuffle stacks as well. I hope this helps you put together an approximation for yourself even though our situations may not be the same, just as the market for chips isn't the same as it was.
My timeline as a newbie:
(OCT 2019)
Buy a $500 Bud Jones set and add on 3 racks of 5's
Ultimately decided I wanted to move on to a different set, but continued to use this one as I searched.
(FEB 2020)
Scouted for a while and had my eye on certain fantasy lines eventually saw a 440 piece Paulson CDI set pop up for sale, from Sweden! I immediately bought it and spent nearly $1000 for it, and another $200 for fracs. At this point I was $1700 in but had intentions to sell the Bud Jones set. I was also trying to add on and round out the Paulson set to get it to work for cash and tournament play.
(APR 2020)
Had pretty much sold a lot of the Bud Jones set off at this point except for the remaining racks of 5's. I swapped those 5's for a set of primary Horseshoe Cinci's and had an easier time selling that set to recoup the rest of the initial cost of the Bud Jones purchase.
(JUL 2020)
Added on higher denominations and rounded out the workhorse chips to get enough for my breakdown:
$0.25 - 100
$1 - 200
$5 - 140
$25 - 140
$100 - 110
$500 - 10
I have a barrel of $1000's and some extra shuffle stacks as well. I hope this helps you put together an approximation for yourself even though our situations may not be the same, just as the market for chips isn't the same as it was.
ekricket
Royal Flush
You never have enough and it will take you the rest of your life.
hex
Pair
how much money do you have to spend =) really it depends on what stakes you play, how many players to figure out break downs. Cash or tourneys?
cash changes everything. the more cash the faster you can get a set. for me the first took about a year.
sadly just one is never enough.
i got all mine through pcf and a site that is now dead. and a few through eBay.
but i found i needed a tourney set, then i needed need a cash set. then you need a bigger tourney set and then... so i have 3 sets and another wont hurt.
Good question from Mr y3 ill add - do you play cash or tourney? limit or no limit? How many players do you expect?
sadly just one is never enough.
i got all mine through pcf and a site that is now dead. and a few through eBay.
but i found i needed a tourney set, then i needed need a cash set. then you need a bigger tourney set and then... so i have 3 sets and another wont hurt.
Good question from Mr y3 ill add - do you play cash or tourney? limit or no limit? How many players do you expect?
Omar65
Two Pair
All I can say is, either block this site somehow on your computer and start therapy immediately - or - start thinking about which kid you're cutting out of the will. Otherwise, it's like the old Lay's potato chip slogan, "no one can eat have just one".
I've been building some sets since 2006
I kinda miss it! At the time my thinking was: why would I need two cashsets? Well 6 cashsets later now...
Here's a little something that I've been working on. It's a quick little guide/tool for newbies concerning cash and tourney set setups. This is just a first draft so if anyone has any suggestions or wants to debate the recommendations, have at it.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NQ7-uvyM71UOabYJQ22IjY9Fj0y6e_Dl1IRpoGWrqAg/edit?usp=sharing
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NQ7-uvyM71UOabYJQ22IjY9Fj0y6e_Dl1IRpoGWrqAg/edit?usp=sharing
hex
Pair
Hah, I was thinking the same thing. Now I have friends who want to play but my set is really 2/5-5/10 set. So I am thinking I need to build a micro cash set, to top it off I want a better tourney set :/ and bummed I was moving and missed the Black Friday sales.I kinda miss it! At the time my thinking was: why would I need two cashsets? Well 6 cashsets later now...
OP
OP
Granadol
Pair
That is a great tool. Thank you. It looks great.
Omar65
Two Pair
You should publish that tool on here. Very handy.
Ben8257
Royal Flush
My CDI journey has taken a bot longer but they are definitely out there. Now that I am done hunting maybe others can find what they need. The $1ks are a pain the rest can be found. Sometimes it is a couple months between finds and other times a couple finds in a week. But they are definitely out there! Would love to see what you used for a quarter.
My 20 month (roughly) fantasy build
Also just recently finished my first Casino build and it was about the same time frame, but not actively pursuing after the set was playable. With help from the forum I was able to get it playable in roughly 4 months. Took a while to finish off everything but
It definitely takes time, determination, good networking and not being an ass, but it can be done for sure!
I was at the bottom of the mountain looking up about 2 years ago now. I'm only about half way up and will probably never summit, but it is indeed an awesome journey!
Fellow Chipper Ben
Fellow chipper Ben displays some cool stuff, but don’t for a minute think that this is normal. I honestly can’t imagine why somebody would need 13 racks of $100 chips. Well, I can imagine - for hosting 100 person tournament. Of course that would also require 10 tables, 100 chairs, and a big space.
Edit - my points were 1) don’t be jealous of giant sets - a 600 chip set is perfectly normal, and 2) it will be much quicker to build a 600 chip set than a 6,000 chip set.
Edit - my points were 1) don’t be jealous of giant sets - a 600 chip set is perfectly normal, and 2) it will be much quicker to build a 600 chip set than a 6,000 chip set.
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You may be able to get a very nice playable set right away, but it will require some luck and lots of $$$. It's unlikely that you'll get there quickly without some member support, so make friends early and often.
hex
Pair
It depends, I don’t think 600 chips is enough for a single table cash game (my own experience). That’s only 60 chips per person on a 10 handed game.
OP
OP
Granadol
Pair
Holy crap. That is a massive haul
OP
OP
Granadol
Pair
Good call. Thanks
Ben, it will definitely be easier to find chips now that you're not hunting for them, but I always appreciated yours and Brie's kindness in splitting and re-shippingthe large finds. The quarters are just CDI .50's overlabeled - .25/.50 works a lot better for my group than .50/1.
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