Introducing myself after 4 years (1 Viewer)

SteveHNo96

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This title sounds funny but I realized in almost 300 posts I never once formally introduced myself and my history of how I got into poker chips.

Obviously, my name is Steve, I'm 47 years old and live in Upland, California. Why do I live here? Because I moved to Rancho Cucamonga when I was 20 and it sort of became a home for me for 23 years. I left in 2016, only because I had a tough time landing a job and my mother was losing the battle with dementia to a point where she was messing with our finances and I couldn't afford to live in California anymore.

My first experience with actually liking poker chips happened about two weeks after we came to Vegas and my sister-in-law had some chips given to her for free. I honestly don't even remember that much about the chips. They were dice chip-quality and had a fictional casino name hot stamped on them, yellow 50 cents, white $1 and red $5's, maybe you guys know them, I don't remember. The person who gave the chips to her only gave them in five denominations: 50 cents, $1, $5, $10 and $25. I was hooked and looking for chips. Well, the first thing I did was get samples and the samples were either hated (Tiki Kings, OMG did my mom hate them), or loved universally. During a second poker night, I brought a sample set of Wicked Spades and the younger people at the game loved them so much one made me promise to buy an entire set for her so they could use them.

Once I joined this board, I ended up snubbing dice chips and even most china clays in favor of Ceramics and Paulsons, with the exception of a Milano which my mom absolutely loved. I later would shun that one and got my first two sets: A used casino set from a place in Seattle that was well worn but still useable and yes, Wicked Spades.

When my mom died in 2018, I came back to California and made a promise that I would do everything that Mom had wanted to do. I got a job at Amazon and worked for a year. When I'm not collecting poker chips, I love heavy metal and cats and ice hockey and the company of younger women. In fact, one of my favorite girls in the world got a chance to study abroad for 3 1/2 months -- she's going to be in Europe until July. I miss her already, tbh, but she's so sweet. I love her a lot. I also like going to concerts and eating out sometimes, enjoying life and just living in the moment.

I had no intention of buying another chip set unless it was a set of Paulsons (and under $1000) but when I came back and saw the DDLM chips were 15% off and in high demand, I figured awh, what the hell. I probably will be stopping after getting a set of Paulsons, excepting that I do sorta own a set because in honor of my mom, I spent my 2019 tax refund getting a set of the Monaco chips offered by Apache. Anyways, it's a pleasure to meet all of you and I hope for the best going forward. Mom actually saw the poker chips and loved them more than the GPI Elite and even the Milanos which were her favorites, but they sold out on the first run and she died before the second run came to be. Fortunately, I had a little money stashed away for them so I have a set in her honor.
 
Hi Steve, that was a very touching story. Thank you for sharing. My deepest condolences.
My girlfriend almost pulled the trigger on the DDLM with the 15% discount. But the economical uncertainty in NYC derailed those plans. It’s really nice when you have someone close to you somewhat appreciate this weird hobby/obsession. More than 1/2 the time my girlfriend gets annoyed with my chipping. But right now she is loving my Condado Plaza set. She’s from Puerto Rico and it makes her very nostalgic. The colors are really pretty too :)
I have never done an introduction either...
Maybe I will too
Regards,
Jun
 
Hi Steve, that was a very touching story. Thank you for sharing. My deepest condolences.
My girlfriend almost pulled the trigger on the DDLM with the 15% discount. But the economical uncertainty in NYC derailed those plans. It’s really nice when you have someone close to you somewhat appreciate this weird hobby/obsession. More than 1/2 the time my girlfriend gets annoyed with my chipping. But right now she is loving my Condado Plaza set. She’s from Puerto Rico and it makes her very nostalgic. The colors are really pretty too :)
I have never done an introduction either...
Maybe I will too
Regards,
Jun


I guess I should tell you why I ended up getting a set of DDLM's. Thankfully it's a short story. I got a direct deposit from Social Security for 3 years of disability payments all at once so I came back here and lurked and I think I had 3 days left on the 15% discount and I thought "well, okay", so I crafted a set of 39's, but then I heard the buzz about almost everyone doing 43's so I asked their opinion and the opinion of my friends. The verdict was almost unanimous, 43's are better if harder to store.

It cost me a bit more because I had to go to 550 chips and full custom since all 43's are custom but I did it. I know ABC blanks are good chips because I have a set of Wicked Spades 39's and like I said, all of my younger friends think that design is balls-out amazing, so I have a feeling these will be awesome as well. They also got me to watch The Office, so I guess they know some good things.

I probably won't be getting any more sets though unless I can get my hands on an elusive Paulson set in really good shape that's under $1000. I don't want to be one of those guys with 20+ poker sets for essentially no reason. :) For one thing, I'm a chip snob, I only actually am attracted to about 4-5% of chips I see (I've turned down Paulsons that I didn't like to look at), and second, I have all the chips I need except for a bitchin' tournament set and I'm not sure if I want to pull the trigger on that just yet.
 
That’s awesome you got the 43mm! I was working on a custom 43mm set from Matsui, though the project looks like it’s going to be pushed back. At least I’m going to have plenty of time designing. I like the way 43mm plastics feel and wasn’t too sure about ceramics. Would love to hear your feedback on how they handle. I’m sure they are going to look spectacular!
 
Update everyone! I got the Lady Luck Secondaries, with shipping it cost me $906 for 600 chips. I HAVE AN AUTHENTIC PAULSON set.
Absolutely thrilled for you man! After reading your story, and sorry about your moms, rest her soul, I was hoping you'd score.

As well, these are gonna be mint bro. Chalky and sharp. You're gonna be in heaven and once you go MINT, you have a hard time to go backwards. That's been my experience.
 
Absolutely thrilled for you man! After reading your story, and sorry about your moms, rest her soul, I was hoping you'd score.

As well, these are gonna be mint bro. Chalky and sharp. You're gonna be in heaven and once you go MINT, you have a hard time to go backwards. That's been my experience.

That and my DDLM 43's are probably going to be my final set. I'm just not rich enough to keep a hoard of 20,000 chips laying around all the time, but thank you.


Like I said, my mom's set is in a nice case right now, I got GPI Monacos last year from @Apache and a full set of chips. Her favorite design was the Milano before she saw the GPI Monacos. I got that set with her in mind, but now that I have a set of minty Paulsons I can retire from chip hoarding. I have all the great styles of chips with the exception of the Royals which I like but my collections are all like ABC Gifts quality or higher, so I can't imagine investing in that any time soon.

From what I can tell, the Lady Luck seconds are on the THC mold, so it looks like I got a sweet deal.
 
From what I can tell, the Lady Luck seconds are on the THC mold, so it looks like I got a sweet deal.

These are RHC but you definitely got more than a good deal mate! I wish I was a buyer instead of a spectator.
 
Good to meet you, Steve. I'm sorry about your mom. Hopefully you can share some pr0n of your sets.

When my next two sets come in, I shall.

These are RHC but you definitely got more than a good deal mate! I wish I was a buyer instead of a spectator.

Now I have to ask what RHC is. I'm not as into it as you guys are.
 
Now I have to ask what RHC is. I'm not as into it as you guys are.

THC chips feature this type of mold..
IMG_20191009_120840.jpg
IMG_20191201_152103.jpg



Then there is RHC..
IMG_20200210_143333.jpg
IMG_20200303_124405.jpg
IMG_20200211_092616.jpg


And there are also the 43mm out there on the IHC mold...
IMG_20191023_085319.jpg
IMG_20191021_100311.jpg
 
So it looks like:

THC has all 8 hats and canes pointing in one direction.
RHC has 6 of the hats and canes pointing to the left, but two to the right.
IHC has them all upside down.

Just out of curiosity, is that white spot on the right side of the Jack inlay intentional? It looks like someone tried to burn it or something.
 
So it looks like:

THC has all 8 hats and canes pointing in one direction.
RHC has 6 of the hats and canes pointing to the left, but two to the right.
IHC has them all upside down.

Interesting man! Didn't even know that. I suppose I'm not as keen as you might think. Haha

Just out of curiosity, is that white spot on the right side of the Jack inlay intentional? It looks like someone tried to burn it or something.

All the Jack chips are like that, exceptions are the lower denoms I think. $0.25, $1, and $5 don't have the "burn" spot.
 
So it looks like:

THC has all 8 hats and canes pointing in one direction.
RHC has 6 of the hats and canes pointing to the left, but two to the right.
IHC has them all upside down.

Just out of curiosity, is that white spot on the right side of the Jack inlay intentional? It looks like someone tried to burn it or something.
I never noticed that about the RHC! Change your user name to Eagle Eye.
 
Welcome, lovely intro post! Glad to see you enjoying all of your chippies!!
 

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