Just joined but thanks already (1 Viewer)

[redeye]

Hi, all:
I have not been lurking for a really long time, and I'm not sure that I will ever qualify as a chip "enthusiast". In all things that I do in my life, it seems that I buy semi-nice things and use the heck out of 'em until they aren't so nice anymore. That's my MO, and it doesn't usually end up in collector-zone.

That said, I like to know a little about the things that I do get, and this forum has already been a wealth of knowledge - so I wanted to say thanks.

I have a group of friends with whom I have a poker tournament once a year. It is a varied group of people - some play regularly in casino poker rooms, some play occasionally in home games, and some only play in our once-a-year tournament. This year, as a gift to everyone, I figured I'd try to upgrade our winner's trophy and chip set, so I bought a 1000 chip case which will be customized and am looking to buy a set of 1000 chips. I have neither the desire nor the extra scratch to pay thousands for paulsons or CPC, and I don't want "well-used" chips. I got some samples of ceramics, original paulson majestics (well used), china clays, and have been using cheap plastics (slugged and not) for years. I think that the blank majestic CCs on Apache suit what I am looking for at my price range, and can be upgraded with labels later. I have a sample set that I got a little while ago and I think they'll go over fine. But the Apache site shows the reds and blacks out-of-stock. I tried to reach out to Apache via phone, email, and through their on-site contact form - but no response for over a week. The phone rings until voicemail for "Josh", but the mailbox is full. I'm usually not one to be a pest customer, but I thought I'd ask if someone else here knew if Josh is on vacation or unavailable for some personal reason for some time. My game is in a couple months, so I would like to get moving on putting all the pieces together for the gift.

Anyway, thanks again for everyone who has contributed very informative content to this forum - it is a very valuable resource even to people like me.

-- RE

 

[Tommy]

Welcome to PCF!

 

[tabletalker7]

You joined just in time. We are having a meetup not too far from you

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...-april-fools-weekend-april-1st-and-2nd.85987/

Why don't you join us

 

[allforcharity]

Hello and welcome!

Don't waste your money if you don't need 1000 chips. Figure out a more efficient breakdown and get better chips for your budget. A 10 person tournament set can easily be done with 400 chips or less.

 

[RolloPollo]

Welcome here!!

 

[surfik]

Yellow....

 

[Eriks]

Hello and welcome!

Don't waste your money if you don't need 1000 chips. Figure out a more efficient breakdown and get better chips for your budget. A 10 person tournament set can easily be done with 400 chips or less.

Very important piece of advice here! Most come here thinking they need a lot more chips than they actually do. That is especially true for tournament sets. We’ve all watched the WPT where they sit on mountains of chips and make pre-flop raises with a full barrel of chips. It may look cool but it’s really inefficient and gets annoying when we’re forced to count stacks for all-ins for the 10th time.

A great STT T10k-20k breakdown with 400 chips is:

25 - 120
100 - 120
500 - 50 (60 for even barrels)
1k - 90 (80 for even barrels)
5k - 20

Using starting stacks of:
12/12/5/6/0-2

You can even get away with:

25 - 80
100 - 80
500 - 40-60
1k - 80-100
5k - 20

Using starting stacks of:
8/8/4/7/0-2 or 8/8/6/6/0-2

 

[TurboKitty]

Great advice in the posts above. I've reduced my STT to 300 chips using the WSOP Shootout T25K structure (https://www.wsop.com/pdfs/structuresheets/structure_4943_20327.pdf) and the following chip breakdown:

• T100: 100
• T500: 80
• T1K: 100
• T5K: 20

Starting stacks: 10/8/10/2

 

[Eriks]

Great advice in the posts above. I've reduced my STT to 300 chips using the WSOP Shootout T25K structure (https://www.wsop.com/pdfs/structuresheets/structure_4943_20327.pdf) and the following chip breakdown:

• T100: 100
• T500: 80
• T1K: 100
• T5K: 20

Starting stacks: 10/8/10/2

Even better, although I would leave myself some extra 1ks or 5ks to color up the T100s

 

[OfficerLovejoy]

And get a sample set of the china clays beforehand!
They have a distinct pvc-smell especially if you put hundreds of them in front of you on a table. Some don't mind it, I disliked it and my wife really hated the smell.
Had to sell my beautiful set without even putting them in play once.

 

[Phish1321]

Hello and welcome to PCF

 

[TurboKitty]

Even better, although I would leave myself some extra 1ks or 5ks to color up the T100s

Good idea! Perhaps switching one barrel of T500s with additional T1Ks, so the starting stack would be:

10/6/11/2

Then, you'd have 10 T1Ks left over that you can use to color up the T100s.

 

[WedgeRock]

A 10 person tournament set can easily be done with 400 chips or less.

I ran a 20 person triple stack (blind schedule built for T100k starting stacks, everyone got T300k) with 800 chips, and some never hit the felt.

Efficiency is the key.

Also:

 

[redeye]

You joined just in time. We are having a meetup not too far from you

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...-april-fools-weekend-april-1st-and-2nd.85987/

Why don't you join us

Thanks for the invite - much appreciated. It's prob about 4 hours drive from me (I'm on the other side of Pgh), and I have a family with whom I usually like to spend weekend time, but I'll look into it and maybe I can make the Saturday tournament. Might really be a good experience if you think that there will be folks there with a bunch of different chips that I can physically view and feel. I would say it is less than 50% that I'll come out, but i'll mull it over for the next couple days. Thanks again, tho.

 

[redeye]

Hello and welcome!

Don't waste your money if you don't need 1000 chips. Figure out a more efficient breakdown and get better chips for your budget. A 10 person tournament set can easily be done with 400 chips or less.

Thanks for the feedback and please don't think I am disregarding it out-of-hand, but I've considered this route and I don't think it is right for me. The purpose of this tournament is less about poker, and not at all about chips, and more about reunited a bunch of used-to-be-rebel middle aged coots for a weekend of pretending to be young again. When we play, the trend has been that we like all of us starting with a good size (count) starter stack - it's just more fun for us. Additionally, there is interest from other old friends to possibly join the festivities, with the potential that it could get to a 2-table, 20 person start. I've figured out the chips I'd like to use (for both current 1-table and future 2-table), and it doesn't need 1000 for starter stacks but will use more than 2/3 of the chips throughout the tourney. And we will likely use the set for cash games, as well, during other gatherings.

It is natural for people who appreciate a certain type of thing to have a bias towards a nicer version of that thing, but for us there are no "chippers" in the group (that I'm aware), and quite frankly everyone would probably be happy playing with slugged plastics for the tournaments for years to come. I thought it would be fun to jazz it up a little with some nicer chips, and originally planned customs - but I don't care to pay $3+/chip and I'm not sure that I have the time right now to design the custom logo. So, blank china clays seem like a good compromise and if it leads someone in the group to look for the next level of chip in the future, so be it.

And get a sample set of the china clays beforehand!
They have a distinct pvc-smell especially if you put hundreds of them in front of you on a table. Some don't mind it, I disliked it and my wife really hated the smell.
Had to sell my beautiful set without even putting them in play once.

I have a sample of the Majestic blanks. I like the feel of them, even when I put them next to the sample Paulson Majestics that I also have, and their edges are much more crisp than the used Paulsons. Also, having some defunct casino name on the chips does nothing for me. I was aware of the odor issue prior to getting the sample, so I have been conscious about checking them for it. While it is there, I don't think it will be an issue and I know from previous experience with plastics in other items that that smell will likely dissipate over time - especially if I clean and oil them. I also have samples of ceramics (and some CPC samples on the way), but the ceramics don't do it for me.

I ran a 20 person triple stack (blind schedule built for T100k starting stacks, everyone got T300k) with 800 chips, and some never hit the felt.

Efficiency is the key.

Also:
View attachment 884866

Efficiency is only the key if your goal is efficiency. If you goal is having a goofy time, where the tournament will never be broadcast on ESPN - then the key is about finding what is most fun. I do love that image, tho - it can be applied to so many different things in life where we find ourselves herding cats in rabbit holes.

 

[detroitdad]

How many players? Budget?

I have this ceramic set for sale. You can really host two full tables with it. I'm also willing to split it in half for a one table set.

 

[redeye]

How many players? Budget?

I have this ceramic set for sale. You can really host two full tables with it. I'm also willing to split it in half for a one table set.

View attachment 884923

Appreciate it, but I've kind of decided against ceramics. just not my thing. I've got a couple sample sets and don't really care for the feel and sound.

I'm trying to stay as near $500 total for chips as I can.

 

[LeLe]

Welcome to PCF,

@Apache are one of the vendor here, you prob can just reach out to him here