Lessons learned from expert chippers (1 Viewer)

[UncleDrew2]

Dear community,

over the past week I met a lot of nice people on this forum and learned a lot. Maybe you recognize the mood I am currently in from when you first started on this endeavor - I wish to dive in head first and go completely nuts.

So maybe you remember when you decided yourself to start out, you made some mistakes and learned a lesson or two. Maybe you ordered way too many chips for a set, certain color schemes that don‘t go well together, overpayed for chips or other services, had horrible shipping experiences and so on, you know the drill.

Since I probably could call in sick for the next two weeks and scour every last corner of this forum to gather the information, I suggest only starting with the major lessons of effectively (us Germans we love our efficiency) building the first set(s) to start out.

Excited to see what you have in store

 

[fishsaybloop]

Get samples

 

[UncleDrew2]

Get samples

Did that! And I have to say after the first seconds of handling them I get why everybody hates on metal inlays

 

[upNdown]

You already nailed it:

call in sick for the next two weeks and scour every last corner of this forum to gather the information

I’m not joking. It’s all here. Read everything. When you don’t understand something, do searches to figure it out. Then ask questions.

 

[fishsaybloop]

View attachment 932365

Did that! And I have to say after the first seconds of handling them I get why everybody hates on metal inlays

That’s awesome. I still have a rack of these from when I started same as you. As you get closer to what you like. Barrels also help you to feel the chips in quantity. Would suggest adding some Paulsons to the samples as well

 

[Nanook]

......Barrels also help you to feel the chips in quantity. Would suggest adding some Paulsons to the samples as well

This..
You have to get at least a dozen similar clay chips so you can shuffle them. Paulsons are really nice

 

[HaRDHouSeiNC]

Don’t rush into FOMO and overpay

It’s funny how stuff falls out of love and the prices correct later

We need a @Ben8257 book

Lots of resources here for cleaning and flattening and much more

Also it’s the chibes xbperts

 

[Colquhoun]

While there are some mistakes that are common, and many of us have made them in the journey to finding the right setup, some things you’ll need to find for yourself.
I think it’s part of the journey…finding what suits YOU best isn’t the same for everyone.

But in general, get samples….lots and lots of samples.

 

[Eriks]

I think you need to make the mistakes yourself. Samples is a decent indicator but it’s way better to go through sets to find out what you like. More expensive obviously (especially since prices have sky rocketed), but a lot more fun.

 

[ekricket]

These are my learnings from early years here. Others may not agree or may not have learned these things yet.

RHC is not THC. Molds matter when building a set, unless it’s a house mold. Learn what chips you want and bird dog only them.

Only buy sets already made or very very close to it. Making your own around a rack or two of chips you happen to have will cost you twice as much as a premade set. Plus everyone is more creative than you.

If you insist on your own set, get fully custom from CPC. Save you time money and heartache and you get exactly what you want.

Camp on the classifieds if you have ignored above and are trying to build a set. There’s 500 people working on sets and those chips listed will fit into multiple sets.

Don’t dally around in the classifieds asking a bunch of meaningless questions. If you don’t know about the chips you are looking at purchasing already chances are they won’t work and somebody else is going to snatch them up while you are asking about the difference between $8 or $10 shipping.

Foreign sales/buys are tricky. Europe and associated is good, customs charges them for import so there can be dialogue about the “true value”. But they accept this and build it into their purchases. Canadians not so much, they are very very thrifty and as a result will push any fees or other costs onto you so they can save $5 on a $850 deal, even though it’s a little bit of a pita getting chips to them.

eBay and Craigslist are already combed over pretty good by people with more computing resources than you will ever have. Not saying you can’t find a deal on those platforms, but it’s a lot more time. So only if you like looking at a million dice chip ads can you find a needle in a haystack. If you do find something on one of those places, don’t tell ANYONE until you have them physically in your possession.
The only thing some people like here more than getting a good deal on poker chips is ruining someone else’s good deal they can’t have.

@RivieraDanny is really a great guy.

Go to meetups
Go to meetups
Go to meetups

 

[LeLe]

This would be your final warning Proceed with cautions as it will be an expensive hobby

Maybe you ordered way too many chips for a set

I seem people who never host or just host a single table build set with over 2000 chips

Chips are already short in demand, we don’t need more people to hoard them and had most of the chips never ever seem the felt

 

[Josh Kifer]

Hey samples. Don't decide something and get stubborn, this hobby expands and changes thru time. Never rush when creating.

 

[SteveEH]

For a custom CPC set...

-get single samples of all the molds you like visually as they all have a different feel
- get shuffle stack sized samples of the molds you like the feel of best
- stay true to your set's theme. Don't put an old-school inlay design on a modern mold like I did years ago.
- get a professional to design your inlay (unless you're a professional)
- take your time and don't rush.
- while you're figuring out your custom theme and design, get an interim set they you can sell in the future.

Get color samples too as they look different in the designer depending on your monitor

 

[LeLe]

Samples is a decent indicator but it’s way better to go through sets to find out what you like

Sample in set is the ultimate sampling.

Is that a valid reason to my wifey to buy a new set ?

 

[PlaidDragon]

View attachment 932365

Did that! And I have to say after the first seconds of handling them I get why everybody hates on metal inlays

Great.

Now get MOAR samples!

 

[Bill_Man618]

So like everyone else I would get sample and by that I mean more samples than you currently have. It looks to me like you've got a lot of samples from apache which is great fro a budget set, but around here we love our clay chips so I'd sample some paulsons since they're the easiest to get ahold of. I personally would save up for a good paulson set as your first set. Those chips will hold value and it's unlikely you'll lose money on them and if you do it prolly won't be a lot. There isn't much of a market for mass produced low end plastics/ceramics here so a set of any of those would either sell at a loss or not sell at all.

Also like others have said you shouldn't rush into any creative project in this hobby. Take your time and pick the chips YOU want. Not the chips the forum thinks are trendy. On that topic like @ekricket said if you're looking for a set buy it already done and don't try and build a set around a rack unless youre willing to go over budget. I did this and I'm very very pleased, but it took almost 3 years to even get all the chips (still missing some) that's not counting design time or inlay removal. There are loads of costs that you don't expect when building a set around a rack.

Other than that this is a great place with lots of knowledgeable and friendly people. I hope you have fun here!