Let's Talk: Low denom, budget sets. Colors, quality, extensibility. Poker Knights! (1 Viewer)

TheOctagon

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I'm back! As I mentioned in my previous installment about the ubiquitous and much-loved Milano chip line, I had to break this up into several parts or risk it becoming a cumbersome wall of text and losing focus.

Today, I’d like to go over another budget-range chip set known to many as Poker Knights. It’s widely available, and runs less per chip than the Milanos and other china clays. It’s a compression molded/ABS style chip meaning it generally has a plasticky feel and weight to it as opposed to a more traditional, lighter clay style that the china clay molds provide. If that’s a problem or if you don’t really like a heavier chip with a bigger “clunk” to it, then I’d recommend passing on this set. If that’s of no issue (for me, it generally isn’t), then read on and I’ll explore why this set may be appealing in this price range.

Photos not included because this is a pretty well-known set again, but I'm happy to provide photos from my samples to support my review later on.

Colors

Poker Knights features some slight variations in the lower denominations that make them a little more unique in terms of how you might approach a low value cash set. The standard for the budget lines includes a low-denom range from $0.25 up through $10 including the always-dubious $0.50 chip.

$0.25 and $0.50


Unfortunately, this set starts off on the wrong foot. The $0.25 chip, being a staple at low stakes games, is a little blah. I appreciate the edge spot design, being roughly a 4D14 pattern (all of the chips have this pattern) with a dark grey and purple split. It would show up so much better, however, if the base color wasn’t such a brutalist grey itself. Even as a light grey, this chip would shine. As it is, it’s kind of a bummer and I don’t imagine it would be a rewarding visual in a large stack.

The irony of this set is that the $0.50 piece blows most of the rest of the designs out of the water. I don’t know what the designers were thinking with these colors across the board, but the fantastic tangerine fifty-center is outstanding! With two-toned blue edge spots, there is a ton of contrast, and the inlay (sticker) text matches the dark blue of the edge spots which really pulls the whole thing together. I hate that it’s a $0.50 chip because it won’t find a home on many tables, but if you can justify stakes that lean on that denomination, this is a big winner here and I’d love to shove around stacks of this beauty.

$1 and $5

If we’re being frank here, and I like to think that I am, the $1 chip is pleasing if pedestrian. It suffers from the same color fatigue that this set is known for (i.e. they grossly overused grey and opted for low contrast shades on most designs). That said, the brown and aquamarine edge spots provide a warm and crisp contrast to the off-white base color. I imagine a stack of these would look just fine and, given that it’s likely the majority of a breakdown at these stakes, would render kind of a solid backdrop to the relatively sparse accent pieces the set offers.

Here’s our first huge flop of the set. The nickel just doesn’t work for me. The red is a standard tone, if lacking in saturation. The edge spots though, man, they blew it. Why, again, do we have that tired grey hanging around on a chip that desperately needs some bright colors to take it up a level? Paired with a deep blue (the only appearance of this blue in the entire set) it looks like a very limp attempt at an American flag chip. I’m American. I love my flag. I don’t love this chip.

$2

I had to save this one for the end of the low denominations. It’s non-standard, and there are few sets that have the $2 piece handy (Desert Palms comes to mind and they even have a rarer $3 denomination). It is probably one of the only reasons to own any of this set. It’s a sweet lime base paired with a lavender and pink lemonade edge spot split that just sings. It’s like a refreshing scoop of lime sherbet with streaks of berry. If you slid these around with the $0.50 and $1 bits, you’d have such a fantastic looking poker table setup for this class of chip it could not be beaten. I would go out of my way to change up for this $2 chip if it were available to me at a game. That’s how much I love it. Now, sure, it’s still a compression molded plastic number, so it’s not the ideal representation of a poker chip overall, but for what it is, in this particular set, it is unbelievable. Next to the $0.50, it’s magical.

Extensibility

$10 and $25

Both fails. Hard. The $10 chip is unremarkable because they wasted the edge spots on that ever-present dull grey, and an extremely low-contrast green. It’s almost indistinguishable from the blue base (which is a fantastic blue, by the way) making the chip look, at first glance, like it has only 4 erroneously placed grey edge spots. In fact, I’d be happy to just have four quarter-inch grey edge spots. That would be simple, but not foolish. This chip is foolish. Good thing it’s a $10 and won’t see much play.

The quarter is a bummer. It feels like they did the same thing they pulled with the $5 here. Unremarkable base color (almost a forest green, which, again is kind of fun but totally wasted) paired with the red from the $5 base and that awful grey again. It’s pathetic how much they used that grey for an edge spot color. It just doesn’t make sense in most cases. I get that it’s a cost-saving measure as they able to stock a smaller inventory of plastic dyes, but wow is it exhausting. I usually enjoy most $25 chips, but this one is likely one of my least favorites ever. Avoid.

Honorable mention to the only other chip I can get behind in this set in the $1000. Great canary yellow base paired with brown and turquoise edge spots. Super contrast overall, but as the rest of the high denoms are just a mess, I can’t imagine having a reason for this to see the felt.

Ideal Breakdown


There is no ideal breakdown for me with this set that makes any mathematical sense. Since I hate the $5, I couldn’t support putting it on the table. But, I will provide a breakdown that I believe would do a nice job of showcasing the sets strengths and still allowing for a small-handed cash game if the opportunity arose. It’s a niche situation that won’t apply to most people even at this budget, but consider it if you’re shopping for a fun low-cost, low-denom set to break out for a quick cash game.

I also wish they had used the pink from the $500 base or the $2 edge spot on the $0.25 chip. If four denoms are in play, I think they’d all be best served by providing high contrast to the $1 majority stacks. I suppose if you were motivated enough you could relabel the $500 with the $0.25 stickers or customize them, but at this price range that hardly makes much sense. Anyway, here are the numbers:

$0.25 - 50
$0.50 - 100
$1 - 150
$2 - 50

Yes, that’s a lot of $0.50 chips. Like I said before, it’s about the visuals, not the math. A set of 350 chips for the PKs will only run you a little over $50 so you can feel confident that if you wanted to add more of the utility denominations, you could do so pretty easily.
 
Did I say "compression molded"? I meant injection-molded plastic. Total brain fart. Sorry for any confusion.
 
Better choice for the $$ than Milano chips, imo.
 
Better choice for the $$ than Milano chips, imo.

You know, it's probably true at the low denominations since you can augment the PK set more readily than the Milanos, and the Milanos really only have the $0.25 and arguably the $5 chips as standouts down there. I really unapologetically like the $2 PK chip and the $1 is totally serviceable so you can mess around with more of the cool oddball $0.50 denom for less cash and still have enough bank to go around.
 
Not to mention that you can easily swap labels or substitute custom labels, if certain chip color combinations are favored over others. One of the inherent advantages of both labeled ABS and china clay chips.
 
Not to mention that you can easily swap labels or substitute custom labels, if certain chip color combinations are favored over others. One of the inherent advantages of both labeled ABS and china clay chips.

That really gets me thinking because Apache sells the Majestic blanks, and I've been reading about a reputable label manufacturer who frequents the forum. I could see a brown quarter, white $1, pink $2/$2.50, orange $5. Huh. This is dangerous. I believe with a custom label that puts the total chip cost at around 55 cents/chip which isn't bad at all for pseudo custom work.
 

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