Looking for 500 chip set (60$ - 120$ range, flexible) (2 Viewers)

[NeutronHim]

Disclaimer: I've already read a lot of posts, hence why I'm posting.

I'm a college student planning on hosting a 1/2 home game and am interested in getting a set. I don't want to get super diamonds or the amazon set that it feels like everyone has (35$ or so.) I plan for my game to have a roughly 300$ or so poker table, and am generally looking to offer a decent experience for players. I mention the price of the poker table and the fact that I'm a college student to give an idea of the "flexibility" of my range. I think poker chips are pretty cool and so won't be terribly distraught at spending 200 or so if a set of chips seems particularly well designed -- if there's some amazing 500 chip set for 200$, I won't pass it up, but that's about as high as I can fathom going.

I've mostly been looking at ones here https://www.discountpokershop.com/poker-chip-sets/500-pc-poker-sets.html and here https://pokerchipmania.com

I've seen the sample set here https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/beginners-sample-pack.26301/ as well -- not sure if most are in my price range.

Does anyone have any recommendations for some samples I should get?

 

[allforcharity]

You've got a lot bigger budget and play bigger stakes than when I was in college, that's for sure.

There seems to be a fair amount of ceramic selling activity in the PCF Classifieds, so you might want to check there first. The quality o chips here is generally much better than out in the wild.

For a table, check local Craigslist. Functional (not necessarily pretty) tables often pop up.

 

[KHarp1]

There was a guy in NC that had a very high quality table listed in the classifieds for $700, I know that's above your range, but, it sells new for closer to $2k. As All For Charity mentioned the classifieds here are a great place to look for the China ceramics (Tina) chips. They offer good value and colorful designs, and a $1/$2 set can be had for probably the best price you'll find.

Definitely check you local CL and FB Marketplace for used tables as well.

Good luck in your search, and, make sure to post pics of what you end up with.

 

[KHarp1]

Here's a set that might work for you:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/tina-card-mold-sets-for-sale-price-drop.108124/

 

[Nanook]

There seems to be a fair amount of ceramic selling activity in the PCF Classifieds, so you might want to check there first. The quality o chips here is generally much better than out in the wild.

Do a search for "Tina" &/or "Card Mold." There are certainly others but those two will cover a lot of the "Ceramics" that come up in the sales area here at PCF.

Once you dig around a bit you will see that for about 40c/chip you can find something pretty nice. You might get lucky and find someone trying to get rid of theirs a little cheaper, but Ceramics < 40c/chip sell pretty quickly.

All the other slugged garbage ABS chips that everyone sells as "Clay" are terrible and should not be considered.

 

[springbox]

All the other slugged garbage ABS chips that everyone sells as "Clay" are terrible and should not be considered.

I mean, <15c per chip is <15c per chip. I love the feel of my clay and ceramic chips a million times more, but the slugged set I started with is just as functional at a fraction of the price. Players thought they were fancy just because they had denominations on them. On a college student budget it seems reasonable to go for what works.

OP I would suggest you avoid pre-made sets and order the exact quantities you want. The default breakdowns in 500 chip sets tend to be very poorly designed for actual play.

For example many of the sets you linked have
100 Gray (1), 100 Red (5), 100 Green (25), 50 Blue (50), 50 Black (100), 50 Purple (500), 50 Yellow (1000)

The 1000s and 500s are plain useless for a 1/2 game, and the 50s are redundant with the 25s and 100s.

For a 500 chip 1/2 game you would want something more like:
120 x $1, 280 x $5, 80 x $25, 20 x $100

If you want to stick to your price range you're going to be limited to metal-slugged plastic chips. Tina / Card Mold chips have more varied designs, but are going to be closer to 40c/chip as said. 'China Clays' also exist, similarly priced to Tina ceramics. Lots of ink has been spilled about the comparisons, people on the forum tend to prefer Card Mold ceramics over China Clays. I would maybe post a thread asking if anyone could send you a small sample set of a few card mold chips, a few china clays, and a few slugged ABS chips so you can feel the difference.

Some examples of CCs/Card Molds sets being sold around your budget:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/600ish-pharaohs-china-clay-set.99316/
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/cards-mold-marketplace-ii.104526/

If you want to go cheap, go ABS slugged, it'll be about $75. If you want to go a little fancier I'd post a wanted ad saying you're looking for a cards mold or china clay 1/2 set, and see if you can find any sellers. Expect that to be pretty close to your upper limit of $200.

 

[Mandos]

I would suggest you avoid pre-made sets and order the exact quantities you want. The default breakdowns in 500 chip sets tend to be very poorly designed for actual play.

I second this. Several of the designs here https://www.discountpokershop.com/loose-poker-chips.html are a decent upgrade over dice chips in my opinion but unfortunately the 500 piece premade sets are normally terrible distributions or have redundant denominations. You should be able to put something affordable and functional together if you order them in sets of 25 instead (something like 150/250/75/25 of 1/5/25/100 respectively or something like that).

 

[improviseallday]

For 1/2 full ring you'll have thousands of dollars on the table. I'd order customs for better game security. You don't want someone sneaking in a few off-the-shelf $25s. I think the lowest you should go is custom card molds at ~$0.40 per chip.

 

[NeutronHim]

There was a guy in NC that had a very high quality table listed in the classifieds for $700, I know that's above your range, but, it sells new for closer to $2k. As All For Charity mentioned the classifieds here are a great place to look for the China ceramics (Tina) chips. They offer good value and colorful designs, and a $1/$2 set can be had for probably the best price you'll find.

Definitely check you local CL and FB Marketplace for used tables as well.

Good luck in your search, and, make sure to post pics of what you end up with.

Definitely cannot afford the table, have been searching the forums for china ceramics chips

Here's a set that might work for you:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/tina-card-mold-sets-for-sale-price-drop.108124/

This set is crazy affordable, with the only issue being that the denoms are kinda wack -- but I also saw there was a group buy going on somewhere, so maybe I could get the stragglers from that buy (those are .4/chip sadly)

I mean, <15c per chip is <15c per chip. I love the feel of my clay and ceramic chips a million times more, but the slugged set I started with is just as functional at a fraction of the price. Players thought they were fancy just because they had denominations on them. On a college student budget it seems reasonable to go for what works.

OP I would suggest you avoid pre-made sets and order the exact quantities you want. The default breakdowns in 500 chip sets tend to be very poorly designed for actual play.

For example many of the sets you linked have
100 Gray (1), 100 Red (5), 100 Green (25), 50 Blue (50), 50 Black (100), 50 Purple (500), 50 Yellow (1000)

The 1000s and 500s are plain useless for a 1/2 game, and the 50s are redundant with the 25s and 100s.

For a 500 chip 1/2 game you would want something more like:
120 x $1, 280 x $5, 80 x $25, 20 x $100

If you want to stick to your price range you're going to be limited to metal-slugged plastic chips. Tina / Card Mold chips have more varied designs, but are going to be closer to 40c/chip as said. 'China Clays' also exist, similarly priced to Tina ceramics. Lots of ink has been spilled about the comparisons, people on the forum tend to prefer Card Mold ceramics over China Clays. I would maybe post a thread asking if anyone could send you a small sample set of a few card mold chips, a few china clays, and a few slugged ABS chips so you can feel the difference.

Some examples of CCs/Card Molds sets being sold around your budget:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/600ish-pharaohs-china-clay-set.99316/
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/cards-mold-marketplace-ii.104526/

If you want to go cheap, go ABS slugged, it'll be about $75. If you want to go a little fancier I'd post a wanted ad saying you're looking for a cards mold or china clay 1/2 set, and see if you can find any sellers. Expect that to be pretty close to your upper limit of $200.

Yeah I figured something like this might be the case. I thought that 150/150/150/50 was the way to go, but I can see how having lots of 5$ chips would be nice (I'm likely to have a lot of stand up games going where the loser pays everyone out 5.)

I second this. Several of the designs here https://www.discountpokershop.com/loose-poker-chips.html are a decent upgrade over dice chips in my opinion but unfortunately the 500 piece premade sets are normally terrible distributions or have redundant denominations. You should be able to put something affordable and functional together if you order them in sets of 25 instead (something like 150/250/75/25 of 1/5/25/100 respectively or something like that).

Sadly the only ones ive seen posted on here are the outlaw chips which are at 18c/chip, and only the premade set evens this out by selling at a slightly better rate

Anyways thanks everyone for the input!

 

[Beakertwang]

My favorite of the inexpensive chips are the Crown Casino set, available from Discount Poker Shop. They have a good look and feel, and aren't too slippery. I also like the Monaco Casino/Outlaw/Lucky Horseshoe sets.

It might be a bit less expensive to buy the pre-configured sets, but the breakdowns are usually less than ideal. I'd order the loose chips, in a breakdown something like this:

$1 x 150
$5 x 200
$25 x 100
$100 x 50

This would give you a bank of over $8500. You could adjust the quantities of 1's and 100's to make it better for you game.

Tina cards mold or no-mold sets might exceed your budget a bit, but they are great for the money.

 

[JustinInMN]

Disclaimer: I've already read a lot of posts, hence why I'm posting.

I'm a college student planning on hosting a 1/2 home game and am interested in getting a set. I don't want to get super diamonds or the amazon set that it feels like everyone has (35$ or so.) I plan for my game to have a roughly 300$ or so poker table, and am generally looking to offer a decent experience for players. I mention the price of the poker table and the fact that I'm a college student to give an idea of the "flexibility" of my range. I think poker chips are pretty cool and so won't be terribly distraught at spending 200 or so if a set of chips seems particularly well designed -- if there's some amazing 500 chip set for 200$, I won't pass it up, but that's about as high as I can fathom going.

I don't get the low budget if you can afford to play 1-2? $200 is just one buy-in in that game and that's your ceiling? That said, 40c a chip puts you squarely in the range of "tina ceramics" or "cards mold ceramics." Which are okay, I've played with them. The issue is once you stack them over 20 high, they do tend to topple. They don't slide across the table as smooth as I would like either.

Personally, I have a set of the higher quality (and yes more expensive) ceramics from @BR Pro Poker as my tournament set.

You can get a semi-custom 500 chip set for $400. Personally, for how much you are playing for, this still seems a bargain.

My 2c on the breakdown, do 100 * 1, 360 * 5, 40 * 25, bank of $2900. Let $100-notes play on the table if you exhaust the bank.

 

[Sparkynutz]

You can always go Monte Carlos but I kinda like these for cheap chips.
https://casino4you.com/product/poker-chips-triangle-elite-14-grams/

 

[NeutronHim]

My favorite of the inexpensive chips are the Crown Casino set, available from Discount Poker Shop. They have a good look and feel, and aren't too slippery. I also like the Monaco Casino/Outlaw/Lucky Horseshoe sets.

It might be a bit less expensive to buy the pre-configured sets, but the breakdowns are usually less than ideal. I'd order the loose chips, in a breakdown something like this:

$1 x 150
$5 x 200
$25 x 100
$100 x 50

This would give you a bank of over $8500. You could adjust the quantities of 1's and 100's to make it better for you game.

Tina cards mold or no-mold sets might exceed your budget a bit, but they are great for the money.

Yeah I think if I don't end up getting something here I'll go with the outlaws

I don't get the low budget if you can afford to play 1-2? $200 is just one buy-in in that game and that's your ceiling? That said, 40c a chip puts you squarely in the range of "tina ceramics" or "cards mold ceramics." Which are okay, I've played with them. The issue is once you stack them over 20 high, they do tend to topple. They don't slide across the table as smooth as I would like either.

Personally, I have a set of the higher quality (and yes more expensive) ceramics from @BR Pro Poker as my tournament set.

You can get a semi-custom 500 chip set for $400. Personally, for how much you are playing for, this still seems a bargain.

My 2c on the breakdown, do 100 * 1, 360 * 5, 40 * 25, bank of $2900. Let $100-notes play on the table if you exhaust the bank.

My situation is kinda complicated, but basically I play poker mainly to make money -- buying a set is primarily a venture to get action one more day of the week and only secondarily because chips are cool. I'd be buying any set off my poker spoils, which don't add up to that much (hence why I'm buying the set!)

You can always go Monte Carlos but I kinda like these for cheap chips.
https://casino4you.com/product/poker-chips-triangle-elite-14-grams/

These are cheaper than dps outlaws! Has anyone else tried these out?

 

[Mandos]

Sadly the only ones ive seen posted on here are the outlaw chips which are at 18c/chip, and only the premade set evens this out by selling at a slightly better rate

I'm confused how the premade sets are cheaper. Right now the premade set is listing at 500 + case for 114.95. https://www.discountpokershop.com/13g-500pc-law-poker-chip-set-p-721.html

If you buy them individually, 4.50 (for 25 chips) x 20 = $90 for 500 chips. Add the cheap case for 24.95 and you're at... 114.95 again.
https://www.discountpokershop.com/25pc-13g-law-clay-poker-chips-colors-p-722.html
https://www.discountpokershop.com/500pc-aluminum-poker-chip-case-p-23.html

 

[NeutronHim]

I'm confused how the premade sets are cheaper. Right now the premade set is listing at 500 + case for 114.95. https://www.discountpokershop.com/13g-500pc-law-poker-chip-set-p-721.html

If you buy them individually, 4.50 (for 25 chips) x 20 = $90 for 500 chips. Add the cheap case for 24.95 and you're at... 114.95 again.
https://www.discountpokershop.com/25pc-13g-law-clay-poker-chips-colors-p-722.html
https://www.discountpokershop.com/500pc-aluminum-poker-chip-case-p-23.html

I didn't realize this was the case! If we're really splitting hairs I guess the cards and button are worth a few bucks, but I just completely missed that the case being used was the cheaper case rather than the versa case for 30

 

[Blazin65]

I'm fairly new to the chip scene, but I can tell you that I recently purchased a used set of Tina Ceramics off the classifieds on this forum (https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/price-drop-grand-casino-cm-tourney-set.105634/), to play home game tournaments. Very reasonable priced shipped to my house, and I got a lot of compliments on them. They feel pretty damn close to casino quality chips, especially to players who dont play in casino's alot. They are way nicer, in my opinion, than the lower end slug chips on the websites.

The Tina group buys chips are the way to go in my opinion, if not solely due to the fact that they are semi to fully custom. No one in your home games is going to be able to buy copies of them off one of the major websites. Also, if you needed more of a certain denomination, it seems like you can order more when that group buy option comes back around. For example, I just ordered more chips to this tourney set from the August group buy(https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/cards-mold-group-buy-august-2023-customs-welcome.107739/), because the used set I got didn't come with any $25 chips, and I wanted more of the $100 and $500 chips.

For tables, I would check on your local Facebook Marketplace too. I got a nice used table for $85. I also built this topper for under $200, which was kinda fun and my players really like playing on it. (https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/first-build-200-table-topper.107562/)

 

[Machine]

the OP says playing 1/2 with a chipset of 500 chips, I think you need to read more

You should consider how much of a bank you need and your buy in, before buying chips that may or may not meet your needs. I'm guessing you ought to be hosting a .25/.5 game based on your budget, and perceived financial situation.

I would encourage you to read through the countless chip break down threads over the past year, to better understand how to calculate your needs.

A good starting point would be the link in my signature (landscape on mobile)

oh, and Welcome!

 

[NeutronHim]

Necrobump here

I think I know what I'm gonna buy, will post pics when I get em. It might be a month, but ill post pics for sure!

Also, I noticed that everyone recommended cards mold instead of no mold. I googled the difference and found https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/card-molds-versus-no-mold.96352/ which says something but doesnt really answer my main question of if no mold ceramics just have a sticker printed on or if the art is directly dyed on. Are cards mold and no mold chips basically the same aside from indents in the center / sticker considerations?

the OP says playing 1/2 with a chipset of 500 chips, I think you need to read more

You should consider how much of a bank you need and your buy in, before buying chips that may or may not meet your needs. I'm guessing you ought to be hosting a .25/.5 game based on your budget, and perceived financial situation.

I would encourage you to read through the countless chip break down threads over the past year, to better understand how to calculate your needs.

A good starting point would be the link in my signature (landscape on mobile)

oh, and Welcome!

I've played in a couple games and nobody is really in there with more than 400bb, hence why I thought 500 cp was fine. Plus there are a few 2/5 games running, so anyone with deep pockets is more likely to just go to those games anyways.

Its a little aggressive with the roll, but it makes no sense to host sub <= .5/1 for me because those games run abundantly (on dice chips I might add.)

 

[improviseallday]

Necrobump here

I think I know what I'm gonna buy, will post pics when I get em. It might be a month, but ill post pics for sure!

Also, I noticed that everyone recommended cards mold instead of no mold. I googled the difference and found https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/card-molds-versus-no-mold.96352/ which says something but doesnt really answer my main question of if no mold ceramics just have a sticker printed on or if the art is directly dyed on. Are cards mold and no mold chips basically the same aside from indents in the center / sticker considerations?


I've played in a couple games and nobody is really in there with more than 400bb, hence why I thought 500 cp was fine. Plus there are a few 2/5 games running, so anyone with deep pockets is more likely to just go to those games anyways.

Its a little aggressive with the roll, but it makes no sense to host sub <= .5/1 for me because those games run abundantly (on dice chips I might add.)

"No molds" are printed directly, without indentation. I believe the sticker ones are called "hybrid".

 

[TheOffalo]

Also, I noticed that everyone recommended cards mold instead of no mold.

I wouldn't say that's the case. I think it depends on the designs. Personally I like the Bellagio textured no-mold chips more than the cards mold chips I have; that design wouldn't work nearly as well on cards molds.