Wanted Looking for a BEGINNER set. My head is spinning reading these forums. (2 Viewers)

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greedyintern

greedyintern

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I am brand new to this. I don't know the lingo and I'm trying to make heads or tails of all the chip talk and acronyms. :) Just got a Barrington table before Christmas and just did some mods and would like to start playing poker more (from the 1-2 times a YEAR my friends would play). The only set of chips I have is a crappy red/green/white/blue/black plain set (this probably has an acronym in this forum) that I have had for a decade or two.

I would like a decent/low end set of chips (decent to me and my friends is probably bottom of the barrel here). Reading all of threads with Paulsons and Tigers is crazy. I'd really love the Rounders replicas to be honest, but no way can I spend $1-$2 a chip, much less $7 for Tiger ones.

I got dizzy reading through all the for sale posts for pretty much everything out of my $150-$300 price range.

Contemplating just hitting up eBay for the below set just to have something (at least until I can get a group that plays more). I don't think I want to take the time right now to piece a set together, and everything sold on here seems to be REALLY nice and usually out of my price range.

So, how bad are these? Am I flushing $150 down the toilet?

Was also contemplating if I need a denomination set, or just get all of one color, which I just learned is a limit set (I'm slowly catching on, ha) since some times we just play every chip is $0.25 or $0.50 cents.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/282163764324
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In your position, I'd avoid the type of plastic chips you're looking at - they're inexpensive, but quality control is lacking and they're just not very nice to play with.

I would 100% consider going with any of the various Chinese ceramics (search "TINA" on this forum). They're decent quality, under $0.50/chip and you can even get them customized if you want. Personally, I think the textured no-mold chips are a nice look, but get some samples and see what you like. These chips beat the snot out of any of the plastic stuff you'll find on eBay.

@justincarothers is a vendor here and can certainly give you some guidance. https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...d-cards-mold-textured-no-mold-01-2024.113140/
 
greedyintern said:
I am brand new to this. I don't know the lingo and I'm trying to make heads or tails of all the chip talk and acronyms. :) Just got a Barrington table before Christmas and just did some mods and would like to start playing poker more (from the 1-2 times a YEAR my friends would play). The only set of chips I have is a crappy red/green/white/blue/black plain set (this probably has an acronym in this forum) that I have had for a decade or two.

I would like a decent/low end set of chips (decent to me and my friends is probably bottom of the barrel here). Reading all of threads with Paulsons and Tigers is crazy. I'd really love the Rounders replicas to be honest, but no way can I spend $1-$2 a chip, much less $7 for Tiger ones.

I got dizzy reading through all the for sale posts for pretty much everything out of my $150-$300 price range.

Contemplating just hitting up eBay for the below set just to have something (at least until I can get a group that plays more). I don't think I want to take the time right now to piece a set together, and everything sold on here seems to be REALLY nice and usually out of my price range.

So, how bad are these? Am I flushing $150 down the toilet?

Was also contemplating if I need a denomination set, or just get all of one color, which I just learned is a limit set (I'm slowly catching on, ha) since some times we just play every chip is $0.25 or $0.50 cents.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/282163764324
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You could do a lot worse than Poker Knight chips. A decent design, visually, and one of the better 16c/chip range options. But not worth 24c/chip imo.

Which is not to say that they are really nice chips, however -- they are not. They are inexpensive injection-molded plastic chips with a metal slug inside. Complaints include being too heavy, muted colors, excess material flashing, too slippery, and having a metallic clank sound.

A much better bang/buck choice for a low-budget set are Chinese-produced ceramic chips, which typically sell for as little as 35c each in quantity. Available in several variations (plain no-mold, card mold, diamond mold, hybrids, etc.), you can select one of many 'stock' designs or get customs of your own design.

A 600-chip cash set (a common size for a single-table cash game) will easily fit within your $300-max budget, and be light-years better than cheap slugged plastics.

I strongly recommend using chips with denominations vs unmarked chips. This alone will make a world of difference in the quality of your gaming experience. Investing in plastic cards is another relatively cheap improvement.
 
Like with almost everything in life, dont buy too cheap and regret your purchase. Like other people said, there is no need for a 5000$ Set of pokerchips (unless there is wink wink) and within your 300$ max budget there is a lot of good options.

Also I strongly recommend, dont feel the need to purchase a 3 table cash game set in one clean swoop, if you go with stock chips you can also just start out with a 500 chip set and over time add to that set, maybe you enjoy playing so much more with the higher quality equipment and you and your poker friends have such a great time that you want add another expansion for your set.

Maybe its the opposite and you play a couple times and people are too busy to join frequently and you dont feel like going through the hassle so you decide its fine with the set you have.

Anyhow, one set I started with and had an awesome time with is the Majestics Set, options for cash and tournament games and the chip cost with around 50$ per 100 chips still fits into your budget for now and again - no need to rush in getting decked out. You can buy some now, check them out (best advise anyway, get some samples and play around with the chips in person) and if you like them, add more later.

Majestics from Apache

Dont get me wrong, these are not the top tier best of its kind chips in the world and also taste is different from person to person, but its a solid starting point and despite having moved on from them, I still have my original tournament set on my shelf and they are still after years in good condition.

But as others have pointed out, dont buy those cheap plastic chips if you want to enjoy your time playing poker. Order some samples and check them out yourself, pictures can always lie, but chips in your hands wont. And take your time with the decision.
 
To answer your question imo yes you’re flushing it down the toilet. Might be able to sell it on eBay or some garage sale but it most likely won’t be close to what you paid since they are used and yes they get dirty. Also I’ve seen those exact chips. The yellow in the picture to me does not represent the true puke yellow the chips come in. Buyer beware. I recommend Tina’s ceramics but sorry I’m keeping mine. Best bet get in with @justincarothers and see if he still does group buys. That seems to be the cheapest and most exact, just not the fastest.
 
Simply having chips with denoms puts the quality of your home game in the top 3% off the bat lol. Like others have said, the chips you posted are a stepping stone. If you’re not really that into chips but just want to improve the quality of your home game, then these are fine.

If you find yourself getting more interested in the hobby and want to bump your game up to being in the top 1% category, then options like Paulson chips from actual casinos, CPC (classic poker chips), or custom ceramic chips from the group buys on here are available.
 
cpac54 said:
In your position, I'd avoid the type of plastic chips you're looking at - they're inexpensive, but quality control is lacking and they're just not very nice to play with.

I would 100% consider going with any of the various Chinese ceramics (search "TINA" on this forum). They're decent quality, under $0.50/chip and you can even get them customized if you want. Personally, I think the textured no-mold chips are a nice look, but get some samples and see what you like. These chips beat the snot out of any of the plastic stuff you'll find on eBay.

@justincarothers is a vendor here and can certainly give you some guidance. https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...d-cards-mold-textured-no-mold-01-2024.113140/
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So, so, so much this.

There is no reason in the world you need to spend 2-3 bucks a chip for a good poker game. There are plenty of great options in the ~.50 range right now. Are they perfect? Nope. But they're value can't be beat IMO.
 
Don’t listen to the denominazis. If your players have IQs above that of Jim Carrey in Dumb & Dumber, they will be able to remember that a white chip is worth $1 and a red chip is $5.

That said, my chips have denominations because my regs don’t have IQs above that of Jim Carrey in Dumb & Dumber.
 
Anyway:

I play in a game which uses The Bank chips from Apache, which are similar to Majestics but a different mold. They’re a big step up from dice chips though by no means a match for Paulsons or CPCs.

I also recently handled for the first time some “Tina’s” cards molds and was shocked to like them. Helped that they had a really great label design.
 
Thank you all SO MUCH for all of these recommendations! I'm starting to go through them post by post, also going through all the DMs!

Some really good advice here, thank you. I was a little hesitant but now I'm really glad I posted here instead of just buying the eBay set.

I'll probably be coming back with more questions later today once I read through everything!
 
greedyintern said:
Thank you all SO MUCH for all of these recommendations! I'm starting to go through them post by post, also going through all the DMs!

Some really good advice here, thank you. I was a little hesitant but now I'm really glad I posted here instead of just buying the eBay set.

I'll probably be coming back with more questions later today once I read through everything!
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I totally relate to your posts. I was in your exact position about 4 years ago, so I'm going to suggest you ask yourself a few questions regarding where you think you might go in your chipping journey over the next year or so.

Do you enjoy participating in online forums? I've been involved in several over the past 10-15 years, so I should have known better. I came here in 2020 looking for the same as you - one nice set of chips with a budget of about $300. And I bought that set within my first two months here. But I ended up staying because I enjoy the forum, meeting new people, and discussing the topic. If I had left after that first set, I probably would have been very happy with it. But I didn't leave, and I have since bought many more chips. I don't regret having bought that first set, because I did a lot of research first, and I did buy something that I still like and enjoy.

So my point is that if you think you might stick around, and if you think it's even conceivable that you might want to upgrade down the road a bit, then I would suggest not buying the Poker Knights chips. As some have stated, they are okay chips. You could certainly do worse. But you can do better also, and stay within your budget. OR... if you think you might ever want to upgrade, then take your time now and check out some of the better chips that are just a little more expensive. You'll thank yourself later if you do decide to up you budget, as you will have not wasted $200-300 on something that will be difficult to sell later for anything close to what you pay now.

The flip side of that thinking is, if you do up your budget a bit, you can get nicer chips (real compressed clay chips) here in the classifieds that will hold all or most of their value. And if down the road, you find you're not using them as much as you thought, you can come back here and sell them to recoup your money. The argument I'm making here is that better chips will not only improve your game now, but they will be cheaper in the long run, with very little financial risk.

So take your time and give this some thought. Nice playable sets of used casino chips, CPC customs and vintage chips can often be found on here in the $500-1000 range. Yes, it's more than your current budget. But if you stick around here and get involved in the hobby, you WILL eventually want better chips, no matter what you buy right now. So consider saving that $300 and adding on to it to apply to acquiring a nicer set.

Just think about it. OR... Buy one cheaper set now, then log off of here, forget your password, and never come back... LOL.
 
Welcome and good luck. The broken card room group buys are the best bang for the buck. They take a while to ship but the quality over the cost is worth it. Lots of prints to choose from. I have a cash and tourney set of the Binions Horseshoe no mold (faux mold) chips. I really like the texture and the old school "wild west" them of binions. :)

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@greedyintern Here is an example of the kinds of vintage real clay sets that pop up on the classifieds if you pay attention. This one was dirt cheap AND in really good condition. Only 400 chips so maybe a little small, but I've seen similar sets with 600-800 chips for around $500 or even less. But they don't sit long, so you need to be watching and ready to grab one.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/md-45-chip-set.114374/

Pretty cool chips with a vintage vibe. You could put them in play as-is. Or have them milled and get custom labels with denominations.


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Thanks again everyone. I'm continuing to look around and talk to a lot of people.

I definitely dragged my feet on this Vineyard Tina set and just missed out on it, by minutes. Kinda kicking myself. I think it would have been a great set so will continue to look for something similar. Looking for .25, 1, 5, 25, 100s in the set.

I think I might look into a custom set of Tina's. My wife's parents have had a timeshare at the Polo Towers in Vegas for years and we've stayed there a ton, right across the street from Aria. They don't have a casino but I thought it might be cool (looking at all these custom sets) to make a fake "Polo Towers Casino" set. Just a random idea I had when looking at all these and seeing how nice that Vineyard Tina set looked.

Now I need to go back and find where to actually do that
 
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