Making my way into the world of poker chips! Need your help! (1 Viewer)

[papaMeister]

Hey everyone, ist just got my very first cheap set of poker chips (crown casino, don't judge me ).

But since I'm looking through this forum a little bit, I got caught on the idea of custom poker chips (because nothing out there is really what I want)
Before I even get to what I'm looking for, I have a couple of question I need to ask first. -- p.s. the costum chips would be for a home tourney (8-11 ppl)

Does a clay chip have to weight 13.5g? Can you get a custom chip that weights less then 13.5? What difference does the weight make? Is there a price difference then?
Anyone with experience, what about the feeling in your hand between a clay chip and ceramic chip? What about the feel of a 13.5g clay chip and a lighter clay chip?

These are just some question that came to my mind.

So, now about what I want. I actually want something simple, but also fancy. Also clear and "big" dominations on the chip. 5 different colors (Green 25, Black 100, Purple 500, Yellow 1000 and Pink 5000). I'd like to show a picture of want I want but I'm really not good at drawing something

I hope that's the right area to post that, since it's about general things of custom poker chips and not necessarily where to get them or where to start. I hope you guys can help me out a bit, so that I can spend my money on chips!

 

[BonScot]

13.5g is your plastic chips with metal discs inside them. Most casino chips are lighter and weigh 9 to 10g.

Some people prefer clay (Paulson, CPC) others prefer plastic (Bud Jones, Matsui). Whatever you decide on make sure that you get samples so you can see the colours yourself and feel the texture of the chips.

With the chip denominations you’ve mentioned your looking at starting stacks of 10,000 chips made up of 12x$25, 12x$100, 3x$500, 7x$1000. You’ll need to multiply that by the number of players.

Also you’ll need to decide if you’re going to allow players to rebuy if they get knocked out (and if you how many times) as well as if you’re going to have addons. Once you know that we can give you a better idea of how many extra chips you’ll need for rebuys and addons.

 

[JMC9389]

Welcome!

The terms "official casino weight" or "regulation weight" for poker chips are nothing but marketing ploys. The 13.5 g plastic chips with slugged middle components for weight are generally made cheaply in a factory in China. Generally, chips that are bought by casinos are made of clay or plastic, and usually weight anywhere from 8 to 11 g each. Because of this, chips actually used in casinos feel lighter. That being said, the different in quality between a pure clay or high quality plastic chips (such as that made by Bud Jones or Abbiatti) blow the China plastic slugged chips out of the water in terms of quality. That being said, you do pay a premium for the gulf in quality, but it is so, so worth it (in my opinion). One of the things I wished I did when I first started here was to skip the plastic chips and China clays and gone straight to Paulson clay chips or to clay Classic Poker Chips.

Paulson tournament sets (the creme de la creme of poker chips if you ask most here) tend to run at a premium because of the rarity of a lot of the chips that are out there.

The best bang for your buck for a really nice clay custom set is to go through Classic Poker Chips. If you want enough of chips for a 8-12 player tournament, I'd have at least 600-700 chips on hand in the event of re-buys. A traditional custom set with simple edge spots for that size of a game can be had for about $1500, or more depending on how fancy you want to get with your edge spots.

Semi customs by @dennis63 at Key West Resort and Casino are also awesome (I own over 1000 cash and tournament chips) and are made by Classic Poker Chips, but Dennis is a vendor here and is able to subsidize the cost of what CPC customs would ordinarily cost and offers a discount to posters here.

If plastic chips may be of interest, @Potsie1 and @allforcharity have an awesome buy going on for Bud Jones plastic chips that I wish I could afford right now, though I'm unsure about how much stock they have left of tournament denominations, if any at all.

You'll find the community here helpful, and don't be afraid to ask questions!

 

[Beakertwang]

Welcome to PCF!

Custom ceramic chips are typically less than $1 per chip. Quality ceramics are a great value for durability, customization, and security. They look and feel great, as well.

Custom clays are only available to the home market from one place--www.classicpokerchips.com. @David Spragg heads up CPC, and is active on PCF. They start at around $1.25 per chip for solid hotstamps, and can go all the way up to $5/chip, depending on colors, edgespots, and inlays. CPC has about 15 different molds, each of which have their own appeal for appearance, sound, feel, cost, etc.

You could also buy Paulsons and over-label them, or "murder" them, for a cool semi-custom set.

You can handle up to 20 players with 600 chips. To order from CPC, you need to average 100 chips per chip design, so you would need to do 500 chips, 600 if you want to add bounties or something else.

Also, let me say that while some cheap slugged plastics are garbage, the Crown Casino chips seem to be decent. I have a set of the Monaco Casino (also from Discount Poker Shop) for tournaments, and they're fine. Sure, they're heavy (of course), and a little slippery, but not bad, but I didn't want to spend a bunch for tournaments when I only host a few a year.

 

[Quicksilver-75]

My advice? RUN!

 

[Phish1321]

Hello and welcome

 

[papaMeister]

Thanks for all the great answers so far. I'd like to add another question. Is a hot stamp better then inlays because they are not glued onto the chip? Or am I on a wrong path here?

 

[Beakertwang]

Thanks for all the great answers so far. I'd like to add another question. Is a hot stamp better then inlays because they are not glued onto the chip? Or am I on a wrong path here?

Not better, just different. Inlays are pressed into the clay with the molding process (unlike plastic chips, which just have a sticker). You may find an inlay that bubbles, but that's very rare. Hotstamps will wear off, but that's unlikely to happen with normal home game use. Like anything else, get samples and see what you like.

 

[papaMeister]

Like anything else, get samples and see what you like.

How much are the samples, do you have any idea?

 

[Beakertwang]

How much are the samples, do you have any idea?

Depends on what chips you're looking for.

 

[papaMeister]

Well, I looked it up. It's not toooo bad I'm even thinking about getting a set of ceramic chips

I find these EPT chips super freaking pretty! That is something I'd customize a little bit to fit them the way I want them.

I guess I'm falling in love with them, every second I look at them I like them even better. Damn, the colors are just beautiful! Is there any way I could "redesign" them a little bit? I have no designer/drawing skills

 

[Dodger]

Is there any way I could "redesign" them a little bit? I have no designer/drawing skills

There are a few designers here that may be able to help you out. @timinater is awesome! Check out some of his work.

 

[Saoliver]

Well, I looked it up. It's not toooo bad I'm even thinking about getting a set of ceramic chips

I find these EPT chips super freaking pretty! That is something I'd customize a little bit to fit them the way I want them.

View attachment 395065

I guess I'm falling in love with them, every second I look at them I like them even better. Damn, the colors are just beautiful! Is there any way I could "redesign" them a little bit? I have no designer/drawing skills

Welcome. If you are looking into a custom set of ceramics, I recommend PCF vendor @ABC Gifts and Awards. Check out their website here

http://abcgiftsandawards.com/