MilouPilou1
Flush
3 years/1k posts A retrospective on my journey:
Recently marked my 3 years in the hobby and 1000th post on PCF. I will first of all thanks the PCF community as a whole, for being so friendly and helpful, without whom nothing would have been possible. Today, I wanted to share my modest collection, past and present, with a bit of history and a lot of photos. I've got threads scattered all over the place, but I wanted to bring it all together and write a bit more than usual - I'm by nature rather discreet - and it's not an easy exercise for a French guy to write in English, I'm sure you'll agree haha. I apologize for any mistakes, I'm sure you'll understand! There's nothing exceptional here, no stunning finds on my journey, no boat resurfaced with trunks full of Paulson mint chips, no speaking for hours with an old man under a porch. Just my story, just a non-Us member who comes out of nowhere, knows almost nothing about chips but wants to start a collection..
Chapter 1: The beginning (April 2020)
I had no idea this hobby existed and zero knowledge about chips. I was no longer hosting or attending other home games at that time, but I get an invite to join a group of long-time friends who play cash games 1 or 2 times a month at 0.50/1€ blinds (still my main group). They're non-chippers, so Dice chips, non-plastic cards and other pilling mats were standard.
At that time, I started hanging around the French forum « ClubPoker » (a great community) during the pandemic, reading, learning and chatting with other members about poker chips. Like many, I felt like at the time to upgrade for better quality chips, cards and stuff for home games.
First purchases in bulk, with no real coherence or precise initial idea other than building a playable cash set:
My very first set: ASM Monsoon Palace
Also jumped on a Sunfly (PolyInno 43mm) GB to acquire these ACF tribute T5 tourney set:
Chapter 2: Le Cercle Concorde (July 2020)
It all started here, back in the days in 2006, when I made my debuts in 2€/2€ cash games in this poker room located on the 9th arrondissement of Paris. I was 20 years old, was student and had a part-time job, shooting these stakes almost every day with 50 poor blinds, playing like a nit, and hoping for the best (lol). Sometimes I'd go there alone, at night, and hope to hold out long enough until the early hours of the morning to catch a train home, because after midnight there are no more trains to the suburbs - I didn't have a car at the time. I was lucky enough to be overall positive during this period, so I have great memories of it. Walking out of the poker room in Paris at 6 a.m. closing time, pockets full of cash or chips, Seeing people wake up, opening cafés and a head full of memories...I still feel nostalgic today just writing it down...
Alongside, we had our almost daily home games at 0.20/0.20.
As an anecdote, when I left a game one night from Concorde, I joined in a bar a group of friends, including that woman who is now my spouse and the mother of my son. So I really have a special affection regarding that card room.
During my discussions on ClubPoker, first purchases and sales on the forum, I met the man who was to take me under his wing. A former dealer and experienced collector, to whom I owe a lot.
He introduced me to other collectors and one day I had the opportunity to buy a 450-chip Concorde set for a 4-figure sum.
After struggling to convince myself to spend a premium for poker chips, I decided to take the plunge and sell off most of my musical stuff (electric guitars, bass, effects pedals, amp etc.) to raise the money and buy « my grail set », the one I had so many memories of, the one whose chips I loved so much.
Note also a particular context around the Parisian Cercles of the time, with the supposed involvement of the criminal underworld.
Now some pron of the set, with its evolution over time from start to nowadays:
Recently marked my 3 years in the hobby and 1000th post on PCF. I will first of all thanks the PCF community as a whole, for being so friendly and helpful, without whom nothing would have been possible. Today, I wanted to share my modest collection, past and present, with a bit of history and a lot of photos. I've got threads scattered all over the place, but I wanted to bring it all together and write a bit more than usual - I'm by nature rather discreet - and it's not an easy exercise for a French guy to write in English, I'm sure you'll agree haha. I apologize for any mistakes, I'm sure you'll understand! There's nothing exceptional here, no stunning finds on my journey, no boat resurfaced with trunks full of Paulson mint chips, no speaking for hours with an old man under a porch. Just my story, just a non-Us member who comes out of nowhere, knows almost nothing about chips but wants to start a collection..
Chapter 1: The beginning (April 2020)
I had no idea this hobby existed and zero knowledge about chips. I was no longer hosting or attending other home games at that time, but I get an invite to join a group of long-time friends who play cash games 1 or 2 times a month at 0.50/1€ blinds (still my main group). They're non-chippers, so Dice chips, non-plastic cards and other pilling mats were standard.
At that time, I started hanging around the French forum « ClubPoker » (a great community) during the pandemic, reading, learning and chatting with other members about poker chips. Like many, I felt like at the time to upgrade for better quality chips, cards and stuff for home games.
First purchases in bulk, with no real coherence or precise initial idea other than building a playable cash set:
My very first set: ASM Monsoon Palace
Also jumped on a Sunfly (PolyInno 43mm) GB to acquire these ACF tribute T5 tourney set:
Chapter 2: Le Cercle Concorde (July 2020)
It all started here, back in the days in 2006, when I made my debuts in 2€/2€ cash games in this poker room located on the 9th arrondissement of Paris. I was 20 years old, was student and had a part-time job, shooting these stakes almost every day with 50 poor blinds, playing like a nit, and hoping for the best (lol). Sometimes I'd go there alone, at night, and hope to hold out long enough until the early hours of the morning to catch a train home, because after midnight there are no more trains to the suburbs - I didn't have a car at the time. I was lucky enough to be overall positive during this period, so I have great memories of it. Walking out of the poker room in Paris at 6 a.m. closing time, pockets full of cash or chips, Seeing people wake up, opening cafés and a head full of memories...I still feel nostalgic today just writing it down...
Alongside, we had our almost daily home games at 0.20/0.20.
As an anecdote, when I left a game one night from Concorde, I joined in a bar a group of friends, including that woman who is now my spouse and the mother of my son. So I really have a special affection regarding that card room.
During my discussions on ClubPoker, first purchases and sales on the forum, I met the man who was to take me under his wing. A former dealer and experienced collector, to whom I owe a lot.
He introduced me to other collectors and one day I had the opportunity to buy a 450-chip Concorde set for a 4-figure sum.
After struggling to convince myself to spend a premium for poker chips, I decided to take the plunge and sell off most of my musical stuff (electric guitars, bass, effects pedals, amp etc.) to raise the money and buy « my grail set », the one I had so many memories of, the one whose chips I loved so much.
Note also a particular context around the Parisian Cercles of the time, with the supposed involvement of the criminal underworld.
Once again, the courts are preparing to open the heavy, discreet door of a Parisian gambling club. After the Wagram in December 2012, it's now the turn of the Cercle Concorde, which was "closed" in autumn 2007, to appear in front of the Marseilles Criminal Court on Monday. The case involves money laundering against a backdrop of rivalries between Marseille-based Corso gangs. Under the microscope are a restaurant owner, a Swiss banker, a renowned former gendarme-barbouze and members of the Marseilles gang. In all, twenty defendants will face charges including criminal conspiracy, money laundering and extortion. They face up to 10 years in prison.
The story. Lantieri and Raffalli, the investor and the manager.
The beginning of the investigation: the Marronniers massacre. Just two months after the inauguration of the Concorde, Paul Lantieri was arrested in January 2007 in connection with another case: the massacre at the Marronniers brasserie in Marseille. In April 2006, this gunfight resulted in the death of kingpin Farid Berrahma and his two lieutenants, against the backdrop of a war between Corsican and North African gangs for control of the underground slot machines in the city.
In the course of their investigations, the police discover that Paul Lantieri is involved: he is said to have helped one of the gunmen, Ange-Toussaint Federici, known as "ATF", a figure of Corsican organized crime, to treat a wound in a Marseilles clinic. The two men were arrested at the same time, but did not meet the same fate. In October 2012, "ATF" was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. For his part, Paul Lantieri was indicted, then quickly released. However, his businesses are now more than ever in the crosshairs of the law.
The ace up Lantieri's sleeve: the Marseilles godfather. Searches carried out as part of the investigation into the massacre uncovered Lantieri's links with the upper echelons of the Marseilles underworld. Investigators discovered that La Rotonde had been financed by Nick Venturi, a former kingpin of the "French Connection" and the strong arm of Gaston Defferre, the emblematic mayor of Marseille from the post-war period until his death in 1986. This godfather introduced Lantieri to another figure from the Marseilles milieu: Roland Cassonne, "an old gentleman", according to the investigation file. In fact, it was Cassonne who financed the Cercle Concorde on the side. Through eavesdropping, the police also learn that the establishment is a "laundry": the club is used to launder illicit money.
May 2007: The entente cordiale between Paul Lantieri and Edmond Raffalli, the manager of the club, quickly fell apart. The latter criticized Lantieri for being too greedy. "I want to know how much money there is and where it's going," he raged one day. The manager of the gambling house turned to the arbitration of Roland Cassone, their clandestine "benefactor". One evening in May 2007, the circle's strongmen, Jean-François Federici, brother of "ATF", and Jacques Buttafoghi, both members of the Corsican "bergers-braqueurs" gang, along with Marcel Ciappa, their "debt collector", pulled off a coup de force. Lantieri and his Swiss partner were expelled from the establishment, to the benefit of Raffalli.
From Switzerland, banker François Rouge attempts a counter-attack. On the advice of the famous criminal lawyer Jaques Vergès, the latter contacted Paul Barril, former number 2 in the GIGN and founder of François Mitterand's anti-terrorist unit, who has since set up his own private security "consulting" company. However, all attempts to bring back the Lantieri-Rouge were in vain, as the balance of power finally shifted in favor of the Raffalli-Féderici alliance.
September 2007: ALL-IN. In September 2007, "debt collector" Marcel Ciappa, known as "Petit Marcel", was shot dead with a sawed-off shotgun at the age of 64 in an Aubagne clinic by two killers disguised as surgeons. The investigators, who had been following these internal power struggles, intervened a few months later. On November 27, 2007, François Rouge was arrested near Lyon. Paul Barril was arrested on December 24, 2007 at the Baumettes prison in Marseille. Nick Venturi's son was also caught in the net. Roland Cassonne was arrested in his villa in Aix-en-Provence. The 63-year-old Marseille midfield legend was pruning the hedge in his garden, wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying a Glock automatic pistol in his pocket. As for Paul Lantieri, he escaped the dragnet. But after six years on the run, "Monsieur Paul" turned up for the opening of the trial on Monday. His final bluff?
The story. Lantieri and Raffalli, the investor and the manager.
The beginning of the investigation: the Marronniers massacre. Just two months after the inauguration of the Concorde, Paul Lantieri was arrested in January 2007 in connection with another case: the massacre at the Marronniers brasserie in Marseille. In April 2006, this gunfight resulted in the death of kingpin Farid Berrahma and his two lieutenants, against the backdrop of a war between Corsican and North African gangs for control of the underground slot machines in the city.
In the course of their investigations, the police discover that Paul Lantieri is involved: he is said to have helped one of the gunmen, Ange-Toussaint Federici, known as "ATF", a figure of Corsican organized crime, to treat a wound in a Marseilles clinic. The two men were arrested at the same time, but did not meet the same fate. In October 2012, "ATF" was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. For his part, Paul Lantieri was indicted, then quickly released. However, his businesses are now more than ever in the crosshairs of the law.
The ace up Lantieri's sleeve: the Marseilles godfather. Searches carried out as part of the investigation into the massacre uncovered Lantieri's links with the upper echelons of the Marseilles underworld. Investigators discovered that La Rotonde had been financed by Nick Venturi, a former kingpin of the "French Connection" and the strong arm of Gaston Defferre, the emblematic mayor of Marseille from the post-war period until his death in 1986. This godfather introduced Lantieri to another figure from the Marseilles milieu: Roland Cassonne, "an old gentleman", according to the investigation file. In fact, it was Cassonne who financed the Cercle Concorde on the side. Through eavesdropping, the police also learn that the establishment is a "laundry": the club is used to launder illicit money.
May 2007: The entente cordiale between Paul Lantieri and Edmond Raffalli, the manager of the club, quickly fell apart. The latter criticized Lantieri for being too greedy. "I want to know how much money there is and where it's going," he raged one day. The manager of the gambling house turned to the arbitration of Roland Cassone, their clandestine "benefactor". One evening in May 2007, the circle's strongmen, Jean-François Federici, brother of "ATF", and Jacques Buttafoghi, both members of the Corsican "bergers-braqueurs" gang, along with Marcel Ciappa, their "debt collector", pulled off a coup de force. Lantieri and his Swiss partner were expelled from the establishment, to the benefit of Raffalli.
From Switzerland, banker François Rouge attempts a counter-attack. On the advice of the famous criminal lawyer Jaques Vergès, the latter contacted Paul Barril, former number 2 in the GIGN and founder of François Mitterand's anti-terrorist unit, who has since set up his own private security "consulting" company. However, all attempts to bring back the Lantieri-Rouge were in vain, as the balance of power finally shifted in favor of the Raffalli-Féderici alliance.
September 2007: ALL-IN. In September 2007, "debt collector" Marcel Ciappa, known as "Petit Marcel", was shot dead with a sawed-off shotgun at the age of 64 in an Aubagne clinic by two killers disguised as surgeons. The investigators, who had been following these internal power struggles, intervened a few months later. On November 27, 2007, François Rouge was arrested near Lyon. Paul Barril was arrested on December 24, 2007 at the Baumettes prison in Marseille. Nick Venturi's son was also caught in the net. Roland Cassonne was arrested in his villa in Aix-en-Provence. The 63-year-old Marseille midfield legend was pruning the hedge in his garden, wearing a bullet-proof vest and carrying a Glock automatic pistol in his pocket. As for Paul Lantieri, he escaped the dragnet. But after six years on the run, "Monsieur Paul" turned up for the opening of the trial on Monday. His final bluff?
Now some pron of the set, with its evolution over time from start to nowadays:
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