My 1 Year Journey on PCF (1 Viewer)

BearMetal

4 of a Kind
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If you want to skip my story, just jump down to "Long Story Short"

I was going to wait to post this until later this month when I hit my actual 1 year Pokerversary, but I figured that today was the right day for it. My Chanman table arrived, and I finally feel like I'm a full member of this community. I'm going to try to keep this post short enough so that people will actually read it.

I've been playing poker since college (about 20 years). We started off playing with 100 pennies each and some plastic plinko-style chips. After college, poker dropped off my radar as I moved away from friends and found myself without a crew. And that's the way it stayed until I had kids. Suddenly, the local dads became my group and I decided to take the plunge and spend some serious dough. I purchased dice chips and a folding table top from Bed Bath & Beyond. After a few years, my local game of 5 or 6 people was pretty consistent, so I slowly began upgrading my basement. I added some real "casino weight" 14g AK slugged plastics. And I thought I was hot shit. Eventually, I bought a nice octagon table, and I was set forever.

And the years passed, and I started to wonder if there was something better. My slugged chips weren't feeling as awesome anymore, so I started to do some research online. And that's when I found @Hobbyphilic. A man who I've actually never conversed with, but who I blame for EVERYTHING. And I mean EVERYTHING...

Here's a summary of my year's decent into madness:
  • Fell in love with Nevada Jack Skulls and made my first purchase. I called ABC because I was worried they were some fly-by-night company. When a nice lady answered the phone and talked to me about all of the possibilities, I should have know that the rabbit hole had just opened up.
  • Shortly after, the Royals Group Buy opened up, and suddenly I have 800 chips on order. Not ready to do full labels yet; spending $500 seemed outrageous at the time.
  • Realized I needed storage for the Royals and bought racks and an Apache case and got bust plasti-spraying
  • The Royals came out so nice, I built a full custom heads up set with labels from ABC.
My chips were better, my game was consistent - and the problem was I was turning people away. Time for a new table. After months of saving and going back-and-forth with Tony, my table was on order and I'd need to wait 4 months to see it. So, I sit back and stop, right? Wrong:
  • Started to see some of these "Vendors" put up sales, and go myself into a trouble with a RHC 36mm tourny set.
  • The chips arrived, and then I was instantly sad that no more were coming. I started participating in group buys for cut cards and dealer buttons.
  • Then I somehow persuaded BR Pro to offer us a "new website" sale, and suddenly I had 43mm custom DDLMs
And then coronavirus hit. So, I shut down, right? Wrong!
  • Started building a RHC mixed cash set
  • Realized that I think I like THC better, so I also started building a mixed THC cash set
  • Discovered Ultrasonic cleaning and compression oiling
So, now my nights are full of oiling, cleaning, and singing lullabies to my chips.

Long Story Short:
This is the first time I've ever felt like I was part of an online community. You all have answered my questions, educated me and held me when I made mistakes. I'd like to call out the following people who have helped get me to this point, whether it was from answering my questions or just selling me some awesome stuff.

@allforcharity @BGinGA @T_Chan @Poker Zombie @sheikh617 @ReallyGoodUsername @Nuhockey @nezara @justincarothers @Racer96 @Himewad @Beaniman @davin @RainmanTrail

If it was just selling me stuff, chatting with me, or help me out - thanks! And I know I missed some people, but thank you to you as well.

So, here it is ... some pics of my current "family" of chips as well as my new table.
Big shout out to Tony! My god man - this table. It's amazing!





 
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Sweet dual-purpose table, Tony does amazing work -- those new Sun-Fly cards will match up very well with the artwork. :tup:

Congrats on hitting the 1-year mark, and look forward to seeing where you're at in another 12 months. :sneaky:
 
NJ Skulls were my first "real chips" too. Used to drive my girlfriend at the time crazy as I would shuffle them while watching TV after she went to bed. For some reason, the sound bothered her. Go figure.
 
Whoa Nelly!

That table is gasoline man, well done. Once I have space I will definitely buy a decked out ChanMan. Happy to be on your one year anniversary and glad our paths crossed!
 
Sweet dual-purpose table, Tony does amazing work

I thought the table dream was over when my wife said I needed a topper for when my daughter has parties. Tony jumped in with 3 different options for me. I joked that if the table was too big to get downstairs, it would just be our new dining table.

... 73" topper almost made that joke reality.
 
Great story, and a very nice looking collection of chips. Just literally can't go wrong with a Chanman table it seems, I have one and love it as well.

Glad you feel like you're part of the community, aside from a few assholes like me there really are a lot of awesome members here. There is a wealth of knowledge here, not too many questions that can't get answered.
 
Great story, and a very nice looking collection of chips. Just literally can't go wrong with a Chanman table it seems, I have one and love it as well.

Glad you feel like you're part of the community, aside from a few assholes like me there really are a lot of awesome members here. There is a wealth of knowledge here, not too many questions that can't get answered.
Don’t believe this guy he’s a awesome guy , don’t let his avatar fool you lol
 
@hdgeno / @davin - a year in, and I haven't had one bad conversation or interaction. Although I just started buying the random racks from members, everyone's been on the ball WRT shipping and describing the chips. Just an awesome bunch of folks.

I tried to pay it forward with helping out on setting up Poker Mavens for some members who were having issues. @DuffCal paid it right back by offering me a seat in his first tourney. And @Irish sent me some nice swag. Just overall - a really great bunch of people.

I forgot to mention @Jeevansluck in my OP. You're always there to goad me into buying more chips. I'm wondering if it's just me, or do you do this to everyone.

Also, @JeepologyOffroad for some great back-and-forths in various threads with me. Keeping me sane and laughing while in lockdown.
 
Great story! When a post is broken down into well written, digestible paragraphs - and add pics - it is never too long.

Chips of the commoner to Paulsons, check.
Dining table to Chanman, check.
500+ posts... because of poker chips, check.

All you are missing is "fly across the country to hang out with guys you met on the internet". Would love to get to chat with you at a meet-up someday!
 
Would love to get to chat with you at a meet-up someday!

Likewise! It would be awesome to meet people in person. Lots of forum members are actually in NJ and I've been invited to a few games once lockdown ends. I'll start small and work my way up to world traveller!
 
Very nice setup. The table fits in with the room really nicely. Good choice on decor for the room, and those chairs are really nice. It was a pleasure working with you.
 
You have jumped in head first! Nice job on the table. Spend once and enjoy it for many years. It took me a while (and many cheap tables) before I fixed that mistake.

Happy you found a home here.
 
Very nice setup. The table fits in with the room really nicely. Good choice on decor for the room, and those chairs are really nice. It was a pleasure working with you.

I still can't believe I didn't piss you off with my constant questions. You've made a customer for life. I think that one of the harder parts was getting the stain right. You matched the bar and the billiards table perfectly!

Here's a wider shot to show how well it flows into the room.
 
Not at all, I try to be as informative as possible. It was just a measly 126 emails back and forth... ;)

Is it possible to request a photo? Same photo as above, but without the front 3 chairs so that the base is visible? I'd like to add it to my gallery.

Thanks!
 
Not at all, I try to be as informative as possible. It was just a measly 126 emails back and forth... ;)

Is it possible to request a photo? Same photo as above, but without the front 3 chairs so that the base is visible? I'd like to add it to my gallery.

Thanks!

Not a problem! Let me wait until the morning and I can get some natural sunlight in here. I'll post it when I have it.
 
New here so not sure if this is a cautionary tale or not, ha! :D

Amazing table and collection of chips, seems like I’ll buy less putters and more chips this year!
 
@T_Chan - let me know if you need any other pictures. If you wanted better lighting on the base, I'd need to find some kind of spotlights. Basement lighting is hard :)

IMG_20200506_123231.jpg
 
Those chairs!!

You like my chairs? I was considering not putting them in the picture b/c they are inferior and don't deserve to be in the same room as the table :)

When I started out, we used plastic lawn chairs around a Bed Bath and Beyond folding table topper on top of a flimsy folding table. It was so ghetto. So, I guess the chairs are quite an upgrade from that!

Edit: Straight beats 3-of-a-kind!!! Woohoo! 750 posts!
 
I love those chairs. Where did you get them?
 

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