Hey all,
Sorry for the long-winded stream of consciousness, but I thought I'd share my story of how a complete noob went from trying to spend under $200 to spending nearly $4500 within the same year. It's been a long, winding road, but I've enjoyed every minute of it.
Well, in just under a year on this site I have gone from "can't fathom spending more than a dollar per chip" and "can't imagine spending more than $500 on chips", to spending $8/chip and nearly $4500 all together.
Before I joined, I had absolutely no idea about anything chip related. I thought that the crappy ceramic chips at my local cardroom were the best chips out there. Now, anytime I visit that room I can hardly stand to shuffle them. In what seems like a short 10 months, I have done the full journey from complete noob to complete snob.
It all started innocently enough. After playing poker online and in casinos for some years, I decided to start a home game with some friends back in November of last year. I picked up some plastic chips from Walmart, and everything was fine. Then, I thought, "I should get some chips with denominations! That way it'd be easier for new players to know which chip is which!". Again, all good there. I decided to do a bit of research online and found sites like Apache, BRPro, and the like. Immediately, I was shocked at the high prices. "$0.20 cents a chip?!", that means I'd have to spend like $200!". Outrageous, I thought. However, as time went on, I began to justify the price by telling myself, "it's an investment. I'll keep these chips forever". This is where the problems began.
After clicking around online a bit more, I found PCF through Hobbyphilic's YouTube channel. He reviewed a lot of Chinese chips, and I was fascinated by all the different materials and brands. As I began to peer down the rabbit hole, I heeded the advice preached by so many, and I bought samples. I figured this way, I be guaranteed to find the highest quality chips, and I could be more confident in my large purchase. After all, if I was spending the massive amount of a few hundred dollars, I wanted to be positive I was getting what I wanted.
Unfortunately, instead of receiving some great chips, ordering a set, and calling it a day, I was massively disappointed. I couldn't believe it. So many chips, so much research, so many high rated reviews. How could they all be so awful? This was before I even knew what Paulson was, and I could still tell a huge drop in quality from the ceramics in my local room. This then led to my first post on PCF, "Are all chips this bad?", causing me to fall deeper into the rabbit hole. Strike two.
Now, although things were headed into a darker, more expensive, direction, I wasn't doomed yet. I got some great advice on that post, and I began to learn more about someone named "Tina". I learned that there was a phenomenal group buy on this forum, offering cheap, yet high quality chips. I was ecstatic. PCF has saved the day and solved all of my problems. I was so thankful to have found this site, and so grateful to the wonderful and helpful members that contributed. I scoured through the old threads, the pr0n, the reviews, got some samples, and eventually settled on a great set of Cards Molds in the next group buy. I spent much more than I had ever imagined, at nearly $500, but I was confident in my purchase and knew it would be well worth it.
Although my budget for chips had over doubled since I started my chipping journey just a month or so before, I think I would've been fine. I think if I ordered the Cards Mold chips and logged off, I would've been golden. I would've had some fantastic chips at a fantastic price and I could've been set for life. But of course... I didn't log off... I kept scrolling... and reading... and thinking... That was the third strike.
Before the Chinese chips had even landed at my door, I was performing the mental gymnastics of convincing myself I needed Paulsons. I mean, I wasn't going to get anything crazy like those new Tiger Palace chips I saw, those were just insane. I'd just get something nice and affordable, like some used Jack Cinci's, I thought. Even just getting the samples was an uncomfortably large amount of money, but it'd be worth it, I told myself. "I'm a collector."
Near minutes after those samples hit my doorstep, I was hooked. It didn't matter that I had just received my 1000 chip set of Cards Molds. Even as I was unpacking the boxes and handling them for the first time, they were already old news. I Packed them on the shelf and continued scrolling. Around this time I got some great advice from fellow members on the sub. There was TheChipRoom sale of DJ's coming up, and everyone advised that this would be a great time for me to get a super nice set at a super nice price. "Perfect", I thought. "I'll get a couple racks of $1's, a couple racks of $5's, and even some THC solids to turn into fracs. Ezpz".
Unfortunately, if you're starting to notice the trend, I did not make the correct decision. Instead, I opted not to purchase the DJ's, telling myself that "THC>RHC". Even more, in a decision that I still kick myself for literally every day, I also opted to not get the THC roulettes. I thought that I would prefer a frac that wasn't a solid color. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Alright, so if I didn't stop at the Cards Molds, and I didn't want the DJ's, then I had to find a set of THC's that were marketed in such a way that my glitched brain could justify them. In steps the Paris Casino. While normally I would have thought spending $6 a chip was nuts, I convinced myself that a live $5 chip wasn't "really" $6/chip, they were just face value + $1 markup. In that sense, I could get a full rack of Paris $5's for only $1/chip, what a great deal!
"Fantastic. I'm able to purchase four racks of $1's and three racks of $5's for just a few hundred dollars over face, that means I can get a full set near mint THC chips with a maximum loss of less than $500!", is the justification I made. "Because I would hate to invest so much money into an asset that's value is purely correlated with it's perceived value on the secondary market, these Paris chips mark all the boxes of high-quality chips while saving me from the fear of losing my entire investment". To be fair, I still think this line of logic isn't completely flawed. However, because I was so wrapped up in the entire journey and the excitement, I had failed to realize how far deep into the rabbit hole I had gone.
I sent messages, made wanted ads, and ended up with seven racks of Paris chips, along with one rack of NYNY $1's that I personally murdered and relabeled thanks to @Gear. Through it all, I think the most fun I had was the relabeling/cleaning process. I got an ultrasonic cleaner, I got some mineral oil, and I went to town on 800 beautiful THC Paulson chips. I finally got to spend hours and hours of hands on time with the chips that I had pined after for so long. I would turn on a podcast, lean back, and clean until my fingers were blistered. It was mind numbing bliss. However, now that my excitement has faded, and the set is complete, I'm left only to reflect on my journey and realize just deep into the rabbit hole I have gone.
After all, where do I go from here? How can I possibly justify another purchase? I already have minty, sharp, oiled, relabeled Paulson THC's. What could be better? And while the rational side of my brain asks those questions, the other side of me continues to scroll the classifieds... scanning, looking, reading...and is becoming increasingly interested in those inexcusably expensive Tiger's I had never imagined I could own just a short time ago...
It's been a wild ride, and I'm still not sure when I'll get off.
Anyway, here's the Pr0n.
I forgot to mention in the post above, but I also got labels for those 43mm RPC chips to become my Paris $20's and $50's... and while the chips look great and the labels look great... I just don't have the heart to murder them. I'm still not sure what I'll do for larger chips in the set, but the dream of getting something like RPC $20's keeps me out of retirement.
Sorry for the long-winded stream of consciousness, but I thought I'd share my story of how a complete noob went from trying to spend under $200 to spending nearly $4500 within the same year. It's been a long, winding road, but I've enjoyed every minute of it.
Well, in just under a year on this site I have gone from "can't fathom spending more than a dollar per chip" and "can't imagine spending more than $500 on chips", to spending $8/chip and nearly $4500 all together.
Before I joined, I had absolutely no idea about anything chip related. I thought that the crappy ceramic chips at my local cardroom were the best chips out there. Now, anytime I visit that room I can hardly stand to shuffle them. In what seems like a short 10 months, I have done the full journey from complete noob to complete snob.
It all started innocently enough. After playing poker online and in casinos for some years, I decided to start a home game with some friends back in November of last year. I picked up some plastic chips from Walmart, and everything was fine. Then, I thought, "I should get some chips with denominations! That way it'd be easier for new players to know which chip is which!". Again, all good there. I decided to do a bit of research online and found sites like Apache, BRPro, and the like. Immediately, I was shocked at the high prices. "$0.20 cents a chip?!", that means I'd have to spend like $200!". Outrageous, I thought. However, as time went on, I began to justify the price by telling myself, "it's an investment. I'll keep these chips forever". This is where the problems began.
After clicking around online a bit more, I found PCF through Hobbyphilic's YouTube channel. He reviewed a lot of Chinese chips, and I was fascinated by all the different materials and brands. As I began to peer down the rabbit hole, I heeded the advice preached by so many, and I bought samples. I figured this way, I be guaranteed to find the highest quality chips, and I could be more confident in my large purchase. After all, if I was spending the massive amount of a few hundred dollars, I wanted to be positive I was getting what I wanted.
Unfortunately, instead of receiving some great chips, ordering a set, and calling it a day, I was massively disappointed. I couldn't believe it. So many chips, so much research, so many high rated reviews. How could they all be so awful? This was before I even knew what Paulson was, and I could still tell a huge drop in quality from the ceramics in my local room. This then led to my first post on PCF, "Are all chips this bad?", causing me to fall deeper into the rabbit hole. Strike two.
Now, although things were headed into a darker, more expensive, direction, I wasn't doomed yet. I got some great advice on that post, and I began to learn more about someone named "Tina". I learned that there was a phenomenal group buy on this forum, offering cheap, yet high quality chips. I was ecstatic. PCF has saved the day and solved all of my problems. I was so thankful to have found this site, and so grateful to the wonderful and helpful members that contributed. I scoured through the old threads, the pr0n, the reviews, got some samples, and eventually settled on a great set of Cards Molds in the next group buy. I spent much more than I had ever imagined, at nearly $500, but I was confident in my purchase and knew it would be well worth it.
Although my budget for chips had over doubled since I started my chipping journey just a month or so before, I think I would've been fine. I think if I ordered the Cards Mold chips and logged off, I would've been golden. I would've had some fantastic chips at a fantastic price and I could've been set for life. But of course... I didn't log off... I kept scrolling... and reading... and thinking... That was the third strike.
Before the Chinese chips had even landed at my door, I was performing the mental gymnastics of convincing myself I needed Paulsons. I mean, I wasn't going to get anything crazy like those new Tiger Palace chips I saw, those were just insane. I'd just get something nice and affordable, like some used Jack Cinci's, I thought. Even just getting the samples was an uncomfortably large amount of money, but it'd be worth it, I told myself. "I'm a collector."
Near minutes after those samples hit my doorstep, I was hooked. It didn't matter that I had just received my 1000 chip set of Cards Molds. Even as I was unpacking the boxes and handling them for the first time, they were already old news. I Packed them on the shelf and continued scrolling. Around this time I got some great advice from fellow members on the sub. There was TheChipRoom sale of DJ's coming up, and everyone advised that this would be a great time for me to get a super nice set at a super nice price. "Perfect", I thought. "I'll get a couple racks of $1's, a couple racks of $5's, and even some THC solids to turn into fracs. Ezpz".
Unfortunately, if you're starting to notice the trend, I did not make the correct decision. Instead, I opted not to purchase the DJ's, telling myself that "THC>RHC". Even more, in a decision that I still kick myself for literally every day, I also opted to not get the THC roulettes. I thought that I would prefer a frac that wasn't a solid color. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Alright, so if I didn't stop at the Cards Molds, and I didn't want the DJ's, then I had to find a set of THC's that were marketed in such a way that my glitched brain could justify them. In steps the Paris Casino. While normally I would have thought spending $6 a chip was nuts, I convinced myself that a live $5 chip wasn't "really" $6/chip, they were just face value + $1 markup. In that sense, I could get a full rack of Paris $5's for only $1/chip, what a great deal!
"Fantastic. I'm able to purchase four racks of $1's and three racks of $5's for just a few hundred dollars over face, that means I can get a full set near mint THC chips with a maximum loss of less than $500!", is the justification I made. "Because I would hate to invest so much money into an asset that's value is purely correlated with it's perceived value on the secondary market, these Paris chips mark all the boxes of high-quality chips while saving me from the fear of losing my entire investment". To be fair, I still think this line of logic isn't completely flawed. However, because I was so wrapped up in the entire journey and the excitement, I had failed to realize how far deep into the rabbit hole I had gone.
I sent messages, made wanted ads, and ended up with seven racks of Paris chips, along with one rack of NYNY $1's that I personally murdered and relabeled thanks to @Gear. Through it all, I think the most fun I had was the relabeling/cleaning process. I got an ultrasonic cleaner, I got some mineral oil, and I went to town on 800 beautiful THC Paulson chips. I finally got to spend hours and hours of hands on time with the chips that I had pined after for so long. I would turn on a podcast, lean back, and clean until my fingers were blistered. It was mind numbing bliss. However, now that my excitement has faded, and the set is complete, I'm left only to reflect on my journey and realize just deep into the rabbit hole I have gone.
After all, where do I go from here? How can I possibly justify another purchase? I already have minty, sharp, oiled, relabeled Paulson THC's. What could be better? And while the rational side of my brain asks those questions, the other side of me continues to scroll the classifieds... scanning, looking, reading...and is becoming increasingly interested in those inexcusably expensive Tiger's I had never imagined I could own just a short time ago...
It's been a wild ride, and I'm still not sure when I'll get off.
Anyway, here's the Pr0n.
I forgot to mention in the post above, but I also got labels for those 43mm RPC chips to become my Paris $20's and $50's... and while the chips look great and the labels look great... I just don't have the heart to murder them. I'm still not sure what I'll do for larger chips in the set, but the dream of getting something like RPC $20's keeps me out of retirement.
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I agree on not using the RPCs. I did 
