My friends are being jerks because I spent a lot of money on a new set. Advice? (1 Viewer)

I've been a chipper since I'm 17-18 (like 10 years ago).

As you will age, you'll understand that everybody find their own piece of happiness where they can. For us it's chips, it's a bit costly but I guess it could be worse.

Lot of jerks are throwing their money away in travels, party, (memory fades away, valuable items don't), tons of clothes, tons of alcohol, drugs, cigarettes... etc.

You know the famous quote from Fight Club the movie,

" We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like ".​

Thanks to the consumer society, stupid people just don't get it.

So, fuck people we don't like, fuck useless shit we can't afford,

Let's just be like : " we buy things we don't need, with money we have just to please ourself ".

Your real friends will understand, just put the others in the trash can.

In 10 years your chips will still be with you, friendships that run 10 years are not so common so easy choice ;)
 
I actually sat through a new player telling me how he just picked up a primo set from Costco that is a bit nicer than the Paulson chips we were playing with (but my chips were nice too).
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If it gets to the point where it is making you feel uncomfortable and disheartened, I'd be pretty blunt with them and just say:

"If the chips bother you that much, then you can just go and find another game to play in."

I find that when you give people an ultimatum, they soon shut up.
 
It's not just about the chips (with inevitable envy issues involved).
If you want a somewhat more serious game, with some etiquette and rules being observed, you 're going to lose players.
If their reaction is rude and disrespectful to you as the host, you 're going to loose them as friends too (an excellent opportunity, 'cause it shows they 've been assholes anyway and using your friendship as a convenience.)

Wishing to upgrade, both chips-wise and rules-wise is going to require some new acquaintances, not necessarily friendships, for the sake of decent poker. Very hard outside North America where the game is ultra-popular (the equivalent in Greece would be backgammon).
True pre-existing friends will either follow, if genuinely interested, or will sincerely tell you "I don't see poker as a sport; I love you but I don't fit in your game anymore".
 
The best part was the silence in the room and the look on my regulars faces, I think they expected my head to explode. I considered it good practice for tilting.
Oh man, I definitely must have missed that game! Hilarious!

Man do I miss poker with you man! The whole crew!
 
Oh man, I definitely must have missed that game! Hilarious!

Man do I miss poker with you man! The whole crew!
Join us every friday online, even to play one of the later $10 games and join the Discord. I'm usually into the scotch pretty deep and can be entertaining (at least I think I'm entertaining).
 
Join us every friday online, even to play one of the later $10 games and join the Discord. I'm usually into the scotch pretty deep and can be entertaining (at least I think I'm entertaining).
Okay Grant!

I will do something next week. I've gotta work tonight I'm afraid.

I'll text ya Thursday next week and get up to speed on my end with my laptop.
 
I agree with the friends only because of the chip choice. For that amount or just a little more, you probably could have gotten something better.
 
One of my buddies has a game about once per month at his house. We play with cheap slugggos. I have suggested he upgrade his chips but he gets very defensive, “my chips aren’t good enough for you?” So, I never bring it up any longer.

He won’t upgrade his chips but he just bought a new C8 Corvette! To each their own I guess.

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I can sympathise OP - used to play dice chip home games with friends before the pandemic. Over the pandemic I've invested in some quality chips, a table and even started to create a bit of a poker room in the new house...only to find out none of my friends are that bothered anymore about playing, most of them resent the idea of playing for money - even microstakes. Time to build a new game when this is over I think.

Also, you can't brag about your DDLM set without posting some pictures!!

Congrats on the purchase.
 
Thanks for all the support guys. I'm so glad I found this forum, this is the nicest group of people on the internet I've ever seen.
Just wait until you try your first flip, that's when this group is at it's "nicest".

Your friends are just ribbing you as it's probably the first adult move they've seen by a peer. You likely had to save up, plan, commit, place the order, exhibit patience, organize the set and then reveal. A lot tougher than just grabbing another beer. Congrats and don't forget that your life is what you make of it. Plenty of support and virtual friends on this forum.

P.S. Those chips don't even depreciate much as they are quite desirable used as well. DDLM, great first chips!
 
I agree with the friends only because of the chip choice. For that amount or just a little more, you probably could have gotten something better.
Buy what you like, but for that amount or a little more, the alternative is casino used RHCs, and there's a reason those are so cheap.
 
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I agree with the friends only because of the chip choice. For that amount or just a little more, you probably could have gotten something better.
If my friends are berating me for buying the wrong chips, frankly they can buy their own. Its such a personal choice!
 
I have a friend who enjoys poker more closely to how I enjoy poker than all the other people in my life, but even he couldn't be moved to understand my chipsets, cards, or plans for my room setup. He says it's all "nice" but that he wouldn't spend much money on this stuff. When he hosts, infrequently, he serves rubbish food and snacks, its BYOB, and last time he invited 12 to play knowing he had a very old, wooden card table that couldn't handle 8. And it was out in the yard, where we got eaten alive by bugs and the evening wind wrecked many hands. His wife and kids were supposed to be gone overnight, but returned 90 mins into the night complaining about plans being canceled, overrunning what was on the food/snack table AND taking back the macbook so the tunes we had on went bye-bye too...

I haven't been back and likely never will. My games are patterned after what PCF has taught me over the past few years. Great food, thoughtful snacks, drinks and cocktails, good cigars, fun blind structures and variants, quality chips, quality cards, bank management, music...

Point being, part of growing up is appreciating finer things and learning how to enjoy comforts and luxuries, and most people never do or will. Impress yourself and associate with like-minded people. Congrats on your chipset and realizing all of this pretty early on.
 
Better? Unless something changes, my next big purchase is DDLM, they rock!!
They do rock.
I have two cash sets and those chips are all “worth” average around 5 bucks apiece. Point is, I buy what I like, not what’s cheap. I don’t own any RHCs, used or otherwise, but I do own a tournament set of DDLMs. Because they rock.
 
I have a friend who enjoys poker more closely to how I enjoy poker than all the other people in my life, but even he couldn't be moved to understand my chipsets, cards, or plans for my room setup. He says it's all "nice" but that he wouldn't spend much money on this stuff. When he hosts, infrequently, he serves rubbish food and snacks, its BYOB, and last time he invited 12 to play knowing he had a very old, wooden card table that couldn't handle 8. And it was out in the yard, where we got eaten alive by bugs and the evening wind wrecked many hands. His wife and kids were supposed to be gone overnight, but returned 90 mins into the night complaining about plans being canceled, overrunning what was on the food/snack table AND taking back the macbook so the tunes we had on went bye-bye too...

I haven't been back and likely never will. My games are patterned after what PCF has taught me over the past few years. Great food, thoughtful snacks, drinks and cocktails, good cigars, fun blind structures and variants, quality chips, quality cards, bank management, music...

Point being, part of growing up is appreciating finer things and learning how to enjoy comforts and luxuries, and most people never do or will. Impress yourself and associate with like-minded people. Congrats on your chipset and realizing all of this pretty early on.
All these replies make me feel like a proper esteemed gentlemen making sensible financial life decisions, having elevated myself to higher levels of wellbeing and self-efficacy. I love it.
 
So I just spent a considerable amount of my hard-earned money on a new tournament & cash set and I'm super excited. I shared the news with my friends and instead of also being excited because we all enjoy playing poker together, they will not stop criticizing my purchase and telling me how stupid I am for spending so much. (I spent about 1400 CAD for DDLM semi customs, tourney set and cash set each good for 20 players). I'm still standing by my purchase because a) it's my money and b) I thought about this a lot and truly believe it was something I wanted, and c) I can afford it! So I really don't see the problem and I'm just super frustrated that all my friends have been assholes about this.

I will say that they do have one good point, I don't know 20 people that will play poker with me regularly, but I figured that I'm young (18) and I will meet people in school, life, etc, and make connections in the world of home games as I go, (after COVID, of course). People say that the DDLM's are a great durable set that will last many many years. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I see many great years of poker ahead of me.

So how should I proceed here? Just ignore the hate and move on?

I’d just kick em all square in the balls
 
The thing about collecting quality items (like good poker chips) is that they either are going to last you a long time, or you are eventually going to sell them—and get most of your money back. Might even turn a profit.

Say you use these for 10 years: Your cost is $140/year CAD. If you only host one game per month, that’s less than $12/game. I don’t know what stakes you’re playing, but in a .50/$1 game, that’s maybe one pot in a hand that goes to showdown. Maybe less than a preflop raise and cbet in 1/2. I bet your friends lose 12 bucks calling down with a draw multiple times per night, without judging each other.

Or say you quit poker in 5 years, and sell the DDLMs at a big loss, only getting half what you paid for them. Well, your cost was still $700 CAD spread over 5 years of play—again, $140/year. Or maybe you get your full purchase price back.

In the scheme of things, this is not a major expense or big risk, if you have enough other income/savings to manage the one-time upfront expense.

(You’ll notice that I have had some practice at rationalizing my completely discretional spending...)
 
So I just spent a considerable amount of my hard-earned money on a new tournament & cash set and I'm super excited. I shared the news with my friends and instead of also being excited because we all enjoy playing poker together, they will not stop criticizing my purchase and telling me how stupid I am for spending so much. (I spent about 1400 CAD for DDLM semi customs, tourney set and cash set each good for 20 players). I'm still standing by my purchase because a) it's my money and b) I thought about this a lot and truly believe it was something I wanted, and c) I can afford it! So I really don't see the problem and I'm just super frustrated that all my friends have been assholes about this.

I will say that they do have one good point, I don't know 20 people that will play poker with me regularly, but I figured that I'm young (18) and I will meet people in school, life, etc, and make connections in the world of home games as I go, (after COVID, of course). People say that the DDLM's are a great durable set that will last many many years. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I see many great years of poker ahead of me.

So how should I proceed here? Just ignore the hate and move on?
Congrats on the new chips!!

Easy solution. Use the new chips for a few months, then put them away and break out some plastic dice chips and tell them they were right; so you sold the DDLMs...at a decent profit.

It's like giving junkies heroine, and then taking it away. Make some popcorn and sit back and watch the crying commence.
 

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