Tourney Need chip set (1 Viewer)

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gadgetmcnasty

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I play in a weekly cash game. It’s good. My wife has a few friends who like to play freeze out format for low buy ins sometimes. So, I’m looking for a set for STT 9 players. I expect multiple rebuys, so please consider that in your recommendations. I can’t swing a lot of money as I’m paying for college. I’ve found a commercial set on eBay, 1,000 chips for around $150. You can choose denominations in sets of 25.
What sets would you guys recommend? Chip break downs? Number of total chips?
I downloaded a few WSOP structures. Thinking of starting T10,000 with 25-50 blinds. 20 minutes levels.
Thanks in advance.
 
I don’t think you’ll need 1000 chips. If you do 8/8/6/6 (25/100/500/1000), you could get by with 100/100/100/100 and have plenty for rebuys. Maybe add some 5K’s. For cheap sets, I like The Mint set. This site lets you pick your demons and has great service, too.
https://www.thepokerstore.com/colle...-mint-13-5-gram-poker-chips-aluminum-case-set

You can also grab samples from them, which is a good idea. Good luck!
 
If you are aiming for frugality, you can easily accommodate your needs with 400 chips, including lots of chips for rebuys. Probably way more rebuys than are actually necessary
 
I like starting stacks of 12/12/3/7 for a T10,000 starting stack. For a STT you would need (125/125/50/150) I'd add in 50 in 5k to cover larger tourneys and to round the set to 500 chips. The link @Beakertwang posted is a local Dallas poker store that I've done business with a few times. Their local website is https://www.dallaspokerstore.com/

They have 500 chip sets at $100 with free shipping. My buddy has the poker knights set, and I'd recommend them as a set that's in your price range. I recently raffled off a set of the Monaco club chips at my charity game, and they too were decent for what they are.
 
Beakertwang said:
For cheap sets, I like The Mint set. This site lets you pick your demons and has great service, too.
https://www.thepokerstore.com/colle...-mint-13-5-gram-poker-chips-aluminum-case-set

You can also grab samples from them, which is a good idea. Good luck!
Click to expand...

I second the mint for cheap options. I like that design the best of all the Claysmiths. One of the guys I play with has these chips and we all like them.

Bluff Canyons are nice too. Decent label and I like the colors (especially the pink and purple).
 
gadgetmcnasty said:
Aren’t the Poker knights really heavy? I mean, I guess it doesn’t matter.
Click to expand...
Most the inexpensive sets are slugged and weigh 13.5g. The NexGen Pros are not slugged, and seem to be fairly well liked. They’re a bit more expensive, but less than the Milanos (which are in the China Clay category) and you can also get those at the Dallas Poker Store/thepokerstore.com.
 
I second Craig's recommendation for the Dallas Poker Store and for 500 chips for the reasons he cited. For several years we used NexGen Pros. They are a bit more pricey, but are 10 grams.

In your price range, you are looking at plastic chips. Getting denominated chips that are likely to be available in the future is a good idea too.

NexGen Pros could be purchased as blanks if you wanted to custom label, but that's really driving up the cost into the China Clay range.
 
CraigT78 said:
I like starting stacks of 12/12/3/7 for a T10,000 starting stack. For a STT you would need (125/125/50/150) I'd add in 50 in 5k to cover larger tourneys and to round the set to 500 chips. The link @Beakertwang posted is a local Dallas poker store that I've done business with a few times. Their local website is https://www.dallaspokerstore.com/

They have 500 chip sets at $100 with free shipping. My buddy has the poker knights set, and I'd recommend them as a set that's in your price range. I recently raffled off a set of the Monaco club chips at my charity game, and they too were decent for what they are.
Click to expand...

I like this advice... especially on the breakdown.
 
TexRex said:
I second Craig's recommendation for the Dallas Poker Store and for 500 chips for the reasons he cited. For several years we used NexGen Pros. They are a bit more pricey, but are 10 grams.

In your price range, you are looking at plastic chips. Getting denominated chips that are likely to be available in the future is a good idea too.

NexGen Pros could be purchased as blanks if you wanted to custom label, but that's really driving up the cost into the China Clay range.
Click to expand...

I don’t know the first thing about making my own labels for blank chips. I’m new.
What about the Aces chips? They are 14 grams, but come in a variety of denominations.
 
All the chips that look like this...
1537359745897.png


...are the same type of chip with a different label. They are all terrible, and here's why...

14g: Heavy is not good. Real casino chips usually weigh 9-10g. Do not get sucked into the lie of "official casino weight". There is no "official" weight, but I have weighed many chips from casinos and nobody is using chips this heavy.

Chips like this have a narrow outer ring of plastic, and a label that is slightly lower. The label is recessed so it does not wear out or rub off by touching other chips. The result is there is very little surface contact between chips when they are stacked, and that plastic is hard and slippery. Bump a table or stack while dealing and the chips scatter everywhere.

Chips like this are extremely prone to "barrel explosions", a phenomenon where you pick up a stack when removing then from a case or a rack and it shoots out from your hand like you were squeezing a bar of soap. It's a mess, knocks over other chips that you have previously counted, and can result in lost chips.
 
gadgetmcnasty said:
I don’t know the first thing about making my own labels for blank chips. I’m new.
What about the Aces chips? They are 14 grams, but come in a variety of denominations.
Click to expand...
Poker Zombie said:
Chips like this have a narrow outer ring of plastic, and a label that is slightly lower. The label is recessed so it does not wear out or rub off by touching other chips. The result is there is very little surface contact between chips when they are stacked, and that plastic is hard and slippery. Bump a table or stack while dealing and the chips scatter everywhere.
Click to expand...
Exactly this. Another buddy has the Aces sets, and while they are a step up from dice chips as no one will ask "What chip is blue" all night, they explode. Nothing worse than stacking your last pot then to have your whole stack explode all over the table. Well, there is worse, but we don't need to get into that here :p
 
I’m definitely learning. I missed out on the ABC World Poker Series a guy here was selling. They would’ve been good for my needs I think.
 
So I bought 2200 of these for my charity poker events. They are cheap, look pretty good, and surprisingly feel fine to play (and I am a uber Paulson snob). The last tourney I hosted I got many compliments on the chips. I kept my laughing inside as it shows how most people don't care about the chips unless they are those really bad lightweight plastics. If someone broke these out at a game I was invited to, I would not complain. I actually like them better than ceramic and the china clays.

https://www.apachepokerchips.com/product/monaco-club-poker-chips/
 
gadgetmcnasty said:
Thoughts on the Showdown chips?
Click to expand...
I had the Showdowns—they’re relabeled Poker Knights/Monaco Club. They’re fine. The edges are a little rough. My main problem with them is that the colors are sort of dark and drab, and it’s real easy to get dirty stacks with the green/black/purple. And the “red” 5’s are basically brown. The bright colors is the main reason I like The Mint set.
 
gadgetmcnasty said:
Thoughts on the Showdown chips?
Click to expand...
Not clay. They may add 1 oz clay to 1000 lbs of plastic to claim they are "clay composite", but do not confuse them with the "clay" you find in a real, Paulson poker chip (no chips are 100% clay) or even "China clay'.

They are not bad as plastic chips in the price-range you are looking.
 
I'm sure some will disagree but, IMHO, Showdowns and their PK/MC brothers are some of the most poorly colored stock chips on the market.

Buy samples first of anything you might consider. If a sample set isn't available, buy a barrel or two of denoms you want to look at ($3.50 or less each at discountpokershop.com).

There is no substitute for seeing the chips up close and personal first before purchasing en masse.
 
Check out my sample pack. It’s pinned and a good option to get an idea of what people are talking about.
 
PlaidDragon said:
I'm sure some will disagree but, IMHO, Showdowns and their PK/MC brothers are some of the most poorly colored stock chips on the market.

Buy samples first of anything you might consider. If a sample set isn't available, buy a barrel or two of denoms you want to look at ($3.50 or less each at discountpokershop.com).

There is no substitute for seeing the chips up close and personal first before purchasing en masse.
Click to expand...

Agreed, 100%

Sample sets are a cheap way to avoid great disappointment. Anything else is shoving all-in blind.
 
If you can stretch your budget a bit @RichMahogany is selling a STT set of PCF GPI Promo chips (real casino quality clay chips) for a great price here:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/pcf-promo-stt-set.32773/

You can likely add-on to these at a later date through wanted/sale ads in the classifieds. IMO these (and the Monaco/Elite chips that Apache sells) are the best value proposition for a new chipper (unless you can time it right to get in on a Sunfly Hybrid GB...but none are going at the moment).

Set will support 12/12/5/6 stacks (T10K as you mentioned) with 17 rebuys for 10 players, and also includes T5 chips that can be used for bounties and a few extras in case of murphy.

I have a set of ~1200 of these chips and I couldn't recommend them enough to a new chipper. Spend a little extra now and you'll save $$ in the long run.
 
v1pe said:
If you can stretch your budget a bit @RichMahogany is selling a STT set of PCF GPI Promo chips (real casino quality clay chips) for a great price here:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/pcf-promo-stt-set.32773/

You can likely add-on to these at a later date through wanted/sale ads in the classifieds. IMO these (and the Monaco/Elite chips that Apache sells) are the best value proposition for a new chipper (unless you can time it right to get in on a Sunfly Hybrid GB...but none are going at the moment).

Set will support 12/12/5/6 stacks (T10K as you mentioned) with 17 rebuys for 10 players, and also includes T5 chips that can be used for bounties and a few extras in case of murphy.

I have a set of ~1200 of these chips and I couldn't recommend them enough to a new chipper. Spend a little extra now and you'll save $$ in the long run.
Click to expand...

Those are beautiful. I don’t need the 5s though. And I wish there were more chips. Worth considering though.
 
gadgetmcnasty said:
Those are beautiful. I don’t need the 5s though. And I wish there were more chips. Worth considering though.
Click to expand...

I understand the sentiment, we all want MOAR chips around here...but you'll never need more if you really only plan to support 9-10 players with a T10k stack.

The T5s are just icing on the cake, never know when you might want a bounty chip.

Forty4 said:
Shameless self promotion...

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/majestic-tournament-set.31996/
Click to expand...

This is another good option (and a good price) - Majestics were my first set before the PCF chips. I think the majority of members here would recommend Majestic China Clay chips over ABS/Slugged options.
 
400 nice poker chips >>>>> 1000 crappy poker chips, every time. EVERY time.

Especially when all you need to do the job properly is 400 chips -- anything more is just wasting money.

The cheapo chips will be worth half of what you paid the second the credit card charge goes through. Nicer chips tend to hold value.
 

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