Q. Does anyone have any suggestions for chips that are close to paulsons in quality and feel? Thanks
A. As mentioned above, closest you're going to get to the feel of Paulson chips are
CPC. Link provided below in case you haven't heard of them.
http://www.pokerchipsonline.com/
Q. Generally how safe is it to buy chips on here? What do you do to protect yourself? Thanks
A. 99% of the time, maybe even 99.9% of the time it's very safe to transact with people on here. Once in a pale blue moon, you might run into an issue but not the kind of issue that entails someone running off with your money. It'll usually be a delayed shipment, sometimes a couple days and sometimes for an extended period of time. It's a pretty close knit community and everybody uses the honor system. If you have an occasional hiccup, plenty on here will try to step up to help. In the case you still want more peace of mind and want to protect yourself, you have two options. 1) You can pay via PayPal Goods and Services rather than Family and Friends but the seller will incur a 2.9% fee when you choose this method which he/she will more than likely ask you to cover as part of the total. The other option and I mention this as often as I can, use Friends and Family but rather than using your bank account to fund the payment, charge it to a credit card that has an embedded benefit called "Purchase Protection." Too long to explain here, if you need more info on that and how it works, PM me I'll be happy to give you all the info you need.
Q. Ceramic or clay? Which do you prefer and why?
A. Tough to give a definitive answer because everybody has their own preference. They each have advantages and disadvantages that you'll discover when you start making purchases. Few small examples even though the list is pretty length: ceramic chips don't get damaged easily, pretty durable as opposed to clay chips which can get nicked on the edges from regular use or if dropped on a hard surface. Ceramic chips are cheaper than clay. Flip side, clay chips have a much better feel to them, especially their weight. Clay chips when broken in shuffle much better and stack better than ceramic chips. You'll find out about these and much more once you have some of both in hand. My personal preference is clay. I feel like they have more character.
Q. What’s your favorite ceramic chips and why?
A. My favorite ceramic chips are DDLM (Dia de los Muertos). I like the feel, weight, theme, and the vibrant colors. Overall just a beautiful set of ceramics.
https://brpropoker.com/products/dia-de-los-muertos-poker-chips
Q. What are the cheapest paulsons to get into the chip game with?
A. As of right now, probably the Horseshoe Cincinnati and Horseshoe Cleveland chips which can still be had for pretty cheap compared to other clay chips. Recently there was a big sale for Horseshoe Southern Indiana which were actually excellent bang for your buck for Paulson chips however they're sold out from the source with the exception of a few here and there. The classifieds have a lot of them floating around and will probably continue to have them for a while. You can keep your eyes peeled and see if those are something you like.
Q. Suggestions for tourney denominations please.
A. Tons of resources on tournament denominations in that part of the forum but the most common denominations used for tournament sets are 25, 100, 500, 1000, 5000, sometimes even 25,000 and 100,000 if you're planning on playing "high roller deep stack" tournaments.
You'll find tons of answers to what you're looking for, be it by searching through the threads or via private conversations. Either way, get ready for a tsunami of info. Enjoy the ride, it's a really fun one (just not for your pocket/wallet). Don't hesitate to ask questions regarding anything that sparks your curiosity.
Regards,
Zaki