Newly drawn down the rabbit hole (1 Viewer)

[Squakmix]

Hey everyone! My story is undoubtedly familiar at this point: I started playing poker with friends years ago, eventually acquired my first set of some cheapo dice chips, and now I'm on the hunt for something better. I purchased a 500 set of Milanos recently in an attempt to move up from the dice chips, but after receiving some samples from apache poker of some real Paulson chips, I'm tempted to return the Milanos while I can and put that money toward a Paulson set. I know eventually I'm going to want to upgrade to the real deal. The only issue is that they seem to go like hot cakes, and getting them for less than $2 a piece in decent colors and condition seems challenging. That's leading me to think that customizing my own cpc set might be the best way to get what I want at a decent price with consistent styling. I still suspect that my best bet might be to just keep my eyes open for Paulsons and be patient though. What do you all think?

 

[philhut]

Hey everyone! My story is undoubtedly familiar at this point: I started playing poker with friends years ago, eventually acquired my first set of some cheapo dice chips, and now I'm on the hunt for something better. I purchased a 500 set of Milanos recently in an attempt to move up from the dice chips, but after receiving some samples from apache poker of some real Paulson chips, I'm tempted to return the Milanos while I can and put that money toward a Paulson set. I know eventually I'm going to want to upgrade to the real deal. The only issue is that they seem to go like hot cakes, and getting them for less than $2 a piece in decent colors and condition seems challenging. That's leading me to think that customizing my own cpc set might be the best way to get what I want at a decent price with consistent styling. I still suspect that my best bet might be to just keep my eyes open for Paulsons and be patient though. What do you all think?

Welcome aboard....
I sold some Paulson's Pharaoh's 7 or 8 years ago was an awesome set....the investment was used for other projects. Then a couple years ago I decided I wanted some nice chips again so without ordering samples ordered 2000 milano "crazyhorse" labelled chips. They were nice but just not of the same caliber as the Pharaoh chips I had before. Had I never handled higher quality chips the Milano's would have been the Bee's Knee's.....So I saw the horse shoe indiana's for sale and bought a big set of those....The Crazy Horse Milano's were sold and the revenue from the same bought me 2 nice and 1 ghetto table in exchange.

 

[Squakmix]

I'm quite impressed with the look and feel of the Milanos having just come from the ABS/slug chips, but I can tell they're still a far cry from the Paulsons/CPC clay. The smell is also a bit more of an issue than I expected it to be, I found myself sneezing from it a few times during recent games with the new set. As painful as it is to go from around $0.35/chip to $1.50+/chip (for Paulsons or CPC) I think I may just have to bite the bullet and go for it. Have you found that Paulsons have gone up in price since the last time you had them? From casually looking at prices online it seems that they're sort of having a moment and are at a price peak.

 

[Colquhoun]

One thing to keep in mind, Paulsons will generally hold their value, many will appreciate. A CPC set is for you and you alone, and will likely depreciate.
That’s why many members start off with Paulsons and get a real feel for what they want over time, and move to CPCs later.

 

[Squakmix]

That's a very good point. I was imagining that I'd carefully choose whichever set I get next and hold onto it as a "forever set", but I'm sure many people on this forum who have owned many sets have initially thought that too I've been thinking I'll get a Paulson set, it'll just take time to find the right ratio of design, quality, and price

 

[philhut]

I'm quite impressed with the look and feel of the Milanos having just come from the ABS/slug chips, but I can tell they're still a far cry from the Paulsons/CPC clay. The smell is also a bit more of an issue than I expected it to be, I found myself sneezing from it a few times during recent games with the new set. As painful as it is to go from around $0.35/chip to $1.50+/chip (for Paulsons or CPC) I think I may just have to bite the bullet and go for it. Have you found that Paulsons have gone up in price since the last time you had them? From casually looking at prices online it seems that they're sort of having a moment and are at a price peak.

I always jump in without a life jacket when buying kit for a hobby it seems....anyway I bought 3575 Cards Mold chips and I must say I am very impressed with those. Currently I have a CPC set on order that is the primary set to the cards mold set which I would consider the secondary's, both with The Sloth Club theme. Had I not bought a HSI Paulson set prior to the cards mold chips I doubt I would have ordered anything. I think they are my favorite set. The Horse Shoe chips are better quality overall but given the cost I can't say they are 3x better but to each their own. I like both the Horse Shoe HSI primary and Cinci NCV and my own custom sets and I have no plans of adding more sets or really selling much in the future. Add-ons maybe but I don't really need any, the main pieces I am interested in are accessory button's, tokens, cards etc that could be customized and added to either set to make them better.

Here are a few of them all side by side....the Milano's are sold, some of the others have some extra's added on since the picture.

for quality on this table from best to least by my opinion
1-HSI primary
2-HSC NCV 36mm
3-Sloth Club, (cards mold Secondary's)
4-Milano Crazy Horse chips
5-Prestige, Cheapo Sluggo's
6-Nexgen Lucky Bee's (these are dying for a sloth club roulette label, I just need a table and wheel first....)

 

[warma]

Think of poker chips like art.

There’s so much beauty… and tastes change. Every once in a while you get a masterpiece you love forever. Sometimes you want a collection. Sometimes you wake up and realize you made a costly mistake.

If you feel you’re going to enjoy lots of beauty and cycle through chips, you can buy established pieces and hope they hold value. Or you can buy something custom knowing it likely won’t.

But art is expensive. With limited budgets, it may be wiser buy a print, or a poster, that lets you appreciate the artistry of the original piece.

No wrong answer, so long as you enjoy it and operate within your pre-defined space/financial boundaries.

 

[Taghkanic]

Assembling a Paulson THC or more exotic mold set (PCRs, et al.) may take a fair amount of time, patience and dough… But with all the recent ChipRoom sales, I think the community is pretty awash with RHCs, and you could probably put something together without too much trouble.

Also to some extent the flood of ChipRoom stuff has loosened up a few collections as people make room/ pare down/ move on from older acquisitions.

Main thing is to make a wish list of chips in your budget, and keep your eyes on the sales daily. 7-8 times daily.

 

[allforcharity]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Jeevansluck]

Hello and welcome!

You are on the right path to glory, samples.

Keep getting more. If you want to end up with a banger set that you love, get some more samples. Look at all the pr0n that is available in shear abundance.

You'll save money if you invest the time. That simple. If you just buy anything you see pop up, and you have unlimited funds, then this is the way.

If you want to mind a budget, then get samples, which can be sold and bought for no loss of money, and sharpen your search.

I'm a 2 year member, and I'm not gonna make it to 3. Priced right out. The prices are out of control from my perspective. I know I'm still a newb, but prices and sales tactics, and the general purpose of most of the chippers here has changed.

Have fun above all. Get many samples. Try to decide on the CPC idea. It's not so simple either. You need to see, feel, and hear all the molds in person. The colors and appearance is generally much different in person. The molds DONT FEEL the same. Any of them.

I've got ceramics, Paulsons, CPC (stock), BCC, and a few TRKs. I think I've become familiar with many chips, and yet, I still don't know about B&G and all their plastic prowess. I need samples!!!

Always an earshot away to help!

 

[Jeevansluck]

The smell is also a bit more of an issue than I expected it to be, I found myself sneezing from it a few times

And ya,

Never will go away! Never!

Like dirty socks that smell, disgusting! Made me sell all my China Clays in the beginning.

 

[BGinGA]

You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

 

[Coyote]

I read "nearly" drawn, whereas what you really wrote is "newly".
Too late.

Truly nice Paulsons take lots of patience, luck and connections, or extremely deep pockets.
I 'd start with off-the-shelf CPCs, including Key Wests.

 

[Jeevansluck]

I 'd start with off-the-shelf CPCs, including Key Wests

+1 Nik!

This was my first move also, 700 set of CPC Rounders with the CSQ mold. Today, it's nearly 1000 chips and I cherish it still.

 

[Squakmix]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I have had my eye on the CPC rounders and Atlantic club sets and I'm tempted to go the stock set route. My main hesitation is that I'm not a huge fan of the design of some of the chips in those sets; the 100s, 5000s, and 25000s for Atlantic club set aren't quite right to me, and I am not into the design of the 100s, 1000s, and 5000s of the rounders set. I'm also not sure how I feel about buying a chip set based on a specific movie too (albeit I enjoyed the movie). I've ordered some CPC samples that have yet to arrive so I'm not sure which mold feels best to me too.

 

[Squakmix]

Also I appreciate the warm welcomes, you all are great

 

[Taghkanic]

@Hobbyphilic ’s YouTube reviews give good overviews of many options short of going full Paulson/CPC, including weight, texture, durability, sound, etc. His year-end top 10s are a good place to start.

I don’t own any non-clay sets at the moment, but do still have some old bounty/seating chips I made from the 43mm Royals blanks at Apache. Majestics as I recall are the 39mm version of the same mold.

Having played with pretty much all the major low-end options in various social hall / small time home games, the Majestics/Royals strike me as a big cut above other options in that range, simulating clays bettter than other cheap composites... I haven’t handled the Bank chips thank Apache also sells, but they seem cut from the same jib.

I *really* dislike heavier slugged chips. The heavy chips suck to shuffle over a long game.

https://www.apachepokerchips.com/product/majestic-poker-chips/

https://www.apachepokerchips.com/product/bank-18xx-board-games-poker-chips/

… Now, all that said, I don’t think you’d regret just diving in to Paulsons. One thing about quality chips is that you can always get most or all of your cost back if you change your mind via the PCF classifieds.

 

[Squakmix]

Thanks for the video recommendation @Taghkanic. I actually learned about this forum originally through a different video of his, his stuff is great. I hadn't seen this particular one yet, it seems like a good overview of the state of the art right now. I was torn between Majestics and Milanos after trying both in the Apache poker variety sampler, and ultimately the mold swayed me toward Milanos but I get the sense that people really enjoy the Majestics. I suspect they'll suffer from the same smell issue and I'd ultimately upgrade from them eventually, so I think my next move is to return the Milanos and start hunting for some Paulsons.

 

[Jeevansluck]

Thanks for the advice everyone! I have had my eye on the CPC rounders and Atlantic club sets and I'm tempted to go the stock set route. My main hesitation is that I'm not a huge fan of the design of some of the chips in those sets; the 100s, 5000s, and 25000s for Atlantic club set aren't quite right to me, and I am not into the design of the 100s, 1000s, and 5000s of the rounders set. I'm also not sure how I feel about buying a chip set based on a specific movie too (albeit I enjoyed the movie). I've ordered some CPC samples that have yet to arrive so I'm not sure which mold feels best to me too.

Totally agree on the 1000s, and 5000s. They are lame. You can order customs through CPC. Many chippers here have made customs made.

Not sure about that 100 though, it's a beaut. IMHO. YMMV! It's a visual hobby afterall!

Don't fear that theme. Your players will love it. Mine sure do. The chips are fantastic man! When you get them, you will grin ear to ear, as I did, I'm sure.

You will need to add some mineral oil, but this has been debated so I digress. PM me for pics to show my point. Other than that, these chips will be a great purchase!

 

[Squakmix]

Yeah I can totally see how the 100s would be attractive to many people. Something about the black and green color scheme strikes me as "matrix-y" and doesn't hit the spot for whatever reason.