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nOOb looking for guidance. (1 Viewer)

TheWhat

TheWhat

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Been lurking for a few weeks since we've decided to move on from our Classic composite set, you know the type from 20 years ago?

Anyhow, watched a bunch of Hobbyphilic videos, who I understand to be a member here. Followed some advice and ordered a sampler set to get a feel for some options. That came from Apache, and was great to deal with. Narrowed down that 20 count to 8 potentials. But this has led to some confusion, as not really clear as we are fluid, and trying to further down again.

The "short" list if we can call it that, with some side thoughts:

Monte Carlo - Love the look, and the inner hologram striping.

Monaco Club - Showdown - Poker Knights - Feel like the same chip? Prefer the Peach colored .50 piece available for Poker Knights and Showdown.

Mint - Love the triangles and dashes.

Nile Club - Really like the feel and art.

Scrolls - Wife loves, not sure I like the texture.


Complicating matters a little, denominations that I would like are not available for all sets. Background info is we play a small cash game regularly. I would like denominations as below:

.25
.50
1.00
5.00
10.00 or 25.00

Should I be hung up on that? Mainly the .50 piece, is causing me problems as I'd need to order from multiple sites. The problem there outside of that base shipping being tacked onto everything, which sites?

Apache was great.

Poker Chip Mania, looks as though it could fill in the gaps. Did read somewhere though that even if ordering the same sets, there could be a difference in quality between Apache and Poker Chip Mania, anyone have experience with this?

Then lastly as 2 of the above were ceramics, stumbled onto BR Pro Poker, where the Semi Custom Valentinos caught my eye. I know I could order a sampler there, but shipping to Canada is pushing $20 a pop ... any chance that the Valentinos would be similar to either the Nile, or Scrolls (Similar to Showdown - Poker Knights).

Thanks for any input you may be able to provide.
 
I can’t advise you on which set—that is really personal preference with many variables that factor in to it.

But size and breakdown I can opine on. Stakes? How many players? Typical buy-in?

In almost all cases, the .50 chip is a waste of money and space in your set, since the .25 can be used where the .50 is needed. And you should never have both fracs in play at the same time—I’ve been in a game like that and it is a disaster. Same goes for a $10 chip. Totally not needed, and its place can be held by two $5s. A $20 or $25 is much better to have as a value chip.

Without knowing more about your game, here is some very general guidance:

You definitely don’t need more than 100 fracs in a full ring game. More just get in the way and are a waste of money and space if you are trying to maximize your breakdown efficiency.

This fella’s advice is wise, thoughtful and without peer on this very topic; in addition he is a hell of a guy and good looking to boot:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/need-help-with-cash-set-breakdown.6473/#post-67892

If you want even more flexibility (and future-proof your set) get 1000 in a 100/200/400/200/100 breakdown, but honestly, you can get by with fewer.

I am not wrong. ;)
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't order 25¢ and 50¢ chips for the same game. If you truly play a 25¢/50¢ game, just get quarters. If, like most, the game plays bigger, consider just getting 50¢ers and play 50¢/50¢.

Your chipset is much more efficient if you stick with the standard progression of 4x-5x between denoms. So for that reasons, I'd consider $20 or $25 rather than a $10 chip.

Think of it this way: everything else being equal, if you bought 50x$10 for your bank, you could accomplish the same thing with 20x$25.

If your group is used to 50¢ and $10 chips, it can be hard to break them of the habit, but it's best for the long run.
 
TheWhat said:
The "short" list if we can call it that, with some side thoughts:

Monte Carlo - Love the look, and the inner hologram striping.

Monaco Club - Showdown - Poker Knights - Feel like the same chip? Prefer the Peach colored .50 piece available for Poker Knights and Showdown.

Mint - Love the triangles and dashes.

Nile Club - Really like the feel and art.

Scrolls - Wife loves, not sure I like the texture

Then lastly as 2 of the above were ceramics, stumbled onto BR Pro Poker, where the Semi Custom Valentinos caught my eye. I know I could order a sampler there, but shipping to Canada is pushing $20 a pop ... any chance that the Valentinos would be similar to either the Nile, or Scrolls
Click to expand...
Anything you find on the BRProPoker site (or Sun-Fly) will be far superior and tons nicer ceramics than either Nile Clubs or Scrolls, which are bottom-feeders in the ceramic chip pool (many QC and breakage issues with those two).

The other chips you listed are all cheap injection-molded plastic chips with added metal core inserts to provide extra weight. The Poker Knights trio is probably the best of that bunch, but there's not a whole lot of difference between any of the chips at the 16c/chip price point.
 
Of the chips you listed my opinion is that the Mint are the best option for a budget chip. Nice design and they stack decently. I liked the look of The Monte Carlo too, but they did not stack nicely, they are a bit slippery so occasionally you have stacks falling over.

I had a full set of the Nile Club because I too thought the artwork was very cool (which it is), but my experience was that they were almost impossible to play with. Extremely slippery, stacks of chips falling over every time you touch them.

When I first upgraded my chips a little over a year ago I bought from Apache. I remember drooling over the Majestic and Dunes sets, but thinking to myself "There's no way I would ever pay 42c per chip!" , so I went with all the cheaper options you listed. I think within 6 months I owned a 1,000 chip set of the Dunes and bought a custom ceramic set that was about $1 per chip.
 
I think you may want to get more samples. Unless you are very restricted by budget, you have only the least expensive (and arguably lowest quality) chips that would tend to be mentioned on this site. Not deliberately trying to upsell you, but there's a wider world out there.
 
Welcome to the forum. I'm going to say that bare minimum baseline should be used MIlano China Clay (CC) chips (or comparable ceramics). 31 cents per chip new and routinely sold via PCF used for 25 cents per chip. In three to six months, when you inevitably upgrade to Paulsons, you can sell them to another new member at cost.

P.S. I didn't believe I would follow this path either, but now I have one CC set and two Paulson cash sets. (PCF member for 100 days.)
 
+1 for minimizing the number of denominations on the table and in your bank and avoiding weird, redundant denoms like $.50s and $10s and $50s. Less is more in that regard.

You didn't say if you were playing any split pot games, but if so, you'll want less chips on the table for that reason too. Dividing a big pot with a lot of chips and various denoms is cumbersome and will slow the game down a lot.

When it comes to mass produced chips, there are a few things that matter beyond cosmetics. Opinions will vary, but in general durability, stackability, feel, sound and product consistency in terms of color and thickness are the most important attributes. It's challenging to dispense generic advice without knowing what's important to you since much of the discussion revolves around what you want to accomplish and a lot is simply a matter of preference.

Budget is also a big consideration. You can put together a pretty decent set with a modest budget if you're creative about it, but the more cash you have to work with, the more options you have.

So I guess talk some more about your budget and what's most important to you and you'll get better guidance.
 
Here's a great design that suffers from too many denoms:

IMG_20200423_124047368~2.jpg


My how little we learn with the passage of time...

IMG_20200423_124355158~2.jpg


Better, but...

IMG_20200423_124653941~2.jpg
 
Thanks for the tips. Can certainly get behind fewer chip denominations. Think a nice design (Obviously fairly subjective) with colors that pop, is likely most important.

The game itself is just a friendly, casual game .25 / .50 that on occasion plays bigger, but for the most part only a few on any given night will go in for 300BB. Ranges from 6 - 9 players. Was thinking I should be able to get away with 400 chips.

There's room to increase the budget from the Majestic (I like those, wife wasn't super excited about them) or Dunes level; but probably not enough to say jump up to the Rounders Replicas, off Classic Poker Chips for ie. Not sure where that leaves me?

Are there other sites to peruse? I've peeked a bit around here in the classifieds, are acquiring these chips more of a hobby / pursuit in this way?
 
TheWhat said:
Been lurking for a few weeks since we've decided to move on from our Classic composite set, you know the type from 20 years ago?

Anyhow, watched a bunch of Hobbyphilic videos, who I understand to be a member here. Followed some advice and ordered a sampler set to get a feel for some options. That came from Apache, and was great to deal with. Narrowed down that 20 count to 8 potentials. But this has led to some confusion, as not really clear as we are fluid, and trying to further down again.

The "short" list if we can call it that, with some side thoughts:

Monte Carlo - Love the look, and the inner hologram striping.

Monaco Club - Showdown - Poker Knights - Feel like the same chip? Prefer the Peach colored .50 piece available for Poker Knights and Showdown.

Mint - Love the triangles and dashes.

Nile Club - Really like the feel and art.

Scrolls - Wife loves, not sure I like the texture.


Complicating matters a little, denominations that I would like are not available for all sets. Background info is we play a small cash game regularly. I would like denominations as below:

.25
.50
1.00
5.00
10.00 or 25.00

Should I be hung up on that? Mainly the .50 piece, is causing me problems as I'd need to order from multiple sites. The problem there outside of that base shipping being tacked onto everything, which sites?

Apache was great.

Poker Chip Mania, looks as though it could fill in the gaps. Did read somewhere though that even if ordering the same sets, there could be a difference in quality between Apache and Poker Chip Mania, anyone have experience with this?

Then lastly as 2 of the above were ceramics, stumbled onto BR Pro Poker, where the Semi Custom Valentinos caught my eye. I know I could order a sampler there, but shipping to Canada is pushing $20 a pop ... any chance that the Valentinos would be similar to either the Nile, or Scrolls (Similar to Showdown - Poker Knights).

Thanks for any input you may be able to provide.
Click to expand...
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/gene-kristil-micro-stakes-magic.53333/#post-1014737. I got the semi Custom Valentino's from brpropoker.com and they are well worth it. Definitely a whole lot better than anything else you mentioned here, and I think I had every one of those other sets you mentioned at one point or another.
 
TheWhat said:
The game itself is just a friendly, casual game .25 / .50 that on occasion plays bigger, but for the most part only a few on any given night will go in for 300BB. Ranges from 6 - 9 players. Was thinking I should be able to get away with 400 chips.
Click to expand...
For a 25¢/50¢ game for 9 players, you're looking at 500 chips at a minimum.

100x25¢
180x$1
200x$5
20x$20/$25
 
TheWhat said:
Thanks for the tips. Can certainly get behind fewer chip denominations. Think a nice design (Obviously fairly subjective) with colors that pop, is likely most important.

The game itself is just a friendly, casual game .25 / .50 that on occasion plays bigger, but for the most part only a few on any given night will go in for 300BB. Ranges from 6 - 9 players. Was thinking I should be able to get away with 400 chips.

There's room to increase the budget from the Majestic (I like those, wife wasn't super excited about them) or Dunes level; but probably not enough to say jump up to the Rounders Replicas, off Classic Poker Chips for ie. Not sure where that leaves me?

Are there other sites to peruse? I've peeked a bit around here in the classifieds, are acquiring these chips more of a hobby / pursuit in this way?
Click to expand...
I usually advise 600 chips to cover a 10-player single-table cash game, but with 6-9 players, you might get by with just 500. Only 400 cash chips sounds really thin to me, having a negative impact on the game.

There are several solid choices between the low-end Milanos and high-end CPC stock clay sets: mid-range china clays (43mm royals from apache, for example), decent ceramics (pretty much anything on the Sun-Fly or BRProPoker web sites), hybrids (from Sunfly), and used clay chips (from PCF vendors or posted in the Classifieds) are all good options.

Personally, I'd go with either a stock ceramic or semi-custom set from BRPro, or a tag onto a group buy of Sun-Fly hybrids.
 
At 10 for 100BB the below feel right? Knowing often we are at 7 or 8.

.25 x 200
1.00 x 250
5.00 x 50

We are used to having cash up on the table, but would like to get away from that practice. It's never been a problem, but not wanting to tempt fate.
 
TheWhat said:
Are there other sites to peruse? I've peeked a bit around here in the classifieds, are acquiring these chips more of a hobby / pursuit in this way?
Click to expand...
I think this is the place to be man..

I started out with the same kind of goals as you. I had a .30/chip budget max.

Then I sampled some premium stuff, and my brain was rocked, overloaded, and overwhelmed by what I saw and felt.

I've found every single chip I have, perusing this site and the Classifieds herein.
 
There are excellent quality plastics out there for intermediate prices, too. Check out denizz deals, Russian chips, The Chip Exchange, and Holdem Poker in the Vendors section for some examples.
 
400 chips for a 9 handed game is pretty thin but you could make it work with a breakdown of:

100 .25s
100 $1s
175 $5s
25 $25s

That's a bank of $1625 which should be plenty for a .25/.50 game... supply the lower buy ins with all the $5s and below and all the top-ups/reloads with the $25s and let them get change from another player at the table.

Another option is to make a rule so people must bet in increments of $1. This would reduce the need for so many quarters. Many casinos do this with $1/2 PLO where all action is in increments of $5.

If you like ceramic chips you can't go wrong with the ones from BRPro. From a quality/prestige standpoint they are probably the best value for the money. I'd stay away from Scrolls and Dunes for their lack of durability (my opinion formed from experience). The Royals/Board game chips from Apache with custom labels from @Gear or @ABC Gifts and Awards are probably a close second to the ceramics from BRPro.

The next step up from there is probably casino worn Paulsons from the classifieds. You can usually find some decent deals for ~$1/chip. Here's some of the chips I use in both my NL and FL games... I think I paid <$1/chip for everything pictured.

56433430_10205459653767321_8036230792633909248_n.jpg


56517132_10205459653007302_8931308479700795392_n.jpg


56711201_10205459653487314_7384833121692155904_n.jpg
 
Those are looking awesome @Moxie Mike

After determining a loose number desired, how are folks coming to the conclusion of which colors to pair?

@allforcharity where do I access the Vendor section? Not seeing it currently.
 
I'd recommend checking out this thread. Really helped me get a feel for the differences between all the sample sets I ordered vs Paulsons. The guy in line before me also added some CPC samples. My wife isn't convinced that we should spend the money for mint paulsons for our first sets...but she did agree to raise the budget after handling everything. :D
 
Thanks, think I have stumbled onto some of the Vendors, scrolling scrolling scrolling ...

What an amazing place.

Can someone explain the Group Buys I have seen around? And also the meaning of CONUS?
 
TheWhat said:
Can someone explain the Group Buys I have seen around?
Click to expand...

Simply put, a Group Buy is when a call goes out for a bulk purchase of merchandise (sometimes from a forum Vendor, sometimes not). Participation in a Group Buy is open to any registered member. Group Buys are done to try to purchase things that usually won't be available to individual members (i.e. custom designed poker chips from an International manufacturer) or would be cost-prohibitive to order in small quantities. There's been Group Buys for all sorts of things: cut cards, dealer buttons, custom chips, neoprene table toppers, chip racks, etc. The list goes on and on.

There's one active Group Buy in the works for Sun-Fly hybrid ceramic poker chips from a design made by @p5woody .
There's one temporarily on hold Group Buy for Matsui 43mm chip cases
 

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