Philosophy: Rare playable set vs many samples (4 Viewers)

Rare Set vs Samples

  • Keep it as one rare set, chips are happy

  • Break it to multiple samples, people are happy


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markleteenie

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Philosophical situation:
Let's say you have 2-3 racks each of a very limited quantity/desirable chipset. Is it "better" (this is where the debate comes in) to have one playable set or break it up into 2-300 samples that 2-300 people can "enjoy," but is not actually playable.

Does the level of happiness brought to many people by having a sample outweigh the fact that the chips are not fulfilling their intended destiny/purpose (to be played) by being in a playable amount?

I can see both sides of the situation.
  • Felting rare sets brings it's own sense of pride at seeing the table with stacks and pots of usually very unique and fun colors.
  • In some instances, I am elated to acquire a rare sample because physically looking at the chip often has more impact than seeing pictures online.
Thoughts?

Disclaimer: I am not talking about any recent or past situation, just a thought I had about chip destiny.
 
If it is truly a rare setup with no known homes of other chips/racks, absolutely keep it together. Wouldn't want to break up one of a few or even one sets, especially since breaking it out is easy but bringing all those back together one day would be impossible for whoever.

Anything under that, I'm all for breaking it down! Shoot, if I have 2-300 of anything, and 2-300 actual people actually want it? I'm a sucker, I'd give in to peer pressure and let the masses enjoy a piece.

Lol so I guess my answer is for others to keep it together, and I would to, unless I had interest in samples for almost every single piece.
 
Like the title implies, it just comes down to personal philosophy. I have no interest in sample sets, (though I can appreciate having some cool singles.). So I’m squarely on the keep them together and play with them side of the debate.
Then again, they’re worth a lot more as singles, so if somebody wants to sell them off that way, to make some money, I’m not gonna argue.
 
I thought there might be people on both sides of the issue, but clearly it's more clear cut than I had thought.
To be fair, I voted this way as well.

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If they are that desirable then usually the breakup value is worth more than the set value.

Ignoring economics, I see both sides as well but will generally side with the answer that can bring more joy to more people. That being said, they are your chips, do what you think is best. I wouldn't worry about what others want as you won't please everyone. Good luck and pics?
 
Ha. The funny part is that people see the singles side as the more economical aspect, but if I sell it as a whole set, it’s getting auctioned. The sample side means probably 60-70 people are getting free samples, and the rest sold at normal cost.
 
As much as I love samples, unless I were to pull all my samples off the wall and mix them into one big playable set, they are simply that, just a sample to look at. The more I dive into chipping the more I can appreciate the value of an actual set and its playability.
 
If they are that desirable then usually the breakup value is worth more than the set value.

Ignoring economics, I see both sides as well but will generally side with the answer that can bring more joy to more people. That being said, they are your chips, do what you think is best. I wouldn't worry about what others want as you won't please everyone. Good luck and pics?
Oh I'm not holding! Honestly just curious.

I know a lot of people probably consider collecting enough rare chips to make them playable - a form of craziness too. And maybe they aren't wrong. Maybe no one is wrong. :cautious:
 
Disclaimer: I am not talking about any recent or past situation, just a thought I had about chip destiny.
I lied, I was thinking of a recent scenario - the hoard of Binions chips. I suspect they were selling them as singles for pure profit and not for spreading joy to collectors though, as my philosophical questions were positing.

Also, I'm not bashing any economical/capitalist reasons for selling sample sets either. Murica.
 
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Also voted for playable but up to a point. If there’s enough for 10+ sets, if one of them gets broken up to give 50+ people a sample set, why not
 
There really is no debate. Chips are meant to be played. I'm not a casino sample set supporter. Customs are something else however....

Imagine taking a rare Ferrari and parting it out so many museums could display a part...or that one lucky person keeping it in running order.
 
I lied, I was thinking of a recent scenario - the hoard of Binions chips. I suspect they were selling them as singles for pure profit and not for spreading joy to collectors though, as my philosophical questions were positing.

Also, I'm not bashing any economical/capitalist reasons for selling sample sets either. Murica.

This has been the way of the CCTGACTGGACCTCACC for decades. This is literally the entire singles community game. The dealers often have huge quantities of the chips they sell off one-by-one, slowly over time. They'll have 20 racks of a chip in storage, hawking them off on eBay and the Chip Convention at the rate of 3 chips per year. They try to hide how many they have from others so that the singles collectors think they're rare and will keep paying top dollar for them. But that community isn't very big. There just aren't very many people that collect singles. Eventually, they wake up one day at the age of 83 and notice they still have 1967 left of their initial 2000 chips and someone from PCF talks them into selling their remaining racks. This is how most of the great sets around here have surfaced (Nevada Lodge, Mapes, Lakeshore Inn, New China Club, Binion's WSOP, etc.). Literally same story with almost every single one of the greatest sets in this community. Some of those dealers are borderline scam artists/conmen, some are great people and awesome to work with. Tread lightly, keep your wits about you and deal with kindness and you might find some really great scores with enough effort.

TLDR? - Don't sell the singles. There just aren't enough buyers. You're never selling through 300 sample sets of anything, and probably never even selling through more than 50 of them unless you practically start giving them away. Playable sets >>>>>>>> Sample sets (and I collect both).
 
I may be alone with this viewpoint, but to me, being a "set blocker" is the FAR greater chipping sin than being a "flipper". To each their own.
That's a tough one to define though.

It could go either way. Is having a set that's too big considered as set blocking? Or is having only a small set considered set blocking?
 
That's a tough one to define though.

It could go either way. Is having a set that's too big considered as set blocking? Or is having only a small set considered set blocking?

I don't think having a large playable set is set blocking at all. As long as you're not hoarding just one or two particular denoms from that set. The balance of chips is what's important. But having a really small unplayable set could be set blocking, depending on the balance of that set as a whole. If there are a lot of those chips overall, then it's not set blocking, but if there weren't many to begin with and that small set is a sizeable percentage of the overall chips, then it could definitely be blocking someone from completing a playable set.

I think of set blocking as when someone buys up a significant percentage of a particular denom from a set with the intention of either murdering them and putting them into a different set, or keeping them in a mixed set that blocks everyone else from completing their sets, or building a limit set out of a particular denom that also blocks other sets.

Fictional examples:
  • Someone buys up the majority of Highway 9 $100s and relabels them as part of their "Nine Lives" semi-custom THC set, leaving a dozen other members with Highway 9 sets all lacking the hundos for their cash game sets.
  • Someone travels back in time and buys up all of the RVCL $25s and uses them as fracs in their "Soapbox Cars" mixed THC set, leaving softchewy to beg for years trying to complete his set.
  • Someone buys up 80% of the 8V ES fracs and turns them into a relabled limit set while having no interest at all in any of the other ES chips, thus blocking dozens of other ES collectors from completing their sets.
Not so fictional example:
  • @RainmanTrail buys up over half of the Kash $5000s, murders them and turns them into Lakeshore Inn $100s, blocking all those chippers who were dying to put together a Kash Casino sticker tourney set.
Non-set blocking examples:
  • Someone buys up a massive hoard of $2s from a Chip Room offering to make a limit set out of them ($2s don't block anyone's sets).
 
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I think of set blocking as when someone buys up a significant percentage of a particular denom from a set with the intention of either murdering them and putting them into a different set, or keeping them in a mixed set that blocks everyone else from completing their sets, or building a limit set out of a particular denom that also blocks other sets.

Fictional examples:
  • Someone buys up the majority of Highway 9 $100s and relabels them as part of their "Nine Lives" semi-custom THC set, leaving a dozen other members with Highway 9 sets all lacking the hundos for their cash game sets.
  • Someone travels back in time and buys up all of the RVCL $25s and uses them as fracs in their "Soapbox Cars" mixed THC set, leaving softchewy to beg for years trying to complete his set.
  • Someone buys up 80% of the 8V ES fracs and turns them into a relabled limit set while having no interest at all in any of the other ES chips, thus blocking dozens of other ES collectors from completing their sets.
Not so fictional example:
  • @RainmanTrail buys up over half of the Kash $5000s, murders them and turns them into Lakeshore Inn $100s, blocking all those chippers who were dying to put together a Kash Casino sticker tourney set.
Non-set blocking examples:
  • Someone buys up a massive hoard of $2s from a Chip Room offering to make a limit set out of them ($2s don't block anyone's sets).
Ok so you've defined that fairly clearly lol

But you put yourself as the example :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:. Those Kash suck and deserve to be murdered anyway.

Most of those examples I understand, not quite so sure I agree about the mixed set part though, as long as they are being used and loved.
 
Those Kash suck and deserve to be murdered anyway.

It's not something that happens often. There really aren't many examples of it, and I don't care to call anyone specific out for it. But my Kash $5000s is definitely an example of what could be viewed as set blocking. However, I don't think much of it with these since there were about twice as many $5000s made as there were $1000s, so the balance was already off to begin with, but more importantly, I just can't imagine anyone actually wanting to put together a playable set of the Kash chips to begin with. Almost all of those chips are probably going to get murdered or relabeled. Stickers just aren't very popular.
 
If there was a third middle option, I would be there, and it seems like most others would be as well. I liked @RainmanTrail description. There's a small flipside for those that can't afford to collect entire sets though, and are really happy to have and be able to display some samples.

I'd never break a whole one of a kind set because as you mentioned you're just not gonna have 300 people that all really want and appreciate a sample, but it's always awesome when someone has "enough" (whatever that is!), and breaks off a small piece of history to share. @inca911 ran this thread here https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/the-vineyard-casino-history-and-info.20015/ which was an awesome piece to read/learn from. Then he additionally threw out samples from his extras for people to have a piece, at a super "I want people to have and enjoy these" price! I voted keep it together, but this is a solid example of the "porridge is just right" for me.
 

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