questions about chip choices and set breakdown (update w/pics!) (1 Viewer)

halfbreed

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Hi there, new to the forum and am looking to upgrade our twice weekly house game from dice chips to something nicer. Mainly I have two questions, which chips I should be looking at (I will get samples before buying) and once I make a decision, what should the denominational breakdown for the set be.

Have to say, after reading a decent amount on this site and elsewhere, the choices are kind of confusing. There are different versions of the same chip style (ABS Dunes all the way to the original Paulsons), especially for ceramics because the same design can easily be printed on different blanks. In any case, as far as I can tell there's a few different tiers of chips:


Dice tier ($.10 a chip) - self explanatory
"Nicer" ABS tier ($.15-.20) - e.g. Poker Nights, Crown Casino, Nexgen
China Clays/Cheap Ceramics ($.30-.40) - e.g. Majestic, Royal, Pharaoh, Scroll, BBO, Venerati
Mid ceramics ($.50-$.80) - e.g. BRPro, Sun-Fly
High-end Ceramics ($.80-$.90) - e.g. Chipco, PGI
Casino quality (over $1) - e.g. Paulson, CPC, Matsui, Bud Jones


Is that kind of correct?

I’m looking for 39mm chips in the 9-10g range. As for how much I can spend, I’m not sure I want to go much over $300 for a set of around 500. Of what I’ve seen, I want to get samples of BRPro's Dia De Los Muertos (really like the design of these), some of the Apache china clays, and hopefully some cheaper used casino chips that come on sale. I’m bummed I missed out on the discounts for the Dia De Los Muertos and the recent Tunica Roadhouse sale (missed it by 10 freaking days!). How rarely do used Paulsons come on sale like that at $.50 a chip? Do you guys have any other suggestions for chips I should look at?


On to the breakdown:

Info on our house game: We play a 6-10 player cash game with .25/.50 blinds and a $20 initial buy in until someone goes bust. After that you can rebuy for however much you want. It's a pretty loose game where total buy in by the end of the night can hit almost $1000 on the high end. Chip usage in 10 player games usually break down to:

$.25 - 100-140 chips (usage varies depending on who's banking that night)
$1 - 140 chips
$5 - 100 chips
$25 - 10 chips

So, about 400 chips in total get used on average, although I'm ok spending an extra $50 or so for future flexibility - especially considering average buy in has increased over the past year. So with that, I was thinking of something like this:


$.25 - 130 chips (enough for 12 each at buy in)
$1 - 150 chips
$5 - 150 chips
$25 - 70 chips


Does that seem reasonable?

Thanks for any help/suggestions!
 
I'm very new to the forum, but I think your breakdown of chips and cost sounds about right. I was originally scared away from CC's since I've seen labels fall off of chips. That's why I really focused on the ceramics. The designs play a huge part in a ceramic chip, so I think you have to really fall in love with the graphics to go for them. For me, it was the a tossup between the Nevada Jacks and the Chipco classics. I eventually went with the NJ's because it added some really cool flair. They're a fun set. Please stay away from the scroll. Between their feel, graphics, and quality issues with offset printing, they kinda suck.

And honestly, I would still stay away from most of the CC's as well, except for the Majestics. Those are an awesome chip! The quality of the labels, not to mention the chips themselves, surprised me.

Your cash game sounds very similar to mine. My breakdown is basically:

$0.25 - 100
$0.50 - 150
$1.00 - 150
$5.00 - 50

In your example, you're increasing the $25 chips by over $1500. That seems excessive for a cash game. It's not enough to reuse the set in a tournament -- nor should you (keep cash and tourny separate). But I think it's more than you'd need in $25's for your cash game.
 
Cool, thanks for the feedback. I was mostly just thinking of picking up some samples of the Muertos, Majestics, and Dunes so far, and I've been scanning the classifieds for used clays or ceramics, so seems like I'm on the same page.

As for the breakdown, you're probably right. Original buy in was at most around $900-1000, so maybe something more along the lines of 130/150/190/30, which is almost $1900. If we get some new players that are less conservative I can see it getting to that. If I go for more expensive chips I could maybe try to switch to a 400 chip set split 130/130/100/40 for a bank of about $1650, and expand later if I need to.
 
Hi there, new to the forum and am looking to upgrade our twice weekly house game from dice chips to something nicer.

As for breakdown, need to know stakes and number of players. Cash or tournament. And if cash, how big the game plays. Even then, the breakdown is somewhat dependent on feel...

For 25¢/50¢ cash game and $20 buyins, I'd probably start with

12 x 25¢
17 x $1

After that, all rebuys would be 4 x $5, but if you get $1000 on the table, you're going to want some $20 chips and some $100's too.

For 10 players, you'll do fine with

120 x 25¢ = $30
180 x $1 = $180
180x $5 = $900
20 x $20/$25 = $400/500

That's a bank of $1500/1600 and a 500 chip set. Should work fine for your game.

FWIW, given the option, I prefer a $20 chip for cash games. It's more flexible.

You can find casino $1 Paulsons with alot of life at around $1 per chip. $5's too. $25's can be found in the same price point (and you need so few, a couple bucks more won't really sting). But if your looking for Roadhouse condition clays, however, you are gonna have trouble with quarters. You're gonna over-pay or going to be doing a relabel. Check out the Cleveland/Cincy Horseshoes. They may be exactly what you need.
 
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There’s zero reason to have a quarter and a fifty cent chip in a 0.25/0.50 game. It’s inefficient and a waste of chipping funds.

Use a non denom frac. It can be used as any denom you desire in case your game eventually plays bigger.

As always, 100/200/200/100 breakdown at a minimum. 100/200/400/200/100 preferred.

Starting stacks in a cash game are useless and irrelevant IMO. YMMV of course
 
For 500 chips, I’ll second @WedgeRock’s breakdown.

For 600, I like a variant of @RichMahogany’s breakdown:

.25/non-denom - 100
$1 - 200
$5 - 200
$20/25 - 80
$100 - 20

Also, +1 on no need for $.50 chips.
 
With $1000 on the table, even six-handed, that's only $166ish each. I don't think you're really going to need $100 chips (my mention of it earlier was in regards to future growth).

If you want them, fine, but in that case, something like

120x25¢
180x$1
160x$5
30x$20/$25
10x$100

Can your OCD handle split barrels?

Also, there is wisdom in @RichMahogany's suggestion of 100xND for fracs for two reasons.

First, 100 seems light on the fracs, right? What are you going to do, give everybody 8? No. Your going to give the first 8 players 12, the 9th player will get 4 and 2 extra $1, and the 10th player will get no quarters and just make change at the table. It's doable, especially if your not playing 10 handed every time. NDs (like Starbursts) are much more readily available. And a rack is easier to find (and later sell) if you're looking in the classifieds.

Second, NDs can be used as quarters, or 50c, or even $100's. Plus it allows you to get your set going while you search for the right frac. And later, they can be introduced as 100's if needed. So your set can go from 25¢/50¢ to 50¢/$1 to $1/$2 (you'll need more fives at this point, and probably more twenty-fives). It allows your set to be flexible.

If you were getting customs, I wouldn't recommend NDs, but with casino used Paulsons, it's a great option.
 
For these stakes a bank of about 1800 should be plenty. 9 players in for an average of 200 each seems pretty good.

100 * 0.25
200 * 1
160 * 5
40 * 20/25

Bank 1825/2025

Alternatively, you could just get 0.50 chips to play 0.50-0.50 blinds. Then you can get fewer fractional chips. And have some upward flexibility to play .50-1

60*0.50
140*1
200*5
80*25
20*100

Bank 5170

Just some thoughts.

In your price range I would be looking squarely at the ceramics at br pro or @ABC Gifts and Awards, ( both operated by Gene @ABC)

Good luck.
 
I'd start with samples, samples and samples. There honesty isn't too much value in over analyzing the options until you have gotten to feel the chips.
Ok, thanks. Will probably try to get a hold of the sample set sticky-d at the top of the forum, although those seem to be mostly cheaper options. Do Paulsons all feel pretty similar across molds? CPCs, Matsuis, Bud Jones? Or do you usually need to feel up each set you are actually considering purchasing?

As for breakdown, need to know stakes and number of players. Cash or tournament. And if cash, how big the game plays. Even then, the breakdown is somewhat dependent on feel...

For 25¢/50¢ cash game and $20 buyins, I'd probably start with

12 x 25¢
17 x $1

After that, all rebuys would be 4 x $5, but if you get $1000 on the table, you're going to want some $20 chips and some $100's too.

For 10 players, you'll do fine with

120 x 25¢ = $30
180 x $1 = $180
180x $5 = $900
20 x $20/$25 = $400/500

That's a bank of $1500/1600 and a 500 chip set. Should work fine for your game.

FWIW, given the option, I prefer a $20 chip for cash games. It's more flexible.

You can find casino $1 Paulsons with alot of life at around $1 per chip. $5's too. $25's can be found in the same price point (and you need so few, a couple bucks more won't really sting). But if your looking for Roadhouse condition clays, however, you are gonna have trouble with quarters. You're gonna over-pay or going to be doing a relabel. Check out the Cleveland/Cincy Horseshoes. They may be exactly what you need.
I posted the type of home game we play in the OP, although I could add the info that individual pots are usually in the neighborhood of $40-150. I posted a revised breakdown in my second post (3rd in the thread) that is somewhat close to what you suggested, so I guess I'm on the right track. In general I've found that any more than 130-ish chips for the $0.25 and $1 denoms in our game don't need to come out much. $0.25 for sure, but a few extra $1s wouldn't be the worst thing. I'll also keep $20s instead of $25s in mind if I can find them. Seems like $25s are more common. We designate one of the dice chips as $25 normally.

I agree that if I go with casino chips, I'll probably have to go with ND chips for the $0.25 denom. I realize most casinos use real quarters/half dollars for a reason. If they didn't I'd totally try to snake enough for a home set. I can see the benefit of having one flexible chip also.

Saw some horseshoe posts for sale. Me likey.

There’s zero reason to have a quarter and a fifty cent chip in a 0.25/0.50 game. It’s inefficient and a waste of chipping funds.

Use a non denom frac. It can be used as any denom you desire in case your game eventually plays bigger.

As always, 100/200/200/100 breakdown at a minimum. 100/200/400/200/100 preferred.

Starting stacks in a cash game are useless and irrelevant IMO. YMMV of course
Lol. You guys must be so used to having to explain to people having close denominations is mathematically inefficient that you automatically assume I want to go there also. No worries, I plan to keep denom splits to multiples of 4 or 5. Thanks for looking out though :)

With $1000 on the table, even six-handed, that's only $166ish each. I don't think you're really going to need $100 chips (my mention of it earlier was in regards to future growth).

If you want them, fine, but in that case, something like

120x25¢
180x$1
160x$5
30x$20/$25
10x$100

Can your OCD handle split barrels?

Also, there is wisdom in @RichMahogany's suggestion of 100xND for fracs for two reasons.

First, 100 seems light on the fracs, right? What are you going to do, give everybody 8? No. Your going to give the first 8 players 12, the 9th player will get 4 and 2 extra $1, and the 10th player will get no quarters and just make change at the table. It's doable, especially if your not playing 10 handed every time. NDs (like Starbursts) are much more readily available. And a rack is easier to find (and later sell) if you're looking in the classifieds.

Second, NDs can be used as quarters, or 50c, or even $100's. Plus it allows you to get your set going while you search for the right frac. And later, they can be introduced as 100's if needed. So your set can go from 25¢/50¢ to 50¢/$1 to $1/$2 (you'll need more fives at this point, and probably more twenty-fives). It allows your set to be flexible.

If you were getting customs, I wouldn't recommend NDs, but with casino used Paulsons, it's a great option.
Wasn't planning on getting a $100 denom. You guys have made a good case that if I do the ND thing for the low end initially that should be good enough.

Good call on my semi-OCD, but it's not so bad I can't handle split barrels (a barrel is 20 chips, right?) Kind of funny that lower end chips are sold in stacks of 25 instead of 20.

For these stakes a bank of about 1800 should be plenty. 9 players in for an average of 200 each seems pretty good.

In your price range I would be looking squarely at the ceramics at br pro or @ABC Gifts and Awards, ( both operated by Gene @ABC)

Good luck.
Yeah, if I go with new chips I'm digging the Muertos design. I'm ordering samples of those for sure.

Anyway, thanks for all the info people. More stuff to chew on.
 
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If you have the equipment and can invest the time in milling (with a drill press, router, CNC machine, or the like), then you can semi-customize some hot stamped clay chips by milling out the original hot stamp and purchasing and applying your own customized labels on top. This can be done with Paulsons, ASMs, etc. and sometimes these types of chips can be gotten for low prices, especially if they are old stock that was used for home games, or generic roulette-style chips, or whatever.
 
I'd start with samples, samples and samples. There honesty isn't too much value in over analyzing the options until you have gotten to feel the chips.
Ok, thanks. Will probably try to get a hold of the sample set sticky-d at the top of the forum, although those seem to be mostly cheaper options. Do Paulsons all feel pretty similar across molds? CPCs, Matsuis, Bud Jones? Or do you usually need to feel up each set you are actually considering purchasing?

I should be more specific here. I can get some Roadhouse and Horseshoe sample sets from ABC. Besides getting them both to see how they look up close, there's not much of a reason to get both samples, right? The should feel pretty damn similar, no?
 
Some late night browsing and I'm starting to get an idea for an actual matching set with all horseshoe chips instead of mixing and matching. I can put together 140 $1s, 100 $5s, and 40 $25s for a $1640 bank at a cost of about $240 before shipping. Would need 120 NDs to complete a 400 chip set. From the way we currently play I know 120 fracs and 140 $1s are enough. 100 $5s are a little short but it's already what we make do with in our current game. Could pick up another rack of 5s down the line later if needed. Seem reasonable?

Wish I had some samples already in hand so I would know if I even want to go this way.
 
Do Paulsons all feel pretty similar across molds? CPCs, Matsuis, Bud Jones? Or do you usually need to feel up each set you are actually considering purchasing?
The major casino used fabricators you mentioned are all VERY different. Also the most expensive options. Paulson vary mostly depending on wear. Ceramics are another good option with some variation so get a sample of the actual design, such as the Muertos, before ordering a whole set. China Clays have huge swings in feel and quality. Be sure to check the site sponsors on who to order from. @Hobbyphilic YouTube videos are a rich source of info.
 
Yes, having close denoms might be mathematically inefficient. But it's a ton of fun to see that extra color out on the table!
 
Some late night browsing and I'm starting to get an idea for an actual matching set with all horseshoe chips instead of mixing and matching. I can put together 140 $1s, 100 $5s, and 40 $25s for a $1640 bank at a cost of about $240 before shipping. Would need 120 NDs to complete a 400 chip set. From the way we currently play I know 120 fracs and 140 $1s are enough. 100 $5s are a little short but it's already what we make do with in our current game. Could pick up another rack of 5s down the line later if needed. Seem reasonable?

Wish I had some samples already in hand so I would know if I even want to go this way.

Only you know what stakes you play and the bank you will need for your regular players, so if you're sure this works for you, then it's a perfectly fine breakdown. The Horseshoe Cincy chips may continue to be available for a while, but woe to me (and others) who deferred on purchasing something specific until later only to find there were no more left to buy when the time came..
 
The major casino used fabricators you mentioned are all VERY different. Also the most expensive options. Paulson vary mostly depending on wear. Ceramics are another good option with some variation so get a sample of the actual design, such as the Muertos, before ordering a whole set. China Clays have huge swings in feel and quality. Be sure to check the site sponsors on who to order from. @Hobbyphilic YouTube videos are a rich source of info.
Sorry, I know they are different between fabricators (Paulsons feel nothing like Matsuis), but I was asking if most Paulsons feel similar to each other (accounting for wear), or if most Matuis feel similar to each other, etc.

I've watched a bunch of @Hobbyphilic's posts already. They've been helpful.
Only you know what stakes you play and the bank you will need for your regular players, so if you're sure this works for you, then it's a perfectly fine breakdown. The Horseshoe Cincy chips may continue to be available for a while, but woe to me (and others) who deferred on purchasing something specific until later only to find there were no more left to buy when the time came..
Good point.
 
Sorry, I know they are different between fabricators (Paulsons feel nothing like Matsuis), but I was asking if most Paulsons feel similar to each other (accounting for wear), or if most Matuis feel similar to each other, etc.
Unfortunately not. Mold differences change the characteristics of different chips made by the same manufacturer -- true for CPC/ASM, Paulson, Bud Jones, Matsui, even ceramics (Sun-Fly, etc.). Weight can also vary across molds/materials used, which affects feel (and sound).
 
Unfortunately not. Mold differences change the characteristics of different chips made by the same manufacturer -- true for CPC/ASM, Paulson, Bud Jones, Matsui, even ceramics (Sun-Fly, etc.). Weight can also vary across molds/materials used, which affects feel (and sound).
Ok, thanks. Makes different samples more important.
 
Finally got a bunch of samples and decided I'm going to try to put together a Horseshoe set. After paying closer attention to our recent games I also have a better idea of a total breakdown at .25/1/5/25 -> 100/140/140/40 for a total of 420 chips. Thanks for all the help guys.
 
Hi
If you go for Horseshoes set you will need to find a RHC chip and relabel them as 25¢.

img_20190417_122733-jpg.277185
img_20190417_123426-jpg.277186
 
For me, the Paulsons are out of my price range. I had the luck in amassing a 1300 piece set of CPS chips over the last year that I use for tournaments. I have CC Pharaoh's for my cash set. I have had Majestics but sold them upon completing my CPS Sets. Of the three, I think the CC Pharaoh' s are the best quality and I like the CPS chips for the design. My biggest problem with the Majestics were the brown T5000 and the dark labels.
 
Hey all, finally got my cash set together and basically have it ready to go except for Gear labels for the fracs. Cleaned and oiled the 5s and just oiled all the other chips except for the orchid THCs. I know having a mixed mold set will trigger some of your guys' OCD tendencies, but I figure the similar Cleveland set is mixed anyway, so now mine is also.

Shout out to @ReallyGoodUsername (25s), @Craig Harvill (1s), and @Meathooke (Orchids) for helping me put this set together.

My group aren't fans of big stacks, so this is the breakdown I went with:
420 total chips
100 - $.25
140 - $1
140 - $5
40 - $25

Thanks again to all for the advice, and here are the pics you degenerates! (one of the Orchids is currently in Gear's possession for sizing/color matching).
305299


305302


305303


I'll post up some more pr0n once I get the labels for the fracs.
 
Last minute advice: Make the orchids NDs. You won't regret the enormous flexibility, stakes-wise.
 

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