Set Suggestion for <$500? (2 Viewers)

[NotDababy]

Hello everyone,

New here. Love playing home games with the boys and have been shopping around for a cool set. Looking for some suggestions. Not trying to break the bank (sub $500 would be nice). Looking for a good set that shuffles well and looks cool. We usually play .25/.50. Ordered some Ceramic samples from BR but didn’t quite like the feel of them. Felt like the rounded edges and weight didn’t feel right. We currently run a Sopranos clay composite chip that is pretty awesome. Also have Nevada Club bronze chips which we also love.

Cheers!

 

[BKisback]

Welcome - at that price point, for a one table cash game of 500-600 chips, you'd probably be looking at used clay solids, Tinas, or ceramics like BRPros.

 

[BobRod]

Check out this set of chips on Amazon. They look nice and the price point is tough to beat. You could turn those blue $50 chips into 50¢ chips. If you get them, let me know how they are.


https://a.co/d/04K34mf2

 

[ProperPokerPlayer]

Custom made tina ceramic chips are what I would suggest. They can do literally and design you want. Give me suggestions I would even offer my services to help design and order for you if you DM me. The BR pro ceramics are mostly textures ceramics, with that smooth rounded edge. You can get molded ceramics tinas that don't have that. I am not sure what soprano set you are talking about. If by Nevada Club bronze chips, you are talking about Nevada Club brass core chips then I do not suggest the tina ceramics. Nevada Club brass chips are honkers coming in at around 15grams each! Ceramics come in around 9-11 grams. If its the weight you like of the brass chips and a budget of <$500. You might be looking at an ABS metal slugged chip. I am not going to suggest those because suggesting those on PCF's is liable to get you roasted. (psst I played with a monte Carlo abs set until I got my tinas and thought they were worth the price). Good luck!

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[ProperPokerPlayer]

Also shameless plug here but if you love playing home games I am also going to suggest tubes and racks to have buy in ready to go and you don't have to dig into the old aluminum case. I just so happen to sell the solution. About $25 bucks will get you 10 clear tubes and a rack to transport then and clip on attachments to display your chips, hold your dealer button and decks. DM of interested.

 

[DrStrange]

Samples first. Ceramic vs vintage casino used, vs Tina, v. plastic. There is wide variance between each option. The feel, the sound, the look and durability is quite different. Some people like crisp new chips. Others find casino used chips delightful

Some people's budget is slim enough that they skip the sample step and hope for the best. That can work, but don't be shocked if your first set gets replaced pretty soon.

Special issue about fractional chips - a $0.25 casino chip isn't possible with your budget. You could spend the whole budget on a single rack of fractional chips. Oh well, there are plenty of other options.

Good luck on your first quest. -=- DrStrange

 

[GGHank]

Welcome to PCF!

Others have mentioned some different kinds of chips. If you're interested in reading up, I suggest a couple threads here:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/new-members-start-here.85303/
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...poker-chips-for-beginners-new-members.114884/

If Tina ceramics interest you, they have tons of pre-made options or you can choose something completely custom. There are group buys every month so don't feel like you need to rush but here is this month's GB that ends next week: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/chips-web-jester-greek-sun-tangiers-april-2026.141424/. These chips are lighter than what you're used to playing with, which folks on this forum generally prefer since the weight of a real compressed clay casino chip is usually around the 10g range, but if that isn't for you then I would take a look at these: https://www.apachepokerchips.com/product/monte-carlo-poker-chips/. These are the chips @ProperPokerPlayer mentioned that may interest you.

Once you decide which chips you like, here's another thread with some good advice for how many of each denomination to get for your game: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/new-members-optimal-chip-break-down.113118/

The rest is going to be up to your personal preference! Anything else you want to know, you can search the forums for or ask in a thread and people here are usually happy to assist. Hope this helps!

 

[Fran]

Welcome, and happy searching !

 

[Sway]

Welcome!!

 

[Papasatyr]

If you’re interested in clay chips…

If you’re not insistent upon Paulsons, sit tight, check the marketplace on this website, and wait for something clay and suitably playable on the hub mold, flower mold, tri-club mold, either horsehead mold, circle-square mold, or whatever mold, as it comes up. While not Paulsons, these are often very cool chips in their own right. Nice playable sets of such chips, or enough racks to build something playable, can be found for under $500 on this website all the time.

If you can do $600, there’s a nice looking, almost 1000-piece set of tri-clubs available right now in the marketplace. There’s also a huge offering of diamond-square molds deeper in the classifieds that went unsold, where I imagine a sub-$500 deal might be struck. I think there are also a few smaller sets available on various molds that would work for a smaller player count of like 5-6 players.

As far as Paulsons go, you can score something, usually solids that are a little broken in, for $1/chip. If you are patient and don’t mind really worn-in chips, they can sometimes be found cheaper.