The next step in my hosting journey. (1 Viewer)

JScott

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So, it started with dice chips on a shitty kitchen table, then Yin Yangs on a Brybelly table topper, and now we're running BrPro ceramic DDLM's on a couple Chanman ex rentals.

As mentioned in another thread I'm treating myself to a poker room, complete with a Chanman custom table, so I want to add a couple more sets, the DDLM's are a crowd favourite and will still be my go-to, but I want to round it out with a couple of sets. As the only chipper in the group, I'm not concerned with rarity or specific molds etc. I just want really nice custom chips. Clay would be preferred, but I don't want something that requires a huge amount of maintenance.

I did a pretty extensive search and didn't find much on the different types of chips, say like the pros and cons of ceramic over clay, or clay over injected molded plastic (I do know some of the benefits). I saw THIS LINK on the different types of poker chips, but have never seen it discussed here.

Basically, what are my options? This site has a lot of info but is overwhelming, since you're all at a bit of a different level. I mean we never usually have more than $400 on the table at our stakes. I'm basically looking at this:
  • 400 Chip Cash set
  • Fully custom (labels)
  • Bright colours and edge spots

What do you recommend? Right now I'm considering full customs from BRpro, or getting custom versions of their Greek "clay" (which btw there's NO information about on here). That said, I'd REALLY love to try some clay. Now that we have a couple of guys with proper tables, I'm convincing them to get their own chips sets (with themes) as well, so might be able to up that order quantity as well.
 
If you prefer ceramics, getting customs from ABC is a great go to. Alot depends on your budget. CPC makes clay customs, inlay color and edgespots are all customizable. Also depending upon your budget, you can relabel a set of reasonable priced RHCs or casino used THCs with a custom label. You can also customize denominations with those options.
I think your budget will be most important here, no need to go all out to mint shaped inlay paulsons, but I would lean away from injection mold plastics
 
If you prefer ceramics, getting customs from ABC is a great go to. Alot depends on your budget. CPC makes clay customs, inlay color and edgespots are all customizable. Also depending upon your budget, you can relabel a set of reasonable priced RHCs or casino used THCs with a custom label. You can also customize denominations with those options.
I think your budget will be most important here, no need to go all out to mint shaped inlay paulsons, but I would lean away from injection mold plastics

Thanks yeah, I wouldn't say I prefer ceramics, it's just I've never played with anything but (other than cheap dice and the abs Yin Yangs), and I do enjoy playing with the DDLM's. I don't have a ridiculous budget like some of the guys here, most of that is going into my table (and the stupid addition on my house to fit it!). I'd like to keep it around $1 USD a chip max, which kind of strikes out the CPC customs. Although I did muse about doing a small 300 chip set of those with the horsehead mold, but I wouldn't want to run thin.

Re-labelling is quite expensive isn't it?
 
Then I would stick to either a custom ceramic set, or affordable RHC/casino used THC relabels. No reason to stretch yourself thin. With time comes more options as well
 
I more meant it would be thin as in being a bit short in a set of 300 chips.

I can afford all of this, just closing in on 10k this year for poker alone. Haha.

what’s the rough cost for relabeled chips? @Gear is not far from me, but I thought the cost of just relabeling was $1+ per chip
 
Yes I understood what you meant there, and I personally am not a fan of being "thin" on chips in play.

Yes again it depends on the quality of chip you get. Solids you can buy for around 80 to 90 cents a chip, some more some less depending on color. But still clay. After that youd have to calculate the mill and label cost distributed amongst x number of chips. Sometimes you can find premilled chips and just purchase labels. You can also purchase unlabeled stock chips from CPC, like the horseheads @AK Chip would know best on those prices. Then all you would need is labels
 
Yeah I made the mistake once of being short on chips when it came to a tournament and I had to adjust the rebuy schedule because of that. I’ve since remedied that with the DDLM sale so my tourney set is on point.

cash however I have always had way more bank than needed. But who knows if we will switch to .50/$1 or $1/$2 in the future.
 
You know what I’ll do some digging around and show you guys exactly what I want and see if you can point me in the right direction.

you’ve already been helpful
 
You’re already ahead of many in your position by having guidelines for your decisions.

There is a ton of advice but one thing is worth mentioning... chip material affects multiple aspects: feel, customization, price, etc. I’d say that’s the first decision point.

In my opinion, feel is one of the most important (and overlooked) aspects a novice chipper confronts. You touch your chips just as much, if not more, than you look at them. -Unless you’re drunk punting off your stack every hand-

The age old advice here is to get samples. Feel, see, and hear clay vs ceramic vs plastic. Clay is the majority favorite but nothing is ‘best’. That’s up to you to decide!
 
If you label over an existing inlaid chip, non laminated labels from Gear are 10c each, so 20c per chip. The used Horseshoe Southern Indiana chips are under $1/chip average cost. The labels are easy to apply yourself. It just takes some time and patience.

I would suggest at least 600 chips for a decent cash game set though. 400 is playable, but far from ideal.

Good luck with the hunt.
 
you could get white, red, green of the HSI mentioned above with labels for just under $1/each. other than that getting paulsons with labels under $1 will be tough.

Ceramics from BrPro are a great option.
 
So what are the differences between HSI and Paulson’s. Obviously I’ve heard the word Paulsons here nonstop but I don’t know what the difference would be.

and rhodeman, we don’t play your stakes. Hah
 
Clay would be preferred, but I don't want something that requires a huge amount of maintenance.
Poker chips don't need maintenance. Don't let people bang them against each other too badly so they won't chip or break. Clean them if they get dirty enough to get on your nerves. Put 'em away in a safe spot when you're done using them.

I did a pretty extensive search and didn't find much on the different types of chips, say like the pros and cons of ceramic over clay, or clay over injected molded plastic (I do know some of the benefits).
Here's a good, short post about the different types of chips. Here's a much longer one.

The pros and cons mainly boil down to do you like the way a particular type of chips feels? Most people like clays more than high-end plastics more than ceramics more than china clays more than low-end plastics, BUT a) not everyone feels the same about any of that and b) the only thing that matters is how you like them. This is why everyone says to get samples.

Also note that different clay chips (TR Kings, ASMs, CPCs, BCCs, Paulsons etc) feel different from each other. Different china clays (Milanos, Majestics, Spirit molds, PGI etc) feel different from each other. Different casino-quality plastics (Bud Jones V7, Bud Jones S2, Matsui etc) feel different from each other. Different ceramics feel different from each other. Different bottom-of-the-line cheap slugged plastic chips feel different from each other. Modern Paulsons feel different from older leaded Paulsons. The exact same chips feel different depending on whether they're mint, slightly worn, or casino-used. Categorizing chips into clays, china clays, ceramics, etc can give you a general idea of what they're like, but nothing can replace feeling them for yourself.

I saw THIS LINK on the different types of poker chips, but have never seen it discussed here.
That link is only modestly helpful. It gives you an idea of the diversity of chips available, but there's a number of ways in which it is inaccurate or incomplete. By the time you find this forum you're ready to learn much more than that link can teach you. It's an okay place to start, but don't take it as gospel.

Basically, what are my options?
You have lots of them! Here's another post that might help you get oriented as you learn more about the many, many options available to you.

custom versions of their Greek "clay" (which btw there's NO information about on here)
The "Greek triangle clay composite" chips shown on the BRProPoker page you linked to are a relabeled version of the Claysmith "Gear Wheel" mold chips, also sold with different labels as The Mint and Rock and Roll. They're metal-slugged injection-molded plastic. Accordingly, most PCF members don't hold them in high regard. But they're nicer than many other low-end generic metal-slugged injection-molded plastic chips, and would make a fine budget chip if you like the way they feel. I personally don't like them because they have a rough feel around the edges due to the flashing from the injection mold; most injection-molded chips aren't that rough, even ones that are cheaper and otherwise lower-quality than the Claysmiths.

what’s the rough cost for relabeled chips? @Gear is not far from me, but I thought the cost of just relabeling was $1+ per chip
Last I checked, Gear's pricing was ten cents a label, which means twenty cents a chip. You can also get labels from other sources, including printing your own. Lots of good info about that here on the forum; use the site's search function, or use google to search the site.

Welcome to the forum, and good luck on your quest!
 
Awesome you guys.

Here's the current setup (ignore the 5c)

current.jpg


These are what I like for 25c to $20. Keeping the theme Blue/Hot Pink Quarters, white, purple and brown

.25.png
1.png
5.png
d78aa17b-8265-44dc-a37e-af99c3b8d650.png
 
So what are the differences between HSI and Paulson’s. Obviously I’ve heard the word Paulsons here nonstop but I don’t know what the difference would be.

and rhodeman, we don’t play your stakes. Hah
Horseshoe Indiana is a casino that shut down and the Paulson chips were resold here by a vendor
 
So what are the differences between HSI and Paulson’s. Obviously I’ve heard the word Paulsons here nonstop but I don’t know what the difference would be.

and rhodeman, we don’t play your stakes. Hah

HSI stands for Horseshoe Southern Indiana. A casino that closed. Chip room is selling the chips at a good price, they are Paulsons
 
Even after being here the better part of a year I still have SO much to learn!
 
You sound like you are in my boat a year ago. We played 25/25¢ with never more than $500 on the table. I didn't want to spend more than $1 per chip. I started to create a mixed Paulson THC set. All my chips are under a $1 except the HP $20 rack was a little over that but so worth it. Fast forward to today moving stakes up to 25/50¢ blinds and it's not uncommon to have $2k on table. Just because your game is tiny now don't mean a year from now it won't get bigger. There are tons of casino used paulson's that can be found for less than a $1. I have 200 cinci horseshoe $1s if you want to go down the casino used Paulson road.
IMG_20201017_211908_01.jpg
 
You sound like you are in my boat a year ago. We played 25/25¢ with never more than $500 on the table. I didn't want to spend more than $1 per chip. I started to create a mixed Paulson THC set. All my chips are under a $1 except the HP $20 rack was a little over that but so worth it. Fast forward to today moving stakes up to 25/50¢ blinds and it's not uncommon to have $2k on table. Just because your game is tiny now don't mean a year from now it won't get bigger. There are tons of casino used paulson's that can be found for less than a $1. I have 200 cinci horseshoe $1s if you want to go down the casino used Paulson road.
Yeah I've been hosting for a couple of years, and while our stakes haven't increased (it's a really friendly casual game), I do want to step up the stakes a bit, but that can be easily remedied with a barrel of $100's.

I would potentially be interested in those $1's, let's PM.
 
If you like your current set of ceramics, take a look at the group buy forum and find the card mold group buy. It's actually closed and we're waiting for our orders, but a 2nd buy will happen. Full custom ceramics for ~30¢. Unparalleled value.
 
If you like your current set of ceramics, take a look at the group buy forum and find the card mold group buy. It's actually closed and we're waiting for our orders, but a 2nd buy will happen. Full custom ceramics for ~30¢. Unparalleled value.
I know it looks phenomenal.

part of me just wants to see what happens with the current group by before I jump on number two.
 
First completed batch should be arriving Sean's (GB organizer) doorstep in the next day or so.

There's actually a thread for the 2nd GB. It's still very early as alot of people want to see their initial sets before ordering more.
 
Clay would be preferred, but I don't want something that requires a huge amount of maintenance.

Unless you are doing casino volume, maintenance isn't a thing.

Right now I'm considering full customs from BRpro,

I would have snap-done BrPro/ABC ceramic customs if I didn't get my heart set on sunfly ceramic hybrids. But to make the shipping from china worthwhile you gotta go huge. I think it starts at like 200/box of 400 plus 30 something for each box after. I did a 2000 chip order. (link in signature)

But for me, customization is my favorite idea and I hope you have a good design in mind. If not, BrPro and ABC do semi customs too.

Just keep in mind 40-50 chips per player is ideal for cash. 400 may be a tight total unless you game is short handed. Also you usually get a quantity break at 500 :).
 
Basically, what are my options?
You talk about chips, these chips or those chips or maybe those ones over there, but you don't talk about the ONE THING that will get your players to become repeat players .............................


you will get a hot dog roller ....................
you will get a hot dog roller ....................

you will get a hot dog roller .....................
you will get a hot dog roller ........................................................
 
You talk about chips, these chips or those chips or maybe those ones over there, but you don't talk about the ONE THING that will get your players to become repeat players .............................


you will get a hot dog roller ....................
you will get a hot dog roller ....................

you will get a hot dog roller .....................
you will get a hot dog roller ........................................................
Sounds like you need a hot dog
 

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