MVStillwater
High Hand
Still new to the forum. I ran some home games back 15 years ago but never got past the cheap chips, though I did order some samples back then. Now I’m trying to start up a home game and my interest in chips has returned. I ordered a bunch of samples from Apache and CPC and thought I’d post my initial thoughts.
TL;DR - CCs are better than 15 years ago. Dunes are my faves so far. Paulsons rock - Hollywood Casino is a very nice set. CPCs are right up there with Paulsons IMHO. Need to decide between Dunes and Hollywood to get started. Custom CPCs are probably in my future.
Apache
China Clays
The CC chips have definitely improved in the last 15 years. Still some color inconsistencies but very good value.
Pharaoh’s – Nice chips but I’m not a huge fan of the color progressions.
Dunes – My favorites of the CCs. Like the design and the color progression is great. Shame there’s no 5c chip but the Pharoah’s 5c goes quite well with the set if you don’t mind the label difference.
Majestic – Nicely made and clean design. I can see why they are popular. The lack of spot progression puts them further down my list. They just don’t excite me.
Royal – These oversized chips look good and I could see would be a fun addition at some point. More of a novelty set rather than a workhorse set IMHO.
Paulsons
What can I say? Love the feel of real clay chips.
Jumers secondary – Nice set. Not so keen on the shiny label and the $1 colors aren’t to my taste (I know others love them.) Also, without a frac they won’t be useful for my home game.
Hollywood Casino – Wow! This is my kind of set (except for the shiny labels.) The colors are nice and the oversize, orange $1000 is quite a treat. I could use them for 0.25/0.50 game just by treating the dollars as cents. The chip distribution in the 500 set is short on 25 denom which will lead to more making change. Probably not a big deal – the 1/2/3 casino games I play have very few $1 chips in play. It works out. Worth noting that I think the $5 Jumers secondary (available by the barrel) looks quite good with this set (if you don’t mind the label mismatch) and could provide the opportunity to play 0.05/0.10 games if needed. See picture.
Classic Poker Chips
This was my first chance to handle CPCs and I’m very impressed. Not the same a Paulsons but I think just as high quality. I like the texture and the inlays look great. Being able to make custom chips just pushes them further up the list.
Rounders CSQ – Great nostalgia but I’m not excited by the design. The CSQ mold is not my favorite. The oversized scroll chips are nice.
Atlantic Club HHR – Great set and I think HHR may be my favorite mold and is a strong candidate for a custom set one day.
Atlantic Club HS – I am very impressed with the hot stamping. This would certainly be a fun tournament set one day.
Final thoughts
Cheaper start: Low stakes Dunes set for cash game (maybe add in 5c from Pharoah’s.) Some resale value but also not a big investment.
Expensive start: Hollywood Casino Paulsons maybe with a rack of $5 Jumers secondary. Can work for low stakes cash game (divide by 100) and should have good resale value later if needed. I’m not intending to murder any chips for now.
Later: Custom set of CPCs. I’m working on some designs that I’ll post so I can get some “constructive feedback.” These would have to be a forever set since they are custom, so I’ll wait to see if I can get a consistent home game going again.
Thanks if you made it to the end of this post. I hope I managed to offend you with at least one of my opinions!
TL;DR - CCs are better than 15 years ago. Dunes are my faves so far. Paulsons rock - Hollywood Casino is a very nice set. CPCs are right up there with Paulsons IMHO. Need to decide between Dunes and Hollywood to get started. Custom CPCs are probably in my future.
Apache
China Clays
The CC chips have definitely improved in the last 15 years. Still some color inconsistencies but very good value.
Pharaoh’s – Nice chips but I’m not a huge fan of the color progressions.
Dunes – My favorites of the CCs. Like the design and the color progression is great. Shame there’s no 5c chip but the Pharoah’s 5c goes quite well with the set if you don’t mind the label difference.
Majestic – Nicely made and clean design. I can see why they are popular. The lack of spot progression puts them further down my list. They just don’t excite me.
Royal – These oversized chips look good and I could see would be a fun addition at some point. More of a novelty set rather than a workhorse set IMHO.
Paulsons
What can I say? Love the feel of real clay chips.
Jumers secondary – Nice set. Not so keen on the shiny label and the $1 colors aren’t to my taste (I know others love them.) Also, without a frac they won’t be useful for my home game.
Hollywood Casino – Wow! This is my kind of set (except for the shiny labels.) The colors are nice and the oversize, orange $1000 is quite a treat. I could use them for 0.25/0.50 game just by treating the dollars as cents. The chip distribution in the 500 set is short on 25 denom which will lead to more making change. Probably not a big deal – the 1/2/3 casino games I play have very few $1 chips in play. It works out. Worth noting that I think the $5 Jumers secondary (available by the barrel) looks quite good with this set (if you don’t mind the label mismatch) and could provide the opportunity to play 0.05/0.10 games if needed. See picture.
Classic Poker Chips
This was my first chance to handle CPCs and I’m very impressed. Not the same a Paulsons but I think just as high quality. I like the texture and the inlays look great. Being able to make custom chips just pushes them further up the list.
Rounders CSQ – Great nostalgia but I’m not excited by the design. The CSQ mold is not my favorite. The oversized scroll chips are nice.
Atlantic Club HHR – Great set and I think HHR may be my favorite mold and is a strong candidate for a custom set one day.
Atlantic Club HS – I am very impressed with the hot stamping. This would certainly be a fun tournament set one day.
Final thoughts
Cheaper start: Low stakes Dunes set for cash game (maybe add in 5c from Pharoah’s.) Some resale value but also not a big investment.
Expensive start: Hollywood Casino Paulsons maybe with a rack of $5 Jumers secondary. Can work for low stakes cash game (divide by 100) and should have good resale value later if needed. I’m not intending to murder any chips for now.
Later: Custom set of CPCs. I’m working on some designs that I’ll post so I can get some “constructive feedback.” These would have to be a forever set since they are custom, so I’ll wait to see if I can get a consistent home game going again.
Thanks if you made it to the end of this post. I hope I managed to offend you with at least one of my opinions!
