What was the one chip that you saw that got you into this hobby ? (1 Viewer)

[ovo]

Could be a hard question for some. I don't really collect individual chips, so my viewpoint is the one chip that made me want to buy more. Mine would be the BCC Desert Palms 5 dollar chip from the Chip Room. It was September 2006 and when I held it in my hand, and looked at the beautiful colors, I was hooked and wanted to find more beautiful chips to play with. Don't recall who chose the colors on that one, some kind of contest Jim had. The Blood Red base is intense, with the Arc Yellow and Royal Red accents. It really draws the eyes in. I'm still looking for more...........

 

[ChipEnvy]

This one... Had to be 1998 or so. The 2003 date in the chip guide had to be when it closed. Great chips.

 

[BGinGA]

This:

I was so dissatisfied after buying 1000 of these explosive-stack POS (crown & dice mold slugged ABS) that it sent me on a hardcore quest to find something better.

 

[tommythecat]

Same as BGinGA for me. It was dissatisfaction with dice chips that drove me to look at other options. I found ceramics and china clay and more slugged ABS when I first started looking. I got samples of Milanos, Venerattis, and IIRC Monte Carlo ABS chips. Still wasn't happy but it was a toss up between the Venerattis and the Milanos at that time. Before I bought a set I checked google once more and found nothing but the same. Luckily, in a fit of inspiration I searched for casino chips and found chiptalk, which led me to The Chip Room. The rest, as they say, is history...

 

[chris james]

first poker set i owned back in 2006 was the casino royale movie replicas, i wanted a set like the one in the film. Then i discovered buypokerchips who had a sale on, so i got a nice set of modern clays, and it was nearly 2 dollars to 1 UK pound back then, so it worked out really cheap for a set of clay chips

 

[gopherblue]

Palais des Congres set for sale on Nevada Jacks website.

I still miss that set.

 

[jbutler]

 

[TheBigTater]

This chip started my graduation from just bringing home 1 or 2 from casinos I visited to full fledged collecting.

And these chips kickstarted my obsession for SuperGems/LgKey chips.

It didn't take long after that to go from individual chip collecting to chip sets.

 

[atomiktoaster]

Dissatisfaction with dice chips got me looking into nicer labelled slugged chips, but sitting down at the Bellagio and playing blackjack for the first time with these really got me hooked on Paulson.

Finding out that Jim would sell me these at a lower price than Milanos sealed the deal.

 

[pokerplayingpisces]

It would be this one. I remember seeing PNYs, when the original seller was still selling them on eBay. At the time, I thought they were too expensive, and really didn't think I would ever own any clay chips. But I could not let them go. I started saving, and buying small lots. Eventually, I got a nice job offer in Vegas, with a nice salary bump, and I was able to work on building a nice set of them. Now I have 2,500 PNYs, plus 6 other clay chip sets. The PNYs were the set to bring me in, and the primary hundo was the one that roped me! It's always been my favorite chip in the entire set!

 

[courage]

Hated the dice chips our local game used so found CT over Christmas break in 2009 while searching for customs. Then saw these.

 

[atomiktoaster]

Hated the dice chips our local game used so found CT over Christmas break in 2009 while searching for customs. Then saw these.

View attachment 51875

Straight to the best, eh?

Side note that has me tilted: How did they even manage to cut a sideways piece of SSC that would work for a table?

 

[courage]

Straight to the best, eh?

Side note that has me tilted: How did they even manage to cut a sideways piece of SSC that would work for a table?

Good eye, and that's a good question.

 

[Max D]

This:

I was so dissatisfied after buying 1000 of these explosive-stack POS (crown & dice mold slugged ABS) that it sent me on a hardcore quest to find something better.

That and regular trips to Vegas and trying to understand why they felt so different...

 

[gmunny]

My first upgrade from the dice/suit chips were the Palmas. Loved the colors, inlay and mold. This was back before CT. It was either in the home poker forum of THP or 2+2 when i first saw a set of these. On a trip to Vegas made a pit stop and picked out 600 of these chippes directly from Spinetti's. Mike soon sold the remaining Palmas to someone else.

 

[ssanel54]

My first upgrade from the dice/suit chips were the Palmas. Loved the colors, inlay and mold. This was back before CT. It was either in the home poker forum of THP or 2+2 when i first saw a set of these. On a trip to Vegas made a pit stop and picked out 600 of these chippes directly from Spinetti's. Mike soon sold the remaining Palmas to someone else.

Noelsarchs bought everything from Spinetti's. He used to have some pretty impressive pictures on CT of the entire lot. (actually, he may have bought them from someone else, who had bought them all from Spinettis)

Do you still have these? I have not seen any come up in ages.

 

[Anthony Martino]

 

[bergs]

Dunes Paulson chips - dunno where I saw em but I loved them immediately and picked up the China composite Dunes and was hooked.

 

[72o]

I was just getting started in chipping and randomly came across this rack on eBay. I bought it on a whim and was instantly hooked.

 

[Big Jilm]

These two were the culprits!

 

[Gear]

The first "real" chips I bought were Casino Aztar MO $1, but my inspiration was this:

 

[ovo]

I was just getting started in chipping and randomly came across this rack on eBay. I bought it on a whim and was instantly hooked.

View attachment 51879

one of my fav hundreds

 

[gmunny]

Noelsarchs bought everything from Spinetti's. He used to have some pretty impressive pictures on CT of the entire lot. (actually, he may have bought them from someone else, who had bought them all from Spinettis)

Do you still have these? I have not seen any come up in ages.

I still got them. Haven't seen play in ages, though. I think Noels was the 2nd buyer. I think the person who bought from Spinetti's was Ace Poker or something like that.

 

[ssanel54]

I still got them. Haven't seen play in ages, though. I think Noels was the 2nd buyer. I think the person who bought from Spinetti's was Ace Poker or something like that.

Right. Was it Philip Lin?

Keep me in mind if you ever sell. I could use some more $5s.

 

[legend672]

 

[BiGGyT]

I would pick up a chip from every casino and decided in 2004 that for my Bro's 40th I would buy him some used casino chips for the games he and his buddies played. So I looked at available sets and the Oceanside Club Card room were being sold by Spinetti's so I called them and got a set of 500 for him. This chip is what hooked me,

So I started scoping out other sets for myself, decided I liked the JB98 so I bought about 6000+ Olivia's from Mikko and sold them off as sets on eBay to fund my own set of JB98. I then decided I needed a chipco set, so I got the MGQ off chiptalk, then decided I needed a CIC set so I got the CBs. I funded the Chipco set and the CB set by selling my last set of Olivia's that I was going to keep for myself, but the offer price was too good and it allowed me to get the other sets. I pretty much stopped collecting except to add on to the sets I had until I was told about PCF and suddenly the desire for more sets kicked in. So I blame all of you for my recent purchases

 

[jbutler]

Great thread idea, @ovo. Awesome to hear about everyone's first love.

 

[legend672]

View attachment 51899

I still got them. Haven't seen play in ages, though. I think Noels was the 2nd buyer. I think the person who bought from Spinetti's was Ace Poker or something like that.

 

[mattduck]

Haven't been at it that long but these two did the trick - although my first foray from a purchase perspective was WTH&C Paulsons.

 

[churlbut18]

My story is similar to many others. Bringing back the home game after a long hiatus and wanted to make it better than ever. The suited chips weren't going to cut it. Started searching. Found china clays and ceramics (but didn't buy). Then found PCF. Advice from many members when I first joined was not to settle for something you don't love. So I waited, I researched, and I discovered PCA. These two chips hooked me. And I remember two racks of the $1's popped up in the classifieds, but I hesitated and they got scooped up. I was bummed and told myself not to hesitate again.