I'm working on a starting a regular home game, and I'm having a real hard time finding good, quality chips at a decent price. Most of the poker shops in my area have closed so i'm resorting to ordering them online & need suggestions.

The game will be a 1/2 or 1/2/5 on most days, and I'm looking at buying at least 1000 chips at less than 40c/chip. Any suggestions are really appreciated!

Beaten to death several times---maybe scroll down the first page before posting? Search?

Linky:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/24...e-game-821422/

Sorry about that, you're right. I did a search for "poker chips" but all the hits were irrelevant, didn't think to scroll down the page though, lol.

Anyway I'm looking at these right now, liking the design and the price, has anybody had any experience with them?

http://www.discountpokershop.com/135...ors-p-293.html

From their website:

These poker chips are made of high quality clay material with a metal insert for added professional weight and size. The chips are perfectly balanced and have the look and feel of real casino chips.

Now, let's break that down:

[ ] These poker chips are made of high quality clay material
[x] with a metal insert for added professional weight and size.
[x] The chips are perfectly balanced
[ ] and have the look and feel of real casino chips.

but for 14c ea, you're not gonna throw too much away on em...

Good breakdown, but I suggest one change:

[ ] These poker chips are made of high quality clay material
[x] with a metal insert
[ ] professional weight and size.
[x] The chips are perfectly balanced
[ ] and have the look and feel of real casino chips.

dimi06, if this is not clear, we are saying these are low-quality plastic chips. The site owner should be horse-whipped for nauseating countless chipaholics with his deceptive descriptions.

At any rate, there are better choices at this price point. The FAQ has some links to other threads and sites on this subject.

What is a "decent" chip? Your price point is close to some real "clay" chips (as chippuppies would call them), so not sure about your quality goals.


Check out chip reviews on:
chiptalk.net (wear a raincoat, to protect you from the chippuppy slobber)
pokerchipreviews.com (was a great site, but doesn't seem to be active any more?)
homepokertourney.com (seems to be updating with current info)

I've got a sample of those at home---they aren't terrible and are a huge improvement over suited or dice chips. I'd probably prefer them over a Nexgen chip which strike me as very plastic, but it is really a personal choice as some folks love the Nexgens. They are a heavy chip with the slug---heavier than a Paulson or ASM & I've never played with a slugged chip.

The main thing is to get several samples of chips you think you might like (eBay has lots) and then make your choice.

Also---IDK if you are also running tourneys, but you might want to use a different chip for tourneys vs cash games---just so people don't get tempted.

The chiptalk "what should I buy" FAQ is pretty good.

http://www.chiptalk.net/forum/review...d-noobies.html

spooky... I had it exactly like that at first, and then changed it when I thought well, I guess they are professional size, just not weight. so then I was gonna put

[ ] These poker chips are made of high quality clay material
[x] with a metal insert
[ ] professional weight
[x] and size.
[x] The chips are perfectly balanced
[ ] and have the look and feel of real casino chips.

But then I started thinking that was looking too choppy.. or maybe it was just my 4th mug of dos equis...

I credit (blame) the dos equis for the smartass response to begin with..

Stay thirsty my friend.

Thanks for the advice, i'm checking those out right now

I have a whole set of them. They are okay, better than a lot of the cheap ones.

Pros:

• design is kinda okay, I like it
• weight is decent (I have both the 11.5 and 13.5 kinds)
• standard colors
• many denominations, cheap price, kits can be customized
• sound is very okay for a plastic chip
• center inlay/sticker is usually well centered

Cons:

• they are not clay, it's a marketing lie! they are plastic with a metal slug
• slippery
• stack poorly (I wouldn't stack them higher than 20 or 25 at the table)
• the white chips (denomination 1) are of crappy plastic quality
• depending on lighting, there is a little "phantom" ring in the form of a ghost reflection on the 50s that makes them look like 500s when looked at from an oblique angle (and sometimes vice versa!), the similar purple vs. blue colors don't help either
• 50s are blue, as are 10s (10s are darker, impossible to tell apart in dim lighting)
• edge "spots" are sometimes irregular or show marks from the injection mold

Overall a very decent budget chip. Edit: They don't sell a 10 denomination chip at the site you linked, and their 50 has the color of my 10s in the picture, so maybe they adjusted their pigments a little. A lot of chinese factories make these chips; the set of 500 I bought has three distinct types of plastic used (except for the outrageously crappy 1s, the chips are good though). It wasn't apparent from any of the photos, so that's what you might be getting.

Play with a set of real clays or good ceramics and you won't want to go back, though. Clays can cost about 10x as much per chip as those, however!

Good to know they are better than the worst plastics. But if I bought them, out of principle I would use a vendor who did not represent them as clay. I know that rules out a lot of vendors.

Thanks tdf! Really appreciate the review.

Im also looking at the private cardroom chips right now, and really liking them.

http://privatecardroom.net/poker-chi...e-cardroom.asp

Saw chiptalk had a groupbuy on them for 30c each which is perfect, but they're no longer doing that. Anybody know if its still possible to get these for less than 40c somewhere?

I hate white poker chips, and I think this goes beyond simple aesthetics in this case. There is an awful lot of uniformity to how those stacks look. Be especially sure not to mix black, blue, and purple in your set, if you go this way.

I think there are much better options in your price range, though. The PCRs you link to are in a class called "china clay", and are an excellent choice for a decent set, if you want to pay that much. some china clays can be found in the .30-.40 range. I'm looking for links...

progen80s are probably the cheapest you'll find in this class. I personally like the flame-mold samples I've held, but they're essentially the same chip. Note that you can add custom labels to these, either as a do-it-yourself job or through a chip company.

I'm confused why you say you don't like the colors, when your link is to chips of the same colors. The mold is even the same on one. The photos are terrible on that website, and maybe that is the reason.

As for white chips, that is the standard color for $1 chips, though blue is also common.

Your links to unlabeled chips are not comparing apples to apples, of course. I know you can get labelled china clays for less than .50. The Pharaohs club chips linked elsewhere are less than that. I think .32 or .39, can't remember.

I like the labels on the private cardroom chips, but I agree they are pricey.

Not to speak for tit4tat but he may have been pointing out all the chips in that example are a white base color with just different color edge spots. They are some ugly chips in any case.

I think they are still selling the Pharaohs are showing to be $.39 on the order page but, at least as of a 3-4 weeks ago, are still being sold as $.32 when you check out.

EDIT: Just confirmed. The Pharaohs are still $.32 each when you check out.

That only confuses me more. Are we talking about http://privatecardroom.net/poker-chi...e-cardroom.asp? I see fairly standard standard colors and edgespots, similar to the Pharaohs.

Oh, I see. That link is to the first set. I thought it was a reference to the latest link OP provided.

I decided on these

http://www.americangamingsupply.com/...okerchips.aspx

They don't have denominations but that can be a plus if the game gets big. Also the price is very low. Definitely looking to upgrade to the PCR chips as soon as the game generates enough income though, these will just be more or less temporary.


Thanks for all the help guys

I'm sure they will work great for you. They look better than your first choice, and the price is right.

But I did smile at this statement on their website:

I think I'll sell bars of solid gold, with an inconspicuous lead insert. Which will be lead bars painted with a gold paint. The paint will have a pinch of gold dust in it.

lol, nh sir

Hey! They will hot stamp them for .10 per chip. You could get 600 stamped for $150 instead of $90. Aren't you tempted?

Maybe, I actually talked about it with the guy im doing the game with and we're still deciding, but 10c per chip is really good for sure.

I have 2 sets of the pharaoh's club china clay chips and love em. Oil does not last which is the drawback, but they look good. Does anyone know if it is possible to design and buy a set of labels that will fit in these if I ever decided I wanted to get a different look? If so, is there a website you know of that would just sell custom labels? Thanks

so, from this site
http://www.americangamingsupply.com/...okerchips.aspx
it tells me they won't ship to my location if i buy more than 200 at a time. as soon as i put in 300 or 600 it says "unable to ship".

anyone know why?