Poker Chip Reviews

[ClonexxSA]

I have samples from 3 different companies here, and figured I would post my feelings on those 3. I also have Nevada Jack and pokerchips.com samples on the way and will add them to this thread after I receive them.

I am doing this to maybe try and help people like me out there who are on the hunt for a decent chip set.

First I have the 13 gram "Casino" chip. Overall I dont like the chip, there are a few things that really concern me. For one, they sound like the 11.5 gram composite chips when you toss them around. They have a very metallic "clink" to them, due to the metal insert. The second major concern I have is quality. The diamonds on the edges are uneven and sloppy, the edge spots run into the "Casino" printing in some spaces and they are very easily rubbed off to reveal white underneath the edge spots.

There are a few good points to them though. They do have a really nice clay like feel to them, and do feel good when tossing them into a pot. The extra weight really gives them a nice hefty feel. They also have a nice, rounded edge to them. Overall though, I do not like them very much. These are the least expensive chips of the 3.


Second I have the #1003 and #1006 chips from thepokerchipcompany.com. The first thing you notice of course, is the standard 10.5g weight compared to the hefty 13g "Casino" chips. Although these are pure clay with no insert, they actually feel more like plastic then anything else, they are very hard and sound a bit...cheap when clinking them around. The quality of the chip however is much better then the "Casino" chip. You can immediately tell the difference in the edge spots and chip itself that this is a higher quality chip. The edges are very sharp, in direct contrast to the 13g chips. Overall though, like the 13g chips, I really just do not like them. These are the most expensive chips I have here.


Then we come to the All-In chips I received yesterday in the mail. They sent me 5 samples to mess around with. The very first thing you notice about these is their feel. They have a very rubbery like feel, and are a fairly soft chip. If you drag your fingernail fairly hard across it, you will mark it up. The quality is there though, they are nicely made chips that look very nice. These have no edge spots, but instead have dots around the edges of the chips. They also have the All-In logo in the center and written around the chips. They are comparable in weight to thepokerchipcompany.com chips, but these sound and feel better to me. They sound and feel much nicer then the other 2. Overall, these are definitely my favorite of the 3 samples I have here. These are also the middle of the road price wise between the 3.


I am waiting on samples from Nevada Jacks (The ceramic composite chips) and from pokerchips.com (The horsehead and roman chips with edge spots, all clay). When they arrive I am going to mess with them and will post those final 2 reviews in this thread as well.

For now I will continute the never ending search for the right chip set for me =)

[Lottery Larry]

Search this forum over the last 6 months. I did a review of several chips and others have as well

[chson]

Great reviews. I'm looking forward to your next installment.

[ClonexxSA]

[ QUOTE ]
Search this forum over the last 6 months. I did a review of several chips and others have as well

[/ QUOTE ]

I did a search but maybe I just didnt go back far enough is all.

Oh well, sorry if its been done before, just figured since I was hunting for chips that I would pipe in with my own thoughts on the chips I have here in front of me.

[toots]

Personally, I think anyone who has first hand experience to share is making a welcome contribution.

Thanks.

[ClonexxSA]

[ QUOTE ]
Personally, I think anyone who has first hand experience to share is making a welcome contribution.

Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you toots.

As an addition to the All-In chip review, I just messed around with one and tried to break it in half. Well, it snapped in half with a bit of force. Now, this isnt something someone should be doing with your chips, and if they are they need a smack in the head. They will not snap in half if dropped or under normal use circumstances, but a warning that they WILL snap if someone exerts some force while TRYING to snap one in half.

I tried the same thing with the 1003 and 1006 chip from thepokerchipcompany.com and I couldnt snap it in half. Of course snapping the 13g chip in half is something I didnt even bother to try since it has an insert and ill break my finger or something.

[ncskiier]

You have my permission to continue with your report. Proceed.

[Richard Tanner]

I for one love these topics. I'm very interested in what the NJs have to offer as I really like the look of those.
Just a side note, does anyone know who made the WSOP chips (I've heard that it was RT plasics, any confirmations).

Cody

[ClonexxSA]

[ QUOTE ]
I for one love these topics. I'm very interested in what the NJs have to offer as I really like the look of those.
Just a side note, does anyone know who made the WSOP chips (I've heard that it was RT plasics, any confirmations).

Cody

[/ QUOTE ]

I believe it was Bud Jones, as there is a BJ monogram on those chips.

As a side note, even though I snapped one in half, the All In chips still have my vote out of these 3. Im very curious about the NJ chips though, as I have never had any contact with a ceramic chip. Should be interesting =)

[theWhale]

If I am not mistaken, the NJ chips are not ceramic. They are some type of plastic composite(this isnt necessarily bad, the WSOP chips are injection molded composite of some type as well).

[ClonexxSA]

[ QUOTE ]
If I am not mistaken, the NJ chips are not ceramic. They are some type of plastic composite(this isnt necessarily bad, the WSOP chips are injection molded composite of some type as well).

[/ QUOTE ]

I was told that the NJ chips are very close to Chipco chips in make and feel, which is why I thought they were ceramic...or ar Chipco chips not ceramic and Im totally off? heh

[TenPercenter]

[ QUOTE ]
Of course snapping the 13g chip in half is something I didnt even bother to try since it has an insert and ill break my finger or something.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll send you $50 if you can do it. Seriously. *

Ten







* The fifty dollar reward will be represented by one pink, dice, 11.5 gram, poker "chip."

[TabascoJRC]

hmm i always thought they were ceramic too. If they compete with chipcos i would go ahead and call them ceramic anyway
-J

[MSPatton]

Taken from Britannia online.....
ceramic materials that are derived from common, naturally occurring raw materials such as clay minerals and quartz sand. Through industrial processes that have been practiced in some form for centuries, these materials are made into such familiar products as china tableware, clay brick and tile, industrial abrasives and refractory linings, and portland cement.

Taken from Websters........
of or relating to the manufacture of any product (as earthenware, porcelain, or brick) made essentially from a nonmetallic mineral (as clay) by firing at a high temperature; also : of or relating to such a product

With these definitions in mind, both Chipco and NJ composites would be considered "ceramic" as neither has man made materials such as plastic in their composition.

[TenPercenter]

[ QUOTE ]
Taken from Britannia online.....
ceramic materials that are derived from common, naturally occurring raw materials such as clay minerals and quartz sand. Through industrial processes that have been practiced in some form for centuries, these materials are made into such familiar products as china tableware, clay brick and tile, industrial abrasives and refractory linings, and portland cement.

Taken from Websters........
of or relating to the manufacture of any product (as earthenware, porcelain, or brick) made essentially from a nonmetallic mineral (as clay) by firing at a high temperature; also : of or relating to such a product

With these definitions in mind, both Chipco and NJ composites would be considered "ceramic" as neither has man made materials such as plastic in their composition.

[/ QUOTE ]

With those definitions, both chips could also rightly be called "clay" too! Or at least "clay composite" like the 11.5 slugs are touted as....

Ten

[Lottery Larry]

No, I wasn't questioning your reviews or the need for them. You just wrote that you were deciding on chips and I know that I and others have done reviews that you might be interested in reading.

By all means post your reviews!

[coyote]

I've got samples from pokerchips.com, thepokerchipcomany, homepokerchips.com and a few others. I play in a home game that uses pokerchips.com clays. I love them and plan on getting them. I was going to get a sample from buypokerchips.com but decided not to since you can't customize. All in all, if you want a really good set of clays, pokerchips.com is the way to go.

The only problem I've had so far is discerning their colors. They can't send sample chips of all the colors, and it is a bit dificult to tell the different between the blues and reds especially from their color chart

[TabascoJRC]

they should make a few chips with all the colors
and send one of those out when someone is ready to start an order

[coyote]

I agree, Homepoker chips has that I believe.

How important do you guys think it is to go with standard casino colors.... blue/white for 1s red for 5s green for 25s etc...???

Cause I don't particularly want my 100s to be black...

[Fins]

[ QUOTE ]
<snip>...
Second I have the #1003 and #1006 chips from thepokerchipcompany.com. The first thing you notice of course, is the standard 10.5g weight compared to the hefty 13g "Casino" chips. Although these are pure clay with no insert, they actually feel more like plastic then anything else, they are very hard and sound a bit...cheap when clinking them around. The quality of the chip however is much better then the "Casino" chip. You can immediately tell the difference in the edge spots and chip itself that this is a higher quality chip. The edges are very sharp, in direct contrast to the 13g chips. Overall though, like the 13g chips, I really just do not like them. These are the most expensive chips I have here.
<snip>


[/ QUOTE ]

First, thanks for posting as I too am in the market for a nice set of chips. Thought I'd add my 2¢ here. I have to disagree with your eval of the #1003 & #1006 as I don't think they're hard at all and I really like the weight, feel and sound of them. They are much softer than the A-mould & roman chips samples I have form pokerchips.com, the modern clays from buypokerchips.com, and the TR Kings sample from Apache. I think they're are soft possibly too soft... a few drops in the car port & on the kitchen tile have sizeable nicks in the chips. The nicks wear in okay but this adds to my reservations for longtime wear & use. My other hesitancy is mainly for the looks of the chip... only white edge spots is kind of boring and dirty's up pretty quickly (at least it did on my samples after only two weeks) such that I tried cleaning with a little soap/water (very little) and the chips are now very faded and the hot stamp is wearing off. If it wasn't for the looks of the sample chips after two weeks these might be my choice as I really like the weight, feel & sound... they're quality chips but even from some pics on their website you can get a flavor for how they might fade over time (see possible faded black chip (http://www.thepokerchipcompany.com/100dollarlrg.jpg) ... could be dust/powder but looks like the fading I mentioned). I have samples of the 13.5g chips from buypokerchips.com and I think they're are better than the 11.5g's and would definitely consider these if cost was my biggest motivator.

My choice right now is leaning to custom chipco style... really like the NJ's & Modern Clays except for the design so I figure if I'm going to spend the money might as well up the cost for the personalization/nostalgia factor. Started my chip design and the first draft has the SWMBO excited... wahoo! I'm going to contact homepokerchips.com soon to get a better quote but still refining my design... We'll see what kind of damper the cost does for my excitement.

Sorry for the long ramblin's... hoped they helped someone,

Fins

[TabascoJRC]

lets have a look at your design

[Fins]

It's based on Miksen's chips which I really liked. I basically used his chip body which I wanted to change up a little but my photoshop skllis are lacking... I can't make that grid around the edge to mess with colors... frustrating /images/graemlins/frown.gif . I'd like to post but I don't have any FTP software that I can post it to my website... lost my old copy of WTP (I think that's what it was called). Is there freeware out there that I can use that's secure? I think I can upload with just explorer but didn't like the unsecured nature of that... I could use some help here. I need to put up a site for our consignment shop and was looking at some software but the $145 was holding me back.

Any help would be appreciated and I'd like to get some feedback,

Fins

[TenPercenter]

http://www.smartftp.com/

Ten

[Fins]

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.smartftp.com/

Ten

[/ QUOTE ]

Excellent! Looks good... I'll give it a shot.

Thanks,
Fins

[ClonexxSA]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
<snip>...
Second I have the #1003 and #1006 chips from thepokerchipcompany.com. The first thing you notice of course, is the standard 10.5g weight compared to the hefty 13g "Casino" chips. Although these are pure clay with no insert, they actually feel more like plastic then anything else, they are very hard and sound a bit...cheap when clinking them around. The quality of the chip however is much better then the "Casino" chip. You can immediately tell the difference in the edge spots and chip itself that this is a higher quality chip. The edges are very sharp, in direct contrast to the 13g chips. Overall though, like the 13g chips, I really just do not like them. These are the most expensive chips I have here.
<snip>


[/ QUOTE ]

First, thanks for posting as I too am in the market for a nice set of chips. Thought I'd add my 2¢ here. I have to disagree with your eval of the #1003 & #1006 as I don't think they're hard at all and I really like the weight, feel and sound of them. They are much softer than the A-mould & roman chips samples I have form pokerchips.com, the modern clays from buypokerchips.com, and the TR Kings sample from Apache. I think they're are soft possibly too soft... a few drops in the car port & on the kitchen tile have sizeable nicks in the chips. The nicks wear in okay but this adds to my reservations for longtime wear & use. My other hesitancy is mainly for the looks of the chip... only white edge spots is kind of boring and dirty's up pretty quickly (at least it did on my samples after only two weeks) such that I tried cleaning with a little soap/water (very little) and the chips are now very faded and the hot stamp is wearing off. If it wasn't for the looks of the sample chips after two weeks these might be my choice as I really like the weight, feel & sound... they're quality chips but even from some pics on their website you can get a flavor for how they might fade over time (see possible faded black chip (http://www.thepokerchipcompany.com/100dollarlrg.jpg) ... could be dust/powder but looks like the fading I mentioned). I have samples of the 13.5g chips from buypokerchips.com and I think they're are better than the 11.5g's and would definitely consider these if cost was my biggest motivator.

My choice right now is leaning to custom chipco style... really like the NJ's & Modern Clays except for the design so I figure if I'm going to spend the money might as well up the cost for the personalization/nostalgia factor. Started my chip design and the first draft has the SWMBO excited... wahoo! I'm going to contact homepokerchips.com soon to get a better quote but still refining my design... We'll see what kind of damper the cost does for my excitement.

Sorry for the long ramblin's... hoped they helped someone,

Fins

[/ QUOTE ]

Odd, I have the exact opposite feel of them as far as rigidness goes. Compared to the All In chips and the Casino chips, the 1003 and 1006 are much harder, and dont seem to mark near as easily. I do agree on the dirt factor though, the white edge spots dirty up pretty quickly. I still dont like the sound of them though..but again this is a personal opinion so its not like your opinion is wrong =)

On another note, I received the Navada Jack composite chips today, 7 chips, one of each color. I must say, I am impressed. The graphics on them are nice and they have a nice weight to them. The feel a little strange, they have a very rough surface, almost like very fine sandpaper. As far as sound goes, what you hear on the WSOP while everyone is clinking their chips around is pretty much what these sound like, dead on. I like the edge spots, though they are the same on all color chips. The orange and pink chips are kinda hard to differentiate from the side, not impossible, but they sorta blend together very well.

Overall, of all the samples I have here, I believe I like these the most. I thought clay would definitely be my choice, but these have swayed me. I like the feel of the chip and I especially like the sound. The graphics are a bonus, though the denom's kinda throw me a little since I would rather have non denom chips. That is but a small problem though as you can really just ignore them and assign whatever you want at any time.

What is most unfortunate is that these are the most expensive chips I have sampled, and should I choose to go with them, I would only be able to afford a 300 chip set at the moment.

[TenPercenter]

[ QUOTE ]
The feel a little strange, they have a very rough surface, almost like very fine sandpaper.

[/ QUOTE ]

They feel like they have a uniform "roughness." Think about the parellel plastic lines on the front of a holographic sticker, but much smaller ridges. You run your thumb across it and you get that "zipper" effect, and you'll see that the lines or ridges are uniformly spaced.

BTW, these NJ chips have always been high on my list too. I really like them a lot for non-custom chips.

Ten

[ClonexxSA]

Im definitely leaning heavily towards them.

Another thing I have noticed is that out of the 4 different chip samples I have here, the NJs seem to be the most wear resistant of them all, I suppose due to the composite makeup of them. They dont seem to mark at all, and any marks made are easily cleaned off with no wear to the chip.

It figures I would get hooked on the one chip thats basically out of my price range =)

Argh!

[TenPercenter]

[ QUOTE ]
Another thing I have noticed is that out of the 4 different chip samples I have here, the NJs seem to be the most wear resistant of them all,

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd agree with that.

There was a guy trying to sell a set here and/or on another board... You might check with him, and check on ebay.

http://www.texasholdem-poker.com/forum/phpbb/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4899

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=1031092&page=0&view=c ollapsed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1#1031092

http://search.ebay.com/nev-jac-chip_W0QQsofocusZbsQQsbrftogZ1QQsojsZ1QQfromZR10QQ satitleZnev*Q20jac*Q20chip*QQsotrZ2QQsosortpropert yZ1QQsosortorderZ1



Ten

[Big O]

[ QUOTE ]
Second I have the #1003 and #1006 chips from thepokerchipcompany.com... Although these are pure clay with no insert, they actually feel more like plastic then anything else, they are very hard and sound a bit...cheap when clinking them around.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have to disagree with you on this. I think they are the closest thing to real casino chips out there. I sampled from over 10 companies and got over 30 samples before I made my choice. I felt the chips here were the best. The most compared to the Foxwoods chips (a little thicker though). I would reconsider this chip...

Big O

[ClonexxSA]

[ QUOTE ]

I have to disagree with you on this. I think they are the closest thing to real casino chips out there. I sampled from over 10 companies and got over 30 samples before I made my choice. I felt the chips here were the best. The most compared to the Foxwoods chips (a little thicker though). I would reconsider this chip...

Big O

[/ QUOTE ]


I just dont like them, maybe my assertion that they feel more like plastic is a bit off, but overall I just do not like the chip, nor the sound of the chip. But again, I am not saying that they are bad chips, I am just saying that I personally do not like them.

I truly am sold on the NJ chips at the moment...all around they are an amazing chip for something non custom.

[MSPatton]

Another set of composites done with the same material as
Nevada Jacks with different graphics
http://www.holdempokerchips.com/prodimages/mglineup.jpg (http://www.holdempokerchips.com/)

[ClonexxSA]

Thanks for showing me those, I appreciate the extra look into another chip like the NJs.

I definitely prefer the NJ graphics though over Mardis Gras =)

[MSPatton]

Your welcome. Both are great chips and a good alternative
to paying $1.00 ish per chip for clay or Chipco chips.

[ClonexxSA]

Well I finally got the samples from pokerchips.com.

This is the last sample I had coming, and I must say I like these as well. They feel nice, though are a bit hard. The 1003 and 1006 chips were also this way when I first got them, but they have softened up after handling them for a while, so I assume these chips will do the same.

They sent me one roman border chip and one A mold chip, both with edge spots. The weight feels dead on, and they sound great when tossing them around. They have no denoms, which is a plus to me. They dont seem to mark up easily either, which I think is another plus.

It is now a toss up for me between the NJs and the pokerchips.com chips. I am actually now sort of leaning towards the pokerchips.com chips as they are less expensive (if you go with the roman border) then the NJ chips and have no denoms on them.

There are 2 other factors pushing me towards the pokerchips.com chips over the NJs. The first is that for only .50 cents a chip, I can pick chip color and edge spot color to my specifications. That is a great deal for being able to customize your own color scheme. The 2nd factor is that for the same price as a 300 set of NJs, I can get a 500 set of the pokerchips.com chips made to my color specs.

Its a hard decision, but after playing with these chips a bit and being able to customize, I am now leaning heavily towards the pokerchips.com chips.

Im glad I waited for these samples to come before making my decision =)