Purchasing custom clay chips for home games

What do you get for someone that has everything? I decided to buy my brother a custom set of clay poker chips... He hosts games frequently and often hosts tournaments. I have the logo that I want on them and all that, what I need an opinion on is: A. How many different colors (denominations) would be ideal? B. How many of each denomination?


It would have to be enough for 7-10 players. I am thinking of the standard red, green, and black... but want some suggestions on what percentage should be each color.


Also, there are many different chip companies out there...if anyone has a recommendation or a tip on what chips are of good quality, I would appreciate that also... price is not an issue.


Just want to get something for him that he will appreciate and use. I appreciate any and all information you can give me.

We have a home tourney game involving about 20 people, three times a month. One irritation I have with the chips is that they use five different color chips at one time. 10,000 / 5000 / 1000 / 500 / 100. It is confusing to have so many denominations and I think it would be simpler to simply use more of a lower denomination etc.


So I would recommend not buying anymore than 4 colors of chips. Perhaps only three. Buy more of each color rather than fewer chips and more colors.

If you go to our links page there is a link to Gambler's General Store. They're here in Las Vegas and should have everthing you need.

I bought a custom set of chips ten years ago, and have never regretted it for a moment. In fact, I also bought a real wood table that reverses from a regular table top to a padded/felt top. Again, well worth the investment (along with the Tiffany lamp and Kem cards).


Anyway, the chips. I recommend going with the highest quality you can find - 9.5 or 10.5 gram chips. You'll find you're not able to buy true "black" (I don't think) because it's too easy to slip those into a stack of a chips at a casino. You may also like the composite chips (such as ChipCo makes).


I do have one key recommendation: unless your father's games shift dramatically in stakes, buy chips that have the denomination inscribed in them. That way, there can be no confusion *and* it prevents a chip being removed from the house when it's worth $.50 and returned when it's worth $5.


I bought 700 chips total :


200 @ $ 0.25

200 @ $ 1.00

200 @ $ 5.00

100 @ $20.00 (you can tell I live in California)


This gives me over $3000 in chips to put into play. But obviously, adjust this for the stakes that your father plays. Even if he has an occasional huge game, it's easy enough to buy another rack of $20 (or $25 - whatever), and a rack of $100 chips. The large denomination chips rarely go into action, but guarantee you'll always be able to let somebody have as much money on the table as he wishes.


If you're going to use standard Nevada denominations ($1, $5, $25, $100), I recommend you use standard colors that everybody will know (you can usually get a deep gray for the $100's).


But go for it - it's a great gift that will get a lot of use.


Regards, Lee


P.S. Mason's recommendation, even allowing for his interest in promoting his sponsors, is spot-on. Gambler's General Store is a great place to do business. I once saw some people there buying chips and other supplies for their casino in Tahiti. "Y'all need a, like, dealer, or anything?"

I hope you realize you're talking about some big bucks here if you want to get good quality with a custom logo.


To be have enough chips for a money game without constantly changing color, you need about about 100 chips per player: 80 of one color and 20 of another. That's usually enough, especially if you allow bills and coins in play. If you play pot limit you should really have a third color of 20/player.


For tournaments, you can't have any bills on the table, and if the limits escalate, you'll need more than one color. On the other hand, you need far fewer chips of each color: 20/player of each of four colors will almost always do for one-table tournaments.


So to cover all the possibilities you mentioned, you'll probably need 800 of one color and 200 each of three other colors. That's 1400 chips. At .40/chip - about the cheapest you're going to find with a custom logo - that's $560, and you could easily spend more than that on higher quality chips.


As for colors, pick ones that look nice together. You don't have to stick to standard casino colors. Give some consideration to the decor in which the game is played. Colors that compliment but contrast with the color of the table top are better than those that don't. I once played in a home game where the hostess had tastefully re-covered her husband's poker table in a shade of blue felt that was almost the exact same shade as his blue poker chips. After enough beers, you couldn't see the chips any more, just the white dots on the edges. Weird.


I suggest NOT getting denominations put on them. That just confuses things more than helps. But to help out the color-blind, get ones with different border patterns (you should do this anyway, even you decide to have denominations printed on the chips). Your standard choices are usually dots and stripes in various arrangements.


Also don't forget to order something to store them in. You might want to throw in some plastic chip racks also.


TRLS