Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

If a handful of you can assist me in my dillema it will be very much appreciated. I will apologize up front for this thread being not straight forward and littered with numerous questions. Hopefully everyones opinions, ideas, and pictures attached to this thread help more than just myself with "clay" chip decisions. Thank you all in advance.

I very much enjoy a great home poker game. I have several small groups that I play with on a regular basis and from time to time have played in some small home tournaments. I however, have never hosted a game at my house due in part to my lack of any gaming chips.

My friends all have a hodge podge of chips. Anything from plastic, to injection molded with slugs in them, to the Nex-Gen chips. Some of the guys have the pre-printed faux casino marings on them, while others have hot stamps or blank chips. Various denominations, an array of colors, and chip counts from 650 - 1500.

Ive been doing a lot of on-line searching and have come to one conclusion. I want the best feeling, best sounding, best looking chips I can get for my dollar. With that being said the most obvious question is; what will I pay for a chip? I would like to have a collection of approximatley 1500 chips and am willing to spend as much in dollars for those chips. So, about a buck a chip. I want what is commonly reffered to as a "clay" or "clay composite" gaming chip with edge spotting. I want the chips to have a close weight and feel to what is standard in a casino. I also would really like to have a custom inlay in the chips if possible.

I've looked at homepokerchips.com, pokerchips.com (ASM), chipco.com, buypokerchips.com (modern clay), and several sites that have paulson home chips and James Bond chips, as well as blue chips and TRKings. I've even looked at Matsui chips.

So what do I ultimatley want? If I could find a Paulson chip with edge spotting and a custom inlay I would be a very happy man. But since I don't have the cash to pay for chips in the tens of thousands, that is not an option. I have read several reviews on different "clays" and many of them are very close. One which seems to stand out is the ASM chips from pokerchips.com. Please lend me some assistance and opinions.

Also, I have played in little five dollar home games and small tournaments with a one hundred dollar buy in. I have seen chips split up according to real denominations but have primarily seen chips split up in fantasy denominations, (Example: 50 bucks may get you 1500 in chips). I could see having five guys over for a five or ten dollar game, and also see myself holding a 24 man tournament. With 1500 chips, what is the best split up for denominations? Should I start at 1 and work up to 5000, or start at .25 or .50 and only go up to 500? I'm looking to have a very versatile collection and would ultimatley like to have each denomination represented with their own customized inlay.

One last question about oiling. Whatever chips I end up with, due in large part to responses from this thread, should I or should I not oil them. I understand mineral oil is the choice and it should be used very sparingly. I have seen pictures where it brings out the color of chip vibrantly. But, does the mineral oil have any adverse affects on the chips? After years of use does the oil weaken the chips?

Thank you all for your time and patience in reading my ramblings. I am looking forward to reading your opinions. Also, feel free to post pictures of your chips. Visuals will really help in the decision process.

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

If you would ideally like Paulson's with a custom inlay, have you considered the group buy run by tenpercenter?
Link

I have a set of custom ASM's that I got from pokerchips.com, and I love them. There is a thread with pics on this forum.

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

i ordered pharaoh's at chiptalk.net. i recommend you do to, but only if paulsons at .87 is to your liking. imo it's the best deal you can get on quality poker chips, period.

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

Dito what Joshua said. For a $1 a chip.. that is by far the best deal going. Please make a note that the pre-sale ends on Saturday.

You can also see a nice pre-sale for a western styled paulson on apache's site

If you are looking to get paulson chips sooner than later then also look at the 5star deal.. a little more than $1 a chip.. but probably will be in stock sometime soon. Check them out here.

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

You want to make sure you have a tourney set for your 24 as a priority then concentrate on fewer colors. 25, 100, 500 planning on starting with 25s and 100s and coloring up to 500s as the game goes on. As players get eliminated, it would be good to have some cash game chips.

I'd consider making the TOURNEY set your good chips that you can use as $.25 $1 and $5 if you're only running a low level cash game.

When the tourney set is tied up, you might consider adding some non-denominational chips in 2 values for your cash games. So as players are eliminated from the tourney they can play games on the side using these chips.

Check holdempokerchips and the write-up - how many chips do I need.

Sorry this isn't a complete response and hope that it is helpful.

Take care,

PinataUT

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

You say you've done alot of "looking"

Have you actually gotten samples sent to you? With samples you might be able to be much more confident in your decision.

Here are my thoughts about the various chip vendors out there (I have samples of all of these).

PC.com - I want more edge spot variety...so this is out. But the samples I recieved were nice in feel and color

TR King - I absolutely love the feel of these chips. Too bad they don't have as much edge spot variety as I'd like. But they do have a decent variety but they don't have a particular pattern I like. They could also have a few more colors in the mix

Blue chip - I don't like the feel of these chips as much. But they have great colors. They also have enough edge spot patterns for me.

Home Paulsons (ten's group buy) - Very nice chips, excellent inlay design. But I'd like more variety in the edge spot patterns. But they are pretty cheap at .87 per


Currently I can't decide between TR King (1st feel , 2nd edge spots, 2nd colors) and Blue chip (2nd feel , 1st edge spots , 1st colors)

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

1500 chip 24 player tourney set

http://img248.echo.cx/img248/1195/screenie1gv.jpg

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

[ QUOTE ]

PC.com - I want more edge spot variety...so this is out. But the samples I recieved were nice in feel and color


[/ QUOTE ]

No edge variety other 3 1/2" spots or none. Biggest issue is wait time 10 weeks or so.

[ QUOTE ]

TR King - I absolutely love the feel of these chips. Too bad they don't have as much edge spot variety as I'd like. But they do have a decent variety but they don't have a particular pattern I like. They could also have a few more colors in the mix


[/ QUOTE ]

If you go the custom route, they provide MORE edgespot options than I belive any other manufacturer in the home market.

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Home Paulsons (ten's group buy) - Very nice chips, excellent inlay design. But I'd like more variety in the edge spot patterns. But they are pretty cheap at .87 per


[/ QUOTE ]

With the current home Paulson chips, I don't believe you are allowed ANY flexibility in the colors or edgespots. The only options you have are the inlay and that requires at least a 100,000 chips.

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

TR King offers the following edge spot patterns ::
3x1
4x1
5x1
3x2 (I've heard they offer this but I've haven't seen one made)
4x2
Quartered chip (a circle cut into 4ths)

Blue chip offers the following edge spot patterns ::
3x2 (3, 2 colors spots)
4x2 (4, 2 colors spots)
3x3 .
4x3 .
6x1 .
(The 4x3 and 3x3 can be used as a 4x1 and 3x1 by makeing the 1st and 3rd edge spot the same color as the body color)


[ QUOTE ]
With the current home Paulson chips, I don't believe you are allowed ANY flexibility in the colors or edgespots

[/ QUOTE ]

Correct...hense I'd like more

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

So far this has only been posted for about 4 hours and I am getting great feedback, thank you. I have reviewed tenpercenters Paulson Chip buy (Pharoah's) and must admit they are a beautiful chip. However, I am stuck with a faux casino name and can not customize the inlay myself which is a draw back. The price however, .87, is amazing for a Paulson. I enjoyed the pictures sent showing the custom pc.com chips. Custom inlay's and a beautiful looking chip, however, only one edge spot color and some of the reviews on how fragile they can be worries me to a degree. I see that the TRKINGS and Blue Chips are recommended by a few. Can anyone send me links where I can order these chips with customized inlays. Only ones I have found on the net for TRKINGS and Blue Chips have been , blank, denominational, or faux casino.
Reference being sent sample chips, I have not done that yet. I figure I will let this thread stand for a week or so then I'll call for samples from the top companies that have been suggested to me.
PinataUt, thanks for the Microsoft Excel calculator. And thanks to others for the advise on chip denominations.
Thank you all so far!

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

I have to admit that the faux casino name on the Pharaohs also really puts me off, but I find the rest of the chip to be well worth the money to me.

If you haven't already, you might consider getting samples, as others have suggested. I would have been lukewarm on the most recent Paulsons, since after all, the mold sucks and in the case of Apache's new JB Paulsons, it's also exactly mismatched in size to the inlay. Then I got samples, and I'm completely sold on them, regardless of mold issues.

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

I have found custom ordering information for both Blue Chip and for T.R. King. For T.R. Kings, it is .80 apiece with a minimum order of 5,000 chips if I want custom inlays, that is 4,000 bucks. Out of my leauge of approximatley 1,500 dollar budget. Otherwise it is 1.50 per chip for orders under 5,000 which gets me my inlays and my multi colored edge spots as well as a good feeling chip, however for 1,500 bucks im only going to get 1,000 chips, chich I suppose I could make due with. Blue Chip apparently will do custom inlays on multi colored edge spot chips for .75 a chip plus a $250.00 art fee but you have to call them in Las Vegas to do it and the only references you have to look at on-line are Modern Clay and Nevada Jack. Has anyone had custom work done by Blue Chip or by T.R. King, if so can you post pictures of your chips so I can get an idea of the artwork quality? Thanks Again.

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

In an effort to save you some time - just get in on the Pharaoh's group buy. At $0.87 it is the best deal out there. You get a custom (for the most part) set of Paulson chips (the best) at a fantastic price.

Do a little more poking around about Blue Chip and you'll find that their quality stinks.

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

Here is a link to some pics of a custom TR King group buy.

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

[ QUOTE ]
Otherwise it is 1.50 per chip for orders under 5,000 which gets me my inlays and my multi colored edge spots as well as a good feeling chip, however for 1,500 bucks im only going to get 1,000 chips

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This is not true. The closer you get to 5000 chips the closer you get to a buck a chip. If you can find someone else that can buy chips with you...you get 1500 he/she gets 1500 and then you'll get 1.00 each.

Blue chips also makes the following chips ::

- Mardi Gras chips
- Club Desparado
- Grand Island

See this site for pics

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

If you're looking for 1500 chips, it shouldn't be hard to find 4-5 other folks to go in together and get 5000+ chips. The hardest part would be coming up with a design (inlay, colors, edge spots) that everyone can agree to.

I'd be interested in 500-750 custom TR Kings if I like the design and such. I would want mostly denoms with maybe 1 NCV chip for cash games (.25/.50, $1, $5).

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

[ QUOTE ]
TR King offers the following edge spot patterns ::
3x1
4x1
5x1
3x2 (I've heard they offer this but I've haven't seen one made)
4x2
Quartered chip (a circle cut into 4ths)

Blue chip offers the following edge spot patterns ::
3x2 (3, 2 colors spots)
4x2 (4, 2 colors spots)
3x3 .
4x3 .
6x1 .
(The 4x3 and 3x3 can be used as a 4x1 and 3x1 by makeing the 1st and 3rd edge spot the same color as the body color)


[ QUOTE ]
With the current home Paulson chips, I don't believe you are allowed ANY flexibility in the colors or edgespots

[/ QUOTE ]

Correct...hense I'd like more


[/ QUOTE ]

You are truly a chip conossieur (spelling?) if you want all those edge spot combinations.

As for Blue Chip, I hear they can be difficult to deal with for custom chips though that may not be as true anymore. Someone was running a group buy with them on THP; don't know what's happening with it now though.

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you're looking for 1500 chips, it shouldn't be hard to find 4-5 other folks to go in together and get 5000+ chips. The hardest part would be coming up with a design (inlay, colors, edge spots) that everyone can agree to.

I'd be interested in 500-750 custom TR Kings if I like the design and such. I would want mostly denoms with maybe 1 NCV chip for cash games (.25/.50, $1, $5).

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed -- this is how we did the group buy for the custom TR Kings. We chose the colors of the chips and used the stock inlays so we wouldn't have to pay artwork fees.

If you want to get a group buy together, I would start it on: http://www.chiptalk.net and then cross post on all the boards like this one with a link.

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

Actually there aren't any art fees to speak of for TR King if you can get them camera-ready art. We didn't want to spend a lot of time trying to design an imprint that everyone would like since Ray had seen that it can be nearly impossible to get together on a clear design. An advantage is that it is easy to add on to our set either through Dennis's making up some more chips for our order or by adding 'stock' at $.95 (e.g. if I wanted to add $10,000 or $5,000 to my set, I could just use the regular imprint). Or if I wanted to add a crapload of lower chips for a tourney get a hotstamped non-edgespot for the lowest denom... e.g. 400 green stamped $25 on one side and KC (King's Crown) on the other as a cheap way to round out a tourney set for $220 or so plus shipping.

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

check out www.acepokerchipcompany.com

I can offer you .90 a chip on 1500 ($1350.00) chips SHIPPED 2 day priority mail with 15 chip racks. (NEW Vineyard Chipco Chips)

Please let me know if you are interested!

Thanks,

Phillip

(email me at acepokerchip@gmail.com )

Re: Choosing a \"clay\" gaming chip
 

So far I've been pleased with the responses. I have found what I thought was a lot of reasearch, really was not enough!! I have visited a lot more chip review sites and have got samples coming.
I see that some of you have suggested me getting on deals such as TenPercenter's Pharoah chips, and PAULSON, you asked if I wanted to get in on the Vineyard's. I will admit all of your chips totally rock and are beautifully designed. However, the key thing for me is customization of MY own, not just a custom chip. I want help pick out or design artwork. Again, not saying the Pharoah or Vineyard chips aren't kicka**, I'm just saying I want to have my own custom artwork. I really want a clay instead of a ceramic as well. Chipco/Nevada Jacks, and the like are great looking chips, but, I'm looking for the feel of clay.
The T.R. King customizable chips are intersting me at this point and I appreciate the suggestions for advertising a group buy. They hard part is getting enough people to buy into chips that I design. I'm also looking at ASM, otherwise known as Pokerchips.com. I can pretty much get everything I want from them, however they only do the 3 1/2" edge spots in a single contrasting color. I would prefer multi colored spotting in varying patterns, but I suppose I could live without if it comes down to it.

Paulson, in your pics reference posted on another subject "poker chip pics only" I see in the third picture down customozed ASM's. I see that some have multiple edge spots and on the $500, you have two contrasting colors. How and where did you get them???

Thanks all!!
Java Lizard