Choosing a "clay" gaming chip

[Java Lizard]

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.

[JoshuaMayes]

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.

[jojobinks]

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.

[pie taster]

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.

[PinataUT]

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

[Richter]

http://www.homepokertourney.com/chips_review.htm

[jon_1van]

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)

[PinataUT]

1500 chip 24 player tourney set

[hachkc]

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


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

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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


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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


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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.

[jon_1van]

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)


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

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Correct...hense I'd like more