Second set advice... (2 Viewers)

[longflop]

Gentlemen, I need some help and this is the place to get it. I've been hosting a home poker tourney for a while now. My first chip set is a set of the 12.2 gram coin-inlay jackpot casino chips. The breakdown I currently have is:

236x.25
100x.50
100x1
100x5

I know this is a bottom of the barrel chip but it was my first set that I bough as a grown up, the guys always liked them and they served their purpose until now.

I've gotten a lot of interest lately and the tourney has expanded, now up to 18 players. I built another table (picture is attached) and the chip set is not big enough anymore. I wanted to move up to the 1,000 chip set. The reason for the odd setup of my set now is that they are discontinued with the exception of the .25c chips. I want denominated chips, because guys always forget how much they are worth if there's no denominations. I also want the .25c and .50c chips for the low stakes cash game after the tourney is done. I did some research and I heard good things about the mint chip from claysmith.

I'm reaching out to find out if there are any opinions on this set? I couldn't find a whole lot through the search. Also, am I missing something, is there a better set I can find for the 15c per chip price? I would love to go for a nice ceramic or china clay, but I am way more comfortable with a $200 set than a $400 set.

Any and all imputs are appreciated and welcomed, even if its to tell me I'm a cheapskate idiot!

 

[RichMahogany]

If you’re on a tight budget, the first thing I would do is get rid of the completely useless 50 cent chip. That’ll give you more money to spend on more useful denominations.

 

[v1pe]

Probably the lowest set people around here are going to recommend are a set of china clay chips. Milanos are around 30c a chip I think and may work into your budget. $250-400 for a playable 2 table set.

Check out apachepokerchips.com for some options. They carry stuff in the 15c range also, but nothing I can personally recommend.

 

[pltrgyst]

You can buy 1000 Nexgen Classics for $199 or less on eBay, shipping included, and pick your own denoms. Use the non-denom blue chip as your fractional, either 25 cent or 50 cent.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-1000-N...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

 

[longflop]

If you’re on a tight budget, the first thing I would do is get rid of the completely useless 50 cent chip. That’ll give you more money to spend on more useful denominations.

This is where I need help. I was thinking of the following set up:

300X.25
300X.50
225X1
125X5
50X10

Total "cash" value of the set is $1,575

My thinking was that this works well for when I run the tourney as the buy in gets you a starting stack of $50 (100x starting big blind). This covers the starting stack for all 18 players, one rebuy/add on (1/2 of starting stack) per player, plus allows me to color out all .25's and .50's. I figured this gets a bunch of chips in front of people at the start, which makes my guys feel cool. Plus for the cash game afterwards, we always do $.25/$.50. Are you saying eliminate the $.50 chip to get a smaller set of better chips that have the same total "cash" value?

 

[v1pe]

What starting stack are you wanting to use?

Yes, generally you don't want to have any chips that are only 2x the previous denomination in value, it's just not efficient. You'd be better off removing the 300x .50 and adding another 150x 1 for example. Half the total chips with the same bank.

In a .25/.50 game your workhorse chips are probably going to be 1's, but you'll probably want plenty of .25's. In a .25/.50 game to cover 2 tables I would personally look for something like:

360 x 25c
400 x 1
200 x 5
40 x 25

Total bank of $2490 leaving for just under 3 $50 buy-ins (assuming standard 100BB buy in) per player if you have all 18 players show.

If you think that's not enough, drop some 5's and add more 25's.

 

[Josh Kifer]

I'd do no .50s... Add a rack of ones, fives, and .25s.... And no tens, just a barrel or two of 25s

 

[v1pe]

You'll find that how many Quarters needed in a game is a pretty polarizing opinion around here, but I personally fall on the side of more chips, less change making.

 

[Josh Kifer]

This is where I need help. I was thinking of the following set up:

300X.25
300X.50
225X1
125X5
50X10

Total "cash" value of the set is $1,575

My thinking was that this works well for when I run the tourney as the buy in gets you a starting stack of $50 (100x starting big blind). This covers the starting stack for all 18 players, one rebuy/add on (1/2 of starting stack) per player, plus allows me to color out all .25's and .50's. I figured this gets a bunch of chips in front of people at the start, which makes my guys feel cool. Plus for the cash game afterwards, we always do $.25/$.50. Are you saying eliminate the $.50 chip to get a smaller set of better chips that have the same total "cash" value?

General idea is ya want 4-5 chips to move to the next one. 4-.25 into a buck. 5 bucks into a 5... 5 - 5s into 25... Etc... Life's just harder then ya have .25 and .50 chips when cashing out.

 

[Josh Kifer]

You'll find that how many Quarters needed in a game is a pretty polarizing opinion around here, but I personally fall on the side of more chips, less change making.

I love big stacks, so more quarters.... If your doing .25/.50... .50/1 and up, two racks is prob good...

 

[v1pe]

I love big stacks, so more quarters.... If your doing .25/.50... .50/1 and up, two racks is prob good...

2 racks would cover it for sure, but if I have my druthers I'd like to be able to provide a barrel of quarters per player. Could get by with as little as 8 or 12 quarters per starting stack though, or even zero quarters (all 1s and 5s) for a later buy in or rebuy.

 

[Josh Kifer]

I do a half barrel per starting stack, and 4 for each additional until the two racks are gone, then it's just however many fives it takes and five ones...

 

[v1pe]

I wish you could do a half barrel, but that doesn't work very well since it would make $2.50 and there's no way to make up the other 50c for a buy-in in whole $ amounts.

Hence why I prefer the full barrel, anything not in stacks of 10 or 20 tilts me

 

[BGinGA]

I did some research and I heard good things about the mint chip from claysmith.

Not sure from whom. There are better choices out there in the 15c/chip segment than any of the original Claysmith offerings. Poker Knights, Monaco Club, Showdown Club (all now carried by Claysmith) are superior slugged plastic choices than the (harder) Mint and similar designs.

As far as breakdown goes, this is what you need for a budget 100BB 18-player tournament with opening 25c/50c blinds (8/8/3/1 T50 starting stacks):

144 x 25c
144 x $1
91 x $5 (includes 37x for color-up of 25c and $1 chips)
18 x $25
-------------
397 chips

To expand that set for use in a 25c/50c two-table cash game, I'd bump the numbers as follows:

200 x 25c
400 x $1
300 x $5
100 x $25
-------------
1000 chips = $4,450 bank ($2,225 per table).

A 100/200/150/50 breakdown is plenty of each denomination per table. As stated previously in this thread, ditch the useless 50c and $10 chips.

 

[longflop]

Not sure from whom. There are better choices out there in the 15c/chip segment than any of the original Claysmith offerings. Poker Knights, Monaco Club, Showdown Club (all now carried by Claysmith) are superior slugged plastic choices than the (harder) Mint and similar designs.

As far as breakdown goes, this is what you need for a budget 100BB 18-player tournament with opening 25c/50c blinds (8/8/3/1 T50 starting stacks):

144 x 25c
144 x $1
91 x $5 (includes 37x for color-up of 25c and $1 chips)
18 x $25
-------------
397 chips

To expand that set for use in a 25c/50c two-table cash game, I'd bump the numbers as follows:

200 x 25c
400 x $1
300 x $5
100 x $25
-------------
1000 chips = $4,450 bank ($2,225 per table).

A 100/200/150/50 breakdown is plenty of each denomination per table. As stated previously in this thread, ditch the useless 50c and $10 chips.

I really appreciate the help on this. I saw the poker knights, Monaco club and showdown club on the claysmith website, why are they superior to the mint? I got a couple samples of the mint and they are superior to what I currently have. Any advice is helpful.

I think I'm going to put your second chip breakdown as the way to go, but I'll probably scale it back to 600 chips, With my guys, I know we will never end up in a situation where we need almost $4,500 in chips.

I really appreciate all of your guys help on this.

 

[Lash]

You should get more samples. Get the poker knight samples. Get a couple china clay samples. If you're still set on getting the mint ,consider the monaco millions from straightpokersupplies. They are the mint chip with a different label

 

[gopherblue]

If going with 600, I’d read this post and use the breakdown listed, but with only two racks of $5s instead of four racks: How many chips and breakdown

 

[Josh Kifer]

I wish you could do a half barrel, but that doesn't work very well since it would make $2.50 and there's no way to make up the other 50c for a buy-in in whole $ amounts.

Hence why I prefer the full barrel, anything not in stacks of 10 or 20 tilts me

My set is 50 cent chips, so a half berrel works great...

 

[longflop]

Ok, set is ordered. I appreciate all of your advice, some was heeded, in other cases, I am hard headed. I went with the Poker Knights chip. I actually preferred that when I settled on the mint, but it was out of stock. Its back in stock, so I ordered. I got a 600 count set, broken down like this:

275X.25
225X1
100X5

I have 25, $25 plaques that the guys really like. They don't match the set, but they are different enough where it doesn't feel like I'm just trying to wedge in an off set chip to complete the setup. Plus if it feel wrong, I got a 600 chip case and I can wedge in almost 100 more chips by putting chips in the card deck areas, so there is a bit of flexability to this. Another bonus is that by getting closer to the recommended setup I was able to get a smaller set to accomplish the same goals.

I appreciate everybody's help with this. I'll update after the first game, which is this coming Saturday.

 

[codeman00]

Sounds great! Good luck with your game.

 

[RainmanTrail]

Something worth considering is that any China clay or ceramic set you purchase will almost certainly go down in value (and if the China clays end up flaking badly, they could be worth nothing), whereas Paulsons will likely increase in value over time. Would you rather lose $200-$400 or invest $1000 while getting to play with "borrowed" chips?

Edit : oops, I missed that post. Looks like I'm late to the party. Enjoy those chips!

 

[longflop]

Something worth considering is that any China clay or ceramic set you purchase will almost certainly go down in value (and if the China clays end up flaking badly, they could be worth nothing), whereas Paulsons will likely increase in value over time. Would you rather lose $200-$400 or invest $1000 while getting to play with "borrowed" chips?

Edit : oops, I missed that post. Looks like I'm late to the party. Enjoy those chips!

This site has definitely piqued my interest in the chip game. While I would love to have a seriously nice set of chips, my current budget just won't allow it. I will get there someday.

 

[codeman00]

Just remember that if you buy a China Clay set of chips, the chips won’t lose value
unless you plan on selling them. If you plan on actually using them for a long period of time, then you got what you paid for.

Everyone has a budget and money they are comfortable spending on poker chips. Make the right decision for you and get the best chips you can get for your money. There’s nothing at all wrong with owning China Clay chips.

 

[longflop]

Just remember that if you buy a China Clay set of chips, the chips won’t lose value
unless you plan on selling them. If you plan on actually using them for a long period of time, then you got what you paid for.

Everyone has a budget and money they are comfortable spending on poker chips. Make the right decision for you and get the best chips you can get for your money. There’s nothing at all wrong with owning China Clay chips.

I understand that. This set will probably be my neighborhood game chip for a while. I know the boys will like them. Maybe the heavier chips will slow down the calling station behavior. Not looking at this one as an investment. The good news is that my coin inlays now will become the set that gets used when my kids want to "play poker."

This site is dangerous though! I am already wondering what kind of chip set I could get into for a .50 per chip budget! Be right back, I gotta go hide my credit cards!

 

[longflop]

Set came in today. First picture is the new set. Second picture is everything I've got. I know its not impressive, but you gotta start somewhere.

Initial impression, coming from the coin inlay jackpot casino chips, these are fantastic. A bit heavy, but a softer feel and sound. These stack exponentially better. After a quick run through all labeling and coloring looks consistant. No sharp edges like people have complained about with prior slugged claysmith chips. I don't know if its a new process or I just got lucky, or maybe a little bit of both. My only minor minor minor issue, and its my fault since I went off of the samples of the mint instead of getting these samples, is that the colors are more muted than what appeared on the poker chips wholesale website. They look great to me, but I expected the white in particular to be brighter. Again, I don't know if this is due to a new process or what. Also, it turns out that I could fit another 150 chips in the 600 chip case, so I bulked the .25 and 1's up to 300 each, then added another 50 5's. If I were going to sell this set someday, it would probably be a detriment to have $5's as the highest chip, but I doubt there's much of a secondary market for these. All in all, I'm excited and I can't wait till the game on Saturday. I'll update after a night of play.

 

[codeman00]

Looks great!! Congrats!

I noticed too when I bought samples of those that the colors were not as bright as I expected. I was surprised too. I'm not sure why.

Enjoy!

 

[SWEATER]

I know its not impressive, but you gotta start somewhere.

Nice set!

 

[Lash]

Look great. Always been curious about those chips

 

[Craig D]

it would probably be a detriment to have $5's as the highest chip

Not at all add a few $100 plaques and the set has new life

Have Fun

 

[longflop]

Not at all add a few $100 plaques and the set has new life

Have Fun

Dammit, now you've got me thinking!