I'm pretty new to buying poker chips and though I've watched countless videos on different chips, and styles, I still think it would be best to ask the experts for some advice. I'm looking for a cash game set with 1s 5s and 10s for under 170 shipped. If anybody could give me some advice on what they recommend, or if somebody has a used set that they are willing to sell, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm obviously looking for the best quality chips I can, and as of now I was looking at a set of 600 from discountpokerchips of the outlaw chips for just under 170 shipped with a dealer puck and a carrying case, but I don't know much about chips so some advice would be appreciated.
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Advice for a cheap cash game set (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Isaac
- Start date
We play 1-2 but usually have around 5-8 people at one time, with people usually buying in for 40$. I was looking for smaller denom chips with a minimum of 1$ because all the people I play with love playing with as many 1$ chips as they can get for some reason, but I don't mind. Any suggestions for chips I could buy?
The Outlaw chips are considered among the best of the inexpensive slugged plastic chips. The Monaco Casino and Lucky Horseshoe, also from DPS, seem to be the same material, just a different mold and appearance. I have the Monacos for my tourney set, and I’m happy with them besides the weight.
LotsOfChips
Flush
Welcome to the Forum!
The best quality chips you can get will cost much more than $170 for a 600 piece set, and the Outlaw chips are far from the best quality chips you can get. They do, however, fill a niche for an inexpensive beginner set.
First of all, take your time and do some research on here about the different types of chips (slugged plastic, China Clay, ceramic, Paulsons, etc).
Next, set the outer limit of a budget that you are willing to pay. And then consider what you can get for that, and whether you need to increase your budget to get something a little better. If you are set on <.40/chip, then that probably will limit your options to slugged plastic. Used casino Paulsons can be had for around $1/chip for smaller denominations. China Clays such as Royals/Majestic/Milanos are in .40-.50/chip range. Ceramics can be had for around .35 if you can get in on a group buy, and for around .70 for things like Tiki Kings or DDLM (look it up in the search function).
Lastly, but most importantly, get samples. You may fall in love with the pictures of something and then be totally underwhelmed or repulsed once they arrive.
Also, please post what types of games you want to spread (Limit, NL, PL, Hold'em, Omaha, etc), and what type of blinds or buy-ins you want to support. That will help to determine the best breakdown (quantity of each chip) that would be appropriate for your future set.
Best of luck on your first set!
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First of all, thanks for your response. We play NL 1/2 8 handed cash games with a 40$ buy in and we'll usually see around 3-5 rebuys during a session. My friends like playing with 1$ chips a lot more than they do 5 because they like seeing big stacks in front of them, which I can respect. I'm looking for as many chips as possible for the price, though I know that the quality will suffer with a price point that low. This was my initial reason for looking at the outlaws. I was looking at a set of 600 for 150 shipped. I am willing to take less chips for the same price for better quality, but I also know that I could get a lot more value out of a purchase if I were to buy less chips with more higher denom chips. I guess I'm just stuck right now with what I should do. I bought this set a few months ago (image attached) off amazon and we play cash games with it as everything is 1$ except the 100s and 500s, but I was looking to buy a set with the actual values on the chips. What is your advice?
I own a tourney set of slugged plastic chips right now, and I like everything about them too except for the weight, but I can easily look past that. Just looking for a set with the actual denominations on them.
CrazyEddie
Full House
Most people here will try to talk you into increasing your budget to get nicer chips. Don't listen to them.
In your price range you're looking at mass-market slugged plastic chips. Almost everything you find at major retailers like Amazon falls into this category. They're all pretty similar in terms of how they feel, so just look around and find something with a graphic design that appeals to you and at a price you can afford (and that have denominations on them). You'll enjoy them because they're a step up visually from plain chips and you'll have selected them specifically for your own tastes, which all by itself will make them feel special.
Your alternatives are china clays, ceramics, and casino clays. Prices for those are a little more, a lot more, and tremendously more than your budget, respectively. They all feel very different, and almost everyone here likes they way the feel a lot more than slugged plastics. But the slugged plastic chips work just as well for playing poker.
In your price range you're looking at mass-market slugged plastic chips. Almost everything you find at major retailers like Amazon falls into this category. They're all pretty similar in terms of how they feel, so just look around and find something with a graphic design that appeals to you and at a price you can afford (and that have denominations on them). You'll enjoy them because they're a step up visually from plain chips and you'll have selected them specifically for your own tastes, which all by itself will make them feel special.
Your alternatives are china clays, ceramics, and casino clays. Prices for those are a little more, a lot more, and tremendously more than your budget, respectively. They all feel very different, and almost everyone here likes they way the feel a lot more than slugged plastics. But the slugged plastic chips work just as well for playing poker.
I’m surprised no comments yet about the game structure...1/2 with only a $40 buy in means a LOT of shoving, no wonder all the reloads.
Usually, a minimum recommended buy in is 100bb or $200 here. Otherwise, at least half your buy-in is in play every hand.
The amount of chips needed may change if your structure also changed.
Usually, a minimum recommended buy in is 100bb or $200 here. Otherwise, at least half your buy-in is in play every hand.
The amount of chips needed may change if your structure also changed.
We'll really need to know more about the structure to give you good advice.
I'm assuming 1 table. How many players? Up to 10?
What do you estimate is the total amount of money on the table at the end of the night after your biggest night, after all rebuys and everything?
I'm assuming 1 table. How many players? Up to 10?
What do you estimate is the total amount of money on the table at the end of the night after your biggest night, after all rebuys and everything?
1 table usually 6-8 players the max we ever had was 10 but we never did 10 again. With rebuys the biggest night we had had around $650 on the table, but we played way longer than we normally do that night, I would say the average night shows around 250-350 in the pot after a couple rebuys from people
While .25/.50 would be the recommended for a $40 buy-in, these guys are likely to play it like 1/2 if they’re already used to it.
If this game were to change to a $200 minimum buy-in, the shoving would stop REAL quick.
My advice: you won't need 600 chips, then. I think you can easily get away with 500 chips for a 1/1 game with the following breakdown:
300x $1
150-180x $5
20-50x $25 (or $20)
Bank from $1600 to $2300
If you want, you can add 100x $0.25 (to bring total chips to 600, but increase bank by only $25), which gives you a little flexibility to bring stakes down to 0.25/0.25 or 0.25/0.50, which would probably be a more appropriate number of big blinds for a $40 buy-in.
LotsOfChips
Flush
Denominated chips are always better than non-denominated (IMO)
You always want enough chips to cover the unexpected. You say your average night is around $350 buy ins (inc rebuys), with a max of around $650 bank. Better to have a bit more than that in reserve.
If you want to keep with the 1/2 format (and I agree with @Colquhoun and @wolfpack that you should consider .25/.50 or even .25/.25 for a $40 buy in), then a 400 chip set might work (Caveat - I am not an expert at this):
For flexibility you might consider something like:
As mentioned, I am a relative newby myself, so the numbers above are probably not the best possible breakdown. There is an excellent discussion of breakdowns for different stakes and blinds at https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...ut-a-cash-game-chip-set-5c-10c-to-5-10.30897/
One thing that needs to be considered is security. If your $5 and $25 chips cost .30 and are easily available on the Internet, it is super easy for someone to slip in the odd chip and cash out early, leaving the bank (you) short at the end of the night. Everyone says that they trust the players in their group, so it is never a problem until it is a problem.
Again, take your time and do some research. Decide what you want and how much you want to spend. And enjoy the trip!
You always want enough chips to cover the unexpected. You say your average night is around $350 buy ins (inc rebuys), with a max of around $650 bank. Better to have a bit more than that in reserve.
If you want to keep with the 1/2 format (and I agree with @Colquhoun and @wolfpack that you should consider .25/.50 or even .25/.25 for a $40 buy in), then a 400 chip set might work (Caveat - I am not an expert at this):
- 200 x $1 (most would say that 100 should work, but your players want more chips in front of them, so sure) = $200 bank
- 180 x $5 (these should be your workhorse chips - after the flop most bets will be at least $5) = $900 bank
- 20 x $25 (these are value storage - give them out for rebuys and let players change them up at the table) = $500 bank
- (400 chips Total bank = $1600)
For flexibility you might consider something like:
- 100 x .25 ($25 bank)
- 200 x $1 ($200 bank)
- 190 x $5 ($950 bank)
- 10 x $25 ($250 bank)
- (500 chips Total bank = $1425)
As mentioned, I am a relative newby myself, so the numbers above are probably not the best possible breakdown. There is an excellent discussion of breakdowns for different stakes and blinds at https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...ut-a-cash-game-chip-set-5c-10c-to-5-10.30897/
One thing that needs to be considered is security. If your $5 and $25 chips cost .30 and are easily available on the Internet, it is super easy for someone to slip in the odd chip and cash out early, leaving the bank (you) short at the end of the night. Everyone says that they trust the players in their group, so it is never a problem until it is a problem.
Again, take your time and do some research. Decide what you want and how much you want to spend. And enjoy the trip!
Consider joining the CARDS mold GB. Design your chips (or leverage an existing design) and get the quantities you need. You could always acquire more.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/cards-mold-group-buy.75739/
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/cards-mold-group-buy.75739/
RadicusScout
Flush
A lot of great info has already been shared about denominations and chip breakdowns so I'll focus on the chips part of the conversation:
Here are other price friendly options you may want to consider:
https://www.apachepokerchips.com/product/monte-carlo-poker-chips/
https://www.apachepokerchips.com/product/showdown-club-poker-chips/
@Apache is a vendor on the site and is widely trusted to supply great products at friendly prices.
@Ben8257 do you have any spare Monte Carlos that could fit here?
Here are other price friendly options you may want to consider:
https://www.apachepokerchips.com/product/monte-carlo-poker-chips/
https://www.apachepokerchips.com/product/showdown-club-poker-chips/
@Apache is a vendor on the site and is widely trusted to supply great products at friendly prices.
@Ben8257 do you have any spare Monte Carlos that could fit here?
utgtrash
Straight
the cards mold gb sets are great and really inexpensive. you'll have to find someone looking to offload a custom set or get in on the next buy but seems like a great way to get an inexpensive but relatively nice set.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/cards-mold-pron-we-love-pron.69344/page-9#post-1551056
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/cards-mold-pron-we-love-pron.69344/page-9#post-1551056
I was once where you are. I wanted one inexpensive set of chips. Ha! Now 15 months later I have about 6 different sets and a couple of them are not inexpensive. And I'm still nowhere near at the level of lots of the chippers here. Bear with me and let me ask you a few questions
Lets crunch some numbers. You never did say what you wanted your starting stacks to be. But you said your players like lots of $1s. So say this is what you give them when they first buy in for $40:
$1 x 30
$5 x 2
For 8 players, that's 240 $1s and 16 $5s. Maybe you want even more $1s on the table. So allow for ten total buy-ins of 30 & 2. That makes:
$1 x 300
$5 x 20
After ten rebuys, you should have plenty of $1s on the table for your excitement level, no? If so, then all additional rebuys get one $25 chip and three $5 chips. Ten more rebuys gets you up to $800 on the table, which you said was more than you have ever had. So add in 10 x $25 and 30 x $5. Now you are here:
$1 x 300
$5 x 50
$25 x 10
Only 360 total chips. Way less than you are thinking. At the original Chip Room prices, these would only cost $309.40 plus about $15 for shipping. Broken down as follows. For REAL clay casino chips.
300 x .89 = $267.00
50 x .69 = $34.50
10 x .79 = $7.90
And that's at the original prices. We don't know what Jim's sale prices will be, but what if they are 20% less? Then you are looking at a small set of real clay casino chips for around $250! Not very much over your original budget if you are willing to keep the chip count down to this low level.
Now this may not interest you at all. But it's something to think about, isn't it?
And if that is still not enough $1 chips? Then get 100 more for another $75-80. And honestly, you really should add some more $5s and a couple more $25s. maybe this breakdown can be justified:
$1 x 380
$5 x 100
$25 x 20
That's 500 total chips and a whole lot of $1s.
Welcome to the Forum, and I hope you find what you like here, and then stick around and become a chip degenerate like the rest of us!
- Do you like real clay casino chips?
- Would you be willing to buy used real clay casino chips?
- If the chips were real clay, and pretty cool looking, would you be willing to increase your budget a little bit?
- Do you think the chips in the photo below are cool looking?
Lets crunch some numbers. You never did say what you wanted your starting stacks to be. But you said your players like lots of $1s. So say this is what you give them when they first buy in for $40:
$1 x 30
$5 x 2
For 8 players, that's 240 $1s and 16 $5s. Maybe you want even more $1s on the table. So allow for ten total buy-ins of 30 & 2. That makes:
$1 x 300
$5 x 20
After ten rebuys, you should have plenty of $1s on the table for your excitement level, no? If so, then all additional rebuys get one $25 chip and three $5 chips. Ten more rebuys gets you up to $800 on the table, which you said was more than you have ever had. So add in 10 x $25 and 30 x $5. Now you are here:
$1 x 300
$5 x 50
$25 x 10
Only 360 total chips. Way less than you are thinking. At the original Chip Room prices, these would only cost $309.40 plus about $15 for shipping. Broken down as follows. For REAL clay casino chips.
300 x .89 = $267.00
50 x .69 = $34.50
10 x .79 = $7.90
And that's at the original prices. We don't know what Jim's sale prices will be, but what if they are 20% less? Then you are looking at a small set of real clay casino chips for around $250! Not very much over your original budget if you are willing to keep the chip count down to this low level.
Now this may not interest you at all. But it's something to think about, isn't it?
And if that is still not enough $1 chips? Then get 100 more for another $75-80. And honestly, you really should add some more $5s and a couple more $25s. maybe this breakdown can be justified:
$1 x 380
$5 x 100
$25 x 20
That's 500 total chips and a whole lot of $1s.
Welcome to the Forum, and I hope you find what you like here, and then stick around and become a chip degenerate like the rest of us!
Sorry, forgot to post the link to Jim's sales thread. This is where I assume he will announce his upcoming sale.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/jack-cincinnati-sale.70695/
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/jack-cincinnati-sale.70695/
Here ya go! Sale on Sunday at 2 PM Eastern!
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/jack-cincinnati-summer-sale.76695/
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/jack-cincinnati-summer-sale.76695/
TKEUofM
Flush
That about sums up perfectly a great starter set of casino grade chips at dirt cheap prices. Invest the little bit extra and get these over China clays, you won’t regret it.
Or buy them FIRST. Then order some custom cards mold that you'll be waiting 3-6 months for.
Trust me I would love to make it a $200 min buy in but were a bunch of broke teens so that wouldn't be possible. And I talked to the group last night and they said they didn't want to play .25/.50 even though I STRONGLY recommended it so I guess were stuck with what we have.
Trust me man I love the real casino chips and I've watched a lot of Christopher M's videos where he referred me the the chip rooms page. I scrolled through the whole page a couple times and looked at his past sales and definitely considered it. I saw his announcement earlier when I got the email and was thinking about it very hard. Thing is though is that I'm going to NYC tomorrow so ill be spending a pretty penny there. and I saw this link that somebody posted in the thread and liked these chips a lot too https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/500-piece-venerati-small-stakes-cash-set.76274/ I still feel like no matter how much I love the Cincinnati Jacks that he's putting up for sale, they'll be out of my price range for now. Would you recommend the set that I posted the link for above or would you say get something else. (Also I know I said that they love 1$ chips but I'm the only one that has any chips other than dice chips so they'll live with what I bring to the game)
I think you answered your own question regarding the Venerati chips. 200 of them are quarters, so how does that set meet your requirements? It only leaves you with 200 $1s and 100 $5s. You're spending your entire budget on about 250 usable chips. If you go with my original plan to you, you can get 360 real clay chips for about $50 more. Also, if you do buy the Jacks, you will ALWAYS be able to buy more to add to the set down the road. there are already thousands of them in the forum, and about to be thousands more. Heck, you could just spend your budget on 200 Jack $1s and nothing else right now, then add $5s and $25s later when you have a little more disposable cash. Trust me, I have 5 kids, so I know what it's like to be a broke college student. I might even have another option for you. I'll PM you. But definitely don't do anything until you see Jim's update in the Chip Room sometime today.
Sounds like a plan but for right now it's sounding like the best bet to wait and see how much the jacks are on Sunday
Prices were just posted. They are LOWER than I expected. I think you can easily get a decent set for under $200. Maybe not quite as many $1s as you want, but will be easy to add more later.
Let me know what you think when you see Jim's post. I crunched a few more numbers for you. Sorry, can't help it - I'm an accountant and a numbers geek. I live for this kind of stuff! 
If you can live with 300 chips, see what you think about this:
240 x $1 @.69 = $165.60
50 x $5 @.49 = $ 24.50
10 x $25 @.69 = $ 7.90
300 chips for $197.00 plus est. $15.00 for shipping. Grand Total $212.00 Anybody know, are these Chip Room sales subject to sales tax? I'm guessing no for out of state sales.
That's enough chips for 8 buy-ins with 30 x $1 and 2 x $5. Plus 10 rebuys of 3 x $5 and 1 x $25. And 4 extra $5 chips. Total bank of $740. And remember, these will be available around here for a long while if you ever want to add on more chips.
If you like this breakdown, but you still need to stick to your max $170 budget, I have one more idea. Let me know and I'll PM you.
If you can live with 300 chips, see what you think about this:240 x $1 @.69 = $165.60
50 x $5 @.49 = $ 24.50
10 x $25 @.69 = $ 7.90
300 chips for $197.00 plus est. $15.00 for shipping. Grand Total $212.00 Anybody know, are these Chip Room sales subject to sales tax? I'm guessing no for out of state sales.
That's enough chips for 8 buy-ins with 30 x $1 and 2 x $5. Plus 10 rebuys of 3 x $5 and 1 x $25. And 4 extra $5 chips. Total bank of $740. And remember, these will be available around here for a long while if you ever want to add on more chips.
If you like this breakdown, but you still need to stick to your max $170 budget, I have one more idea. Let me know and I'll PM you.
That's very tempting, I'll definitely look into buying that because I've been dreaming of owning PaulsonsLet me know what you think when you see Jim's post. I crunched a few more numbers for you. Sorry, can't help it - I'm an accountant and a numbers geek. I live for this kind of stuff!
240 x $1 @.69 = $165.60
50 x $5 @.49 = $ 24.50
10 x $25 @.69 = $ 7.90
300 chips for $197.00 plus est. $15.00 for shipping. Grand Total $212.00 Anybody know, are these Chip Room sales subject to sales tax? I'm guessing no for out of state sales.
That's enough chips for 8 buy-ins with 30 x $1 and 2 x $5. Plus 10 rebuys of 3 x $5 and 1 x $25. And 4 extra $5 chips. Total bank of $740. And remember, these will be available around here for a long while if you ever want to add on more chips.
If you like this breakdown, but you still need to stick to your max $170 budget, I have one more idea. Let me know and I'll PM you.
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