Buying advice (30 Viewers)

[DrShall]

Hello everyone!

I only recently joined this forum and I'm humbly asking for your advices regarding poker chips as I already read a lot of posts and saw the great community this forum has!

Please consider that I'm a total noob regarding Poker (yeah sorry :/). I do know the general rules but have never actually played a real game in my entire life . Why having questions regarding chips you're gonna ask ? I do have a plan to meet with friends and family more often, most likely around a game and what better game than poker ? . We already have a dedicated gaming table to play some board games on and the chips could also be used in some of those games that we own (that might be an heresy for some oops!)
Please also note that, though it's probably not useful, we'd like to have big piles of chips in front of us and play like we're in big movies with ton of cash (yeah I know that might sound ridiculous for some but that's how it is ).

As I live in Europe (Belgium to be exact), I don't have access to everything many of you have access to in the US but I think I found a website with many offerings (pokershop.de, the owner's on this forum too from what I read ) and I can't really decide between those few "winners" :

1. Monte Carlo Chips (https://pokershop.de/#bms_q=monte carlo)
Price : 0,36€/chip
I heard they're not of the best quality and have lead inside, though I find the overall design quite appealing

2. Gambler Palace Chips (https://pokershop.de/#bms_q=gambler palace)
Price : 0,70€/chip
One of the overall design I like best but what about ceramics ? Are the feeling and sound of ceramics any good ? Do some of you have ever experienced these Gambler Palace chips ?

3. WSOP Ace High Chips (https://pokershop.de/WSOP-ACE-HIGH_1)
Price : 0,70€/chip
With Gamble Palace, one of the 2 best looking ones to me

4. Majestic Chips (https://pokershop.de/MAJESTIC)
Price : 0,75€/chip
I read some people praise them and say they're really good, overall look/design's ok to me

5. Royal Chips (https://pokershop.de/THE-ROYAL-43)
Price : 0,88€/chip
From what I read, many are saying nothing but good things about those chips though the overall design/look is a bit below what I'd expect tbh

6. Bank Chips (https://pokershop.de/BANK-Boardgame-Chips)
Price : 0,77€/chip
Couldn't find a lot of info on those chips (apart from one video), look and design are OK to me


That's it with my "small" list . Could anyone give some insights and opinions regarding those chips ? Maybe even some rl experiences with them!
When my choice'll be final I'll have more questions regarding overall size of the set etc... but I'll leave this as it is atm to keep it cleaner

Thank you in advance for your time!

Best regards,

 

[Thomacetti]

HI there fellow countyman

I would advise you to not buy any chips for a while.
Take in all the info you can find over here, browse topics, check classifieds and give it some time.

The chips in the USA require a little more effort but often worth it.
And there are already plenty of EU chippers nowadays.

Once you have a feel for what you want (and based on your budget), get samples before ordering or buying a full set.

Enjoy the ride....

 

[bigblind]

welcome

 

[Sway]

Hello,

I'd say get some samples of these chips & feel them out for yourself / see what you like best...
Depending where you are in Belgium you could also visit a fellow chipper and check out some things

Cheers!

 

[davesilver88]

Welcome!

I think @Thomacetti hit the nail on the head. I agree with it all. I’ll make two other comments:

1. technically this isn’t objective but seemingly is very close to it, make sure you get some chips with the denominations on them.

2. Follow the basic guides for 500 / 600 chip sets. You may be able to deviate slightly based on your knowledge of your purposes, but keep it within the ballpark of the guides for your first set.

Other than that, I would be reiterating what you already know. Set a budget, get samples, prepare for your taste to change over and over, and enjoy the ride.

 

[mr11]

Highly recommend trying to get samples

Starting off, I watched a lot of hobbyphilic videos on youtube

Everyone once and a while, there will be starter set available on the classified page which you can get for a good price

 

[Bronson]

Do not spend money on any cheep plastic chips if you’ll aim to proper casino chips like Paulson or cpc in the future. You’ll spend $200/$300 on something that will not satisfy you and sooner or later you are going to regret that. $200/300 will let you buy rack or two of proper chips; perfect beginning for a future set. And sadly you’ll have to stomach a hefty shipping cost overseas but from my experience it’s worth the cost after all!

 

[DrShall]

Thank you everyone for your answers!
I pretty much knew everyone was gonna tell me to get my hands on samples

HI there fellow countyman

I would advise you to not buy any chips for a while.
Take in all the info you can find over here, browse topics, check classifieds and give it some time.

The chips in the USA require a little more effort but often worth it.
And there are already plenty of EU chippers nowadays.

Once you have a feel for what you want (and based on your budget), get samples before ordering or buying a full set.

Enjoy the ride....

Yeah that's what I'm currently doing. Watched a lot of videos and read a lot of topics here to get the most info I can!
I have a fixed budget of 1.000€ (could be a bit more) for a 1.000 chips set (well at least that's what I had in mind ). I'm gonna order samples as I should have already done to see the chips quality irl for sure. I'd like to find a set with an already thought design as I don't want to go through the hassle of designing chips myself etc...
So nice to see fellow Belgians in here

Hello,

I'd say get some samples of these chips & feel them out for yourself / see what you like best...
Depending where you are in Belgium you could also visit a fellow chipper and check out some things

Cheers!

I live in Wallonia , I currently know nobody who plays poker so... Kind hard for me to get a feel of what I need and like tbh
Glad to see other countrymen in here

Welcome!

I think @Thomacetti hit the nail on the head. I agree with it all. I’ll make two other comments:

1. technically this isn’t objective but seemingly is very close to it, make sure you get some chips with the denominations on them.

2. Follow the basic guides for 500 / 600 chip sets. You may be able to deviate slightly based on your knowledge of your purposes, but keep it within the ballpark of the guides for your first set.

Other than that, I would be reiterating what you already know. Set a budget, get samples, prepare for your taste to change over and over, and enjoy the ride.

My budget's 1.000€ and I was originally aiming for a 1000 chips set. I'd only buy chips with denominations and used the poker chip calculator to determine how many chips of each I'd need (I have no experience at all so I'm still not sure if this will be enough, max players would be 8, I thought about 1-2 rebuys per person, I still need to decide the T-base I'd need as I'm pretty sure my son for example would love to play with "big numbers"

Highly recommend trying to get samples

Starting off, I watched a lot of hobbyphilic videos on youtube

Everyone once and a while, there will be starter set available on the classified page which you can get for a good price

I watched a lot of his videos the past few days! At least that gives me a hint on how the chips look irl and how they sound, though I understand getting samples will provide a "feeling" no video can provide

Do not spend money on any cheep plastic chips if you’ll aim to proper casino chips like Paulson or cpc in the future. You’ll spend $200/$300 on something that will not satisfy you and sooner or later you are going to regret that. $200/300 will let you buy rack or two of proper chips; perfect beginning for a future set. And sadly you’ll have to stomach a hefty shipping cost overseas but from my experience it’s worth the cost after all!

Tbh I don't think I'll aim for Paulson chips or custom ones by CPC as I don't think I'll be able to justify the hassle, I'd pretty much be happy with an existing design which appeals me

 

[LeCoq]

Tiger Palace

 

[davesilver88]

Sounds good. Tourney set for 10 people or under you could go a minimum approach of 400 chips. I’m not saying you have to only buy 400, just keep that in mind that’s your comfortable lower bound.

 

[Tonysquander]

Welcome to PCF!

 

[Bronson]

It’s all matter in of taste and preferences! If you’ll be happy with any stock design from Tina our advices are pointless. All those chips comes from same place. Just choose favourite design, check what’s the perfect breakdown for quantity and get them. In that case you can’t go wrong. If I would have to choose- Ace High seems to be a good option; quite resembling original chips design. But probably most people here would go for ye old and well known Majestics ev. Royals

 

[Eriks]

Welcome! Don’t buy 1000 chips to run 8-person tournies. 400-600 will be plenty and will allow you to up your per chip budget to real compression molded clay chips. At least casino used RHCs or THC solids. Read up a lot first and try to find some samples. Should be possible within the EU

 

[Oryx]

If you want a tournament breakdown I will sing the praises of @Chris Manzoni until I die lol.

 

[Bronson]

If you want a tournament breakdown I will sing the praises of @Chris Manzoni until I die lol.

That’s great advice!

 

[MC_CPA]

If you want a tournament breakdown I will sing the praises of @Chris Manzoni until I die lol.

8/8/4/7/2 is better if 500s are rare (like the TP ones). And 8/8/x/x/x is cheaper thsn 12/12/x/x/x if MTT. Otherwise yea all good.

I dont like 500s they arnt great. Theyre like knockoff $1ks with half the value lol