Sparty
Flush
chapter 1 - Before I found PCF
Around year 2000, I would go on annual golf trip weekends with guys from work. We would play crazy poker games in the evenings. Before long, I became the organizer of the annual trips. We started going 2x per year. And ESPN started showing Professional NLHE tournaments on tv. We decided to play NLHE regularly on the trips. We were pretty much all learning on the fly from watching it on tv.
But we normally played with cheap cards and plastic chips that someone kept in ziplock bags. I don't even remember how we kept blinds or set up tournament structure.
These were by far the BEST chips we'd EVER played with. Lol
I started to do some research on line and found a website called HomePokerTourney.com and a few others for information and advice on running tournaments and chips.
I ordered samples. Of these:
And these:
And these:
And these:
I googled everything I could find on poker chips (remember this was around 2000) and found that these "Paulsons" must be the best manufacturer. They felt amazing and knew that I "must have them some day!!" They offered limited sets to the public. But at $1/ chip?? What should I do?...
So a casino had opened up next to my parents house in Manistee Michigan. Little River Casino. In the gift shop, they offered casino used Paulson playing cards (with holes drilled in the middle for $0.25 per deck). I bought about $10 worth the first time I saw them!)
And even picked up some dealer and blinds buttons.
With the information I found on "starting stacks" and "blind schedules" from websites, I even came across a device called a "Poker Genie". I loved it! And everyone in the group fell in love with it the first time it came out of the box. With the alarm signaling the blinds had changed and the countdown clock!
I even convinced myself that I should buy a couple decks of plastic cards after reading reviews. I spent $35 on these. And honest to god...to this day 17? Years? ...I still haven't played with them. My regular group wouldn't appreciate them and not sure I trusted them with the cards. They are still in the wrappers and still have that Kem smell!!
But it was time to pull the trigger on chips. They HAD to be Paulson, although ASM's would be fun if I had time to design my own set. But "ain't nobody got time for that!" So I pulled the trigger on 1000 Paulson classics. Not sure if they were offering world top hat and canes yet or national poker series or phaeros (I honestly just don't remember). I wasn't in love with the $1 chip. But liked the bold colors on almost all the others (I had never spent any real amount of time in a casino before so I could only compare these chips to the other crappy public chips). I was blown away and though it would just be super cool for my group to feel special being able to play with these. If I ever needed a cash set, I figured I'd just use the $25 as a 0.25 etc etc. so I placed the order. And printed these in preparation:
And ordered these in preparation:
And then they came!! And to see them in front of me stacked together! The colors were so bold! And that smell?!! That distinctive smell!! The smell I've grown to love and the feel of new minty paulsons!! ...1000 of them! I unpacked them:
Around year 2000, I would go on annual golf trip weekends with guys from work. We would play crazy poker games in the evenings. Before long, I became the organizer of the annual trips. We started going 2x per year. And ESPN started showing Professional NLHE tournaments on tv. We decided to play NLHE regularly on the trips. We were pretty much all learning on the fly from watching it on tv.
But we normally played with cheap cards and plastic chips that someone kept in ziplock bags. I don't even remember how we kept blinds or set up tournament structure.
These were by far the BEST chips we'd EVER played with. Lol
I started to do some research on line and found a website called HomePokerTourney.com and a few others for information and advice on running tournaments and chips.
I ordered samples. Of these:
And these:
And these:
And these:
I googled everything I could find on poker chips (remember this was around 2000) and found that these "Paulsons" must be the best manufacturer. They felt amazing and knew that I "must have them some day!!" They offered limited sets to the public. But at $1/ chip?? What should I do?...
So a casino had opened up next to my parents house in Manistee Michigan. Little River Casino. In the gift shop, they offered casino used Paulson playing cards (with holes drilled in the middle for $0.25 per deck). I bought about $10 worth the first time I saw them!)
And even picked up some dealer and blinds buttons.
With the information I found on "starting stacks" and "blind schedules" from websites, I even came across a device called a "Poker Genie". I loved it! And everyone in the group fell in love with it the first time it came out of the box. With the alarm signaling the blinds had changed and the countdown clock!
I even convinced myself that I should buy a couple decks of plastic cards after reading reviews. I spent $35 on these. And honest to god...to this day 17? Years? ...I still haven't played with them. My regular group wouldn't appreciate them and not sure I trusted them with the cards. They are still in the wrappers and still have that Kem smell!!
But it was time to pull the trigger on chips. They HAD to be Paulson, although ASM's would be fun if I had time to design my own set. But "ain't nobody got time for that!" So I pulled the trigger on 1000 Paulson classics. Not sure if they were offering world top hat and canes yet or national poker series or phaeros (I honestly just don't remember). I wasn't in love with the $1 chip. But liked the bold colors on almost all the others (I had never spent any real amount of time in a casino before so I could only compare these chips to the other crappy public chips). I was blown away and though it would just be super cool for my group to feel special being able to play with these. If I ever needed a cash set, I figured I'd just use the $25 as a 0.25 etc etc. so I placed the order. And printed these in preparation:
And ordered these in preparation:
And then they came!! And to see them in front of me stacked together! The colors were so bold! And that smell?!! That distinctive smell!! The smell I've grown to love and the feel of new minty paulsons!! ...1000 of them! I unpacked them:
