Different Types of Poker Chips - for Beginners / New Members (3 Viewers)

[Taghkanic]

In most games, you could replace the denomination on the $5 chip with $YOMAMA and no one would notice for like 20 orbits

 

[Fishman]

Great writeup. These are pieces I've gleaned as I started learning about chips, and you've done a very good job summarizing and detailing.

Before I joined here, I also binged on forum member Hobbyphilic yt vids. -- Great podcast style, listened to them at work.

https://www.youtube.com/@Hobbyphilic
These are very helpful to see chips in action and solid, balanced commentary.

 

[TheBigShow]

FYP

Really? I’ve had two games with the BRPROS now and I finally, finally didn’t have to hear those damn words. I could cry tears of happiness lol.

 

[SixSeven]

Hello, this is David. The purpose of this post is to help new members / beginners understand the different popular types of chips. They will be ordered by price, I will give some facts information about them, and maybe a tad of my opinion of them

Great write up. Thanks!

 

[Taghkanic]

Really? I’ve had two games with the BRPROS now and I finally, finally didn’t have to hear those damn words. I could cry tears of happiness lol.

Yes, really. I have denominated cash chips plainly marked with their values, and still get regs *who have played in my game countless times* sometimes ask what they are worth.

And I see this in other games all the time.

IDGI but it’s true.

Some weird sort of selective blindness, or laziness, where all they see is the base color of the chip… which itself should serve as a tip-off, or ought to be if you’ve played with any set for more than a couple orbits.

 

[TheBigShow]

Yes, really. I have denominated cash chips plainly marked with their values, and still get regs *who have played in my game countless times* sometimes ask what they are worth.

And I see this in other games all the time.

IDGI but it’s true.

Some weird sort of selective blindness, or laziness, where all they see is the base color of the chip… which itself shoukd serve as a tip-off, or ought to be if you’ve played with any set for more than a couple orbits.

I mean I feel that. We used the shitty dice chips for years and years and every game it was the same thing. So I’m very glad the denominations have seemed to clear up that problem for now.

What I am worried about is the DDLMs and the ESPTs have switched 1ks and 5ks colors lol. Expecting that to be a problem eventually.

 

[ef28]

Regarding thickness, I wouldn’t classify BRPro as a “thicker” ceramic…granted, they stand a hair higher than Tina’s no-molds, but it’s very, very close.
In fact, most BRPro, Tina, Paulson and CPC are fairly close in height, but some racks with small tolerances can be problematic between the brands.
The following photo is for comparison. From left to right: BRPro ceramic, Tina no-mold ceramic, Tina Greek hybrid ceramic, Paulson clay, CPC clay.
View attachment 1260749

How can you tell the difference between a Tina Ceramic and Tina hybrid? Would it be stated in the description of the chips?

 

[SeanGecko]

How can you tell the difference between a Tina Ceramic and Tina hybrid? Would it be stated in the description of the chips?

Hybrid means you get a label/sticker rather than directly printed image.

 

[ef28]

Hello, this is David. The purpose of this post is to help new members / beginners understand the different popular types of chips. They will be ordered by price, I will give some facts information about them, and maybe a tad of my opinion of them.

NOTE - I've made some edits with crossing out original post and using italics for new info.

1. Dice Chips - these are the chips you find when you go to Target / Walmart / buy the essentially the most inexpensive chip available. It's likely that most of younger / middle aged people here started with these chips. They are plastic, and have a "metal slug" inside them to give them the weight. They are durable and will with stand a beating. The Pro - they are VERY affordable, for $40-$50 dollars you can get an entire set of 400-500 chips. The Con - they do not have denominations on them. If you don't know this, you will learn it soon enough, having denominations on your chips is ALMOST an objective MUST HAVE for poker chips. All of the rest will have denominations on them.

2. More Metal Slug Chips - these are essentially one / two steps up from the dice chips for a couple reasons. Reason 1 - they have denominations on them. Reason 2 - they have cool designs on them. They are still plastic and still weighed down by a metal slug inside. Some of examples of these sets are Casino Royale and Monte Carlo. They remain inexpensive, about $0.20 a chip. So for $120+ you can get a 600 chip set and fully support one table. NOTE - I do not see these being resold on the site very often, probably because they are not expensive, and for what it would costed being shipped, wouldn't be worth selling via mail.

The next two, matter of opinion, of where they rank as far as the "better" chip. They can be priced similarly. Both are certainly a step up from the first two chip types.

3. China Clays - these are not the easiest to describe. They are kind of like a soft plastic with the attempt of feeling like clay; they definitely don't feel as hard as the first two types. They will also typically have a mold, which is a plus. Another difference, their inlay is not injected into the chip, it's a sticker. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, most of the time the stickers stay on just find. Also, you COULD remove the sticker and put on your own custom sticker. Two cons. One - they have a smell to them. I personally have had two cauterizations in my nose, so I essentially do not have a sense of smell. When I hold the chips up to my nose, I can smell them. When they are on the table, I cannot smell them. The smell is like a plastic type smell, but again my nose is terrible so sorry I can't describe it further. Second con - they won't last a life time. Now, they'll be able to take the regular poker table shuffling about, but they wouldn't be able to take more. And from what I hear, overtime, they become more brittle (years to reach that point). These also go up in price, more than double the cost of the second type. Examples of these chips are Majestic and Dunes. These are about $0.50 per chip. Personally, I don't like these that much - I feel like for this price range the 4th type of chip is best.

4. Tina Ceramic Chips - these have become very popular among this community. They are a hard plastic, so they are tough. They do not have a sticker inlay, they have the plastic injection. They have different "molds" if you will, card mold being the most popular, but the new Greek hybrid mold is looking to surpass that. The inlay will depend on the mold; most inlays / edge spots / rolling edges - the design is printed on the surface of the chip. some molds have a plastic injection inlay, other molds have a sticker where the "inlay section" is slightly recessed to make room for the sticker. There are a ton of options / tribute sets to choose from if you order from Justin via PCF, and you can also customize them to your own liking. Of all the chip types, these would be the chip type I recommend for people who have a budget of a few hundred dollars. They range from $0.40 to $0.50 per chip depending on where you buy them from. The con - they will have some "spinners" in them.

5. Thicker "Denser" Ceramic Chip - specifically I'm referencing BR Pro Poker's offerings. These feel like a denser ceramic, hard plastic. Comparing the feel, weight, the look, of these to Tina Ceramic, I think most people who say these chips are better. And I would agree, these denser ceramic chips are pretty awesome for the price point. Not many cons to them. Some not so obvious pros - you can also work with the company to customize your own chip. You can also work with them to "semi" customize one of their stock offerings, which I think is very cool. Example - you could change their "Golden Dragon" set to read "Silver Dragon" instead. They also have a large number of stock offerings. They are about $0.70 per chip, plus or minus $0.10 depending on how much you buy. If you have the budget for these, and really are in love with one of the designs, I would say you should just get these over type 4. NOTE - these are casino grade chips, used in casinos (not clay though).

6. Classic Poker Chips - yes, we have made the monster jump from ceramic chips to clay chips. These chips are awesome! They have a handful of stock designs, most notably the Rounders chips from the movie Rounders. Pro's - they are a "clay" chip (not 100%, no chip is these days, but they are "clay" chips). More pro - these are the only "true inlay" of all the types. Meaning, their inlay is not a sticker or injected into plastic. The inlay is compressed into the chip during the manufacturing process. They have a couple of handfuls of molds to choose from, they have 30+ different colors, and maybe in the range of 100+ edge spot options. The different combinations you could have are very high. The con - they are expensive, stock designs are $2+ per chip. If you have these in your budget, I would recommend these above all the others.

Bonus Type, Paulsons. Paulson is a company that produces casino grade "clay" chips to what seems to be the majority of the casinos in North America. You will see THC all over this website (Top Hat and Cane), which refers to their mold. There are other molds Paulson will make too, like RHC or a casinos house mold. You cannot buy these chips new; you can get them used. People here love to collect casino chips, or build sets from real casinos using their real casino chips. Also, people often mill these chips and create their own custom inlay/hot stamp - making sort of a hybrid paulson custom chip. Paulson chips are probably the most popular chip being sold / bought / traded on this website.

And there we have it, 6 different types plus a bonus. Yes, there are more types (Matsui, Bud Jones, etc.), but I haven't handled them / they don't seem to be as popular as the types I've mentioned above. If you feel otherwise, please comment below and correct me, and maybe I will adjust my original post. I know I'm missing some that are probably popular enough to be included.

Key takeaway - know what your budget is and get some samples of types around your budget.

Hope this was helpful. Again, any suggestions / additional info regarding chip types please share.

What does "spinners" refer to? And you mention Tina maybe being better than CC. I've seen many posts of people raving about the Royal chips. Is that just preference or is Royal specifically made out of "better" material. I just ordered several samples of CC and some ceramic chips and am waiting for a reply from Justin to order some samples from him.

 

[Colquhoun]

What does "spinners" refer to? And you mention Tina maybe being better than CC. I've seen many posts of people raving about the Royal chips. Is that just preference or is Royal specifically made out of "better" material. I just ordered several samples of CC and some ceramic chips and am waiting for a reply from Justin to order some samples from him.

Spinners are chips that are slightly convex and can “spin” when in a stack.
More here:

 

[Huskerchipper]

What does "spinners" refer to? And you mention Tina maybe being better than CC. I've seen many posts of people raving about the Royal chips. Is that just preference or is Royal specifically made out of "better" material. I just ordered several samples of CC and some ceramic chips and am waiting for a reply from Justin to order some samples from him.

The chips Justin is selling are fantastic for that price range. It's the way to go imo with all the options available. I can't speak to the Royals. Good to hear you are getting samples so you can choose what's best for you.

 

[davesilver88]

The chips Justin is selling are fantastic for that price range. It's the way to go imo with all the options available. I can't speak to the Royals. Good to hear you are getting samples so you can choose what's best for you.

Yep agreed. My personal preference is the Tina chips from Justin just feel better to me than the CC.

 

[ShuffleUpandDeal]

Hello, this is David. The purpose of this post is to help new members / beginners understand the different popular types of chips. They will be ordered by price, I will give some facts information about them, and maybe a tad of my opinion of them.

NOTE - I've made some edits with crossing out original post and using italics for new info.

1. Dice Chips - these are the chips you find when you go to Target / Walmart / buy the essentially the most inexpensive chip available. It's likely that most of younger / middle aged people here started with these chips. They are plastic, and have a "metal slug" inside them to give them the weight. They are durable and will with stand a beating. The Pro - they are VERY affordable, for $40-$50 dollars you can get an entire set of 400-500 chips. The Con - they do not have denominations on them. If you don't know this, you will learn it soon enough, having denominations on your chips is ALMOST an objective MUST HAVE for poker chips. All of the rest will have denominations on them.

2. More Metal Slug Chips - these are essentially one / two steps up from the dice chips for a couple reasons. Reason 1 - they have denominations on them. Reason 2 - they have cool designs on them. They are still plastic and still weighed down by a metal slug inside. Some of examples of these sets are Casino Royale and Monte Carlo. They remain inexpensive, about $0.20 a chip. So for $120+ you can get a 600 chip set and fully support one table. NOTE - I do not see these being resold on the site very often, probably because they are not expensive, and for what it would costed being shipped, wouldn't be worth selling via mail.

The next two, matter of opinion, of where they rank as far as the "better" chip. They can be priced similarly. Both are certainly a step up from the first two chip types.

3. China Clays - these are not the easiest to describe. They are kind of like a soft plastic with the attempt of feeling like clay; they definitely don't feel as hard as the first two types. They will also typically have a mold, which is a plus. Another difference, their inlay is not injected into the chip, it's a sticker. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, most of the time the stickers stay on just find. Also, you COULD remove the sticker and put on your own custom sticker. Two cons. One - they have a smell to them. I personally have had two cauterizations in my nose, so I essentially do not have a sense of smell. When I hold the chips up to my nose, I can smell them. When they are on the table, I cannot smell them. The smell is like a plastic type smell, but again my nose is terrible so sorry I can't describe it further. Second con - they won't last a life time. Now, they'll be able to take the regular poker table shuffling about, but they wouldn't be able to take more. And from what I hear, overtime, they become more brittle (years to reach that point). These also go up in price, more than double the cost of the second type. Examples of these chips are Majestic and Dunes. These are about $0.50 per chip. Personally, I don't like these that much - I feel like for this price range the 4th type of chip is best.

4. Tina Ceramic Chips - these have become very popular among this community. They are a hard plastic, so they are tough. They do not have a sticker inlay, they have the plastic injection. They have different "molds" if you will, card mold being the most popular, but the new Greek hybrid mold is looking to surpass that. The inlay will depend on the mold; most inlays / edge spots / rolling edges - the design is printed on the surface of the chip. some molds have a plastic injection inlay, other molds have a sticker where the "inlay section" is slightly recessed to make room for the sticker. There are a ton of options / tribute sets to choose from if you order from Justin via PCF, and you can also customize them to your own liking. Of all the chip types, these would be the chip type I recommend for people who have a budget of a few hundred dollars. They range from $0.40 to $0.50 per chip depending on where you buy them from. The con - they will have some "spinners" in them.

5. Thicker "Denser" Ceramic Chip - specifically I'm referencing BR Pro Poker's offerings. These feel like a denser ceramic, hard plastic. Comparing the feel, weight, the look, of these to Tina Ceramic, I think most people who say these chips are better. And I would agree, these denser ceramic chips are pretty awesome for the price point. Not many cons to them. Some not so obvious pros - you can also work with the company to customize your own chip. You can also work with them to "semi" customize one of their stock offerings, which I think is very cool. Example - you could change their "Golden Dragon" set to read "Silver Dragon" instead. They also have a large number of stock offerings. They are about $0.70 per chip, plus or minus $0.10 depending on how much you buy. If you have the budget for these, and really are in love with one of the designs, I would say you should just get these over type 4. NOTE - these are casino grade chips, used in casinos (not clay though).

6. Classic Poker Chips - yes, we have made the monster jump from ceramic chips to clay chips. These chips are awesome! They have a handful of stock designs, most notably the Rounders chips from the movie Rounders. Pro's - they are a "clay" chip (not 100%, no chip is these days, but they are "clay" chips). More pro - these are the only "true inlay" of all the types. Meaning, their inlay is not a sticker or injected into plastic. The inlay is compressed into the chip during the manufacturing process. They have a couple of handfuls of molds to choose from, they have 30+ different colors, and maybe in the range of 100+ edge spot options. The different combinations you could have are very high. The con - they are expensive, stock designs are $2+ per chip. If you have these in your budget, I would recommend these above all the others.

Bonus Type, Paulsons. Paulson is a company that produces casino grade "clay" chips to what seems to be the majority of the casinos in North America. You will see THC all over this website (Top Hat and Cane), which refers to their mold. There are other molds Paulson will make too, like RHC or a casinos house mold. You cannot buy these chips new; you can get them used. People here love to collect casino chips, or build sets from real casinos using their real casino chips. Also, people often mill these chips and create their own custom inlay/hot stamp - making sort of a hybrid paulson custom chip. Paulson chips are probably the most popular chip being sold / bought / traded on this website.

And there we have it, 6 different types plus a bonus. Yes, there are more types (Matsui, Bud Jones, etc.), but I haven't handled them / they don't seem to be as popular as the types I've mentioned above. If you feel otherwise, please comment below and correct me, and maybe I will adjust my original post. I know I'm missing some that are probably popular enough to be included.

Key takeaway - know what your budget is and get some samples of types around your budget.

Hope this was helpful. Again, any suggestions / additional info regarding chip types please share.

Hi David! Thanks for such a complete breakdown. I do have a question— I really enjoy the vintage chips, which I have heard called “paranoid chips”. I’ve heard few people call them “clay”, but they certainly don’t feel like plastic to me. Is “paranoid” an old name for “clay”? Or are they something different all together ?

Edited to add: I’ve seen the term “Bakelite” thrown around with these on eBay as well, but not sure what that means. Photo for reference

 

[Propaganda]

Hi David! Thanks for such a complete breakdown. I do have a question— I really enjoy the vintage chips, which I have heard called “paranoid chips”. I’ve heard few people call them “clay”, but they certainly don’t feel like plastic to me. Is “paranoid” an old name for “clay”? Or are they something different all together ?

Edited to add: I’ve seen the term “Bakelite” thrown around with these on eBay as well, but not sure what that means. Photo for reference

Bakelite was a popular polymer mold used from the 1930's-50's. Usually brown, rust colored, etc. It's hard, infusible, and chemically resistant plastic, Bakelite was based on a chemical combination of phenol and formaldehyde (phenol-formaldehyde resin), two compounds that were derived from coal tar and wood alcohol (methanol), respectively, at that time.

In fact one of the most popular magazines for AK-47's are bakelite. It's considered vintage these days. I've owned a 1939 radio made of bakelite. You should check out Machines starter guide pinned at the top of the forum, has a plethora of information of the most popular chips and their breakdowns. I'm afraid I haven't heard the term "paranoid" with chips yet. UNLESS you're referring to my wife when she see's me looking in the classifieds section, that checks out.