European with lots of questions- First Set - Microstakes (2 Viewers)

[inapinch]

Small comment on design on these options: I’ve noticed in previous threads (and to some degree some experience myself) that both the tiki and DLM chip ceramics are quite “busy” chips for a lot of folks (the denomination can sometimes be a little confusing for beginners).

I like the majestic design wise, and also like the colors of the tropic oasis. You def got some good advice in the several posts above good luck, and welcome to PCF!

 

[Beakertwang]

Hey!!!!

Wasteful????

That's some BS

Hardwell Underground MK 1

• SeanGecko
• Nov 18, 2020

8V 5 cents 04.JPG

• SeanGecko
• Feb 5, 2019

View attachment 954375View attachment 954376View attachment 954377

That's fine, but only because you have more than 500 chips in your set.

 

[Xzk1]

@Xzk1 I saw that "like" in my 18 months thread... you didn't listen at all! "Stay away from words like THC" notice I didn't share THAT micro set... some people fall over when they realize people spend more on a micro stakes set of poker chips than a nice used car! Lmao

I'm starting to get worried the chipping bug may have already got you!!

It's ok... just avoid anything that says "TRK scrown" that's a big No-No for chippers on a budget... there are new cars that cost less than some of those sets! Lol

I'm kidding, but again this hobby can be much worse than addictive drugs. May sound funny... but I am serious!

I saw that thread and lord have mercy on your soul that is outrageous

Hey!!!!

Wasteful????

That's some BS

Hardwell Underground MK 1

• SeanGecko
• Nov 18, 2020

8V 5 cents 04.JPG

• SeanGecko
• Feb 5, 2019

View attachment 954375View attachment 954376View attachment 954377

See? I finally found a person that understands me

 

[Xzk1]

Small comment on design on these options: I’ve noticed in previous threads (and to some degree some experience myself) that both the tiki and DLM chip ceramics are quite “busy” chips for a lot of folks (the denomination can sometimes be a little confusing for beginners).

I like the majestic design wise, and also like the colors of the tropic oasis. You def got some good advice in the several posts above good luck, and welcome to PCF!

I definitely saw that in previous threads aswell.

Right now im banking on Tina answering my email about the Aria's Cards Mold.

Hopefully it will be a bit cheaper than the 0.70c/chip Majestics ( it should )
I just hope she answers soon because I might be trigger happy on my first buy!


Questions:
1)Where did you find cheap cut cards for bridge size? I'm searching in the aliexpress/amazons of the world and its always poker sized .

Also, how do you organize your shuffle? do you have a dedicated dealer( i will probably be the one shuffling in the beginning)
Do you have different people shuffling and then dealing? is it the person right next to the button? It will be a mess in the beginning to organize this

 

[SeanGecko]

I saw that thread and lord have mercy on your soul that is outrageous

See? I finally found a person that understands me

5¢ antes my guy
Two 10¢ small blinds
One 25¢ big blind!

 

[philhut]

I definitely saw that in previous threads aswell.

Right now im banking on Tina answering my email about the Aria's Cards Mold.

Hopefully it will be a bit cheaper than the 0.70c/chip Majestics ( it should )
I just hope she answers soon because I might be trigger happy on my first buy!


Questions:
1)Where did you find cheap cut cards for bridge size? I'm searching in the aliexpress/amazons of the world and its always poker sized .

Also, how do you organize your shuffle? do you have a dedicated dealer( i will probably be the one shuffling in the beginning)
Do you have different people shuffling and then dealing? is it the person right next to the button? It will be a mess in the beginning to organize this

if you buy Modiano sets either platinum or 100% plastic that are in the black boxsets of two you get 1 or 2 cuts cards in the box. Many members have also bought their cut cards in group buys, either custom or of a set design. A group buy often results in the best price for smaller orders. If ordering a custom set this is a good opportunity to order custom cut cards.

I ordered my Cards mold chips in a group buy, my all in/dealer buttons individually and my cut cards as part of a group buy also. As for Aria chips you unfortunately just missed a group buy on dealer buttons that included Aria buttons that are pretty nice for Aria chips.

Careful or you could end up ordering a massive set of primaries and secondaries lol
Cards mold on the top 5c,25c,1,5,20,25,100,500,1000,500 across
CPC 25c,1,5,10,25,100,500,1000,5000 and bounty chips
Cut cards bridge and poker size
Dealer buttons and all ins

 

[Xzk1]

Okay I've managed to get an answer from Tina for the Aria's Cards Mold:

500 chips:
(0.28 cent/chip x 500 ) + 150 usd ( shipping + customs+tax) = 290 USD
Ends up being 0.58 cent/chip including the shipping,customs,taxes.

600 chips :
(0.28 cent/chip x 600 ) + 160 usd ( shipping + customs + tax) = 328 USD
Ends up being 0.54 cent/chip including the shipping,customs,taxes.

Custom set 600 chips:
(0.35 cent/ chip * 600) + 160 usd ( shipping+ customs + tax) = 370 USD
Ends up being 0.61 cent/ chip including the shipping, customs , taxes.

Since the Majestics, Tiki Kings, DDLM, Tropic Oasis are all 0.70 cent/chip before shipping I think its a no brainer to go Cards Mold.
I don't think I will order samples for the Cards Mold as the shipping from China is too expensive.



Custom set using Aria's Cards Mold Artwork:

The Original Aria's Card Mold:

If I go a custom with Aria's Card mold colors:
I can play exactly with the same colors of the high rollers of the High Stakes Poker with the denominations reduced to 5c/25c/1$/5/20$( which btw I think I've watched every episode since the first season, definitely one of the motivations to go for this mold )

What do you guys think?
I could do the following using Aria's Cards Mold artwork:
1) Use the high stakes colors for the micro stakes 5c/25c/1$/5/20$ ( which would be hard to even pick the colors because I'm so indecisive with stuff like this)
2) I could change $ sign to the € sign
3)At the bottom text I could change the dollar to Euro , Example : "ONE DOLLAR" to " ONE EURO"

I could do all of these 3 things or one of these 3 or none
I can stay with the original micro stakes colors and just change the $ sign to € sign and the lower text from dollars to euros.


My god , too much decisions for a simple man.

What is your opinions on this? Should I simply just leave it as it is and just order them?
Am I being too OCD about it?

 

[SteveEH]

Given you're on a budget and this is likely a temporary set, I'll suggest a few things.

- Get something that will resell easily.
- Plan for a standard, widely accepted breakdown that will help resell the chips as a set.
- Is 10 players realistic? Who's going to be playing at your games? Random strangers or friends/co workers? Do you have the space? Do you really want to clean up after 10 Squirrels compared to 6-8?
- Consider buy in ranges. For a 5c/10c game, players can buy in from $5-$20 (50 to 200 big blinds) for example.
- Assuming it is no limit, make sure players bring 3-5 buy ins for the night so the game doesn't break if someone busts out.
- I love lots of chips, but if you're on a budget I'd only get a rack of 5c.

Looking forward to seeing your future end game CPC set

 

[Mandos]

- Get something that will resell easily.
- Plan for a standard, widely accepted breakdown that will help resell the chips as a set.

This is great advice. If the thought has even crossed your mind of ever going with your own completely custom design, I would order something fairly standard here (i.e. standard colors/denominations) to make it easier to resell later when you inevitably move on to custom ones.

 

[Vice]

My first set were Majestics. I did not like the dark labels or the edge spots. Personal preferences but something to think about.

 

[xdukeluvax]

Get the tikis. All my friends who dont even really care about chips say they love them

 

[tabletalker7]

I don't think I will order samples for the Cards Mold as the shipping from China is too expensive.

Put up a wanted post for a cards molds sample set here at PCF. People almost always order extras and would hook you up cheap

 

[Xzk1]

Given you're on a budget and this is likely a temporary set, I'll suggest a few things.

- Get something that will resell easily.
- Plan for a standard, widely accepted breakdown that will help resell the chips as a set.
- Is 10 players realistic? Who's going to be playing at your games? Random strangers or friends/co workers? Do you have the space? Do you really want to clean up after 10 Squirrels compared to 6-8?
- Consider buy in ranges. For a 5c/10c game, players can buy in from $5-$20 (50 to 200 big blinds) for example.
- Assuming it is no limit, make sure players bring 3-5 buy ins for the night so the game doesn't break if someone busts out.
- I love lots of chips, but if you're on a budget I'd only get a rack of 5c.

Looking forward to seeing your future end game CPC set

This is great advice. If the thought has even crossed your mind of ever going with your own completely custom design, I would order something fairly standard here (i.e. standard colors/denominations) to make it easier to resell later when you inevitably move on to custom ones.

Honestly you guys are right on the customization.
I didn't think of the resell value if I start messing up with the denoms/colors/text etc

I think I'm overcomplicating it, I will most likely just buy the standard Aria's Cards Mold ( cash set) and thats it.

My first set were Majestics. I did not like the dark labels or the edge spots. Personal preferences but something to think about.

I have the same opinion as you, I like them but the dark labels are not my favourite

Get the tikis. All my friends who dont even really care about chips say they love them

I'm pretty much decided on the Aria's Cards Mold now

Put up a wanted post for a cards molds sample set here at PCF. People almost always order extras and would hook you up cheap

I would but shipping makes it difficult.
That and the fact that I'm stingy as hell .
I don't really like the idea of paying 40€(because of shipping and possibly customs) for a 7€ sample for example.

I might just buy it blind and thats it. There's plenty of good examples here in the forum, the colors seem fine for the budget.
So yeah its going to be the Aria's Cards Mold

Now there's 2 things that still needs to be figured out:
-The amount of chips to buy : 500 or 600
-The chip breakdown

I'm learning towards:
600 chips.
6-8 ppl
Main game: 5c/10c

What would be the breakdown of them?

I really would like to have 200x 5c, but as a lot of people said it might not be needed.

How can I future proof my game while maintaining the focus on micro stakes (5c/10c) -5$-20$ buy ins
We will probably stay in 5c/10c for the next year or so, our games will never go above 100$ buy ins, so no 1$/2$. By the time our game reaches that I will probably just go for CPC custom chips

For example:

600 chips

A)
200x 5c
200x 25c
100x 1$
80x 5$
20x 20$

B)
180x 5c
180x 25c
120x 1$
100x 5$
20x 20$


C)
160x 5c
160x 25c
140x 1$
120x 5$
20x 20$

D)
160x 5c
160x 25c
160x 1$
100x 5$
20x 20$


500 chips:

E)
160x 5c
160x 25c
100x 1$
80x 5$



Which options seems more feasible?
Any other suggestions?

As you see I don't mind decreasing the amounts of 5c and 25c chips but I don't want to decrease too much because the games will be centered on 5$-20$ buy ins.

This is one of the only things I need to figure out right now regarding chips :
-The amount of chips to buy : 500 or 600
-The chip breakdown

 

[LeLe]

This

F)
100x 5c
200x 25c
200x 1$
80x 5$
20x $20

You only will use max of 3 5c per hand and an average of 10 per person is more than enough to cover. Plus you can always exchange between your neighbor too

 

[Mandos]

For 6-8 people, 160x.05 is plenty even for .05/.10, so either C or D for me if you get 600.
Lele's proposal isn't bad either. You can probably get away with 100 honestly if you're on a strict budget. The drawback is you'll have to make change slightly more, but having fewer .05 makes it easier to count stacks (but sounds like your game might have more limps than all-in shoves for a while). I have 160 nickels and we normally play .10/.20. I give each player a barrel of .05 to start, but it gets really frustrating when you have an all-in and people count their stacks in increments of 2 (10, 20, 30... all the way to $1). If they were better about using stacks of 10 or 20 that would help but beginner players going to beginner for awhile. That being said, the big stacks still look cool on the table. Just stuff to think about.

 

[LotsOfChips]

This

F)
100x 5c
200x 25c
200x 1$
80x 5$
20x $20

You only will use max of 3 5c per hand and and average of 10 is more than enough to cover. Plus you can always exchange between your neighbor too

+1 to this.

 

[Xzk1]

This

F)
100x 5c
200x 25c
200x 1$
80x 5$
20x $20

You only will use max of 3 5c per hand and and average of 10 is more than enough to cover. Plus you can always exchange between your neighbor too

For 6-8 people, 160x.05 is plenty even for .05/.10, so either C or D for me if you get 600.
Lele's proposal isn't bad either. You can probably get away with 100 honestly if you're on a strict budget. The drawback is you'll have to make change slightly more, but having fewer .05 makes it easier to count stacks (but sounds like your game might have more limps than all-in shoves for a while). I have 160 nickels and we normally play .10/.20. I give each player a barrel of .05 to start, but it gets really frustrating when you have an all-in and people count their stacks in increments of 2 (10, 20, 30... all the way to $1). If they were better about using stacks of 10 or 20 that would help but beginner players going to beginner for awhile. That being said, the big stacks still look cool on the table. Just stuff to think about.

+1 to this.

The problem with his breakdown is that my players don't know how to play poker at all , so it will be a learning process from the beginning.

I feel more confortable having more 5c because they will limp a lot in the beginning ( yes I will teach them the pre flop raises and all that , but you know it will be a learning process) PLUS having more stacks is probably more fun for beginners. Therefore I can't really do only 100x 5c.


The less I can is probably 140-160 5c
I'm more concerned with the distribution of the rest of the chips

 

[Ben8257]

The problem with his breakdown is that my players don't know how to play poker at all , so it will be a learning process from the beginning.

I feel more confortable having more 5c because they will limp a lot in the beginning ( yes I will teach them the pre flop raises and all that , but you know it will be a learning process) PLUS having more stacks is probably more fun for beginners. Therefore I can't really do only 100x 5c.


The less I can is probably 140-160 5c

These chips are cheap! Just grab the extra rack of nickles if your heart is really set on it. I just ordered 1,550 of a new chip that Tina is producing... and I definitely didn't "need" another set of chips, but for that price... why the heck not!

I went for 2 racks of nickles, and here is my order to cover 2 tables of 10 players for each. My thought is one table playing $.25/$.50 and the other playing $.05/$.10, but built the set to cover both on either or both tables at any time! Little family limpy game... I have two racks and everyone can have a barrel. Bigger game everyone gets (10) nickles.

**copied from my order**

It is still your choice, but go heavy the first time so you don't have to add on and pay more shipping later!

 

[Mandos]

If i was limited to 500 and had to have 160 .05, I would probably do this, just to have a slightly larger bank:
160x 5c
160x 25c
100x 1$
60x 5$
20x20$

If you do 600 I think option D works well for your stakes.

 

[xdukeluvax]

You’re definitely way over thinking it. Everyone in here including me have been through everything youre going through. We have all asked the questions amd had the beginner games until our friends learned. You do not need that many .05 chips… 10 per person is more than you would ever need but even tho u dont trust that play it safe and get 120. Your second chip should have the highest quantity. Id say 200 then bleed everything u saved from the .05 chip into the $1 chip. Also youll never ever need $20 chips. Just combine the $5 and $20. I have a full table every month and this breakdown would be best imo. Plenty for limpers and also gives ur game room to grow if buy ins get bigger. Its $470+ total. 10 players each could buy in for max bust and buy in for max again. Trust us u will need those bigger chips more than u realize even if not at first. No one will ever need to bet more than 4 .05 chips at a time literally ever.

500 chips
.05 x 120
.25 x 200
$1 x 120
$5 x 60

600 chips
.05 x 160
.25 x 200
$1 x 160
$5 x 80

 

[RichMahogany]

The problem with his breakdown is that my players don't know how to play poker at all , so it will be a learning process from the beginning.

Which is exactly why you should teach them correctly.

“hey, let me show you how to do this incorrectly form the get go” said no one ever(probably)

 

[SeanGecko]

These chips are cheap! Just grab the extra rack of nickles if your heart is really set on it. I just ordered 1,550 of a new chip that Tina is producing... and I definitely didn't "need" another set of chips, but for that price... why the heck not!

I went for 2 racks of nickles, and here is my order to cover 2 tables of 10 players for each. My thought is one table playing $.25/$.50 and the other playing $.05/$.10, but built the set to cover both on either or both tables at any time! Little family limpy game... I have two racks and everyone can have a barrel. Bigger game everyone gets (10) nickles.

**copied from my order**
View attachment 955275
It is still your choice, but go heavy the first time so you don't have to add on and pay more shipping later!

Go Heavy!

 

[LotsOfChips]

This

F)
100x 5c
200x 25c
200x 1$
80x 5$
20x $20

You only will use max of 3 5c per hand and an average of 10 per person is more than enough to cover. Plus you can always exchange between your neighbor too

Let me explain why this works better than you might think.

Yes, currently your group is happy with .05/.10, for a $10 buyin. But at some point you (and/or they) may want to play just a little bit higher stakes (say .10/.25 or even .25/.25 for a $20 or $25 buyin.

As mentioned many times above and in other threads, you want enough of the lowest denomination on the table to cover the blinds, but you will want/need more “workhorse” chips to cover bets and raises after the flop (the likelihood of players doing a min-bet or min-raise on the turn or river is small, especially as your group gets more experienced).

100 nickels and 200 quarters has sufficient lowest denomination (.05) and workhorse (.25) chips for .05/.10. $1 chips will come into play for rebuys and value storage

For .10/.25 you really only need a very few nickels for small blinds, as the minimum bet will be .25, and the $1 chip will become the workhorse chip. $5 chips will come into play for rebuys. Many people jump to .25/.25, eliminating the need for nickels, with .25 as the lowest denomination and $1 as the workhorse. 100 quarters and 200 $1 chips will be sufficient, and you already have enough quarters from your .05/.10 breakdown to cover that.

Yes, you can do whatever you want, but you did come here asking for advice, so it may be sensible to heed what you hear here.

 

[philhut]

These chips are cheap! Just grab the extra rack of nickles if your heart is really set on it. I just ordered 1,550 of a new chip that Tina is producing... and I definitely didn't "need" another set of chips, but for that price... why the heck not!

I went for 2 racks of nickles, and here is my order to cover 2 tables of 10 players for each. My thought is one table playing $.25/$.50 and the other playing $.05/$.10, but built the set to cover both on either or both tables at any time! Little family limpy game... I have two racks and everyone can have a barrel. Bigger game everyone gets (10) nickles.

**copied from my order**
View attachment 955275
It is still your choice, but go heavy the first time so you don't have to add on and pay more shipping later!

I had a similar thought with my Sloth Club sets...namely to be able to offer more than one table at the same or different stakes. Games that I host often start with a tournament and are then faollowed by a cash game usually started by the eliminated tourney players. Most commonly tourneys are $20-$100 buy in's and are either freeze out of rebuy/add on b4 one of the breaks. Cash games usually are $1/$2 but have also been .25/.50 a few times and in the past as high as $5/10. With that in mind I made up my primary CPC set for cash and tourney (but also inflation proof with $ signs) it can cover 1 table of cash and up to 4 tables for a tourney.
120x.25
200x1
400x5
200x10
320x25
320x100
180x500
160x1000
40x5000
then because it took a year to get my chips I ordered cards mold Sloths.

The cards mold chips being cheaper gave me the opportunity to add 5cent chips (I have never played 5cent poker at home but now have the option) along with limit set potential while also maintain in the idea of a cash/tourney set that could cover approx 2 cash tables from .05/.10 to 1/2 along with 4 table tournaments. My tournaments are 3k to 5k starting stacks usually 25/50 starting blinds.
200x.05
250x.25
600x1
1000x5
250x20
400x25
400x100
200x500
200x1000
75x5000
I got lots of extras as i expected about 5-10% waste due to quality control but was surprised with only 2x brokenn repairable 1's (super glue).

I wanted a custom themed set that was ready for anything. This pairing could cover table games as well as a poker area for a monte carlo or charity/community/club events. I tried this years ago with approx 2600 Pharaohs but found I was very light on $5's with only 460 of them. With all of that in mind I also put together a HSI set with the same philosophy. multi table tourney possibilities and cash at the same time with limit/NL options. this set allows approx 7 toruney tables. Secondary 100's can play in the cash table when the primary's are used for a tournament.
100x.25
1400x1
200x2.50
1460x5
820x25
330x100 (+100x100 secondary)
170x500
80x1000
20x5000
Then chance would have it that a 36mm horse shoe Cincinnati set was available allowing that set to play up to 4 tourney tables preserving the HSI for unlimited cash possibilities.

High to Low I've got all the stakes covered with nice chips and I'm happy with that. The process was a lot more than Dice chips but the versatility and ability to cover anything is what my poker collection is made for. Doubtful I'd have nickle chips for a higher cost than cards mold though and my CPC quarters are solids making them the cheaper chips of the set also. Less invested for those less likely to be used but the option is stil there.

 

[Xzk1]

I'm looking at you guys' chip breakdowns for hours like its the end of the world and I won't be able to buy more chips for the next 100 years


Learning towards

140/200/160/80/20 or 120/200/180/80/20
(5c/25c/1$/5$/20$)

Do I even need the 20$?
Do I even need 600 versus 500?

Someone pull the trigger for me pleaseeeee

 

[SeanGecko]

I'm looking at you guys' chip breakdowns for hours like its the end of the world and I won't be able to buy more chips for the next 100 years


Learning towards

140/200/160/80/20 or 120/200/180/80/20
(5c/25c/1$/5$/20$)

Do I even need the 20$?
Do I even need 600 versus 500?

Someone pull the trigger for me pleaseeeee

Go bigger than you think due to changes in color effected by heat and humidity etc. Also you're going to have extras.

If you're going to have to teach friends how to play don't feel the need to speed this up.

Try to get what you want.


But hey I'm a full custom guy

 

[LeLe]

I think you may be theory-crafting too much. Many had give their advice been on their past experience (some maybe years of hosting, even with different group of player and different stakes) and while not all group of player may react the same, it will still be invaluable advice that will keep you on the right track.

A good recommendation was to look at the classified, what chips breakdown consistently get sell much more quickly and what chips breakdown are always struck and not much interest despite constant pricing dropping

Also, when teaching new players to play poker. Usually they will form into this 3 groups

1) They learn and study more poker, play more preflop 3 bet more and over calling less

2) Didn’t pick up any more strategic play in poker, and as the gap between them and those who study poker widen. They will be losing player long term and lost interest and stop coming

3) People who just want to come and drink your free beer and watch your TV with their peer, these are those that only buyin once and never rebuy back for that session

 

[Eriks]

If you’re likely to upgrade further at some point, just go with whatever feels sufficient right now. If not, make sure you future proof. All of my cashsets can cover WAY bigger stakes than what we currently play

 

[philhut]

I'm looking at you guys' chip breakdowns for hours like its the end of the world and I won't be able to buy more chips for the next 100 years


Learning towards

140/200/160/80/20 or 120/200/180/80/20
(5c/25c/1$/5$/20$)

Do I even need the 20$?
Do I even need 600 versus 500?

Someone pull the trigger for me pleaseeeee

My end of the world plan is to open a casino out of my house/location with armed security. No cash on premises but food/drink will be the gambled commodity. Come with 2 cans of beans and a soda, recieve an appraised value of chips to play with. Then if your a winner come to the counter and buy with your chip value food items from the shelf....you could go home with a whole pack of ramen noodles, chunky soup and a Gatorade (a real winner!)

 

[LeLe]

My end of the world plan is to open a casino out of my house/location with armed security. No cash on premises but food/drink will be the gambled commodity. Come with 2 cans of beans and a soda, recieve an appraised value of chips to play with. Then if your a winner come to the counter and buy with your chip value food items from the shelf....you could go home with a whole pack of ramen noodles, chunky soup and a Gatorade (a real winner!)

That’s actually how Pachinko work in Japan