Hello from Austin (2 Viewers)

[Chicken Rob]

Thoughts on 39mm vs. 44mm for cash and tourney sets?

I find using 44mm chips to be less pleasant to shuffle. The bigger chips are tougher for most chip tricks. Most players I know fidget with their chips while they're sitting at the table. Going all 44mm might not be an attraction or selling point. Having some oversized denoms might.

I'm curious what other's think about this, not just the OP.

@ssanel54, you have an all oversized set right? What do your players think?

 

[Mr Tree]

Thanks for all the help! I've really liked The Hitching Post's room. Keep it up!
Robert

Obviously a man of impeccable taste.

 

[atomiktoaster]

Why a varied size for $500+?

In some states, it's required by gaming regulations. NJ requires it at $1000+ and lets you go with either size for the $500. Other than that, I think it's mostly tradition. I'm honestly not sure I'd even order $500s for a small room. They make much more sense if people need to take a long walk to the cage in order to cash out.

 

[mummel]

I made this request to the OP by PM yesterday. So, dibs. You get tertiary set.

Any updates on this? Paulson massive group buy?

 

[Robert P]

Any updates on this? Paulson massive group buy?

You guys are the experts on this



O_O

 

[Meddler2]

Visiting them Saturday

Make sure they are open. I think only open til 1pm on Saturdays.

As far as chips go, keep it simple. No need to get involved with 39mm vs 44mm.

Paulson has very high minimum order requirements. Or at least they did. Maybe different for a small cardroom?

 

[mummel]

How does one get a license for a card room? Are they illegal in certain states?

 

[Meddler2]

How does one get a license for a card room? Are they illegal in certain states?

They are illegal in most. For some reason Austin, San Marcos, and San Antonio have been allowed to operate. The OP will have more details as he'll be applying for license and DBA etc.

 

[mummel]

I see a massive Paulson's group buy incoming. Will help to finance the startup costs OP. Do you need my CPC designs yet?

 

[Robert P]

My partner and I are finalizing our name/logo. In the meantime, I am in for 5,000 chips

 

[mummel]

My partner and I are finalizing our name/logo. In the meantime, I am in for 5,000 chips

Do you know the minimum size for a Paulson order? I can call to find out or maybe Tommy or one of the mods wants to take the lead?

 

[ssanel54]

@ssanel54, you have an all oversized set right? What do your players think?

I think Trav has a tournament set of all 44mm. I only did a $5000 44mm. My players like the 44mm for the novelty, but I don't think they should be used on any of the workhorse chips.

 

[Chicken Rob]

I think Trav has a tournament set of all 44mm. I only did a $5000 44mm. My players like the 44mm for the novelty, but I don't think they should be used on any of the workhorse chips.

I think you're right. I remember these at the compound now.

 

[Meddler2]

Do you know the minimum size for a Paulson order?

That's the question all right.
I wouldnt think small scale casinos and cardrooms would be required / expected to purchase 100,000 chips.

 

[mummel]

So I called GPI. PM me if you want the contact details for their TX sales representative. The CSR indicated you would probably need to go over ~15k in chips to meet their minimum requirements, but that they will work with you depending on the specs around your card room (how many tables, how many days/hours you are open for etc). They sounded more flexible than I thought.

I think this is very doable given the group buy type interest here, but your budget would need to be drastically altered to afford ~8k of these chips. One way you could do it is seeing as though you have the card room license, is to charge others a small premium on the group buy chips to help fund the purchase of your card room chips. But given the $$$ involved here, this would have to be handled very delicately otherwise you could run into legal clusterfck if not executed properly.

I'm also not sure if the 15k chips would need to be the same to meet minimums, because you would want unique chips for your card room to prevent fraud. And in general, you would also probably have to worry about your patrons walking out the door with your elite chips!

Kind of makes me think, if there is such a demand for Paulsons and they command such ridiculous prices, why aren't more card rooms buying their chips and selling them on the open market, acting as a distributor? Or is this not allowed by the Paulsons purchase agreement? Or maybe they are and eBay buyers are getting bent over a barrel?

 

[Meddler2]

My partner and I are finalizing our name/logo. In the meantime, I am in for 5,000 chips

Are either of you professional designers? If not, it would be worth posting for artwork design once your name/logo is finalized.

As far as hours of operation, for some reason the two nearby both operate identical schedules even though they are separately owned. Open 7p-3a Tue through Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. However, the Texascardhouse will soon be open on Sundays....gearing up for football season.

 

[Robert P]

We will be on diff hours than The River and Texas Card House. And I will be using a designer from here for artwork

 

[Bonehon]

Clay chips would be best for sure. I like the four color decks are very nice for seeing flush draws, not all like them though.
Jumbo index cards much easier to see on 9 or 10 seat tables.

 

[Robert P]

Tables - Chanman is the man
Chips - I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. While my partner and I finalize how many tables/chairs we will be initiating buying, I haven't really narrowed down the chip choices. We are moving closer and closer to 8 tables with a set cash and tourney schedule. This would mean 72-80 players simultaneously. That's a lot of chips! We also are bringing a third partner in for funding.


O_O

So many choices. For a complete noob, any recommendations? I want a premium product, but I don't want to spend over $2/chip.

 

[Mr Tree]

Guys, I've talked to Robert a little. He is looking for a cash set and a tourney set. His spread on the cash games runs all the way from $1/$2 to $2/$5. Any recommendations on breakdown? 20,000 chipz

 

[Robert P]

I'm tempted to make another thread:
"Assuming Texas law permits and the city/lawyers approve.... assuming 2 really poorly run poker rooms already exist in your city (5cheap tables, awful chips, and shoddy/cheap environment) .... assuming you already had the land/building/lease secured and $65K budget for opening this room, what would you do?"

That being said, I have done a lot of work on my own. I have a lot of strong opinions on my own. I mostly need help with the chips and you guys know way more than I do

 

[Chicken Rob]

I've been PMing with him as well. I sent the following pm to him. I'll post it here to get the discussion flowing.

1/2 games play mostly with $5 chips in my experience. You should have a minimum of 60 $5s for every player in the game. 100 is better, but not necessary. 40 $25s per player would be enough in a DEEP 1/2 game, and then hundreds after that. If you have a dealer 10 $1s are typically enough, but I prefer 20. The dealer should be able to make change during the game and keep it running smoothly.

I guess if you multiply my minimums by 80, you get:
800 X $1
4800 X $5
3200 X $25
As many hundreds as you think you need to top up the bank.

In a 2/5 game, these minimums are gonna get a little tight. Adding in some extra ones above the minimums above, I'd consider

1600 x $1
5000 x $5
5000 x $25
As many 100s as you think you need to top off the bank.

Now this should work ok for occasional 5/10 as well. it will work great for a few tables of 5/10 and the rest lower stakes.

But start a thread on the topic, you'll get good advice.

 

[moose]

Some things you are forgetting Rob is that each tray will need at least 2k in float which will include 200 in ones for drop and tokes. By end of shift each dealer will be carrying around at least a rack in tokes and the drop boxes will have several hundred more and those won't go back in play until the boxes have been properly collected, and counted. Each table will probably require $500 in fill per hour and many of those chips will be out of play in the boxes, even if they use chip runners to the main cage.

 

[Chicken Rob]

Some things you are forgetting Rob is that each tray will need at least 2k in float which will include 200 in ones for drop and tokes. By end of shift each dealer will be carrying around at least a rack in tokes and the drop boxes will have several hundred more and those won't go back in play until the boxes have been properly collected, and counted. Each table will probably require $500 in fill per hour and many of those chips will be out of play in the boxes, even if they use chip runners to the main cage.

These are really good points. The raked games I play in the dealer's store both the rake and the tips in the tray, as they are underground games with a single dealer all night. This won't work in a card room.

 

[Robert P]

To clarify, there will be no tipping of dealers or raking of pots. Money that is made is not related to poker.

It will be similar to the way the 2 other Austin rooms operate. Monthly membership fee + hourly seat rental. No rake. No tipping dealers.

 

[Chicken Rob]

To clarify, there will be no tipping of dealers or raking of pots. Money that is made is not related to poker.

It will be similar to the way the 2 other Austin rooms operate. Monthly membership fee + hourly seat rental. No rake. No tipping dealers.

Ok, then I stand behind my initial estimates.