Hey gang,
I've been a casual home game poker player for a decade or more, and recently got bit with the bug to have a set of chips nicer than the suit-and-dice plastic set that I have had for most of that time.
I actually got bit with that bug about 3 years ago, and joined up on one of the other forums to start my pursuit of a nice set of Paulson's. But something distracted me and I never pulled the trigger.
So a few of weeks ago, I decided to renew my search. Wow, have things changed!
While I could AFFORD a nice set of Paulson's, I just couldn't JUSTIFY them. So I bounced back and forth between a set of full CPCs and a set of china clays. I designed and priced out that custom set, even before artwork I was in that "can I REALLY justify this" territory.
I decided to order a whole bunch of samples from Apache... Dunes, Pharaohs, Milanos, Majestics, and a set of the James Bond Paulson's just to tempt me. Have been fondling the sets over the past week, constantly shuffling and stacking and agonizing over all the details. I watched videos online, read all I could here on these forums, it was a bit obsessive.
Finally, I had decided on the Pharaohs. My runner up was the Dunes set, and I really had to think hard about the choice but in the end, the feel and edge progression of the Pharoahs won out. It was a 51%-49% decision.
I have a gift-receiving event coming up in my near future, so I clued the Mrs. in on my choice and was just getting online to figure out chip distribution for a 1500 chip order. For some reason, I thought "I'll check craigslist just... in... case".
Bam! Posted just hours before I logged in, a local ad for a metric ton of clay chips and the price was too-good-to-be-true. I sealed the deal and just got them home tonight.
Here are a couple of pics of more chips than I will ever need! That, or I need to expand my invite list for home tourneys!
Now, the downside is I have no actual connection to the Army, but again for the price I just could not say "no". I mean, I have a brother who is butter-bar in the reserves, so maybe I will bequeath these to him. I figure this would be a great starter set and maybe later, the market will change a bit. Going into these, I thought they would be pretty similar to the Dunes samples, but I actually like them better than that. Feel less "plasticy" and a little more buttery. Not top level Paulson's goodness, but easily as good as the Milano's. I have considered relabeling them, but with the molded "U.S. ARMY" around the edge, I can't come up with a personal connection that makes it any better than what they are right now.
Well, that's my story. Glad to be a part of the forum and looking forward to being able to justify the custom set soon!
I've been a casual home game poker player for a decade or more, and recently got bit with the bug to have a set of chips nicer than the suit-and-dice plastic set that I have had for most of that time.
I actually got bit with that bug about 3 years ago, and joined up on one of the other forums to start my pursuit of a nice set of Paulson's. But something distracted me and I never pulled the trigger.
So a few of weeks ago, I decided to renew my search. Wow, have things changed!
While I could AFFORD a nice set of Paulson's, I just couldn't JUSTIFY them. So I bounced back and forth between a set of full CPCs and a set of china clays. I designed and priced out that custom set, even before artwork I was in that "can I REALLY justify this" territory.
I decided to order a whole bunch of samples from Apache... Dunes, Pharaohs, Milanos, Majestics, and a set of the James Bond Paulson's just to tempt me. Have been fondling the sets over the past week, constantly shuffling and stacking and agonizing over all the details. I watched videos online, read all I could here on these forums, it was a bit obsessive.
Finally, I had decided on the Pharaohs. My runner up was the Dunes set, and I really had to think hard about the choice but in the end, the feel and edge progression of the Pharoahs won out. It was a 51%-49% decision.
I have a gift-receiving event coming up in my near future, so I clued the Mrs. in on my choice and was just getting online to figure out chip distribution for a 1500 chip order. For some reason, I thought "I'll check craigslist just... in... case".
Bam! Posted just hours before I logged in, a local ad for a metric ton of clay chips and the price was too-good-to-be-true. I sealed the deal and just got them home tonight.
Here are a couple of pics of more chips than I will ever need! That, or I need to expand my invite list for home tourneys!
Now, the downside is I have no actual connection to the Army, but again for the price I just could not say "no". I mean, I have a brother who is butter-bar in the reserves, so maybe I will bequeath these to him. I figure this would be a great starter set and maybe later, the market will change a bit. Going into these, I thought they would be pretty similar to the Dunes samples, but I actually like them better than that. Feel less "plasticy" and a little more buttery. Not top level Paulson's goodness, but easily as good as the Milano's. I have considered relabeling them, but with the molded "U.S. ARMY" around the edge, I can't come up with a personal connection that makes it any better than what they are right now.
Well, that's my story. Glad to be a part of the forum and looking forward to being able to justify the custom set soon!
