How did your chipping journey begin? (1 Viewer)

[Kid_Eastwood]

This weekend, I tried to remember all the chips I ever bought (and sold) and during these years and just wanted to share it here.

1. "Pro Poker" 4 grams chips (200 chips, 40 white, 40 red, 40 green, 40 blue, 40 black). I bought them in a super market. They were the first chips I bought (around end 2006, begin of 2007). Status = Gifted them few years ago to my brother in law.
2. Dice. What else ? Bought somewhere in 2008. Status = Still own them.
3. Las Vegas Laser. Bought them around 2012. Status = The first set I sold.
4. Monte Carlo Crown. Bought around 2013, as an upgrade from the Las Vegas Laser. Status = Still have them
5. Dunes Commemorative. Bought them at Spinettis, in Las Vegas during Summer 2014. Status = Sold
6. Paulson + C&J mixed set. I started to assemble it in 2015, the first "real" poker chips I bought. I kept some chips, sold some and gifted some. In the end, I made it a 6-max The Post / Silver Star set. Status = Still own some part of it.
7. SunFly "Boracay" 2007. My first set of ceramics chips bought end of 2016 or begin of 2017. Status = Sold
8. Majestic China Clay. My first China Clay bought from Apache in 2016. Status = Sold
9. Dunes China Clay. Bought in Vegas in 2017, personnally delivered by Josh from Apache at my hotel (Flamingo). Status = Sold
10. Nevada Jack, bought in 2018. Status = Mostly sold, only kept a heads-up set from the initial set.
11. Championship Poker Series bought (I think) in 2018. Status = Sold
12. Horseshoe Cincinnati cash set bought in 2018. Status = Sold.
13. Horseshoe Cleveland tournament set bought in 2018 (I think). Status = Sold to a friend
14. SunFly hybrids "Princess Private Club", my first custom set bought in 2019. Status = Still own it
15. THC used Cal-Neva relabeled set bought in 2019. Status = Sold
16. SunFly PolyClay "The Bank" cash set bought in 2020. Status = Still own it
17. Tina "Fino alla Fine" tournament set bought in 2020. Status = Sold
18. SunFly PolyClay "Fino alla Fine" tournament set bought in 2020. Status = Sold to a friend
19. THC "Arya" milled/relabelled project bought in 2020. Status = Still own it
20. SunFly hybrid "Fino alla Fine" tournament set bought in 2021 (I think). Status = Sold
21. PolyClay "Arya" tournament set bought in 2022. Status = Still own it
22. PolyClay "The Bank" (Bellagio inspired) tournament set bought in 2022. Status = Sold
23. My first CPC set. My "The Bank" tournament set bought in 2022. Status = Still own it
24. Indiana Grand started in 2023, completed in 2024. Status = Still own it

Ongoing / still to come :

• SunFly PolyClay "The Bank", EPT inspired.
• The Bank CPC cash set.

I might forget some set here and there, but it's mostly about it.
I'll add pics later on to illustrate this post.

 

[Poker Zombie]

This weekend, I tried to remember all the chips I ever bought (and sold) and during these years and just wanted to share it here.

1. "Pro Poker" 4 grams chips (200 chips, 40 white, 40 red, 40 green, 40 blue, 40 black). I bought them in a super market. They were the first chips I bought (around end 2006, begin of 2007). Status = Gifted them few years ago to my brother in law.
2. Dice. What else ? Bought somewhere in 2008. Status = Still own them.
3. Las Vegas Laser. Bought them around 2012. Status = The first set I sold.
4. Monte Carlo Crown. Bought around 2013, as an upgrade from the Las Vegas Laser. Status = Still have them
5. Dunes Commemorative. Bought them at Spinettis, in Las Vegas during Summer 2014. Status = Sold
6. Paulson + C&J mixed set. I started to assemble it in 2015, the first "real" poker chips I bought. I kept some chips, sold some and gifted some. In the end, I made it a 6-max The Post / Silver Star set. Status = Still own some part of it.
7. SunFly "Boracay" 2007. My first set of ceramics chips bought end of 2016 or begin of 2017. Status = Sold
8. Majestic China Clay. My first China Clay bought from Apache in 2016. Status = Sold
9. Dunes China Clay. Bought in Vegas in 2017, personnally delivered by Josh from Apache at my hotel (Flamingo). Status = Sold
10. Nevada Jack, bought in 2018. Status = Mostly sold, only kept a heads-up set from the initial set.
11. Championship Poker Series bought (I think) in 2018. Status = Sold
12. Horseshoe Cincinnati cash set bought in 2018. Status = Sold.
13. Horseshoe Cleveland tournament set bought in 2018 (I think). Status = Sold to a friend
14. SunFly hybrids "Princess Private Club", my first custom set bought in 2019. Status = Still own it
15. THC used Cal-Neva relabeled set bought in 2019. Status = Sold
16. SunFly PolyClay "The Bank" cash set bought in 2020. Status = Still own it
17. Tina "Fino alla Fine" tournament set bought in 2020. Status = Sold
18. SunFly PolyClay "Fino alla Fine" tournament set bought in 2020. Status = Sold to a friend
19. THC "Arya" milled/relabelled project bought in 2020. Status = Still own it
20. SunFly hybrid "Fino alla Fine" tournament set bought in 2021 (I think). Status = Sold
21. PolyClay "Arya" tournament set bought in 2022. Status = Still own it
22. PolyClay "The Bank" (Bellagio inspired) tournament set bought in 2022. Status = Sold
23. My first CPC set. My "The Bank" tournament set bought in 2022. Status = Still own it
24. Indiana Grand started in 2023, completed in 2024. Status = Still own it

Ongoing / still to come :

• SunFly PolyClay "The Bank", EPT inspired.
• The Bank CPC cash set.

I might forget some set here and there, but it's mostly about it.
I'll add pics later on to illustrate this post.

I was going to demand pics, but...

1. How many pictures did people really take in 2007? Digital was senselessly grainy, and film costed money.
2. You mentioned you would add pics later.

Really cool journey though. I really enjoyed the fact that you listed sets back to the supermarket chips. We all started somewhere, why pretend it never happened?

 

[Kid_Eastwood]

I was going to demand pics, but...

1. How many pictures did people really take in 2007? Digital was senselessly grainy, and film costed money.
2. You mentioned you would add pics later.

Really cool journey though. I really enjoyed the fact that you listed sets back to the supermarket chips. We all started somewhere, why pretend it never happened?

I still have pics of 8-handed games played on dinner table without proper surface, plastic-coated cards and these 4 grams chips.
I had a set of 200 chips :
- 40 white
- 40 red
- 40 green
- 40 blue
- 40 black

I remember we played tournaments, and we assigned the following values to the chips :
- red = 10
- green = 20
- blue = 50
- black = 100
- white = 200

We used to start with stacks of 1200 chips (5 x 10 ; 5 x 20 ; 5 x 50 ; 5 x 100 ; 3 x 200) on starting blinds 10-20.
We did not realize it was so stupid but we had great poker nights.

Now, I explained my bro in law, that with this set, he should use it for 4-handed NL200 cash (white 1 ; red 5 ; blue 10 ; green 25 and black 100) or 5-handed tournament (green T25 ; black T100 ; white T500 + red T1000 for color-up) with 5000 starting stacks.

Last time I played with this set was back in Feb 2022. It brought me so much nostalgia.

 

[LeeFordam]

The journey really started with a love of gambling. I got kicked out of the Playboy casino in Atlantic City when I was 16 after being inside for about 5 minutes; but it was enough to get me hooked. Learned how to play blackjack but soon realized that in the long run, unless I wanted to learn to count cards and deal with all the hassle that went with it, the house edge meant I would ultimately loose. In the late 90's I was at Turning Stone and happened by the poker room. I was fascinated, and I learned that there's no house edge in poker so I started to play there when I could.
When the poker boom hit in the early 2000's I had been playing poker in casinos for a few years so when home games began popping up around me and everyone was playing with plastic dice chips, it just didn't feel right.
I went searching for "casino grade" chips. Eventually found CPC (or maybe it was ASM then?) and ordered a set of monogramed hot stamped, non-denom chips.

But without denominations and all the edge spots being the same they just didn't seem right. Kept looking and found chiptalk where I got in on the group buy for these:

That's more like it! These felt and looked like "real" chips to me. Bought another set of Paulson classics

and gave them to the guy who ran the home game I played in so we could stop playing with the cheap dice chips.
That's it. I harvested mostly $1 chips from casinos that I played in and bought some china clay Pharaoh's to add to the Paulson set but as the poker boom died down so did my chip journey.
I'm back now because, well, once you've been bitten....

 

[jayfiggy]

View attachment 1436283
and gave them to the guy who ran the home game I played in so we could stop playing with the cheap dice chips

You sir, are very generous.

 

[LeeFordam]

You sir, are very generous.

Honestly, it was a very soft game and I made plenty back and he was a nice guy. RIP Virus.

 

[bigdog65]

Inherited a big collection. Then had fun cataloging and buying myself.