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Looking to upgrade from dice chips but only have around $100 to spend. What about Claysmith "The Mint" series? (2 Viewers)

I should add I have between 6-8 people at the poker nights. We run it tournament style with one additional buy in.
 
I think they are fine, especially for your budget. This type was my 1st step up from Dice chips too. I use this type for my travel set now. Most of the vocal folks on this site will scoff at these chips, but those guys are going/willing to pay a ton more. The players though will think they are great.
 
Thanks for the reply. I'm really tempted to go for the set of 1,000 but the set of 600 would probably be enough. What is the typical amount of chips needed for 8 guys?
 
I too started with a set of these. Great colors and still think it’s a cool label design. Passed them on to a buddy and he loves em.

AB2D3BD0-8723-4A3A-9A50-E26127E071D5.jpeg


I probably would still have them too if I hadn’t made the mistake of buying that sample barrel of Starbursts. :whistle: :whistling:
 
Were you happy with your breakdown with 25C, 1, 5, 25, 100, 500, 5000?
 
Daddy N said:
Thanks for the reply. I'm really tempted to go for the set of 1,000 but the set of 600 would probably be enough. What is the typical amount of chips needed for 8 guys?
Click to expand...

I think a pretty standard tourney set for 10 is:
120 x 25
120 x 100
60 x 500
100 x 1000
20 x 5000

But if you do some searching around here you'll find lots of previous threads with tons of advice about set breakdown, starting stacks and tourney structure. Good luck!
 
I got the samples for mints and the poker knights as well. I picked up the poker knights chips, which I use for my monthly tourney. The guys love them, but none of them are on here. For what you pay, I think its a great chip.
 
Thank you all! So why have the lowest chip as 25 vs 1s? I notice that is fairly common. I have been playing low stakes games at 1c a chip breakdown and $20 buy in so we all start with 2k chips. 10x1 8x5 10x25 7x100 and 2x500. Makes the buy back easier to determine. Why do people prefer the larger denominations?
 
The Mint set may be my favorite of the cheapies. Great colors! People also seem to like the Outlaws and Monacos from discountpokershop.com.
 
Daddy N said:
Were you happy with your breakdown with 25C, 1, 5, 25, 100, 500, 5000?
Click to expand...

Nope... I was a complete n00b and had no idea what I was doing (other than I WANTZ CHIPZ). :oops:

But that's one of the great things about those cheaper, slugged chips. It allowed me to make some mistakes and settle into what I really wanted/needed without breaking the bank.
 
I have 1100 unlabeled 12-stripe claysmiths that I am looking to sell. Don't have the exact color and breakdown right now, but if you are interested, let me know. Being unlabeled, you can use them as any denomination you want. And you could always get labels from gear to make them a semi custom set in the future if you want to. So many options.
 
One key that I realized when starting out... with proper planning, you realize that you don't need as many chips as you first thought. This opens up higher end chip sets within your budget. I'm not a tourney expert, but I know my 1000 chip set can support a 4 table tourney. The breakdown and starting stacks were a recommendation by an expert. If my math is correct, that means you really only need 250 chips for a single table.
Starting stacks:
8x T25
8x T100
4x T500
2x T1000
0x T5000

Chip set to accommodate 10 players
80x T25
80x T100
40x T500
20x T1000
~10x T5000

230 chips

So with a $100 budget... you could buy chips that cost 43c each.
 
Daddy N said:
Thank you all! So why have the lowest chip as 25 vs 1s? I notice that is fairly common. I have been playing low stakes games at 1c a chip breakdown and $20 buy in so we all start with 2k chips. 10x1 8x5 10x25 7x100 and 2x500. Makes the buy back easier to determine. Why do people prefer the larger denominations?
Click to expand...

The main reason is that that's what the vast majority of casinos and card rooms do. I would say the most common tourney format around here is probably T10k starting stacks using a T25 base chip with starting 25/50 blind levels. The thing that will vary the most between structures will be starting stacks and level times.
 
Shaggy said:
One key that I realized when starting out... with proper planning, you realize that you don't need as many chips as you first thought. This opens up higher end chip sets within your budget.
Click to expand...

OP said he needs to accommodate some rebuys, so you might need to increase those numbers a bit. But the point is spot on... plus I think T1 & T5 can be even more efficient chip-wise. I think you'll find most of the advice from members here would be to stretch your budget a bit (or be really smart with your breakdown) so you can jump over the slugged chips and at least start with china clays.
 
BSteck said:
OP said he needs to accommodate some rebuys, so you might need to increase those numbers a bit. But the point is spot on... plus I think T1 & T5 can be even more efficient chip-wise. I think you'll find most of the advice from members here would be to stretch your budget a bit (or be really smart with your breakdown) so you can jump over the slugged chips and at least start with china clays.
Click to expand...

Regarding rebuys... if trying to stretch the chip budget, rebuys can be handled similar to what is common for cash games. The rebuy is a big chip or two. Then when when the player gets back to the table, the big stack makes change. Effectively, there is no need for more small chips to get on the table. There is still the same number of players at the given blind level.

The OP will have to account for the fact that most of the chips he is look at will be sold in 25 chip bundles. He'll have to round up or down to accommodate.
 
Daddy N said:
Thank you all! So why have the lowest chip as 25 vs 1s? I notice that is fairly common. I have been playing low stakes games at 1c a chip breakdown and $20 buy in so we all start with 2k chips. 10x1 8x5 10x25 7x100 and 2x500. Makes the buy back easier to determine. Why do people prefer the larger denominations?
Click to expand...

First, I donated a set of mints to one of the guys that hosts in my game and the chips are great for how cheap they are. They aren't paulsons, but such a step up from dice chips.

As for tourneys, I've run tourneys dollar for dollar, where a $50 buy in gets you $50 in chips, and I've run them casino style, where you get like a 10K stack regardless of the buy in. Pros and cons of each. I like dollar for dollar if running a rebuy tourney where we allow an add-on up to the initial buy in after the last hand eligible for rebuys (i.e., if someone only has $10 left after the rebuy period ends in a $50 buy-in tourney, we let them buy $40 more in chips to build the pot before the first hand where there are no more rebuys). The 10K stack allows people to play with larger chips, which some people love.

Six of one, half dozen of another. They both work. Buy whichever chips you want to play with. On the mint set, I like the look of the higher denominations a little more than the low value chips. But your preferences may vary.
 
Hello and welcome!

I posted in the offsite sales thread that there was a guy in Texas selling 1000 CC Pharaohs for $100. That's 10 cents a chip. I don't know if someone's bought it yet.
 
what i would probably do in that situation:
1. buy a bunch of china clay chips (blanks and labeled, pull the labels off) on clearance from chipsandgames.com (at 7c, 10c, or 13c each).
2. buy some sheets of 1" circular labels from amazon or wherever.
3. beg or borrow the use of a color printer to print up labels.
4. have everyone over for a label-applying party.
5. spend the rest on beer.
 
BSteck said:
Of course someone has got to say it so it might as well be me. "For just a little more $ you could get..."

... a set of 500 china clay Milanos for $155.
https://www.pokerchipmania.com/claysmith-poker-chips/10g-milano/500-milano-poker-chip-set.html


It sure is fun spending other people's money. :D
Click to expand...
i did exactly that for a friend about 2 years ago.

300 chip set (bulk).

100 x $5
100 x $25
75 x $100
25 x $500

starting stacks (up to 10 players, one table) $1,000 each:
10 x $5
10 x $25
7 x $100

with $13,000 of additional $100 and $500 chips for chipping up and rebuys.
(she loved them.)

alternatively, (100 x $5, 100 x $25, and 100 x $100) would give 13 total buy ins, which might be perfect for 6-8 players and one rebuy.

most home games are just fine with 3 or 4 denominations, and almost never need more than 5 denominations. lots and lots of colors are pretty, but you won't really use them in a single table, single evening home game.
 
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