New to the Forum - Buying approx 4,000 chips for a social club (8 Viewers)

[DoubleTT]

We have a generous member who has offered to buy us new custom chips. If I’m correct, $2K should get us 4K high-quality chips. I don’t even know where to start.

I have a graphic artist who can provide the design. I will know the exact amount we need for each denomination (100, 500, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 25,000, and maybe a few 100,000).

Anyone willing to walk me through the process? We’d likely be willing to offer some decent compensation for assistance.

 

[Quicksilver-75]

2k for 4000? Sounds like you need a Tina ceramic order. But I'd worry about your chip security.

 

[Tonystark137]

I presume this is for a tournament game?
How many tables do you usually get?
There are some established threads for T100 tournaments.

 

[sonic242]

Somehow 4,000 chips eventually turns into 10,000 chips...
So many options; better try them all and then buy more.

 

[RocAFella1]

CPC

 

[ekricket]

@justincarothers is probably where you should start looking

 

[DoubleTT]

Max 5 table tournament starting at 100, 200 no ante. We use these same chips for a $1/$1 cash game after the tournament (1K chip = $1).

 

[Huskerchipper]

Depends on your definition of High Quality. Around here you can easily spend $2k on a single rack (100 chips).

 

[doublebooyah85]

We have a generous member who has offered to buy us new custom chips. If I’m correct, $2K should get us 4K high-quality chips. I don’t even know where to start.

I have a graphic artist who can provide the design. I will know the exact amount we need for each denomination (100, 500, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 25,000, and maybe a few 100,000).

Anyone willing to walk me through the process? We’d likely be willing to offer some decent compensation for assistance.

$2k will not get you 4,000 high quality chips but certainly custom!

 

[doublebooyah85]

Max 5 table tournament starting at 100, 200 no ante. We use these same chips for a $1/$1 cash game after the tournament (1K chip = $1).

You should also consider a tournament set and a cash set for security

 

[spartan037]

Basically you need to get your message count up to 5 or 10 and then go lookup Broken Arrow Cardroom. From there lookup the group buy for April 25. Place your order and give a breakdown of the quantity of chips, denomination, & mold you want. Then at the end of the month and the GB closes. The vendor will reach out with and invoice. The chips are $.47 per chip plus $80 for label fee. So you are looking at about $1930ish plus shipping. That is the cheapest option.

I recommend getting samples first from the sample thread the vendor offers. Also they sell chip racks to store the chips. I recommend getting about 40 of them so you easily store and protect them.

 

[Tonystark137]

Max 5 table tournament starting at 100, 200 no ante. We use these same chips for a $1/$1 cash game after the tournament (1K chip = $1).

That's definitely one easy way for someone to palm a 25k chip and re introduce it later...

 

[Quicksilver-75]

Max 5 table tournament starting at 100, 200 no ante. We use these same chips for a $1/$1 cash game after the tournament (1K chip = $1).

How big is this social club? I ask because unless you trust your players 1000%, it's easy to stash tournament chips for a cash game later. Do yourself a favor and have separate chips. Cash / Tourney.

 

[Tonysquander]

If I’m correct, $2K should get us 4K high-quality chips

 

[Huskerchipper]

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/chips-new-sun-mold-web-mold-greek-mold-april-2025.129138/

This is where people are telling you to go. The best bang for your buck at .50c a chip. Good luck.

 

[DoubleTT]

Good point about security but a) separate sets are not affordable, b) I know it sounds naive but we are a close group, and there is complete trust, c) there are cameras all over and everyone knows, and d) it’s small stakes, no one is risking their reputation/being banned for $25-$100 dollars.

 

[Himewad]

Good point about security but a) separate sets are not affordable, b) I know it sounds naive but we are a close group, and there is complete trust, c) there are cameras all over and everyone knows, and d) it’s small stakes, no one is risking their reputation/being banned for $25-$100 dollars.

You could also rack up all chips after the tournament to confirm all chips are accounted for before you start getting the cash game chips ready to distribute.

 

[Himewad]

Also, you could definitely run a 5-table tournament with 2000-2400 chips. Then still have 1600-2000 chips for the cash games. Unless your starting stacks are huge.

 

[AlbinoDragon]

Good point about security but a) separate sets are not affordable, b) I know it sounds naive but we are a close group, and there is complete trust, c) there are cameras all over and everyone knows, and d) it’s small stakes, no one is risking their reputation/being banned for $25-$100 dollars.

If you are a small group as you suggest, you either don't need 4000 chips or alternately, can easily afford separate cash and tournament sets that would come up to (and might even be less than) 4000 counts.


I have been providing my tournament set to the meet-up that's hosted by @bergs the last few years. The largest player pool was 18 runners and there were fewer than 1000 chips used out of the set I brought for that.

We all love lots of chips and lots of chips on the table, but you might be over-estimating the number of chips you need.

 

[Phoe9x]

Tell us your starting stacks and estimated rebuys, we can help get you a very good breakdown so you can have both a cash and tourney set totaling 4k chips

 

[Gus]

If you're seeking custom, you'll probably want these fabled "TINA" chips people are mentioning. Hobbyphilic, a member here, has a good video showing them alongside some other similar ones.

Cheapest chips = slugged ABS = "Dice" like the Cardinal Classics chips on Amazon... $20 for 300 shipped! We've all played with them, but you're upgrading now.

TINA = ceramic / hybrid = starts as a plain white disc, and gets printed either custom ($$$) or "stock" colors from a bulk order, but you also get to put a sticker on them for customization which is probably easiest to do with your budget. Justin Carothers of Broken Arrow supply here on PCF handles these bulk buys from a Chinese supplier, and could help you figure out pricing and what's possible with that style of chip. These chips can come plain/smooth, or have a "mold" to give a texture/design in addition to the colors.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...ek-mold-april-2025.129138/page-2#post-2647043

BR Pro will print whatever you want on their ceramic chips (totally smooth plastic discs, no "mold" / no imprinted/embossed design on the chip surface)

https://brpropoker.com/

China Clays are your other main option at your budget. You'd go with stock chip colors and add a custom label sticker. I'm not sure if Apache does customs, or if you would need to find a 3rd party to do custom labels:
https://www.apachepokerchips.com/

 

[WedgeRock]

We use these same chips for a $1/$1 cash game after the tournament (1K chip = $1).

So security is not a concern for your group?

Its less about trust and more about opportunity. If there is 0% chance of getting caught, would anyone in the group try it? What about a guest of one of the regulars?

 

[fishandchips]

You don't need separate cash and tourney sets.

As long as (in this case) the tourney buyin is eg $20 for 20k starting stack, or $30 for 30k.

 

[Tonystark137]

You don't need separate cash and tourney sets.

As long as (in this case) the tourney buyin is eg $20 for 20k starting stack, or $30 for 30k.

That's...not how tournaments typically work....

 

[Huskerchipper]

If one has the budget to buy 4k Tina chips, I have no idea why you wouldn't get separate cash and tournament sets...unless you are hosting enormous games.

 

[bergs]

If you are a small group as you suggest, you either don't need 4000 chips or alternately, can easily afford separate cash and tournament sets that would come up to (and might even be less than) 4000 counts.


I have been providing my tournament set to the meet-up that's hosted by @bergs the last few years. The largest player pool was 18 runners and there were fewer than 1000 chips used out of the set I brought for that.

We all love lots of chips and lots of chips on the table, but you might be over-estimating the number of chips you need.

Are you counting the 36 rebuy face up PLO tourney (featuring 26 rebuys by our own Chippy McChipperson)?

 

[BKisback]

Somewhat relevant, but does Game On (aka Chipco) still do customs? At one point they had a nice order discount at 2000 chips.

 

[fishandchips]

That's...not how tournaments typically work....

Took me a while to work out where you were coming from. Those are two examples of tournament structure that don't lead to a chip security threat, not different buyin options for the same tournament.

 

[TheRealStephen12]

Since you only have 4,000 chips, you need to budget on the tournament to have enough chips for cash if you want to do two sets.

Tournament:

For a T100 base tournament starting at 100/200 blinds, 10/6/6/6 starting stacks would give each player 200 BB to start. Adding a rebuy of 0/0/0/3/1 per player, and enough chips to color up the 100s, 500s, and 1Ks with 25Ks and the 1Ks and 5Ks with 100Ks, you'll need:

500x T100
300x T500
300x T1000
450x T5000
72x T25,000
22x T100,000

Buying at least 25 extra of each chip and rounding to the nearest 25 of each denomination (assuming you're buying from Tina/Justin) gives you 1,800 chips.

This leaves 2,200 chips for $1/1 cash. For each table, having 100/200/100 of $1/5/25 is enough to start (10 buy-ins of 10/18/4, 1 rebuy if 0/20/4, and 7 rebuys of 0/0/8). Making the last 2 racks $100s should be enough to cover 3.8 buyins per player, which should be enough. If you go with this, you'll need:

500x $1
1,000x $5
500x $25
200x $100
Total: 2,200 chips, $37,500

If you change 50x $100 chips for $500 chips, you'll have enough to cover $57,500, which should be way more than enough if you don't think that $37,500 will cover it.

Hopefully this helps and maybe helps to convince you that separate sets are reasonable for 4,000 chips!

 

[Okku]

This video that I made a few months ago might be beneficial for some of you newer guys too!