Hello again Chiptalk, updates.

PaulsonPoker · Tweet this Post! #1 07-26-2012, 05:30 PM

Hi All,

I'd like to introduce myself and give you all an update. My name is John and I'll be spending some time here, talking about Paulson Home Poker products, but first, let me apologize for the lapse in posts.

Matt, who we care deeply for and miss a lot, has had to leave the company for family related reasons. At first we were hopeful he could continue with us, but circumstances change and what we thought would be temporary has become permanent. For a while he was moving between chicago and his hometown every weekend, then for a week, and now permanently. We don't know if he will be back but we're wiching him and his family the best.

I have been working with him when he has time, and going over some of his work when I have time and will update you on where Paulson Home Poker is today.

I am a not-so-young-anymore family guy who lives in Chicago, plays table games at casinos a few times a year, and at home parties a few times a year. I'm a far more casual gamer than y'all, but play more than the average bear. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Texas Hold 'em, my first love is Blackjack, followed by 5 card draw, then stud, and maybe some Pai Gow if I've been overserved and it's really late.

I haven't hosted any games since college when we used to avoid studying by playing card games, I have a few friends that have garage or basement games that aren't serious, unless you're losing big :P

On to the chips, and some unfinished business.
We held a contest for an article submission. Sadly no-one submitted any articles, so the contest didn't have any winners. This was disappointing, probably even more to folks who now know they could have written an article and won the chips without competition.

We have digested a lot of feedback about the designs, and have almost sold out most of the sets we initially produced. We have kicked around some new designs and have new designers working on them, and I have come to learn a bit about the complexities of the legal system when it comes to not only intellectual property, but the role Poker chips play in currency laws and it's complicated to say the least.

I'd like to confirm what I see as a boiled down version of the opinions I've seen here, and from other folks too, and ask that you correct me if I'm way off here.

Size, the 41mm is seen as interesting and somewhat unique, concerns about fitting in racks, weight. The chips do fit in existing racks, but are somewhat inconveniently crowded when packed in. Overall the size has both detractors and adherents.

Style, the general consensus is that a classic graphical design fits more into what Paulson is about, and the photographic style isn't what would be expected from the brand. Quality of the inlays and mold however is great.
More diverse edge spots are something that you would like to see.

Denominations, 1-5-25-100 doesn't meet the needs of the family poker game, and there is a need for fractionals. This is obvious to me as a Blackjack player, and for tournaments there's no way to color up without serious mental gymnastics.

Aside from some design specific threads, I think that covers it, let me know if I'm off base.

I've spent a fair amount of time researching the denominations and it appears I have a lot more work to do on this point. The problem we run in to with the Paulson Clays is that they are rather spendy to produce and can't be created using short runs to fill orders competitively. We want to make a set that is within the budget of the casual gamer who wants to use high quality chips, but isn't addicted to them, yet. I've been trying to figure out a way to supply a set that can get four to eight players playing traditional poker AND blackjack AND Hold 'em, and it looks like maybe a Poker set with a fractional set as a side purchase may be the way to go. I'll let you know what I come up with but if you have experience running "dealer calls" type nights, the kind of gaming nights I'm most familiar with, I'd appreciate any insight.

We don't want to be niche suppliers, we want to find a way to bring the quality of new Paulson chips to the home, without the bulk orders that have been the history of Paulson Custom chips.

Aside form all that long winded post, I'll say that I have seen several designs, very different from what we've offered so far, much more classic, and none of them have cleared legal for me to share, so I won't teasse you any more on that.

One more thing, we're basically giving away our remaining 8 man tables, there are 45 left as of right now, I'll make another post about the details in a new thread.

Golden Dome · Tweet this Post! #2 07-26-2012, 05:56 PM

Yowza!

gmunny · Tweet this Post! #3 07-26-2012, 06:12 PM

Nice post and welcome back!

JM · Tweet this Post! #4 07-26-2012, 06:14 PM

Welcome back! Sorry to hear about Matt's troubles, please pass on our best wishes from everyone here at Chiptalk.

Sounds like you've got a good handle on the feedback so far. I think you really need to go with standard 39mm chips though, the 41mm really don't fit well in anything I've tried (trays and wood cases) them in and I don't want to try to track down something to fit them when every other brand fits what I have now.

Other than that, the denoms are critical. You're gonna have to have a 25c chip in there along with the 1/5/25/100s and if you want to appeal to tournament players, you'll need 500/1000/5000 also at a minimum. That's 8 different denoms which isn't too unreasonable for a single design, but if you're talking about multiple designs too, I can see where that will get expensive quickly. One solution might be to have one design dedicated to cash set and another to tournaments, then you could go with 5 denoms of each and accommodate most customers (.25/1/5/25/100 and 25/100/500/1000/5000) without having to make tons of chips for each design.

bmontana33 · Tweet this Post! #5 07-26-2012, 06:58 PM

Welcome back. I actually had an article mostly written for the contest and forgot about it and obviously never submitted it (mistake!

).

ttttubby · Tweet this Post! #6 07-26-2012, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JM

Welcome back! Sorry to hear about Matt's troubles, please pass on our best wishes from everyone here at Chiptalk.

Sounds like you've got a good handle on the feedback so far. I think you really need to go with standard 39mm chips though, the 41mm really don't fit well in anything I've tried (trays and wood cases) them in and I don't want to try to track down something to fit them when every other brand fits what I have now.

Other than that, the denoms are critical. You're gonna have to have a 25c chip in there along with the 1/5/25/100s and if you want to appeal to tournament players, you'll need 500/1000/5000 also at a minimum. That's 8 different denoms which isn't too unreasonable for a single design, but if you're talking about multiple designs too, I can see where that will get expensive quickly. One solution might be to have one design dedicated to cash set and another to tournaments, then you could go with 5 denoms of each and accommodate most customers (.25/1/5/25/100 and 25/100/500/1000/5000) without having to make tons of chips for each design.

Agree completely with JM two sets one cash one tourney. Kicking myself for not writing an article. Oh well.

JohnnyCnote · Tweet this Post! #7 07-26-2012, 07:48 PM

When I think Paulson poker chip, I think of a classic design, weight, and color/edge spot combos. Anything funky would probably turn me away, but I'm not sure if the mass market sees things the same.

39mm in the 9-10g range
$1, $5, $25, $100, $500, $1000, $5000, and a NCV should cover most cash and tourney sets
<$1/chip would be a nice target to hit

Good luck!

razuya · Tweet this Post! #8 07-26-2012, 08:21 PM

I'd suggest a .25 chip and a NCV for those that want a .05 or .10 chip in their home game.

nygiantsfan3342 · Tweet this Post! #9 07-26-2012, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JM

Welcome back! Sorry to hear about Matt's troubles, please pass on our best wishes from everyone here at Chiptalk.

Sounds like you've got a good handle on the feedback so far. I think you really need to go with standard 39mm chips though, the 41mm really don't fit well in anything I've tried (trays and wood cases) them in and I don't want to try to track down something to fit them when every other brand fits what I have now.

Other than that, the denoms are critical. You're gonna have to have a 25c chip in there along with the 1/5/25/100s and if you want to appeal to tournament players, you'll need 500/1000/5000 also at a minimum. That's 8 different denoms which isn't too unreasonable for a single design, but if you're talking about multiple designs too, I can see where that will get expensive quickly. One solution might be to have one design dedicated to cash set and another to tournaments, then you could go with 5 denoms of each and accommodate most customers (.25/1/5/25/100 and 25/100/500/1000/5000) without having to make tons of chips for each design.

The only thing I would add to this would be different edgespot designs. Most of us would prefer variation between denoms, not the same color spot on all the chips.

And do some research through the classifieds here - you'll see how much we will spend per chip for the right designs.

$1-1.50 will sell the most, though.

tim722 · Tweet this Post! #10 07-26-2012, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulsonPoker

I have come to learn a bit about the complexities of the legal system when it comes to not only intellectual property, but the role Poker chips play in currency laws and it's complicated to say the least.

John, can you expand upon this, especially the part about currency laws? I'm curious about what role a home poker chip might play in currency laws. I could see where live casino chips might play a part, but I've never heard of anything like this. With respect to IP, what have you found out? I really am interested to hear new info on this.

Welcome aboard, and enjoy Chiptalk!