Jim at thechiproom.com was great to deal with. Well packed, on time, everything. I bought 600 of them (100@.5, 300@1, 100@5, 100@25) and plan on buying 200 more each of $1 and $5. I wanted to make sure I had all the .50 and $25 I'd ever need, in case they sell quick. With this set I can have multiple games at nearly any stake. I could even have a .50/1 game on one table and a 2/5NL game on another. Chip nirvana.
These are definitely used, which is exactly what I was looking for. I personally like chips to be broken in, without being excessively worn. These fit that description to a "T". The 0.50 chips seem to have taken the worst of it, which surprised me, either they were used on BJ tables, hitting the metal $1 tokens all the time -or- they ended up in a lot of people's pockets as change, banging into keys. In the pictures below, I didn't bother to get "good" or "bad" ones, so I assume the closeups are a representative sample. The most surprising thing is how beat up they are for the amount of edge wear there is. People in Portland are ROUGH on chips. Probably the lumberjacks. Damn lumberjacks.
** The damage looks much worse in the pictures than it does in person, don't think Jim is selling bad chips. **
Three things drew me to this chipset, the inlay, the standard colors and the edgespots. The inlay is casual but not cartoony, with NO city/state on it. "Blues, Brews, Gamblin' & Grub." Perfect. Something about the St. Jo's looked a little cluttered for my taste. I like standard Vegas colors so Vinyards never did it for me. Note there are only two edgespot colors gold (?) and dark purple. With the same colors and progressive patterns I think the designer of this chipset made something truly unique and classy. I even got my triangle spot!
triangle spots. The ONLY thing that detracts from this set is the white $1. I'm a fan of blue $1 but... I think I'll live
Because, "You're so excited.", Jim was kind enough to include two decks of Paulson cards FROM Bluz at the Bend (I collect casino decks so this is great), a bottle of Diamond chip cleaner (wow!) and... drumroll please... A HONDO! A friggin' HONDO! He says he's not planning on selling them at this point. The chip geek in me immediately wants a stack of 20 but it's not practical to use them. If/when my game ever needs $100 markers people can just play cash. I really don't see needing them for anything under 5/5NL.
Additionally, I can stomach someone buying a $25 on ebay and slipping it in but I don't think the risk to reward ratio is profitable enough for them. $3 single chip price + $2 shipping = $20 potential scam. Yes, they could buy a stack for fewer dollars per chip but then they have to do it 4 times to get me for $100. It might be worth it for someone to try with a single $100 chip. If I don't use them, I don't have that worry.
I may get some pink and purple solid Paulsons like cherries or starbursts in the future for my oft-fantasized about "pink chip game" with pink being 2.50 and purple being $10. The intent is a limit mixed-game when we get sick of NLHE. 2.50 chips make for GREAT 5/10 limit. Yes, you can play it with $5 chips but the pots just look so HUGE when you have double the chips. This makes action. Oh boy, does it.
I could copy the inlays from the real chips onto labels and it would be cohesive. Still seeking definitive advice on whether or not that's legal. I know no one can do it for profit (like our commercial "label guy" sponsor) but I don't know whether or not it's OK to print them myself. Any insight is appreciated, actual links WELCOMED. +4 hammer for informative links!
And now, onto the chip porn. Fresh out of the bath:
Snoochie. Bootchie.
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