[Bano]

I've been collecting strictly Paulson TH&C and Paulson House Mold Chips. Recently, started looking at the ceramic chips designs from the group buys. Since there were a lot of group buys going around can you guys provide feed back to help my decision. Thanks in advance.

1. Design on ceramics - what is the typical time that they will fade?
2. Do the colors or designs bleed (in lack of better terms, fade on your hands)
3. How do they stack compared to clays?
4. Are they fraile (are they known to crack?)
5. Comparison on shuffling ceramics compared to Clays, are they that far off?

Recently, I did a poll asking the type of chip preferred in the home game. I think I worded it confusingly, so I shall try to be more clear.

http://www.chiptalk.net/forum/poker-...reference.html

[BigKyle]

Check out the fantastic article on this site about clay vs. ceramic. It will answer some of your questions immediately. To me, the two are very different but also very good. The quality varies somewhat depending what brand you choose, but overall is not too different. As far as your questions go, here is what I think:

1. Ceramics should last a long, long time in home use. In a casino setting I believe they are usually about three to four years old before they start to show noticeable wear, but I cannot be sure. I played with a set of ceramics twice per week for about a year and never noticed any problems with the set caused by my play.

2. The colors should not fade on your hands. I have never experienced this. Some colors will "bleed" so to speak on the chips, that is, say, a black edgestripe may look blurry at the edge on a yellow chip, but color will not transfer to hands.

3. They stack pretty well, not as good as old-school textured clays, but worlds better than dice, composite, or NexGen chips stack. Now with the new smooth ceramic blanks and the old textured ceramic blanks, certain ceramics may stack better than others.

4. They are very durable in my opinion. I could break an ASM if I really tried, but I could never break a NJ ceramic no matter what. Also, they were dropped on the hard floor a lot and never saw any damage. Now Blue Chip and Paulson clays probably will not break either, but the ceramic is definitely harder than compression clays.

5. Ceramics shuffle fine compared to clays. They may seem a little stiff at first but after they loosen up they are great.

[Dimes]

Originally Posted by Bano

1. Design on ceramics - what is the typical time that they will fade?
2. Do the colors or designs bleed (in lack of better terms, fade on your hands)
3. How do they stack compared to clays?
4. Are they fraile (are they known to crack?)
5. Comparison on shuffling ceramics compared to Clays, are they that far off?

1. The design will mainly wear off with use. Eventually the real white colour of the chip will shine through. Many ceramic chips are slightly concave so that the part of the face closest to the edge will wear first. Chipco chips have a white ring at the edge of the face so that the wear will be less visible. The wear will be very slow for chips in normal home use. Casino chips will often be visibly worn. I guess the chips may also fade if exposed to a lot of light for a considerable amount of time - so if you want to be sure, store them in a dark place.
2. The colours won't be transferred onto your hands in any significant amounts. The colour stays there (see above for wear, though).
3. They stack very well and are comparable (although not always completely at par) with clay chips. If some of the chips are spinners, it will reduce stackability.
4. Most ceramic chips are very hard and unlikely to crack, even if dropped on hard surfaces. If thrown hard onto a very hard surface, the chip may chip. Most ceramic chips are probably less likely to crack than clay chips.
5. Many ceramic chips shuffle more easily than clay chips, especially when compared to new clay chips that have quite sharp edges. Chipco chips have rounded edges and are quite easy to shuffle. Some other brands have edges that are slightly more "square" and shuffle less easily.

Everything of the above may vary somewhat with different makes of ceramic chips.

TT

[Bano]

Wow thanks for the fast response. I guess that is what I was looking, I was concerned that they are fraile and might crack or the colrs will fade. The Clays that I do have with sharp edges, chip. I was thinking of possibly oiling them to reduce the friction, possibly reducing the nicks.

Although, a lot of people collect different types of chips from the group buys, is it realistic to say that they are commonly used....or is it strictly for collecting, due to the designs? Would most people resort back to thier old chips to use for the Home games?

[WolfPack]

I have 1000 custom ceramics and my players love them. They feel great I like the sound when they suffle and the graphics are great. I have had some drop on my hardwood floor and no damage was done. I dropped a asm one time and a nice chuck came off the edge.

[tomb1]

Originally Posted by Bano

Although, a lot of people collect different types of chips from the group buys, is it realistic to say that they are commonly used....or is it strictly for collecting, due to the designs? Would most people resort back to thier old chips to use for the Home games?

Well, some of us have mint sets or individual mint chips that do not see any play...just for collecting. Others have so many sets they couldn't possible use them all!

Me, I buys sets that I plan to use in games. But there are some chips I'll keep mint and unplayed.