[TenPercenter]

Dal Negro Poker Chips Review
by TenPercenter

Manufacturer: Dal Negro
Retailer(s): Trident Playing Cards
Average Price: $2.33-$2.66 each (Includes wooden case and two decks of plastic cards)
Material: Pearlized Plastic

Dal Negro's line of poker chips are definitely unique compared to most chips I've reviewed to date. Although plastic, they are high quality and unique. They have a pearl-like look on the smooth areas, and a rough texture on the recessed, etched areas.

Pros

• Unique (good for game security and "chip pride"
• High quality for a plastic poker chip

Cons

• Plastic (Very light weight and take scratches easily)
• Unconventional colors and denominations
• Expensive (must buy with case and cards)

Price

At $2.33 per chip (300 count), this is a high price even with a case and cards. Considering the case may be worth even $100

Feel

For a plastic chip, these are actually very nice. They have rounded edges, and you can barely stand one on end. Because of the very smooth edges and light weight, they are very difficult to shuffle. Stacking the chips and running your fingers up the stack feels good, they are very uniform.

They are a shade over 40mm in diameter, and they are 3.6mm in thickness. When 20 are stacked next to 20 Chipco chips, the Dal Negro's are a full chip higher.

Stacking

I was only sent 10 chips, so stacking test were not done. By using the non-scientific "two chips in your fingers friction test" they fall in between dice chips (11.5g ABS plastic) and casino quality chips (textured ceramic or clay). This means they'll probably stack fairly well while in play.

Sound

They sound very like plastic, a hard plastic. Not a bad sound really, much better than the sound that a metal-filled ABS plastic chip makes.

Looks

I like the way these Dal Negro chips look. They are unique for sure. They have a pearl-like look on the smooth areas, and a rough texture on the recessed, etched areas.

Security/Originality

Nothing can beat the security of a fully custom poker chip. But for retail chips, I think these Dal Negro chips rank very high in security due the the limited availability, high cost, and unique look ad feel.

Durability

I think the chips would last a lifetime without breaking. However since the pearlized smooth areas are so shiny, they will lose their luster fairly quickly. My samples have already begun to show many scratches just from my handling them for the review.

Reviewers Comments

Due to the high cost I couldn't recommend these chips unless I a) saw the price for chips alone, or b) I reviewed the quality of the case that the set comes with. The briar root case was not sent for review so I cannot comment on it's quality or value. It's entirely possible that the case value could bring this set to a value I could recommend buying.

There are three main non-standard things I found with these chips:

• First, the color scheme is unconventional, at least by Vegas, California, or other casino standards.
• Second, the denominations are also non-standard. There is no 25, no 500, and there are odd denominations in between. The denominations actually double from .50 to 2, then again starting at 5 all the way to 200. I suppose this would be great for limit holdem games!
• Third, the packages (two choices: 150 or 300), have far too many denominations in them. This limits you to the type and stakes in any one game. You're never going to need 50¢ chips and $200 chips in the same game.

The 150 piece set: The denomination, quantity and color of the poker chips in this set is: 0.5 : 20 chips (white); 1 : 20 chips (light blue); 2 : 15 chips (yellow); 5 : 20 chips (magenta); 10 : 20 chips (orange); 20: 15 chips (red); 50: 15 chips (green); 100: 10 chips (blue); 200: 10 chips (dark green); POT: 5 chips (black).

The 300 piece set: The denomination, quantity and color of the poker chips in this set is: 0.5 : 40 chips (white); 1 : 40 chips (light blue); 2 : 30 chips (yellow); 5 : 40 chips (magenta); 10 : 30 chips (orange); 20: 20 chips (red); 50: 30 chips (green); 100: 40 chips (blue); 200: 20 chips (dark green); 500: 5 chips (silver); POT: 5 chips (black).

Oh, can somebody explain what the "POT" chips are for, and why you need five of them?

Additional Pictures

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