Desert Palms Clay Poker Chips Review by TBonesPoker

[TBonesPoker]

New Desert Palms Compression Molded Clay Poker Chips
by TBonesPoker
Manufacturer: Chinese
Retailer(s): The Chip Room The Chip Room - Texas Hold'em and other poker supplies
Average Price: Estimated .35-.40 ea. (GB .27 ea.)
Material: Compression molded clay

You probably already know about the compression clay Dunes Commemorative chips group buy recently offered by The Chip Room. When those chips were ordered the decision was made to also produce a clay version of the popular injection molded Desert Palms chips. That's what we're looking at here. These are not the DP clays originally offered by The Chip Room, which I believe were manufactured by the Blue Chip Company.

The new chips are 40mm rather than the more widely manufactured 39mm. My samples ranged from 39.75mm-40.26mm with an average size of 40.07mm. Thickness varied between 3.26mm-3.42mm. Average thickness was 3.34mm and 20 chips fit in each of the several racks I tested them with. They would technically be called 9.5 gram chips, ranging from 9.2-9.9 and averaging 9.6 grams in weight.

Pros

• Inexpensive clay chips
• Attractive, with a terrific casino-like mold
• Wide range of denominations

Cons

• No edgespot progression (important to some, not to me)
• Denominations difficult to read on inlay for this reviewer
• No $2.50, $20 or $25,000 denoms

Feel

These feel like clay poker chips! They do not feel like Paulson, BCC, Protege, etc. They feel like, well, Desert Palms compression molded chips. I assumed they would feel like the other inexpensive clays (like Wallsons and Dunes--especially the Dunes since they probably come from the same factory) but they do not. The DPs have a smoother, slicker feel than any of the other chips I had on hand for comparison. This "smoothness" in no way degrades stackability and my friend, the chip shuffler, reports they shuffle like a dream. You should know the only chip shuffling I do is from my stack to the pot and, hopefully, back again.

Stacking

"No phone, no pool, no pets. I ain't found no spinners yet." (apologies to the estate of Roger Miller). Jim Shaffer at The Chip Room provided me with 78 sample chips. They'll stack that high pretty securely, but why would you want to? In stacks of 25-35 the samples are rock solid. If the production run matches the samples, I feel you could play behind stacks of 50 with no problem. Except, if you're like me, you'll spend a good bit of time re-stacking the chips you've knocked over!

Sound

Nice, solid "clack" when splashed into the pot. Not as "weighty" sounding as a Paulson, but you'll know they're clays.

Looks

These are good looking chips. I especially like the mold which makes them look like what I would expect to see at a casino card room. Oiling makes them look even better and does far more than just remove the dust. Colors are deeper and more pronounced after just a bit of mineral oil. Body/edgespot combinations are attractive especially those on the .50, $100 and $500. My preference would have been for all the fractionals to be solids as I feel the solids help give the entire set that little bit of "different".

Security/Originality

Well, anyone can buy these chips and sneak'em into your game. But, how many are going to do that? I would rate these as a semi-secure chip. You want secure? Go full custom with RFID. Originality? You can only get these from The Chip Room, the inlays were designed by an award-winning artist and are big-time in appearance--although I have some trouble seeing the denominations against the relatively dark background with my nearly 63 year old eyes, and, well, what more do you want?

Reviewers Comments

If you're looking to make the move to clays on a limited budget (in today's booming economy, "limited budget" would apply to most of us), want to add a cash or micro-cash set to go along with your tournament chips or are buying your first "real" poker chips, I heartily recommend the Desert Palms compression molded clays which should become available mid-December. A real plus to choosing these chips: you'll be doing business with Jim at The Chip Room. He's a real pro and a pleasure to deal with. As always, it's a good idea to get samples before you make a decision.

Additional Pictures




More insightful information on these chips here: http://www.chiptalk.net/forum/poker-...chip-room.html

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[Jake77444]

Are these the same chips that are available on their website or are those the old ones?

[Syfted]

Originally Posted by Jake77444

Are these the same chips that are available on their website or are those the old ones?

The chips at The Chip Room website are currently the old, plastic chips. These are a very different, clay chip, though the aesthetics are similar.

[Jake77444]

TBones, I don't know if you've used ASMs but if you have how would you compare these to ASMs?

[BradleyD1146]

Where can i get the compression molded DP's at now ? or can you even buy them anymore ?

[ovo]

This mold stacks better than the Dunes mold.

[crazytom911]

yea im wondering where you can get the clay version myself.

[Meddler]

there's an order thread here somewhere. I've got a 500pc set of the DPCM and they are sweeet. Stack great. Not slickery like the plastic version. Chaulky clay feel. Nice inlay design and simple edgespots. Jim at the chip room is one fast shipper!
For the price they can absolutely can not be beat.
The only negative thing I can say is that a few of the edge spots are sloppy on the chip edge and the some denoms are slighly thicker than others. very slight noticeable difference stacks of 25. ie. 25 $2 is not quite as tall as 25 $25.

[Bigunit_28]

I received sample of these chips. They are good looking, feels great and the colors are very nice. Last night I was showing the samples to my friend and I tried to bend them just a little bit just to see if they are tough. 3 out of 10 broke in my hand with only a little bit of pressure. They all broke following the line between edge colors. Like if the mold hasn't been able to properly blend the materials.

[ovo]

I found a few cracked chips and had them replaced on the Dunes mold. You can see the hairline crack where the inserts meet. They are sill good chips in my opinion. Sounds like you got a bad batch.