2005 Paulson Home Poker Chip Review

[Cin0s3]

Manufacturer: Paulson Home Chips
Retailer(s): http://www.apachepokerchips.com , http://www.spinettis.com , http://www.ebay.com
Average Price: .99 - $1.14
Material: Clay
Member Review by: Cin0s3

Paulson chips are considered by most to be the top of the line clay chips. They are used by more casinos than any other chip manufacturer. Paulson used to sell to the home market but had stopped a few years ago (not sure how many years it has been) but now they are back in the market. The first chips out of the gate are the James Bond Casino De Isthmus chips. These are based off of the chips that were featured in the movie "Licensed to kill". These have been done once by Paulson in the past with a larger inlay and Blue chip most recently. Right now the prices are great for a clay chip in the current market where Paulson chips can fetch anywhere between $2-$6 a piece.

Paulson has stated that all custom orders must be a minimum of 100,000 chips and are only available in the 7 colors that are currently available with the Casino de Isthmus chips. Also the inlay graphic is limited to a 7/8" round inlay. Trademark has reportedly been working with Paulson to get a new mold for their custom Paulsons.

Trademark.com is in the process of releasing a new Paulson home chip that is supposed to have a new mold and an inlay graphic that features a watermarked hat and cane logo with a large denomination in the center with a different color for each denomination. Mockup images and more info is available at http://www.trademarkpoker.com/paulson.asp

TenPercenter of ChipTalk.net is also in the process of producing a custom set of Paulson chips called "Pharaohs Club and Casino". These chips will feature a classic casino looking graphic and text to them and will have an Egyptian theme for graphics. His chips will also be the first set to offer an NCV (no cash value) chip. You can find out info and see the proposed chip images at http://www.chiptalk.net

Price

Prices range depending on where you buy them below are where they are available and the price per chip:
Spinnetti has them for $1.50/each: http://www.spinettis.com/shop/item.a...d=294&catid=37
Originally sold here for $1.50 in small quantities and $1.15 in larger quantities: http://www.apachepokerchips.com
You can also find auctions on ebay that are from Apache as well

Feel

These chips have a great feel after they have been broken in a bit. Out of the box they are very chalky and a little tough to shuffle. After shuffling stacks of 10 for about a half hour each over a couple days the chalky sticky feeling went away rather quickly and the chips felt great. Compared to other Paulsons I have these feel a bit softer than my "Good Luck Club" Paulsons.

Stacking

These chips stack wonderfully. I usually stack my chips at the table in stacks of 20 and I get really nice straight stacks with these. The stacks can withstand being knocked by other stacks while you are stacking without falling all over like composite chips I have used in the past. The tallest I was able to stack was 230, and I have the worlds shakiest hands.

Sound

If you are looking for a chip that splashes the pot with a true casino sound, these chips do that. There is no metallic sound at all. There is something to be said for the sound of clay chips splashing the pot in the background at a poker game. My other Paulson chips seem a bit harder than these and have a bit of a sharper pitch when splashing but not as sharp as an ASM chip.

Looks

The colors that they have chosen for this set are excellent. I personally don't care too much for the white as the edgespots ( tan and maroon ) just dont work to well. The best looking chip in the set I feel is the $25 green chip, the edgespot colors work wonderfully, and as far as getting dirty they are second only to the $5 (red) chip as far as not showing dirt. These chips do tend to get dirtier much quicker than my other Paulsons out of the gate. But after a few tourneys and cleanings I have found the chips are starting to harden a bit and the chips are staying cleaner for a longer time. The mold on the new Home Paulsons is no longer the hat and cane all the way around but instead have the words "Paulson Chips" written around the edge with a hat and cane between them. The inlay is 7/8" which is about 1/4" away from the edge mold on the chip.The center label has a nice hard plastic smooth coating which keeps the graphics from being faded by chip splashes and rubbing the chips together. The inlay however does tend to get chip colored lines on them from splashing the pot with the many chip colors but are easily cleaned with a little soapy water and a soft cloth. The artwork on 80% of the chips is dead center but there are some where the design is misaligned on the inlay or where the print was slightly ghosted. Overall the look is great and although I was a bit discouraged by the small inlay at first it has grown on me very well.

Security/Originality

As far as security goes, there is no way to prevent somebody from buying these chips and bringing them into your game. For originality, they are very similar to their previous Paulson brothers but have a smaller inlay and slightly different colors. They are totally different than a blue chip JB and could easily be distinguished from any previous JB chip.

Durability

I have had my chips for close to a month and a half now and have used them in about 15 4 hour tourneys. The edges are not as clean and sharp as they were out of the box but still very square. The chips have broken in really well with repeated cleaning. I do not have any damaged chips or any visible damage to the chips. They actually look better now then they did out of the box.

Reviewers Comments

This is the tenth set of chips I have owned in the past 3 years and by far my favorites. The sound, the feel and the looks are all top notch and the are the envy of every game I use them in. There are plenty of different Paulson chips out there and I have samples of about 60 different sets from home sets to casino chips. I have no doubt that these chips will be in my possession for as long as I am playing poker. If you are going to go out and spend $500+ on clay chips my best advice to anyone is to spend 1/5 of that getting samples of the various Paulson/ASM/NJ/TR Kings and other clay chips that are out there to decide for yourself which is your favorite. eBay is a great resource for this kind of sampling

Chip Pictures

[checkm8r]

Paulson has released several different versions recently of its home chip line, but Paulson JB 2005s are still my favorites. I'd really like to see these re-done on the new Paulson Suites mold.

Pros

• Paulson sound, feel, stacking, and weight
• Classic-looking inserts -- yes, they have a fantasy casino name on them, but it's subtle
• Two-level mold makes "Paulson Home Chips" lettering less noticeable
• Nice chip colors for T2500 tournaments (T25 thru T1000 denominations)
• Less common than most of the other Paulson Home Chip versions (i.e., all the ones sold by Trademark)

Cons

• The mold has "Paulson Home Chips" written on it
• I'm not a fan of the colors for the lower denominations (especially the $0.50 and $1)
• The $1 and $100 seem to have a problem with color
• The insert is smooth (like all Home Paulson Chips) instead of textured (like many Paulson Casino chips and their '98 Bonds)
• Slightly more expensive than the other versions of Paulson Home Chips

[dboy1970]

Paulson National Poker Series
Purchased from: http://www.holdempokerchips.com/
Price Paid: $1.19 per chip

These were my first quality home set and probably still my favorite. I think they are the standouts of the Paulson home line chips. The colors match up well together and they stack like no other chip I have owned. Colors and design suit my tastes very well, presenting as a quality chip without demanding attention.

Pros:

• Weight: approx 9.25 Grams (from holdempokerchips.com)
• Have a nice cold feel to them and are great to handle.
• Stacking: stack better than any other home chip i have used. Stacks stand like a rock!!
• Colorfull and bold Edge spots
• Sound: They sound as good if not better than the real casino chips i have used.
  
• Values have no currency denomonation
  

Cons:

• No chip values over 1000
• Price: a little on the high side due to buying smaller quantities, but they can be found for as low as 99 cents a chip.
• The "Paulson chip" mold (very plain) is not my preference, but functional.