Poker Chip Set Buying Guide
Choosing a poker chip set can be a daunting task. There are several questions that one must ask before choosing a poker chip set such as: How many poker chips do I need? What kind of poker chip case is best for me? What's the difference between clay poker chips and composite poker chips? How many different poker chip colors do I need? For the beginning poker player, these can be hard questions to answer. In the next few paragraphs we'll briefly cover these and other questions to help you make the best purchasing decision possible.
The most obvious question when choosing a poker chip set is, "How many poker chips do I need?" We'll answer this question and that of how many colors to choose together. In order to determine how many poker chips you need, you must first determine how many people will be playing with the poker chip set. While it may be tempting to get the least number of chips possible to save some money, it is always a good idea to have enough chips to account for an extra player, banking and rebuys. The most common sizes for home-use poker chip sets are 300 chips and 500 chips. As a general rule of thumb, a 300 poker chip set will comfortably accommodate between 3-5 players, and a 500 poker chip set will accommodate 5-8 players. You will want more poker chips of the lowest denominations that you will be using than those of higher denominations. If your black poker chips are used for $100 and your white chips are used for $1, you won't need nearly as many black chips as each black chip is representative of 100 white chips. As you browse our selection of poker chip sets you will notice that we have factored this into the chip count for any given poker chip set.
The next thing to choose is what type of poker chip to use. For the most authentic casino feel and sound, clay poker chips are considered to be the premium material poker chips for the home market. A clay poker chip set will offer a tremendous amount bang for the buck while offering a great playing experience. While most clay poker chips are injection molded around a metal core, we recommend our no metal insert clay poker chips for the most authentic feel and sound. Being clay throughout, they offer the most well balanced, authentic feel and sound of any poker chips on the market. For budget-minded players, composite poker chips offer a great alternative to more pricey clay poker chips. Composite poker chips feature all the same quality and weight of clay poker chips, but using a material that is less expensive to produce than clay. The composite material is harder than clay. This offers both advantages and disadvantages. Because the material is harder than clay, composite poker chips are far less susceptible to scratches and dings than clay poker chips are, and they tend to adhere to their molds better than clay chips do, so they actually look nicer as well. This also means, however, that composite poker chips will feel a little more slippery when you rub two chips together, and the harder material has more of a click than the more authentic sounding clay thud when the chips are clicked together.
Once you've chosen the size of your poker chip set and the type of poker chips, the last thing to choose is the case. By far the best value on the market is the standard aluminum briefcase-style chip case. These range in sizes from 300 poker chips on up to 1000 poker chips. Aluminum poker chip cases offer great value as they are inexpensive and do a great job of protecting your investment. For a nice style upgrade, we also carry several leather poker chip cases as well. These are very similar to our aluminum poker chip cases but with the added style of authentic leather. If you have a game room and would like to display your poker chip set, nothing is nicer than our wooden humidor-style poker chip cases. These premium chip cases are designed with beautiful glossy wood finishes and polished brass hardware for a chip case that is as much at home being used as a display piece as it is being used to carry your poker chips.
