There are many types of poker chips available in online stores, in boutiques selling gifts and souvenirs, or simply on the market. What chips do you need? In this article, or if you want – a guide to poker chips, we will describe and classify the product you need, our goal is to make your purchase more conscious.
The main criterion when choosing chips is physical parameters, this includes the structure of the material used in the production of chips, weight and size.
– plastic chips (from the English. Plastic Poker Chips) – the ubiquitous plastic – the main material of the consumer era, poker chips poured from this material are of low price and corresponding quality.
– composite chips (from the English. Clay Composite Poker Chips) – with a different proportion of plastic and natural clay, in most cases the basis of the composite chip is an iron disk, a composite material is applied around it.
– ceramic chips (from the English. Ceramic Poker Chips) – the production process of these is very complex and high-tech – natural clay mixed with a special recipe, the chips are kept at high temperature, plus a multi-colored pattern is needed, so that it becomes part of the poker chip.
The prevailing opinion is that the heavier the chip, the better. After the mass, the chips are distributed:
– light chips – the mass of each does not exceed 5 grams, as a rule, such chips are used in cheap poker sets or non-standard sets (for example, a poker travel set), they are made of 100 percent plastic.
– medium chips – from 5 to 9 grams, in such chips the clay content is not very high, and of course they do not include metal plates in their base.
– heavy chips 9.5 – 13.5 – this is the most professional group, so almost all purely ceramic chips have a mass of 10 grams, but the most common weight among chips is 11.5 grams, here each token has a metal disk inside.
– super-heavy 14-15 – it’s nice to feel the weight of a poker chip in your hands, chips weighing 14 grams are very popular in our country, but 15-gram tokens are obtained if they have a tin plaque on both sides.
There is no standard size, but there is a division according to the diameter of the base:
– a chip with a diameter of 39 millimeters – the diameter of the vast majority of chips is approximately 95 percent, but as they say, nothing lasts forever, a new poker standard is coming – see the next paragraph.
– 43 mm diameter chip – this size is used in the most prestigious poker tournaments (WSOP, WPT, EPT…), according to our forecasts, 43 mm diameter will become the new standard for poker chips in the near future.
Poker is a versatile and multifaceted game, there are many rules and nuances, there are more than 800 subspecies of this game, and, of course, depending on the type of poker, you need to adjust the purchase of chips.
“The age-old question, which chips are better: with a face value or without a face value?” Chips according to their functionality are divided into:
– with a face value – we recommend poker games for beginners, with them you will not get confused and scatter attention to issues that are not related to the game.
– no denomination – our company has been playing with these chips for many years, there are many advantages – you yourself assign the color that is responsible for a particular denomination, there are no stickers that often fall off or deteriorate, and there are no annoying holograms.
The choice is always yours, for the format of the poker game there are:
– tournament chips – this variant rarely uses chips with denominations below 25, here are the most popular tournament chip denominations: 25, 100, 500, 1000, 5000 or 10000…
– cash chips (from English cash – cash) – to play for cash, you need lower denominations, since each chip is the equivalent of a certain amount in hryvnia, rubles, dollars, euros or, for example, drachmas – you set the rules.
“Why do we need non-standard poker chip values, such as 10, 20, 50?” The answer is here – for the type of poker game, we use the following conditional gradation:
– chips for “Russian poker” – we have everything like not people :-), the main difference is in the obligatory denominations – 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 … the undoubted advantage of this situation is a comfortable cash game, where There are no huge gaps between denominations.
– chips for hold’em and stud poker – the “bourgeois” have adopted such denominations as an unspoken standard – 1, 5, 25, 100, 500, 1000 … this option is best suited for poker tournaments, but introduces small restrictions in the cash game.
The appearance of a poker chip is often a key factor when choosing chips, they should look sophisticated and suit you for the color scheme.
The chip should look stylish, behind the color scheme we distinguish the chips:
– one-color – these chips are representatives of the lower price segment and rarely differ in stunning beauty.
– two-color – despite the presence of only two colors, such chips stand out among other classes with an elaborate pattern
– tricolor – three is better than two, a chip with such characteristics is most common.
– four-color – in terms of technology, such chips are much more complicated than their predecessors, with a good artist you can achieve simply stunning results.
– with a pattern on its basis – the original pattern makes your chip unique, most manufacturers will be able to design the obverse and reverse of the chip for your design, respectively, the unit price will increase by an order of magnitude.
– chips with an engraved metal plaque instead of a picture – heavy and original poker chips, you have the opportunity to buy in our online store.
Depending on whether a hologram is applied to the chip or not, the division is as follows:
– chips with a hologram – we all know what a hologram is – at different viewing angles, we see a drawing, a picture or a pattern, it slightly distracts from the game, but for lovers of spectacular things – just right.
– chips without a hologram – for many poker players, a hologram is just an annoying and unnecessary appendage to a poker chip.
– clean chips – in order to avoid unnecessary disputes, buy chips with a clean base and assign denominations that are convenient for you.
“Where are poker chips made? What are the main chip companies?” In this section, we classify chips by manufacturer:
– not branded poker chips – in 99.99% these are chips made in China, please note that poker goods made in the Middle Kingdom are getting better every year, they do not put a branded label on such goods, only “Made in China”, as they are produced in bulk at one of the thousands of Chinese factories for the order of European or American poker stores.
– chips from well-known manufacturers – very high quality, almost always exclusive chips, 100% clay with your original picture, which is not painted on the chip, but is part of it. At all times, you had to pay for quality, the price for originality is very high – from $ 1 per piece to $ 3
