I picked up 500 11.5 Gram SUITED Chips DELUXE SET for $77.99 at vegassuppliesandgifts.com. I added a few single chips with demonations stamped on the chip and total with shipping was less than a $100. This looks like it will be great set. The nice thing about ordering from here is you get to choose from 8 different colors and set up your chip count to fit your needs.

http://vegassuppliesandgifts.com/pok...ited_Chip_Sets

quick side note about playing cards- I guess a lot of casinos use "KEM" plastic playing cards in their card rooms. These are 100% plastic cards and can last a long time (even washable just in case your friends spill soda/beer all over the cards).

You can find these on ebay by searching for "KEM". Some ppl really like these while others dont...personal preference thing. It will take some getting used to (ie. shuffling plastic cards) but ppl swear by these. Anyways, just to throw that out there for ppl who are really hardcore and want the total casino experience.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by xlpanda
[B]quick side note about playing cards- I guess a lot of casinos use "KEM" plastic playing cards in their card rooms. These are 100% plastic cards and can last a long time (even washable just in case your friends spill soda/beer all over the cards).

Im heading to Vegas in September and will be looking to pick up a few decks of these "Kem" Poker Cards.

Thanks for the info.

It was another eBay purchase.
Not sure if you want the specific store since it was through eBay ... if you do let me know and I'll provide that info.

I hear that the casinos in Vegas use bridge size playing cards in their Poker rooms (2.25" x 3.5") rather than the poker size cards (2.5" x 3.5"). I also checked the size of my cards that came with my chips and they are bridge size.

I believe you are correct. While there is only a quarter of inch difference, again some ppl will prefer the bigger cards, others probably wont notice the difference or care. I just received my KEM cards today which I got from ebay. Comparing them to the casino used poker cards they use for BlackJack and stuff, the KEM cards feel pretty nice. I was expecting them to feel kinda stiff or too "plastic-like" but was pleasantly surprised by the feel of them. They are quite flexible and feel really nice. I think my poker buddies will enjoy using these in our next home game.

Speaking of playing cards... If anyone is looking for a deal on a set of KEM cards, you may want to check out this seller on ebay (Big Slick Poker). He has a few auctions going for a decent price and his shipping charge isn't nearly as high as many other sellers. I ended up picking up a new (2) deck set with a free 2.5" dealer button for $25.80.

Is anyone else amazed that this discussion has made it to 3 pages?

KEM cards are far superior IMO.

Have you ever sat down and *played* poker, or is all of this purely hypothetical? I laughed at your "chip breakdown."

Real life note: playing with 15 or 16 players is impossible. Even 11 is a serious traffic jam. Friendly games bog down at around 8-9 players.

Also, people do not buy chips so that each person will get an exact number that uses up every chip in the set. Real life: you break up the chips to give everyone an equal stake. Generally using half to 3/4 of the chips. This allows future buy-ins if someone joins later or busts. You can even change color designations to match the buy-in if needed (when the chips don't have denominations printed on them).

Real life: People start out with a bunch of chips, bet, win, lose, etc. So when someone runs out of a particular color, they make change from other players. The initial distribution becomes immaterial very quickly.

Real life: People buy chip sets in round lots of 50 (which is how they are wrapped new, and which fit into full single-color rows in the case). So, from a practical perspective, a 4-color set of 650 would break down handily as sets of 300, 200, 100, and 50. Or something like that. It'll work just fine.

wow, drmoze... harsh, yet quite insightful

but he's right berserker, don't decide your chip breakdown based upon being able to distribute ALL of the chips in the set.

on the other hand drmoze, it's easy to have 15 people in a game (if you've got that many friends) by setting up 2 or 3 tables and doing it up tourney style.
That makes for a long, fun night in my opinion. ( though i'd hate to host the 10 hour game)

You're only saving a couple of bucks here as a set of 2 Kem decks can be readily had for a little over $20 with shipping.

I'm looking to trade up my Kem deck to Jumbo index, but $25 isn't really a "deal" IMO.

Anyone know of any good stores around the Vegas area that carries poker supplies like KEM Cards or can you just get these like at any Casino Shops??

Are you talking about on eBay or from an online store?

I like my chips that I got from them. The only potential issues, if it bothers you, is the sound and weight. If you play in a casino often enough, you will notice that these chips are heavier. Also they make a metallic sound when you splash the pot, etc. Again, considering the price difference between these and set of real clay casino style chips, I would say this is a nonfactor. Unless your are raking your home games and everyone expects casino style chips, I would say this set would do.

Yes, but then again ... no

This is a pretty accurate reflection, IMO, of the grwing popularity of Poker. Specifically, Texas Hold 'Em and its sister games.

drmoze,

I've been playing poker for the last 25 years or so, and first started playnig Texas Hold Em in casinos about 10 or 12 years ago. I've also played in about a dozen tournaments, finishing 2nd in my first casino tournament (of about 30 entrants), and winning the last home-based tournament I played in (12 people).

Glad I gave you a laugh with my chip breakdown, but squi23 is exactly right. My main reason for buying these chips is for hosting tournaments (I guess I didn't clarify that in my original post). And I've never hosted a tournament before, which is why I was asking for opinions. I realize that I could have the buy-in chip amount be practically anything, but I like the format of the $1000 buy-in. And I realize that I could give different players different denominations of chips, but why not have it work out equally? (Obviously during the game people will color up or down as needed.) I thought that having a set of chips that would break down equally for 15 (almost 16) players would work well, since I've got 2 tables which could each seat up to 8 people. And if I use them for a simple cash game, it would certainly be a one-table affair, with 8 players max (probably more like 5 or 6, if we're playing a typical "dealer's choice" game), and there would be plenty of chips to go around (I would probably use the red chips for $1, green for $5, and black for $20, or maybe go $.25, $1, $5).

I've always loved playing poker, but have always hated it when the game inevitably degenerates into "In Between" (also called "Between The Sheets"), Cut-For-A-Buck (or $5, or $20), or the dealer's choice happens to be "I'll deal a deck of blackjack". And don't even get me started on the games with tons of wild cards, too many betting rounds, or both (No-Peek Baseball, anyone?), or that need to be explained as they're being played. If you're having a poker game, play poker, dammit!

I recently realized why tournaments are so much fun to play; for me, it comes down to 2 reasons. First, it allows people to know exactly how much money they are putting at risk before the game starts. Too many "friendly" games have a "big loser", who may keep pulling money out of their wallet, borrow money to stay in the game, etc. Second, it allows people to play no-limit, which is when bluffing really comes into play. Sure, you can play no-limit in a cash game, but then the player with the big bankroll can easily bully the other players around. And if you're not playing no-limit, then the ability to bluff effectively is minimized, since (too many) people will chase cards until the end of the hand, or someone will "keep him honest" because it only takes a few bucks to call. No-limit poker is where the fun really begins.

Perhaps I over-analyzed my chip breakdown, but I'm still happy with what I went with. Even if I had waited to order until I had seen your comments, I don't think I would have changed anything. (Having the chips fit into full single color rows in the case is of no concern to me.) I think my selection should work well for any situation I foresee in my poker game hosting future.

And squi23, I don't think a 15 person tournament would take 10 hours. More like 4-5 tops. If you increase the blinds every half hour, and go from 10/20 to 20/40 to 50/100, and double thereafter, at the start of the 4th hour the blinds would be up to 3200/6400. With the chips in play worth a total of 15,000, it wouldn't last much longer (if it even lasted that long).

Anyway, enough of my yakking. Shuffle the f*** up and deal!

great poker discussion. People who host poker games, what about automatic card shufflers? can be had on ebay for <15 dollars. I've never personally used one, but it seems like it would make dealing much easier, and speed up the game.

I've never used one either, but the thought crossed my mind also. They had started using them in some casinos during my last Vegas trip (4 months ago). They rotate 2 decks so that, whenever they need one, a fresh deck is ready. I heard that at first the dealers were against it, but now some of them really like it - anything that speeds up play should increase the rake, and the frequency of possible tokes.

I'd be curious as to whether the cheap ones are good at shuffling (do they mix them up enough?), whether they can damage the cards, their reliability (do they ever jam?), etc.

FWIW, I seem to recall reading somewhere that, when shuffling by hand, at least 7 shuffles are recommended to insure that the cards get mixed up enough.

My former roommate bought one of those - a 6 deck shuffler for blackjack. It was a POS - I think it worked about 15-20 times before it died.

The ones a consumer can buy are nothing like the high-end models you see in Vegas.

OK, I wasn't thinking about hosting tourneys at home. (We have enough trouble getting 7-8 people together on any night!) Still, with a no-limit tourney, you don't need much of the smaller chips--just a handful covering the minimum ante to start.

OTOH, you could just pick up a freebie set of 300 (by signing up for an online site) to supplement the main set and not worry about single-chip breakdowns. And with your experience, I'm sure you'll come out ahead on the deal! $^) Or spend some of those winnings for some extra matching chips.

I agree about not liking 'dealer's choice' games. We stick mostly with hold'em, sometimes good ol' 7-card stud. But the choice games always degenerate into lengthy explanations of arcane rules for the various games.

OK, deal 'em up!!!

Just wanted to say that this thread has been extremely informative for my own interest in poker and chips. Thanks everyone for the links and info.

edited to ask: Are these guys for real?

www.apachepokerchips.com

They seem to have decent prices on nice clay poker chips...

BT,
If those are in fact authentic clay casino poker chips, then I guess those are pretty good prices.

Personally, I could never justify spending that much $$$ on a set.

Give me the heavier, metallic ones from ebay for 1/3 the price, and I'm good to go!

does the pokersource.com 300 chips for signing up still work?

Has anyone bought from here??? I like these chips, but curious how REAL and CLAY they actually are. These should be like the casino, right....

Also, do you think those are stickers on the chips or are they printed right on it.

http://www.pokerchipmart.com/pokerCh...mClayCP9V.html