Poker Chip Sets - 101 - All You Need to Know About Poker Chip Sets

Materials Used in Poker Chips Sets

There are many reasons for looking into everything you may want to know about poker chip sets. For some, it may all have to do with simple fascination with the colors and many designs that can be found in these poker chips, while for others, it may be part of training and background information work on the much larger topic of playing poker. But whatever the reason, here are the basics. 

Begin with the type of poker chips to use. Depending on the price range and the quality of poker chips which you want to own, there are three main categories to choose from. First are the plastic chips, which are much cheaper and lighter. These are often used by novices or home players who play mostly for fun and not for profit. If you want an upgrade, however, you can choose between metal core chips and clay chips. Both are used widely in casinos and are often part of most serious player's equipment. These are both composite chips, where the metal core chips are rimmed with plastic, while the clay chips have other materials incorporated into the clay mixture to make them more durable. These two are most often used in casinos and are part of the more serious and long-time player's equipment.

Different Weights and Designs

Weight and design are two other factors to consider in poker chip sets. As any serious poker player will tell you, every component of a poker game should be calibrated to fulfill an end goal, and to help in the game. In the case of these chips, they are often not only tools for representing money, but also help in creating the "poker face," and are often employed by players to relieve stress. An example of this is when a player rolls chips in between fingers or clicks them to create a psychological effect on the opponent. Hence, weight and design matters, because these add new dimensions to the over-all gaming experience.

There are a variety of weights to choose from in these chips. In general, the weight range is from 7.5 grams to 13.5 grams for each poker chip. The plastic chips are also the lightest, while the metal core and clay chips occupy the higher end of the weight spectrum. Most players are satisfied with an 11.5 gram chip, and are the types of metal core and clay chips with the greatest design options. However, you can also opt for heavier chips, although these are often more expensive. In terms of design, there are three standard options to grace your chip, which are the diamond, the dice, and the suited design. Some manufacturers are willing to imprint special, made-to-order patterns, although these are often much more expensive. There are also novelty chip sets that have themes varying from spaceships imprinted on the chips, to images of Elvis Presley and his outrageous outfits adorning a fans' chip set.

Colors and Corresponding Denominations

Colors play a vital role in any poker game. Some poker chip sets will have denominations imprinted on them, since there is a general rule between chip color and the monetary equivalent. However, some players prefer poker chips which do not have denominations imprinted on them, so as to be able to designate values depending on the game. After all, not all poker games work with money, and some states ban gambling with money, so some players substitute the price with a bottle of beer or other prize. But in general, there are two sets to choose from, each with their accompanying standard values.

There are five basic poker chip colors, with the black chips holding the greatest denomination at $100, followed by Green with $25, Blue with $10, Red with $5, and the white chips which are worth only a dollar. For the complete color scheme available in poker chip sets, however, there is the brown chip which is worth a whopping $5000, followed by light blue chips worth $2000, burgundy chips which are worth $1000, purple chips which go for $500, pink chips which are worth $250, black chips worth $100, orange chips worth $50, green chips worth $25, grey chips worth $20, blue chips worth $10, red chips worth $5, yellow chips worth $2, and finally, the white chips which are still worth a dollar.

How Many Chips to Use

Now that you have determined which material, weight, and design should go with your poker chip sets, and you have also determined what each color in the set corresponds to in terms of denomination, the next step is to determine how many poker chips you should buy. There are many factors to consider, such as your budget. With more expensive chips, you may want to use a lesser numbers of chips. However, in general, the ideal number of chips to deal each player is 35 chips as a minimum, but for the best gaming experience, try to give each player as many as a hundred chips to keep the stakes nice and high, and to let the game roll throughout the entire night. In other words, try to have at least 800 poker chips for a table of 8 to 10 players. 600 poker chips will do for 7 to 8 member tables, while 5 to 6 players can settle for 400 chips, and 200 chips will be enough for a table of 4 or less.

With this in mind, you can move on to the last step in poker chips, and this is probably the most important: choosing the game and having fun. There are a variety of poker games to choose from, and one of the most popular is the Texas Hold 'Em Poker Game. Complete the fun with plentiful supplies of finger foods and drinks to keep the spirit alive throughout your poker party and you can also complement your chip set with a poker table, a dealer button, dice, and a good deck of cards.

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