$1-$100 comparison!

Coin Centered and Metal

Bud Jones style coin centered chips are becoming more reasonable to purchase as of late.  These chips have a lot to offer and should definitely stay on your 'hot' list.

Additionally, there are a very few full-metal chips available on the market.  They are also reviewed on this page.

Rating System:
Everything is a 1 to 10, with 10 being the best.  FEEL is the overall feel of the chip when you handle it, shuffle it, splash it, etc etc.....  QUALITY is how well the chip has been manufactured as well as my guess on how well it will hold up in the long run. Off center graphics and bleeding colors take points away from QUALITY. Finally, LOOKS is how attractive the chip design itself is to my own eyes.  This one is the most subjective.  Here is where the pictures help you make your own decision.

Bud Jones Style Poker Chips:  I received one each of the 4 denominations of this chips.  Not the greatest of samples...but what can you do.  Visually, these chips are just stunning. The colors and design combine for, in my opinion, the prettiest chip available out there right now for the home poker player. Unfortunately, when you start handling them, things go a bit downhill.  These are a semi-soft plastic chip with a metal 'coin' inserted in the middle.  The plastic is to hard, and makes the chip feel a bit cheap.  When stacking and tossing the chips around, they give off a sort of metallic sound that's a bit to close to the super-cheap plastic chips with a metal slug inside of them.  Not a good association.  The construction quality of the these chips appears to be VERY good, with no bleeding or molding issues visible in my sample set. The chips are very slick, which makes stacking quite hard. The least little nudge will cause even my short 4 chip stack to fall over.  If KC Chips could soften up the plastic a bit and maybe even add some texture, these chips would be fantastic...maybe even the best out there.  As it stands now, they are great to look at, but a little disappointing to handle.
WEIGHT: 12.6 grams.
FEEL: 5
QUALITY: 10
LOOKS: 10+
Manufacturer: Matsui
Vendor: KC Chips and HoldemPokerChips

Grand Casino:  A pleasant surprise from the supplier, a set of REAL Bud Jones chips arrived a week ago.  These chips are non-circulated, real, casino chips from a casino that went bye-bye a few years back.  As I said in the first sentance, these are REAL, not imitation, Bud Jones chips...so if you're a fan of BJ's (wink...and who's not, right?) these are a must have for your short list.  Good looking design (there are 2 designs per denom available) and the classic coin centered BJ feel make these just awesome chips.  Not cheap...but if you can afford them, easily worth the $$$.  Highly recommended.
WEIGHT: 11.3 - 11.4 grams.
FEEL: 9
QUALITY: 9
LOOKS: 9
Manufacturer: Bud Jones
Vendor: AcePokerChipCompany
7/05

Jackpot Coin Centered:  These arrived after the WSOP Coin Centered chips had been reviewed.  I had several emails asking if they were essentially the same chip.  I can answer with a definite 'no'.  While the chip design itself is identical, the quality difference between the two is huge.  With the Jackpots, you notice immediately that very slight molding line exists around the edge of the chip.  A flaw which really effects the chips feel.  Upon closer inspection, the chips I received also had some pretty serious molding issues...with the colored areas bleeding into the white areas...and vice-versa.  What bothered me the most though was the fact that most of the colored plastic was slightly translucent, with the orange being so bad that you can see the internal white portions INSIDE the chip.  Sound wise, they are OK.  Not very ringy at all.  If the QC can improve on these chips, then they could be quite good.
WEIGHT: 12.0 - 12.5 grams.
FEEL: 5
QUALITY: 4
LOOKS: 7
Manufacturer: ??????
Vendor: Apachepokerchips and AcePokerChipCompany

Nevada Club:  Something new and different!!!!  The Nevada Club chips are a hybrid between a solid brass chip, like the Tangiers seen below and a injection molded or plastic chip.  The colored parts of the chip are a hard plastic type of material that holds up really well to damage and other chips.  It gives the chips an extremely unique appearance. The spots on the chip are actually the brass showing through. The 'Nevada Club' and 'Las Vegas' wording on the chip are recessed, which helps what otherwise is a completely smooth surface.  The plastic has a matt finish which helps minimize any slickness issues.  These chips are quite stackable.  The metal 'ringing' can be heard, just like any solid brass chip...so keep that in mind.  That said....these are some really interesting chips that will both feel and look great at home. Thumbs up.
WEIGHT: 14.8 - 15.4 grams.(Heavy!!)
FEEL: 9
QUALITY: 9
LOOKS: 8.5
Manufacturer: ??????
Vendor: Apachepokerchips
3/06

Tangiers:  One of my very first poker chip sample packs came with a single Tangiers chip.  You can see it in some of the old photos.  I've never been that huge of a fan of metal poker chips that I've used at casinos,  but I have to say that when this full sample set of Tangiers crossed my door, I was really shocked.  These are just gorgeous chips.  Hopefully the photos do them some justice.  The colored inlay appears to be ABS plastic and is both strong and resilient to poking and prodding.  Additionally, the plastic slightly deadens the tingy metal sound that has always bugged me about full-metal chips.  These are not new chips by any means....they've been around for quite a while, and have probably been overlooked by many chip fans out there. Also...they are freakin' heavy! For those looking for a beafy chip, your boat has docked. Downsides???  They are pretty slick.  Think plastic chip slick, so don't expect to win any stacking contests with these.  That said, with the holiday season fully here, these would make one hell of a great gift for your favorite poker player.
WEIGHT: 16.3 - 16.6 grams.
FEEL: 8
QUALITY: 9
LOOKS: 10+
Manufacturer: ??????
Vendor: Apachepokerchips
12/05

World Series of Poker - Coin Insert:  To date (1/20/05) I have never, and I mean, NEVER, had such a strong reaction to any of the chips I've brought into my office as these created.  Every single person that picked up these chips loved them.  To be completely honest, I like the design and feel of the first (see above) WSOP chips a little better myself...but I always take into consideration the opinions of my co-workers when it comes to these reviews.  The Coin Centered WSOP chips come with a simple, straightforward design including nicely molded coin and very crisp edges on the plastic colors.  The 'plastic' part on the chip is a little to hard for my taste. If they used the same plastic on the coin chips that they use on the regular chips, these chips would score an '11' out of '10'.  Quality is good and durability appears to also be good because I tried my best to break the chips with no luck what so ever.  Sound is slightly metalic, but that's to be expected with a big coin in the center.  These chips are also dated with the year...so WSOP collectors will be interested in snatching these up before they go bye-bye.
*** Available soon at all WSOP events.  ***

WEIGHT: 12.3 - 12.4 grams.
FEEL: 8
QUALITY: 9.5
LOOKS: 8
Manufacturer: ??????
Vendor: ExcaliburElectronics

wsop video chip review
 .wmv format 4.5 megs

All reviews are the opinions of John Tucker unless otherwise stated, and can be changed at any time.  Content cannot be used without express written consent of John Tucker. 
Copyright John Tucker, 2004-2008. All rights reserved.