Injection Molded
Injection Molded chips:
So you want nice chips but haven't won your local state
lotto. No worries. There are plenty of great injection molded chips
out there for a reasonable cost. And the best news is that they are getting
better each day.
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.
Neophyte Chips:
Coming out as a high-end injection molded chip, the
Neophytes don't disappoint. Weighing in at roughly 12.5 grams and displaying
very bold colors, the Neophytes give a great first impression. Good,
although a bit redundant color-wise, edge spots. Nice logo in the chip
center...perfectly placed on every chip I looked at. Good sounding
chip as well. So what's wrong with these? Really, not much
unless to are a chip masochist. If you try pretty hard, you can cause slight
damage to these chips with your fingernails. Maybe a bit worse than
that is the center logo can be damaged as well, (look closely at the $100 in
the photo). Now, bare in mind that you have to *work at it* to damage these
chips...just know it can be done. In the end, a good chip that
deserves serious consideration for the chip shopper.
Note: These chips are not
available until mid November, 2004.
WEIGHT: 12.5 grams.
FEEL: 8.5
QUALITY: 7.5
LOOKS: 8.5
Vendor:
BuyPokerChips
NexGen Chips: There are several versions of NexGen chips currently available. While the mold and coloring are different, the material, weight and 'feel' of the chips is identical...so I'll just have a single review for all the chips. The NexGens made a big splash (pun so very intended) on the consumer chip scene because of their great looking molds and 'real-clay' looking edge spots. They are all metal insert chips, and are very similar to the 13 Gram chips also available on market. The material they are constructed of is soft enough to deaden the metallic ring found in regular plastic chips...but is also soft enough to be damaged by fingernails if you are so inclined. You have to try to do it...but just be aware that they can be scratched. Handling is OK. They are not as slick as a plastic chip, but definitely slicker than 'real' clay chips. They stack and shuffle well. If you scratch a darker colored chip hard onto a lighter colored chip, the darker color with scratch off onto the lighter chip. Keep in mind...this is fairly common...even with many real clay chips. Looks are up to you. The original NexGen and original RiverPoker Tour chips have a good variety of color combos to choose from. The newer NexGen (NextNexGen???) chips have about the weirdest edge spot colors I've ever seen. Whoever designed these smoked something pretty fun prior to submitting the colors. I almost wonder if someone misunderstood the term "Multi-Colored Edge Spots". The new RiverPokerTour chips have REAL multi-color edge spots and are very cool looking. In the end, the NexGen chips offer a lot of color variety, a smooth inner surface for those looking to customize with their own stickers and a good value. Good stuff.
Addition: 8/16/05: Lucky Bees.
Got a sample of the new Lucky Bee Nexgens in recently. More colors and
more varieties...which isn't a bad thing.
Check out the new photos on the right as well as the new vendor below!
WEIGHT: 12.0-12.5 grams.
FEEL: 8.5
QUALITY: 8.0
LOOKS: 5.0 - 9.5 depending on the chip.
Vendor:
AcePokerChipCompany,
5 Star Deal
pile 'o NexGens
original River Poker Tour mold
NexGens
original Las Vegas mold NexGens
new Las Vegas mold NexGens
new River Poker Tour mold
NexGens
new River Poker Tour mold
NexGens
close-up of the Lucky Bee chips
more Lucky Bee's
and MORE Lucky Bee's
Perfect10.com: Nice...Chips. Yeah. I mean...SERIOUSLY, do I even need to do a review? If you visit the supplier, the even more insane part is the price. I won't include the specifics in this review, but for a VERY reasonable price, you get 500 chips, 2 sets of very enjoyable cards, a dealer button, some dice and a decent case. (Even if mine came broken in shipment....the supplier said they would replace no problem...so keep a note of that.) OK...so aside from 'Looks' which you can take a wild freakin' guess what the rating there is going to be, lets look at the actual chips. Each chip is a matt finished, softer feeling plastic composite. Edge spots are nicely molded in. The (lovely) pictures are a gloss insert pressed into the center of the chip. The inserts are recessed, so stacking, shuffling and general handling of the chips is *very* good. I did try pretty hard to peel some of the inserts off using a fingernail and they wouldn't budge....so that's good. I must be completely honest and tell you that overall I was really surprised at the nice feel (stop laughing) these chips have. I was really expecting a more cheap and plastic-y feeling chip...but they aren't that way at all. OK...negatives. Let see...I did have some of the chips have the insert not completely centered and seated on the chip. Maybe 5 out of 500 in my set. Again...given the price, bearable to me. There are some minor injection molding issues found here or there. Relatively common, but really not a biggie. Lastly...these chips have a metal insert, and you can tell when it comes to their sound when handling and shuffling. It's not terrible by any means...but if you're a poker chip nerd like me, you'll notice. In the end, given the price point, even if these chips didn't have topless hotties on them, **this set is a hell of a deal**. The hotties are an obvious bonus. Although...I have no idea how you're going to concentrate on your game. Oh...and BTW...in case you didn't notice, the set comes with two sets of playing cards...also covered with major hotties. God Bless America!!
WEIGHT: 11.6 - 11.8 grams.
FEEL: 9 (Ahem..)
QUALITY: 7
LOOKS: Are you kidding?
Vendor:
JustPokerSupplies
The set
Pair of..chips...
Did I mention there were cards?
Edge spot close-up. You know....like you care.
So many pics and only so much time for Poker....
Nice hand...
Pro Clay Composite:
Poker'nStuff is another company that has a variety of chips
to select from. They don't have any traditional clay chips, but they
do have a variety of clay composite chips that have a nice feel. I'm
not going to describe them individually, because they pretty much all feel
and handle the same. The '9 gram pro clay' chips (4 chips on the left
in the top picture) that they describe weigh in at around 7.7 - 8.1grams on
my scale. These look good, and feel pretty good. The composite
has a soft feeling, matt finish, so the chips stack easy. The edge
spots are nice. Really the only major thing detracting from these
chips is their very light weight. Most of them have a glossy sticker with a
graphic on them. The sticker is on there pretty good. You
shouldn't have to worry about them coming off unless your obnoxious, drunk,
poker friend pulls out his pocket knife and goes to town. I did notice
a few color blemishes on my samples, which affected my quality rating.
WEIGHT: 7.7 - 8.1 grams.
FEEL: 6
QUALITY: 6
LOOKS: 8.5
Vendor:
Poker'nStuff
Pro Clay Composites on the left hand side.
Roulette:
These are the second chips received from a new European
supplier. Straightforward and simple in their design, they still offer
a great alternative to the (IMHO) legendary Faux 10 Gram chips. One
very notable thing about these chips is their sound, which is a nice,
muffled, very 'real clay' like click. Feel is also very good with a
good texture that give a nice 'soft' surface to them. Only real negative was
the injection point sticking out on some of the chips. Great roulette chip
or something new for your poker table, give these a look.
WEIGHT: 8.3 - 8.4 grams.
FEEL: 7.5
QUALITY: 7.5
LOOKS: 8.5
Vendor:
Gamblerstore
3/07
Sopranos:
What, you think I'm going to give these chips a bad
review? Have you ever WATCHED the Sopranos? Have yah????
Then you'll understand when I say these are the F***ing GREATEST chips
EVER!!!! They are perfection, joy and a wet dream all combined into a
8 gram piece of composite plastic. Buy them. Buy millions of
them. Your life will be happier, and Tony will not blow my f***ing
head off. That said, these chips are heavier than advertised at around
the mid-eight grams. The material is softer than plastic, but harder
than a Neophyte/Kingpin. If you want to risk your neck at Tony's table
and try screwing up his chips with your fingernail....it can be done.
But you have to both try pretty hard and be pretty stupid.
Simple and flexible (no denoms) design that can truly complete your Sopranos
evening. Well...maybe the chips and a 9mm.
WEIGHT: 8.6 - 8.8 grams.
FEEL: 8.0
QUALITY: 8.0
LOOKS: 8.0
Vendor:
AcePokerChipCompany
3/05
Sopranos v2.0:
What do you get when you take the
original Sopranos chip and add about 1.5 grams to it?. You get a
heavier Sopranos chip!! (Sorry...). You have the same look and feel of
the original, but the the weight is a hefty 10 grams vs the original's 8.6
to 8.8. Same sound and same feel. The increase in weight is NOT
from a metal insert....so no issues there. A good chip made even
better by getting it to casino spec weight. Way to go!!!!
WEIGHT: 10.0 - 10.2 grams.
FEEL: 8.5
QUALITY: 8.0
LOOKS: 8.0
Vendor:
AcePokerChipCompany
4/05
Ultimate Poker Championships:
These are customized
NexGens. The center sticker is slick, which I'm not a huge fan of.
That said, the graphics are sharp and the sticker itself is VERY resistant
to peeling or damage. Normal use should not cause any problems with
the decal. The NexGens are already pretty darn good chips, so adding
these good looking decals isn't a bad thing. Also, there are a zillion
different denoms....so if you're demon picky, no worries here. A good
idea applied well.
WEIGHT: 12.0 - 12.5 grams.
FEEL: 8.0
QUALITY: 8.0
LOOKS: 8.0
Vendor:
UltimatePokerSupplies.com
7/05
World Poker Tour:
A PokerchipReviews.com reader sent me a
few chips from a damaged Sam's Club WPC tour set. First impression
with these chips was not positive, mostly because only fair job at quality
control with the injection molding process was done. Quite a bit of bleeding
is noticable. However, that said, the more I handled these chips, the
more they grew on me. The center logo graphic is crisp and impossible
to damage unless you use a sharp instrument. The outside colored part
can be scratched with a fingernail, if you *really* try....but it takes
quite of bit of effort. These chips have a metal insert in them, but
the material used in the chip does a good job of preventing the 'metalic
ringing' sound from raising it's ugly head. It's still there if you
listen for it...but it's not anywhere close to a regular 'plastic' chip's
ringing. The finish is a nice, matt, textured surface. They are
a little slick, but not to bad. All in all, not a bad chip, especially
considering the price range.
WEIGHT: 12.0 - 12.2 grams.
FEEL: 7.5
QUALITY: 8
LOOKS: 7.5
Vendor: Sam's Club
World Series of Poker: A real treat
for all you WSOP fans, these chips are good stuff. While I'm not
normally a big fan of the standard 'red/blue/green/black' colors, the WSOP
chips are easy on the eyes. Great, straightforward, design that should
appeal to lots of folks, not just rapid WSOP junkies. Feel wise, the
first thing that hits you are the WEIGHT of these chips. Now, keep in
mind these are pre-production chips, but these "11.5" gram chips come in at
a bicep-enlarging 14.3 - 14.4 grams a pop. The second heaviest chips
reviewed on this site except for the Tangiers Brass all metals. I'll
adjust this review if the production chips come in at a different weight.
The chips' surface is a nice matt texture, with no hint of gloss of any
kind. The material is similar to BuyPokerchips.com's Neophytes, but
slightly harder. I could not scratch or rub off the logo AT ALL, and my
thumbnail assaults left virtually no damage. (I was really reefin' on them.)
Probably the only real downside to the chip is that they are slightly
slick...so extremely large stacks might get a bit iffy. As you might have
guessed, these chips have a metal insert to add heft. Sound is good.
You won't mistake these for a Paulson, but they don't have any of the
'ringing' found in cheap, plastic, low-end chips. As a final note,
while I had these chips laying out on my desk at the office during the day,
everyone that took a look at them immediately said 'I like these chips'.
*** Available in February of 2005. ***
WEIGHT: 14.3 - 14.4 grams.
FEEL: 8.5
QUALITY: 9
LOOKS: 9.0
Vendor:
ExcaliburElectronics
wsop video chip review
.wmv format 4.5 megs
Wyndham: These are REAL, ex-casino, Bud Jones chips. Only
got two to look at, but still....these are dandy. Only bad news on
these chips is what I just said....they are used. That's pretty
obvious with the dings and marks. That said, I must say I'm a Bud
Jones fan....and I would kill to have a full set of these for my weekend
games. Nice color combo and good chip design...and that GREAT Bud
Jones sound adds up to a hell of a chip. Expensive? Oh yeah.
Rare? You betcha. Worth it? In my book....abso-freakin-lutely.
WEIGHT: 10.5 - 10.6 grams.
FEEL: 9
QUALITY: 9
LOOKS: 9.0+
Vendor:
Nevada Jack's
All reviews are the opinions of John Tucker unless
otherwise stated, and can be changed at any time. Content
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Copyright John Tucker, 2004-2008. All rights reserved.