What Kind of Chips Should I Get?
The best home game poker chips exhibit the same characteristics that make casino chips so fun to handle. Some players equate weight with quality, as if poker chips were chess pieces. But I think that the material of the chips, which determines the way they stack and slide against each other, is just as important for the "feel" of a set of chips. The ultimate chips are made of "clay," with different colored edge spots and a printed design in the center. (Yes, you can have them printed with your initials or even your own "house" logo.)
I recommend a company called Poker Chips Online; check out their website to see what they offer. The best chips must be custom-ordered, and they run at around $1 apiece. A set of these is a lifetime investment. An artfully designed set in a walnut rack is a beautiful appointment to your game room or living room. Playing poker with them is a real pleasure, especially if you're winning. You should buy a good portable carrying case for these babies, since they will be requested when the game is at someone else's place. An additional benefit of custom clay chips, which matters more if you go to higher limits, is that they are almost impossible to counterfit.
Not ready to shell out five bills for chips? The next level down is occupied by a wide range of clay, heavy plastic, and resin chips in a variety of designs. Some customizing is available. You can find these chips in many gaming stores and on the Internet. A set of 500 chips in this category can cost you anywhere from $75 to $350, depending on what quality you choose and what kind of case they come in.
I played with a set of standard solid-colored "diamond" clay chips for quite a while before I upgraded to custom clay chips. Try to avoid plastic; even the heavy ones feel cheap. And if you're thinking of getting the relatively expensive pastel edge-spotted clay chips printed with "Viva Las Vegas!" or something like that, make sure you investigate the custom clay chips option, which will only cost you a couple hundred more and will be much less obnoxious.
If that is still too much of a capital investment, you can be a total cheapskate and stock up on the thin plastic chips that you find at the drugstore for a few bucks. If you're lucky, you may even be able to find a value-pack that includes two decks of cards! You'll just have to hope that no one gets the bright idea of going to the drugstore on his own and buying $100 worth of your chips for $3.99.
Obviously, you can make the colors and designs on your chips anything you want. But you will make it easier on your players if you honor the conventional order of chip colors in casinos. This order, from small to large, is white (or often blue), red, green, black, and purple. Again, the actual values, and even the order of the colors, will change depending on the game you are playing. But you have to choose some color scheme, and a 500-chip set following a traditional configuration of 325 white, 100 red, 50 green, and 25 black will serve you well.