Everyday players are sitting down at the tables and consistently making fundamental mistakes because of lack of knowledge, misinformation or failing to maintain focus.

• Best Poker Chip Tricks Poker
• Best Poker Chip Sets
• Best Poker Chip Tricks To Play
• Best Poker Chip Tricks For Beginners
• Poker Chips For Sale

Although poker newbies love chip tricks because they are fun to do, they can occasionally offer you an advantage in a poker game if you want other players to get the impression that you are an experienced player. Types of Chip Tricks. Here is a description of a few of the popular chip tricks. I put them in order of easiest to hardest. 'Chip Bounce' This trick is where you bounce a chip off the felt and have it fall onto your stack of. Think About Ranges, Not Hands. It doesn't matter what type of casino poker you play: one of the. Don't Play Every Hand/Do Fold More. Probably the number one mistake beginning poker players.

Even just a small strategical adjustment in poker can potentially save you a huge amount in the long run.

In this article we will point out some of the best live and online poker tournament strategy tips you can use to improve your game as quickly as possible.

Tip 1: Play The Right Starting Hands

Whether it be lack of patience, or an unfamiliarity with opening ranges, many tournament poker players still open too wide. This is especially true when it comes to early and middle position opens, where there are still many opponents left to act behind who can be dealt a strong hand.

The problem is when called, wide openers are often at a range disadvantage. Often being dominated by their opponents, they are vulnerable to 3 bets since they frequently won't have a holding strong enough to continue under pressure.

Furthermore, although opening a hand like 7 ♠ 5♠ might at times not be a terrible strategy from early or middle position, speculative hands like suited connectors and gappers, as well as small pairs, work best with deep stacks behind.

These speculative hand types infrequently connect strongly with the flop, so those times they do you want to have deep stakes behind to have the potential to win a huge pot. Modern day tournament structures often only see deep stack play occur during the first few levels of play. This leads us into the next tournament poker tip, being stack size aware.

Learn which hands to open raise in MTT's - Watch lesson 6.1 from the Road to Success MTT Course. A power-packed 50 minute video below, just use one of the button options to unlock it and get instant access.

Tip 2: Be Stack Size Aware

Effective stack size plays a critical role in a tournament players success.

Having a deep stack, and therefore expanding an opening range to include a lot of speculative suited hands and small pairs is a tournament strategy that is going to be punished if a number of short stacks are yet to act behind. This most notably occurs in turbo tournaments where the average stack size is quite short.

Short stacks will be in push-or-fold mode. Being short, they don't have time to wait and will be looking to take any opportunity they can to move all-in. This high rate of all-ins will leave wide openers frequently being forced to relinquish their hands, without even having the opportunity to try to hit a nice flop. Problematic hands often include; J8s , KTo and weak Ax hands.

It's not just short-stacks that can cause a problem, aggressive players will be looking to attack wide-openers. This is especially true when a player opens with a vulnerable M8-M14 (20bb-35bb) stack. 3 bets get good leverage against this stack size, since continuing in the pot represents committing a significant portion of a players stack.

Wide openers would be wise not to commit a large percentage of their stack with marginal holdings, and so will be forced to fold, or face being in a high-risk situation. Staying aware of your own stacks utility, as well as anticipating how opponents will utilize their stacks, is an important tournament poker tip to keep in mind.

POKER TIP: If you are currently using BB to calculate stack size, here's a look at why using 'M' is a better MTT strategy.

Tip 3: Be Careful Overplaying In The Early Stages

As a stack gets deeper, the less willing a competent player will be to put their entire stack at risk since they have more to lose. It's rare to see good players all-in during the early stages of a tournament with hands like AKo or JJ preflop.

Smart players recognize that their counterparts aren't going to be risking their entire stack with weaker hands like AQo . Therefore, even a strong hand like AK could be at a significant equity disadvantage facing a deep stacked opponents all-in range. Could you fold QQ here?

Rather than putting in an extra raise, often times just calling with even very strong hands in the early stage of a poker tournament has great benefits.

• Allows your opponents to continue with hands they were folding to a re-raise that you have crushed.
• Disguises the strength of your hand and keeps you unpredictable.
• Prevents you from getting all-in facing a super strong range where often times you're crushed.

Tip 4: Continuation Bet Aggressively But Not Always

Players have learnt the value of c-betting, but it's a strategy that is often misapplied. Being the preflop aggressor shouldn't lead to a mandatory c-bet and double barrels.

This is especially true in multi-way pots yet players continue to make fruitless c-bets with weak holdings into multiple opponents.

Even in heads-up situations, key factors to consider include;

• How does the flop texture interact with players ranges?
• Who has the strongest range?
• Who has nut advantage (the biggest share of super strong hands)?
• How passive or aggressive is the opponent we're facing?
• How does the stack size/SPR allow us to operate on the flop and future streets?

The following hand illustrates the effect nut advantage can have on profitable continuation betting and how it applies to this tournament poker tip:

Tip 5: Be ICM Aware

The Independent Chip Model or ICM, is a great model players use to make more profitable decisions when deep in a tournament and especially at a final table.

Best Poker Chip Tricks Poker

Unlike in cash games, chip values fluctuate depending on the stage of the tournament and the competing opponents stack sizes. At it's most extreme, ICM strategy can make A♠A♣: an easy fold preflop.

Imagine a situation in a satellite where 9 players get a World Series of Poker entry and there's 10 remaining. The action folds around to a player with 100,000 in tournament chips who moves all in from the small blind. You're sitting in the big blind with A♠A♣: and also 100,000 in chips. You look around and see a few opponents with only 1000 chips left, which is the size of the current big blind. Obviously one of these short stacks is likely to bust very soon.

Obviously one of these short stacks is likely to bust very soon. Moreover the chance that they collectively out survive your 100,000 stack is extremely remote. You'd likely be a 99% chance to get a WSOP entry, so why would you call with your A♠A♣ and risk busting next around 20% of the time?

Aside from calling too wide in spots when the most profitable strategy is to proceed tightly, the opposite can also be true when it comes to pressuring your opponents. ICM allows players when they have the opportunity to assert pressure on there opponents stacks, to go ahead and do so liberally, since thinking opponents counter-strategy is to play a tight range of hands.

Here's an example of how drastically a hand range can change when the opportunity to assert pressure at a final table exists. 5 of the 6 remaining players at the Pokerstars Sunday Millions have 15bb's, whilst the UTG player has a short 2bb stack. Since the 15bb stacks wants to avoid busting out next and missing out on a large pay jump before the immanent bust out of the 2bb stack, the small blind can adjust their all-in range. Instead of the profitably 57% all-in range in normal play, they can move all-in with 100% of hands to apply pressure on the big blind.

Whilst the big blind should adjust their calling range from the regular 36% to just 10% of hands to account for the ICM effect in play.

The PokerNerve Road to Success course teaches players how to master ICM situations, which is key to tournament poker success since ICM comes into play as the prizes become significant. If there was only one tournament poker tip that you take away from this article, it's that you need to know ICM!

Tip 6: Bet The Appropriate Size

Strong players are capitalizing on their opponents tendencies to bet too big or too small in a number of different situations. With some similar considerations to that of continuation betting, when selecting a bet size important aspects include;

• Which player's range does the board texture favor?
• Who has the greatest nut saturation?
• How does SPR influence our betting strategy

There are many great articles online about bet sizing. You should be sure to check out ThePokerBank's and the Pokerology's to learn more about this tournament tip.

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Tip 7: Take Equity Realization Into Account

Possibly due to the popularity growth of Twitch, many poker players approach to big blind play has evolved. The current trend is to defend the big blind with virtually any 2 cards, as some top pros elect to do, and the justification for this is taking advantage of the excellent pot odds being offered.

While the inclusion of antes combined with commonly seeing a small open raise size does offer the big blind generous pot odds, this has led to a fundamental flaw in the way many players approach big blind play in poker tournaments. The key concept overlooked, is equity realization.

Equity realization reflects a players ability to take a certain hand, and win their share of the pot, frequently enough, to make it profitable in the long-term. Although some top pros have the ability to win their equity share of the pot even out of position, less skilled players rarely do. This leads to a large chip loss in the long run.

It is quite difficult to realize of your equity when out of position, with no initiative and a weak range. This means them glorious odds you are being offered aren't quite as good as you think!

The following article explains this crucial tournament poker tip in more detail; Equity Realization.

Tip 8: Don't Miss Double And Triple Barrel Opportunities

'One and done' is the plight of many aspiring tournament poker players. Everyday at the tables I see players missing profitable opportunities to double, or even triple barrel. Understanding what turn and river cards are advantageous to a players range, along with opponent tendencies, are crucial parts of a winning barreling formula.

The most common scenario at the table, is a heads-up pot where the big blind calls an open-raise. And this happens to be a great spot to barrel. Big blind defenders have a wide range, and it's important to pressure this wide range, especially on only partially connected board textures with one or multiple high cards.

RedChipPoker has a great article on spotting profitable double barrel opportunities which you can read here: THE +EV DOUBLE BARREL GUIDE

Tip 9: Check-Raise More Flops

The biggest difference between the current tournament population, and the future generation, will likely be their approach to check-raising the flop. This opportunity typically occurs in a heads-up pot, after defending the big blind verse an opponents raise.

Currently, MTT players only check-raise the flop in this situation around 7-8% of the time, when closer to 20% is a more optimal strategy. On certain flop textures, check-raising close to 25% of the time is an extremely profitable strategy. And if players are getting out of line with their c-bets, then check-raising at an even higher frequency could be a profitable exploit.

By giving up too easily on a wide range of board textures, or taking a more passive approach and simply calling, c-betting can be done with reckless abandon. However, by selecting a nice mix of check-raising hands, combining some strong hands with some good semi-bluffing candidates, a check-raiser can become tricky to play against and exploit the average players tendency to over c-bet.

POKER TIP: Applied correctly and check-raising becomes a super powerful weapon in your arsenal leading to more profitable poker results. But also think beyond the flop, there's plenty of check-raising opportunities you may be missing. This video demonstrates an interesting turn check-raise situation.

We discuss check raising strategy in more detail in our post over on unfeltedpoker.com.

Tip 10: Develop A Good 3betting Strategy

Whilst 3 betting aggressively is a strategy many players employ, especially in online poker circles, failure to apply optimal 3 betting strategies has certainly led to a lot of spewy poker. Simply attacking opponents who are suspected of opening wide doesn't cut it in the modern poker world.

Players have learnt to deal with 3 bets more profitably, by mixing in some calls with timely 4 bets. Moreover, the role stack size plays when it comes to 3 betting it still largely misunderstood by much of the poker community.

Sure there are certain stack sizes where 3 bets gain a lot of leverage, but how about the role blockers play? And when is 9♦7♦ a better 3 bet candidate than K♦T♠ ? These are just some of the considerations when it comes to a profitable 3 betting strategy. See how to design strong 3betting ranges in this article by Donkr.

Bonus Poker Strategy Tip: Avoid and Deal with Downswings

Best Poker Chip Sets

As a poker player you want to earn your money as easily and as stress-free as possible right? Well, understanding ROI, variance and bankroll management can help (see TopPokerValue's article on bankroll management).

All poker players at some point experience downswings. In some cases, this can affect their play, volume or state of mind.

You'll be miserable, hating poker, playing less and earning less per tournament as your play will suffer.

Along with finding ways that work for you to keep a positive mindset, taking pro-active steps can help keep you confident by knowing you are dealing with the situation like a professional whilst at the same time taking positive action to get back on track and winning.

What is ROI and variance?

Every tournament you enter has an EV associated with it. So if you enter a $10 tourney, as a good player maybe you have a 30% ROI, so you make $3. So it doesn't matter whether you brick that tourney or win it for $5000, you make $3 in the long run.

Now, of course, you don't make $3 each time. 80-85% of the time you lose that $10, some percentage of the time you win a little bit, and some very small percentage of the time you win a lot. How small those ‘small percentages’ are primarily depends on not only your skill edge, but also the field size which is an extremely important concept that is often ignored.

Variance is a factor of two things:

1) Your edge

2) The field size

Example 1)

You play the Hot $55 which has $30K guaranteed, every day for a year on Pokerstars. It has 1600 runners and you have a 5% ROI, because turbo ROIs are small. Your average yearly profit is $605 however you will lose money on the year 55% of the time.

Example 2)

You play a $20 tourney with $3K guaranteed on a softer site every day for a year. It has 200 runners and you have a 30% ROI, because it's a normal speed tourney and you’re against an easier field. Your average yearly profit is $2400 and in this case you lose money only 12% of the time.

A lot of people would look at those two tournaments and make a decision based on the buy-in and 1st place prize money as to which was better to play, and it would be grossly wrong. Once you accept all the above, you realise that the 'up top' number is largely meaningless.

Yes, on the same site bigger fields may mean a lot of fish have registered to play, but you'll find a lot of small field, soft, non-peak hour tournaments have a great pro-to-fish ratio and hence are great value. Of course once you consider other sites that have smaller fields, you'll often find they are a better choice than what might be running on Pokerstars.

So what can you do?

When players start losing money and along with that, confidence, not only does their game deteriorate but they often compound that problem by failing to make rational decisions. Often losing players, or players on a downswing, go 'bink chasing' and decide to take a shot to win all their money back in one tourney. Or load up some quick $82 hyper-turbos to try to turn it all around quickly.

People get overly fixated on what's 'up top' and wanting to score big in one tournament. That’s a sure-fire strategy to fuel a down swing. If your house got knocked down would you try to slap it back up in a week? Take that opportunity to rebuild a better, stronger house.

Make sure you're adding in some study and keep focused (see Sky's Matsuhashi How To Study Poker series), and stay fresh and positive as you approach each session. Be smart and get back into profit quicker instead of enduring a 6-12 month variance rollercoaster!

Closing Words On Tournament Poker Tips

Poker is a multi-faceted game which makes it fun but challenging. Challenge yourself to factor in the relevant concepts, and make more profitable decisions. Tighten up from the big blind, and in general around the table. This tip often quickly improves a new players results, or those that have a got a little sloppy with their play.

Calculate stack size using 'M'. Always be aware of your own, and your opponents stack sizes so you don't get yourself caught in awkward situations. One awkward situation that often comes up is when you hold an overpair to the board and an opponent puts the heat on you. Don't be afraid to make big lay downs to preserve your stack, especially in the early levels.

Be aware of your cbetting frequency. There's no need to waste tournament poker chips cbetting every time, especially when the pot is multi-way. Pick your spots to make profitable plays. Remember when it comes to the final table, regularly profitable playing ranges might alter due to the payouts. ICM is the key when it comes to those final big decisions.

Another key to success is knowing when to fire multiple bullets at your opponents. Barreling, especially against a wide big blind range can really help increase your non-showdown winnings. Finding ways to accumulate chips without always having the best hand is what top players do. This is why check-raising and having a good 3 betting strategy is so important. Correct use of these strategical concepts and the other tips outlines will get you winning more at the tables.

Now that you've acquired some great holdem tournament strategy tips to help you achieve MTT success, go out there an implement them!

One of the quickest way to improve your poker game is to take on a poker coaching, a course or join a poker training site; if that is something that interests you be sure to check out the PokerNerve road to Success Course for some advanced poker tournament strategy or you can check out HowToPlayPokerInfo's guide on poker training & poker courses to find the right option for you.

Any other poker tournament strategy tips? Leave them below in the comments, we would love to hear them!

When hosting a home poker game, the quality of the poker chips can add to the experience and enjoyment of your players. Cheap plastic, low-quality chips should be avoided if at all possible. Take my advice, spend a few extra bucks, and purchase a high-end quality poker chip set.

The 3 best quality poker chip set brands

Now let’s go through each type of poker chip so that you not only know what to choose but also what to avoid.

Types of Poker Chips

The construction of the poker chip is what determines the quality and durability of a chipset. There are basically 5 types of poker chips:

1. Pure plastic – Most commonly associated with the $10 kind you might see at the corner store. Good for kids only or if you want to play tiddlywinks. There are very few cheap plastic brands that are decent.
2. Plastic with a metal slug – Has a metal weight inserted and often very basic markings. Sellers often claim these are “casino quality.” Don’t be fooled, they are often poorly made.
3. China clay – The entry model design for quality chips. You can find some attractive chips at this level but the durability is generally lacking.
4. Premium clay – These are often really good chips that have a casino feel and yet an affordable price. These are a good choice if you don’t like the “slick” feel of ceramic chips.
5. Ceramic – Usually the top choice among discerning players. Ceramic chips come with an inlay design (not a sticker). As far as quality and weight go, you can’t beat these chips. 90% of poker players will probably prefer ceramic.

The Top Poker Chip Set Brands

#1. Scroll Ceramic Poker Chips

With a simple yet elegant design, these chips are my favorite choice in high-quality poker chips. While they are not as flashy or “exciting” they are also not gimmicky and are less likely to go out of style.

#2. Nile Club Ceramic Poker Chips

Nile Club poker chips are a very close second. With a denser harder feeling and a unique design, they are just downright cool in every way. Also, if you are looking for a bigger variety in denominations this is the brand to get.

#3. Nevada Jack Skull Ceramic Poker Chips

The most expensive of the three. However, they are arguably the most popular chip ever made. If you are looking for flashy then this is your chip. Design wise, they tend to feel more “plasticky” and somewhat softer than other brands. Even so, the quality is unmatched.

Reviews

Let’s take a closer look at each brand so that you can make an informed decision.

1. Scroll Poker Chips

Scroll poker chips have a simple”everyman” design that will appeal to a wide audience. They are not gimmicky and are unlikely to go out of style. If you want something more flashy or exciting, get the Nile club or Nevada Jacks.

Scroll Features

Beyond aesthetics, I really like how the Scroll chips have big easy to read numbers as well as denominations listed on the sides. They definitely also have more texture to them than most other chips. This doesn’t really add or detract from them, I just thought it was worth mentioning.

Scroll Poker Chip Specifications

• Size– ~39.3mm wide, ~3.32mm thick
• Weight – Just under 10 grams
• Materials – Ultra-Hard Plastic
• Design – Victorian traditional with square non-rounded edges
• Texture – Coarse with a middle of the road density
• Durability – Excellent
• Sound – Firm to middle of the road
• Value– Excellent for the class
• Denominations Available= .50, $1, $5, $25, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000

Which Denominations Come in This Set?

The 600-piece set shown here comes with:

• 150 each of $1 and $5 chips
• 100 each of $25 and $100 chip
• 50 each of $500 and $1,000 chips

What Kind of Case Comes with the Set?

Unlike the cheap metal case that is standard with most sets, the Scroll chips come with a really cool high-quality clear acrylic case. You can see the chips inside, which adds a bit of class and I think is a nice touch.

Cons

Here are a couple of minor issues associated with this set that you should be aware of:

• Coarse texture – Those that like really smooth chips may not like the coarse texture of the chip surface.
• Limited denomination selection – If you are looking for a poker chip brand with a really wide selection of denominations, you will find Scroll limited. There is a .50 chip and $1 chip but then it jumps to $5. This is fine for tournament games but cash game players might find this insufficient.

2. Nile Club Poker Chips

I have to admit, I actually have a soft spot for these chips. Being a history nerd I simply love the Egyptian theme.

The Nile’s definite have an interesting unique, yet simple, look. Each denomination has a different Egyptian themed image. I am pretty sure that these are going to be a big hit no matter what type of home game you play in.

Nile Club Features

While ceramic chips are actually really hard plastic, the Nile Clubs actually feel like real ceramic. These feel the densest of all ceramic chips.

Scroll Poker Chip Specifications

• Size – ~39.25mm wide, ~3.35mm thick
• Weight – 10 grams
• Materials – Ultra-Hard Plastic
• Design – Egyptian theme with each denomination unique. Edges are flat with beveled edges.
• Texture – Semi-smooth matte finish, often shiny at edges. Feel harder than some other designs and actually feel like real ceramic.
• Durability – Very good
• Sound – Higher pitch sound due to hard feel
• Value – Very good for the class
• Denominations Available= $0.25, $0.50, $1, $2, $2.50, $3, $5, $10, $25, $100, $500, $1,000 (I love the fact that .50, $2, $2.50 $3 are an option, for cash game flexibility)

Denominations Customized For Each Set

When you purchase these chips, you have the option of ordering any combination of denominations you want. And the fact that there are 12 different dollar amounts to choose from, makes this a great option if you have specific needs for your home game.

The Best Choice for Low Stakes Cash Games

The fact that you can buy denominations as low as $.25 cents means that you can be really flexible when playing a home cash game. No longer are you stuck playing $1/$2 blinds any more. With this set, you can play an even “friendlier” game by offering blinds as low as 25c/50c.

What Chip Breakout Do You Recommend?

Choosing the right amounts of chips can be important. However, the chips you select will vary based on the type of games you host. Here are my quantity recommendations based on three different scenarios:

Here are the stakes you can expect to play for cash games based on the set breakouts above:

• Small Stakes Cash – .25/.50, .50/1, 1/2
• Mid-Stakes Cash – 1/2, 2/5, 5/10

If you want to figure out your own distributions, here is a handy calculator you can use.

What Kind of Case Comes with the Set?

Unfortunately, this set does not come with a case. However, this gives you the option of either using a case you already have or buying one that you see fit. Here are two nice quality options to choose from:

• Versa Games 500pc Deluxe Case (Click to see Amazon price)

Nile Club Cons

Here are a few minor imperfections in this set that you should know about:

1. The chips are not always perfectly flat – While stacked the chips might easily spin. This is not uncommon among poker chips but some do a better job than others.
2. Inconsistent texture – The chips are sometimes shiny at edges, sometimes they are the normal matte. This is not that noticeable but you will see it if you look closely.
3. Small denomination labeling – The dollar amounts on the chips are a bit smaller than the other two options. They might be a bit hard to read for some.

I want to stress that these “cons” are extremely minor considerations and might not even be noticed by some buyers.

3. Nevada Jack Skull Poker Chips

Nevada Jack is a very popular brand due to the flashy design. However, this is the exact reason they did not make #1 or #2 on my list. I feel they might not appeal to a lot of serious players. The “old west” feel might be cheesy or tacky to some.

Basically, either you love or hate them.

Don’t get me wrong, these are extremely good quality and well-designed chips. They are very good for casual games where you don’t take things too seriously. Even so, the flashy design might eventually get old even to players who enjoy the design.

Neva Jack Features

Nevada Jack chips appear to have the most consistent quality of the three choices. There are no problems with “spinners” or flatness issues and the texture is consistent across all denominations. These have a nice feel and shuffle fairly easily for ceramics.

Scroll Poker Chip Specifications

• Size – ~39.1mm wide, ~3.3mm thick
• Weight – 9.3 grams
• Materials – Ultra-Hard Plastic
• Design – The inlay features a skull graphic with the dead man’s hand. The edges are slightly beveled but mostly flat.
• Texture – Consistent subtle linen texture. They feel a bit softer than the other brands.
• Durability – Excellent, virtually impossible to break
• Sound – They sound the most “plasticky” of the three choices.
• Value – A bit pricy
• Denominations Available= .25, .50, $1, $5, $25, $50, $100, $500, $1,000, $5,000

Which Denominations Come in This Set?

This 500-piece set comes with:

• $1- 150
• $5- 100
• $25- 100
• $100- 100
• $500- 25
• $1,000- 25

What Kind of Case Comes with the Set?

This 500-piece set comes with a standard aluminum case. The quality of the case does not do the chips justice, so you may want to invest in a better quality carrier. Once again, I recommend these cases:

• Versa Games 500pc Deluxe Case (Click to see Amazon price)

Nevada Jack Cons

Here are a few minor imperfections in this set that you should know about:

• Minor edge imperfections – Occasionally, upon close inspection, you can find a few minor concave areas. However, they are almost not worth mentioning since they actually are so minor you can’t feel them with your fingers.
• Blue $1 chips – Some players might be so used to white $1 chips that they may be turned off by having to play with blue $1 chips.
• Somewhat expensive – Expect to pay .20 to .30 more per chip for Nevada Jack chips.

Poker Chip Variations

Pure plastic

If you need a whole bunch of chips this is the way to go. Pure plastics can be bought in large quantity very cheaply.

Even so, if you are looking for high-quality chips at a lower price than ceramics, I recommend the Nextgen Pro Classics. They are an exceptionally beautiful set for the price.

Plastic with a metal slug

This type of poker chip is usually very heavy (up to 15 grams). While these chips do look nice, they are usually obviously cheaper looking. Even so, some people prefer the heavier weight.

If you decide you like heavier chips and want a really nice chipset I recommend the Monte Carlo Poker Club Set. It’s about as good as you can get in this class.

China clay

While often very attractive as far as poker chips go, china clay chips are typically easier to damage versus other types. Interestingly, they are not really made of clay at all but are actually really soft plastic.

They do feel very similar to actual casino chips. However, the labels are usually stick on and can peel off over time and can get dirty really easily. Even so, the cost is typically much cheaper than premium chips.

If you want chips that have a softer feel and might work best for chip tricks, I recommend the Milano Poker Set.

Premium clay

Premium clays feel and look very similar to a casino chip. There is no metal slug but they are weighted with heavy metals mixed in with the plastic. These are definitely easier to damage versus ceramics.

One bonus is that premium clay chips tend to have inlays and no stickers, which sets them apart from cheaper plastics or china clays.

If you want to save a lot of money and still get a great chipset, then I recommend some Monacos. Incidentally, premium clays are also a really good option for those that don’t like the slickness of ceramic.

Ceramic

After reading to this point, you already probably know a lot about ceramic chips. Even so, here are a few more interesting facts about ceramic poker chips:

• In Ceramics, the inlay is almost never perfectly centered, it’s normal.
• Chip Play/Tricks are difficult with ceramics due to the texture. If you don’t like the slick chips, go with Premium Clay.
• All ceramic poker chips have “dimples” in the side where they were separated as part of the manufacturing process. You have to look closely, but they are there on every ceramic chip.
• The inlay is almost never perfectly centered on all ceramics. However, this is usually minor and not noticeable unless you are looking for it.

Best Poker Chip Tricks To Play

Poker Chip Specifics

When it comes to purchasing the best quality poker chip set for hosting the perfect poker night, here are further explanations of the considerations used in this article:

• Size
  Poker chips are almost universally around 39mm wide and 3mm thick.
• Weight
  Ceramics are generally listed as 10 grams but actually, come in closer to 9 grams. You will find that cheaper chips actually tend to be heavier.
• Materials
  Poker chips are almost universally made from some type of plastic. “Ceramic” poker chips are not made from the same material as ceramic dishes. Instead, are solid hardened plastic.
• Design
  Cheaper chips usually come with a sticker. Quality chips come with a graphic inlay usually imprinted directly on the surface with no sticker necessary.
• Texture
  Poker chips come with a wide variety of textures. They can range anywhere from very coarse to completely smooth. Ceramics tend to have slick edges, which are not the best for tricks. They are usually easy to shuffle but not as easy as other materials due to “slickness”.
• Durability
  All chips wear, ceramics do on the edge very slowly. It’s normal to have a patina eventually. Clay chips wear, but it doesn’t show as much since they are solid color throughout. Ceramics are white underneath an inlay. Ceramics will still probably last decades for normal use and are virtually impossible to break by hand.
• Sound
  The harder the materials, generally the higher pitched the sound. Ironically, high-end poker chips often sound cheap when you bump them together. This is because they are typically made of hardened plastic. China clays and premium clays tend to produce the most popular sound.
• Value
  Cheap plastic chips can be under $.03 each while high-end ceramics can be well over $1 each. You almost always get what you pay for when it comes to poker chips.

Additional Home Game Products and Info

I have written other informational articles on hosting a poker home game. Be sure to check them out if you want to enhance your home game experience:

Summary

Best Poker Chip Tricks For Beginners

In this review I tried to find the best quality chip sets for the price. To my surprise, my favorite two chip sets that I recommend also happen to be among the most affordable out there.

Poker Chips For Sale

I hope you enjoyed this review, be sure to comment if you know of any other chip sets that should have made the list.