Chip, Chip, Hurray! (Poker Chips)

Member Name: B_O_M_B_A_

Product:	Poker Chips
Date:	01/10/08 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes the game that little more fun

Disadvantages: Don't NEED them.

Poker chips are as you can imagine used to play the brilliant game of poker; there are many different styles and qualities of chip each with a varying price bracket. It depends really on how much you play Poker as to how much you spend on Poker chips, it isn't really necessary to buy any at all. It does however make the game far more realistic and fun; it also makes it a lot easier to determine the amount of money at stake during betting. Usually the chips come in different colours, these being red, black, green, blue and white. At the start of a game of poker a value is designated to each coloured chip, red for example might be worth £1, whereas black could be worth £10. Therefore is some bets with 10 red chips you can equal their bet with 1 black one.

This method can be deceiving to players on the table however, just because someone has a massive pile of chips it doesn't necessarily mean they are winning, they could have 100 (£100) red chips, on the other hand someone may have 30 black ones (£300) their stack will just look smaller. Therefore it is sometimes better to play the way me and my mates do, we simply assign say 25 chips to each player at the start, each chip with the same value. We then base our bets on the number of chips, not necessarily the colour. It therefore gives each player a better idea of how their opponents are fairing with a quick glance instead of doing long calculations in their heads. You can still use all the chips because the colour doesn't matter, just the amount you have.

There are a few disadvantages with chips however, after each game it is likely all the chips will be mixed together, if your like me and appreciate things being tidy it will take you a while sorting them all out into their colours again. The chips can also break if not looked after, they are quite brittle and if they start getting thrown around a little during alcoholic fuelled games accidents can and will happen.

Having the chips however does make the game feel more realistic, like you're actually in a casino, I personally have a poker table cover which has the green felt to make it feel more like a poker table; it also stops the chips sliding around as much considering their slippery surface. Sets can vary widely in both size and price, I would advise purchasing a pack of minimum 125 chips, this should allow around five or six max to play a decent game, although a larger 250-300 chip pack would be more ideal. A poker chip pack usually also comes with a few packs of playing cards as well to get you on your way. That's what makes poker chip sets an ideal present, they are ready to go right out of the box and they usually even have an instruction manual on how to play poker.

Chips sets can range from as little as £15 to £70, although a £25 set is usually adequate, the £15 sets will either be too small or of a poor quality, probably plastic chips. If you spend a bit more you will get high quality composite resin chips with metal inlays for extra weight, each chip should way around 11.5g.

Overall chips aren't crucial, you could play with matchsticks but it doesn't have the same appeal, especially if you play for money. Having a large stack of chips in front of you while your opponent has a tiny stack is quite enjoyable and worth paying the small fee for. I would suggest keeping the chips away from children under the age of 6 however, they may accidentally swallow them, and also if dice come in the pack I would advise keeping them out of reach as well.

Summary: Worth having if you play a bit of poker.