professional poker chips

Why is it that in professional poker play on t.v., both chips AND cash are used?

I watch poker on t.v. and can't seem to figure out what the need for both chips and cash are in play. hmmmm....

It might High Stakes Poker-which is a cash game or it might be Poker After Dark on NBC which is usually a tournament and they use cash as well. The use of cash is most likely for dramatic affects-seeing thousands of dollars in cash is more exciting than seeing one chip for the same amount.

If you're a poker player I bet sometime or other you've thought about getting your own custom-designed set of chips. Guess what? It's not that hard. Some poker chip collectors sites offer an online chip design tool you can use to design your own custom clay poker chips from several different manufacturers. You can load all the molds, spot options and colors for each of the chips you design.

One site even has a sample pack of around 50 different chips and some playing cards they'll send to you for the price of the postage. This will help you in your initial design. You'll be able to compare the feel of the chips and the sound they make when stacked.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How much of a difference does rakeback make to your winnings?

Get the HIGEST RakeBack Now Click Here

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The experts feel that it is important that you feel, hear and see a variety of poker chips before you buy. A picture on the web is not enough. Most casino poker chips are "Paulsons" - so-called after a popular make of professional-standard compression-molded clay chips. Paulsons can be quite expensive but the Chinese are now making clay chips that are almost as good as Paulsons but much cheaper.

Other chips available to poker players are ceramic chips, injection-molded chips and hybrids of the two. Cheap vinyl chips are also available for domestic use. Some people collect them but they're not seen as true investments like Paulsons and other clay chips. By the way, an old $5 "The Mint" Casino Las Vegas clay chip sold recently on eBay for $14,100. A woman had it in her jewelry box for 47 years and put it on eBay thinking it might be worth something.

Some people have been able to design and get made clay compression-molded chips, exactly the same as used in casinos, that have gone on to become collectors items and great investments. For instance, The Pharaoh's Club range was designed by some avid chip collectors and released in 2005. Half a million of them were sold on the first day. Originally a boxed set cost $300. Now they are on eBay for at least $1500.

A chip design tool is available at the popular poker chip collectors site and Forum at ChipTalk.net

Malcolm Lambe is an Australian writer based in Paris. He's currently using an online poker chip tool to design his own range of poker chips using famous Paris landmarks.