Table Chat

Those poker tables on television just make you want to sit around them, don’t they? They seem so elegant, or even luxurious, with the rich fabric center (usually green), the thick, deeply padded rail around the edge, and the light gleaming overhead. All around them is shadow, while the players sit together under the light and nothing else exists but the moment and the game. Talk about atmosphere.

Depending on where the poker game is being played, some poker tables are indeed luxurious. The ones in a casino may use genuine leather padding and bear the casino’s own logo in the center. Home versions can range from a flat top you set on your kitchen or dining room table, to one with fold-down legs. Either could be stored along a wall when not being used. Or you might have a full-fledged table in a recreation room. A proper table will certainly be one of your most prominent poker accessories.

A professional poker table is oval-shaped, yet the ones for a home setting might be round or even octagonal. Those in an actual casino have an indentation on one side where the dealer sits, while those for home use do not provide a special spot for the dealer. The fabric in the center is often a type of felt called baize, or a cloth with an extra coating that helps the cards slide easily. The padding around the edge, or “rail,” is where players can relax their hands during the game, and occasionally there will be a wooden “race track” between that and the playing surface, to hold their chips. Some more elaborate tables might even have cup holders set into this area. A table like this can truly augment a home game.

There are many places where you can buy a table, and some websites even provide plans so you can build your own poker tables. A table like this would be a perfect finale to the process of customization if you are getting serious about the game and have already gone so far as to acquire your own custom poker chip set. This could be the obvious next step. If you want to play the game in as authentic an atmosphere as possible, then a poker table might add the touch that will make your game complete.

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Technorati Tags: chip tricks, custom poker, poker card, poker chip sets, poker party, poker supplies

The poker chip and the game of poker have traveled a long way through history together, even if the game itself is estimated to have appeared perhaps a century earlier. Indeed, the game is the father to the chip, since it eventually became necessary to standardize how betting and collecting winnings was carried out. It was too easy for players to cheat in the early days, when almost any type of valuable could be tossed into a pot. What we now think of as the typical casino chip was first developed in the late 19th century for the games played on steamboats and in western bars.

However, it wasn’t simply a matter of every player or gambling establishment changing to a uniform type of poker chips right away. Even though chips eventually became the recognized medium of exchange in poker games, they came in literally hundreds of designs and very different materials. Some might have been made of bone or ivory, for example. A player’s custom poker chips could have been as diverse and unique as the player they belonged to. Yet with nothing being uniform, players could sneak their own chips into a game and end up wealthier at the end than their play might have warranted.

But as always, with an eye to security and the prevention of fraud, casinos turned the diversity of the poker chip to their advantage. Each casino custom created its own clay poker chip with its own specially patented formula for the clay and ceramic mixture, adding all sorts of markers in the design that would identify each chip as belonging to that specific casino. This prevented one casino’s chips from being cashed in another establishment, and made the games within their own casino more standardized and honest.

Since then, some of the materials have gotten less expensive, especially as the poker chips set was introduced into homes for more casual, friendly games with lower stakes. Those chips tended to be made of plastic, and remain so, made with a very uniform design. However, the chips used in casinos are generally made mostly of clay and ceramics, or at least a sturdy injection-molded plastic. From miscellaneous coins and gold nuggets to the quality chips in casinos, the poker chip has come a long way in the last 150 years.

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Technorati Tags: casino chip, chip tricks, custom poker, poker card, poker chip cases, poker chip sets, poker party, poker supplies

The best and most inclusive way to learn how to play poker is by reading poker books. As poker has experienced a massive increase in popularity in recent years, a surge of books that teach people how to play the game are now available. The expert writers of these books have tailored them for all different skill levels, from beginning to advanced, and you’ll find long lists of them when you do a web search. Some books even show you how to do those poker chip tricks that you see the professionals doing at the tables.

There are so many websites that offer books on poker, yet it would be impossible to list them all. But as an example of what’s out there, you might peek at www.thepokerbookstore.com, which specializes only in books that teach strategies for Texas Holdem. And www.tightpoker.com is perhaps a more extensive information site, but does regular, in-depth book reviews. These aren’t limited just to books that teach Holdem strategy, as the site covers what it considers to be the best available books for all games, at all levels.

The authors are as numerous as the websites that carry or review poker books. But one name that comes up quite often in any of these reviews is David Sklansky. For example, his book, “The Theory of poker” is described by the www.tightpoker.com reviewer as “one of, if not the best book on poker ever written.” It doesn’t give a quick overview of poker rules, but instead covers theories and concepts, so a player can hone his or her skills and understanding. This same site also highly recommends “Winning Low Limit Hold’em” by Lee Jones, as an introduction to Texas Holdem strategies for a player just starting out.

When you are looking for poker books, run a web search and read both the customer and professional reviews. It will soon become clear that some books are better than others, and which ones are written for a particular skill level. Once you’ve narrowed the list down to a few books, look for them in bookstores or on websites where you buy poker accessories, such as poker chip sets, cards and tables. Soon you’ll be able to improve your skills and increase your winnings.

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Technorati Tags: casino chip, chip tricks, custom poker, poker card, poker chip cases, poker chip sets, poker party, poker supplies

If you’re getting more serious about playing poker as a hobby, or are even considering dabbling in it as a money-making prospect, then you will want to acquire a poker chip set that will suit your needs. There are carrying cases of simple sturdy aluminum, or much more elaborate ones of wood or leather. And along with playing cards, dice and other accessories, you can choose smaller sets of 300 chips, or go with larger ones of 1000, and they can range from basic plastic to the heavier, more professional-looking clay chips.

Before you decide how elaborate you want to get though, you need to calculate how many players, on average, will participate in your poker party. Sets of 300 chips are probably enough for six players, or perhaps five in a Texas Hold’Em game. If you go up to seven or more, it’s probably best to consider poker chip sets 500, and perhaps even more than that. Some people recommend up to 100 chips per player, to be on the safe side. (After all, it’s better to have too many than to run out, right?) Once you decide on something like a 500 or 700 piece chip set, your decision might affect what sort of chip design you want, since the price will be higher.

The most basic, inexpensive poker chip set you can buy will probably be the kind that comes in an aluminum case and contains plastic, mass-produced chips. The reason this kind of poker set is less expensive than others is that the common plastic chips can be produced with a single standard mold. Every time extra features are added to the surface or edges of poker chips, the molds must be specially created, which adds to the cost. If you want a more elaborate, more customized set, then you’ll need to keep the higher prices in mind.

What you pay for your poker chip set is entirely up to you. You may just want a simple set of chips and nothing else, especially if you already have your own poker cards and dice. Or perhaps you’d like to go whole hog and acquire a set of the most recent type of innovation in poker chip design, a set of metal chips with a resin overlay. Whether it’s basic utilitarian durability you’re looking for, or something with a definite style, you will be able to find the kind of accessories you want for you game.

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Technorati Tags: chip tricks, custom poker, poker card, poker chip sets, poker party, poker supplies

When you play your poker games at home with family or friends, it’s almost certain that you’re using poker chips that are very different from the ones seen in North American or European casinos. Home chips are mass-produced plastic versions, and are fairly inexpensive. They are basically imitations of the original clay pokerchips developed for casinos from the 1880s to the 1930s.

The clay chip sets that have been traditionally used, and which are still used in some places even now, weren’t made entirely of clay except at the very beginning. It was soon discovered that the clay-only chips broke too easily, so the makers began creating them from composites, of which the most common one now is a clay-ceramic mix. It’s very unlikely that you’ll find this type of chip in a home set, however; as these would most usually be casino poker chips.

Some recent developments in poker chips also involve something like composites; the core is made of metal, with injection-molded plastic added over top. There are now even completely metal chips where colors and patterns are set into them by utilizing chemical or electronic processes. When one of these partially metal or all-metal chips has color, stamping and a pattern added, it may be hard to distinguish it from the older, more standard casino chip. But certainly the metal chips are more likely to be found in casinos, rather than in a home poker set, because of the expense.

Among the various kinds of poker chips, the ones most common today are those made of cheap plastic that you’ll find in home sets, and the most widely used professional casino versions, which resemble the original clay composite chips, but tend now to be made with a hard, injection-molded resin. Both these and the clay composites are made with formulas that are often specific to an individual casino, and will usually come with several security features, including marks that show in UV light, or radio frequency ID tags. The plastic home versions may distantly resemble these, but the casino poker chips will always be the authentic deal.

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Technorati Tags: chip tricks, custom poker, poker card, poker chip sets, poker party, poker supplies

Clay poker chips have a history that parallels the development of the game of poker itself. They were conceived sometime in the late 19th century, perhaps the late 1870s or 80s, as replacements for the haphazard methods of keeping track of players’ winnings in mid-western bars and on the old steamboats. Until then, players used anything valuable that came to hand, be it random coins, gold flakes or whatever else they had with them. Poker chips as a concept finally began to standardize betting in the game, and clay chips entered the field along with various other types.

Some of the early chips were made of bone, wood or even ivory, but clay chips soon began to dominate the game. They were created with metal molds in which the clay was placed and put under high pressure, to take on the desired shape. However, users discovered early on that chips made entirely of clay tended to be brittle and could break easily. So eventually the manufacturers added ceramic materials to the clay, to make the mixture stronger and more durable. Since that time, all poker chip sets have really been made of this clay-ceramic composite.

The development of clay poker chips didn’t stop once their basic formula had been established. Since they’d been introduced in the first place to reduce inconsistency and possible cheating, casinos went a step further and individualized these chips to correspond to whatever casino they came from. Proprietary clay formulas were created and patented by casinos, and they added special indicators on the chips themselves, so that any particular type could only be used and cashed at the establishment for which it was created.

In recent years, the development of poker chips has taken another leap that threatens to leave older clay poker chips behind. New technologies have now created chips that can be tracked more accurately than the former method of just using a casino’s characteristic designs on their own chips. Now you find some of the newer casino poker chips implanted with tracking devices like radio frequency ID tags, for example. Even the materials have started changing, the mixture of clay and ceramics replaced by metal with a hard resin overlay. With the introduction of these new technologies and materials, it’s possible that the long, fascinating history of the clay chip is coming to an end.

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Technorati Tags: casino chip, chip tricks, custom poker, poker card, poker chip cases, poker chip sets, poker party, poker supplies

As people play poker, of course the main use of a chip set is to place their bets during the game itself. But many players also enjoy becoming proficient at another entertaining activity connected to the game, which is doing tricks with the poker chips. You may think this is just a casual by-product of the game, something minor that people do to keep themselves interested during lulls in the play, but doing tricks with chips is becoming a gaming discipline all its own.

These tricks are something like coin tricks done by magicians, except that now and then other poker accessories are used to add dimensions that are particular to poker alone. Many of the tricks even have their own names, such as the “3-Fly,” “Drifter,” or “Grandma’s Shawl,” for example. Some involve twirling a chip around the fingers, the same way magicians make quarters roll over and over around their knuckles. Others are tricks of shuffling and re-shuffling. The “Grandma’s Shawl” uses Chinese-style chips, which involves threading something through the holes in their centers, and then managing to interchange them with chips that don’t have holes.

Not only do these poker chip tricks have their own names and special moves, but people write and illustrate books teaching novices how to do them, and people snap up these volumes as soon as they are published. The books are almost as popular as those that teach people how to play the game of poker itself. And with the advent of the internet and video tools, many trick experts have also created videos in which they can demonstrate the moves as well as teach the techniques. And some designers go so far as to create a special little chip set for particular tricks.

Those particular chip sets may contain chips that are notched or rigged (a practice known as “gaffing”) in order to perform specific tricks, but there’s a wide range of poker accessories that can cover every aspect of this entertaining part of the game. The number of resources available to the learner grows day by day, whether those involve illustrated books by experts, internet articles and video demonstrations, or even the acquisition of a special chip set containing chips specially designed for the more elaborate tricks.

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Technorati Tags: casino chip, chip tricks, custom poker, poker card, poker chip cases, poker chip sets, poker party, poker supplies

When you’ve really gotten into poker and are now at the stage of buying your own accessories, chip cases can be everything from mere utilitarian carrying cases for your chips, cards and dice, to something resembling a status symbol. The variety seems to be endless. You can go as simple and plain as you like, or invest in something quite elaborate. And frankly, the luxury and appeal of some of these poker chip sets and cases is reminiscent of the prestige currently enjoyed when certain high-end sports shoes sell for astounding prices.

The simplest and most basic carrying case for poker accessories is a sturdy aluminum. If you’re just interested in getting down to it and playing the game, without any fanfare, then this is a good sort of case for transporting and protecting cards and chips. But players who want to go into their game with a bit of flair, and make the game something of an occasion, might prefer more elaborate chip cases to help create a “casino” like atmosphere.

Some seem to be almost intended as a conversation piece, as you look at the polished, lacquered wood and the velvet interior of the cases, where the clay chips, the cards, the dealer button are nestled. You can hardly imagine pulling out those cards and chips and actually playing a game with them. Others might come in black leather that can handle a little rough treatment, with rather plain but well-made chips, designed to be used. And other cases might get really elaborate, being heavy, two-tiered affairs with chips, cards and dice on a top tray that lifts out to reveal more chips on the lower level.

These days, recreating the smoky backroom atmosphere of an old poker game isn’t what the new generation of poker players really want. Even if you just want to put your head down and play the game, it’s still important to have decent chips and poker cards that won’t bend or tear, as well as a good poker table with good lighting. And after an enjoyable game, easy storage is possible with the many chip cases on the market.

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Technorati Tags: casino chip, chip tricks, custom poker, poker card, poker chip cases, poker chip sets, poker party, poker supplies

Casino chips are an entirely different creature from other poker chips that are used in home poker games or in other private settings. These have undergone a special and gradual development, often spurred by problems related to cheating or security. In the early days of poker games aboard river-boats and in bars in the American Midwest, monetary tokens were whatever valuables the gamblers could get their hands on, like coins or gold flakes. But eventually, clay pokerchips became the standard.

These chips were first made of various materials such as wood or ivory, but the casino poker chips of a clay-based composition soon came to predominate. These were made in high-pressure compression-molding machines. In recent times, though clay-ceramic mixtures are still used to create some chips, the more usual production method involves injection-molded resin chips. And a recent innovation in the design of casino chips involves either a metal center with a plastic rim, or chips entirely of metal. The standardization makes chips easier to stack on a table, easier to keep track of, and easier to count (or weigh) when it comes time to cash in a player’s winnings.

One of the factors in the ongoing development and design of casino chips has been security. In early times, with every person and establishment having their own chips, it was easier to cheat, substituting some chips for others and coming out an apparent “winner.” But eventually, casinos created several different sets with custom designs, so they could keep close tabs. Each casino chip now has high resolution artwork and the custom colors of the individual casino. The chips might also have markings incorporated that will only show under ultraviolet light. And the latest security feature in some new chips is to have embedded radio frequency ID tags, making them easier to track and harder to counterfeit.

As technology continues to expand, though, it may eventually sound the death knell for casino chips, whatever security features they have. The introduction of token-counting machines that eject receipts has prompted some experimenters to take the concept to its final limit, introducing a pre-paid money card that works with a reader at the gaming table. If gamers’ attachment to the casino poker chip doesn’t survive this technological development, the chip could disappear altogether. And all that would be left will be collectors’ items and the romance of legendary history.

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Technorati Tags: casino chip, chip tricks, custom poker, poker card, poker chip cases, poker chip sets, poker party, poker supplies