11.5 g Dice Chips: All the same?

[mangothebear]

I'm gonna buy a 500 Dice Chips set and my options are going through E-Bay or through an online store in Canada (I live in Toronto).

I know E-Bay is cheaper and some of the sellers even offer pickup so I don't have to pay for S&H. However, I don't know if I trust their product as much.

Does anyone know if the Dice style chips are all the same or if there is differences in quality? I've heard both sides. Some people say both the Dice and Suited chips are all made by the same manufacturer in China and that they're all the same. However, I've also that there is a large inconsistency in quality and that in some of these chip sets, the balance is out of whack or that the colours bleed so a white chip looks slightly blue. Can anyone confirm either way?

I might just buy from the store anyway because the price difference isn't enormous, E-Bay can be a hassel, and I want the piece of mind of knowing that I won't be scammed.

BTW, the deal is for 500 11.5 g Dice chips, 1 aluminum locking case, 2 decks of cards and 5 dice. $200 (Canadian) plus S&H and tax... which totals around $250 altogether. This is probably around $177 U.S.

Also, any suggestions on color breakdown?

I usually play NL with around 3 or 4 guys but I'm thinking of hosting a home tourney with two tables of 6 (another guy is brining his 600 chips) with one re buy-in in the first hour.

I'm thinking of going with:

150 White
100 Blue
100 Red
100 Green
50 Black

OR

200 White
150 Blue
100 Red
50 Black

[BobS]

$177 US is Highway Robery. QEW type highway at that.

You should be able to pick up a set from either 5stardeal.com or pokerchipmart.com for about half of that, with canadian shipping included. Both of these sources offer good quality 11.5 grammers. I know 5stardeal also sells on ebay, not sure abour pokerchipmart. Both have an online store. Search the forums here a bit and you should be able to make aneducated decision.

Also, just get four colors:

200 white ($1)
150 red ($5)
100 green ($25)
50 black ($100)

You should be able to handle just about any tournament type game with those.

[mangothebear]

I did check those sites out and did the math. It seems like its a lot cheaper but when you include S&H of around $32 U.S. (on PokerChipmart) and it also says may be subject to import duties and sales tax (15% in Ontario), it comes out to only somewhat cheaper (maybe $200 Canadian). That extra $50 would get me the chips a week faster (only 2-3 days for the Canadian store) and I also get a case that locks, cards and 2 dice (which are kinda useless but still).

It ain't easy living up here.

Anyway, its not as big a ripoff as it sounds.

I really like having the blue colour in my chip ouvre.

[UnluckyKyle]

5stardeal has free shipping... does UPS not operate in canada?

[UnluckyKyle]

oh, and another thing about chip quantities.

If you're doing a 12 player tourney, 4 colors will be fine... especially with 1100 chips. I've done a 11 player tourney on 600 chips w/ four colors... but that was quite a stretch.

However, if you're planning to build a larger set (1000+) i'd say go w/ 5 colors at the least. Experience will tell you best, so play often and get feedback from your players and see what they think will enhance the game. Maybe it'll be adding 50 purple chips to keep the stacks managable(sp?), or its a new metal engraved dealer button, new table cover, etc. I listen less to the people on here, and more to the people in my game... because they're the ones paying for my equipment (in a round-about way).

[Always_Bored]

I have 500 of those chips that I bought off ebay and they are good quality. But i paid more than i would have if I got them from 5stardeal.com. I bought em before I came to this forum. I would go with 5stardeal.com

[SnakeOiler]

Most definately not. [About the dice chips all being the same]
I have a set of 500 dice chips from pokerchipmart, and my friend has a chipset from vegassupplies. My colors are brighter, chips seem more dense [probably because of the plastic]. One bad thing is I can't stack much higher than 25 before the stacks become wobbly. Then again, it all depends how much you're into the Game itself. If you're into the game more, and less than the chips, 11.5 dice from anywhere should be alright. But if you must must have the best 11.5 dice [which will inevitably cost a little bit more] then that's good too, but it's just more of a hassle.

[mike d]

Just a friendly warning about having anything shipped into Canada via UPS. They have one of the highest 'brokerage' fees of any of the carriers, which of course is the responsibility of the receiver.