Poker Chips guide

Besides the playing cards themselves, having a set of poker chips is the most important piece of equipment that you need to play poker. Without them, it’s like football without a goal – possible, but pretty average.

Poker chips are simply a way of keeping score during a game of poker. While it is possible to play with real money there are definite drawbacks to that. First, having notes and coins on the table is a real nightmare when it comes to cashing out at the end of the night and nobody has any change. It also restricts you to playing cash game poker when we all know that tournament poker is where much of the excitement is to be found.

And as for playing with matchsticks and cigarettes like in the movies – it isn’t as cool as it looks.

There’s a reason that all professional poker tournaments are played with well-made poker chips, and that’s because they make the game run smoothly and are a lot more fun to bet with and, for some, do neat chip tricks with.

So what should you be looking for when you buy poker chips?

There is tons of choice these days and many good sets are quite cheap in price costing anywhere from just £10 up to the hundreds. In general, avoid the cheap plastic chips though and spend just a little more to get your hands on a good clay set which are heavier and nicer to handle.

It is also important to make sure you get enough chips. 300 will generally be more than enough for you to play cash games or tournaments with a full table of players.

PokerPlayer will soon have a thorough review of the best chips available to buy so check back to see where your money should be spent.