There are a wide variety of chips at a wide variety of costs and quality available at thousands of poker chips stores. So where are you going to purchase your poker chips and how much are they suppose to cost? – It all depends on how you are going to play and how important you think it is to have the “right” gear.
Three different types of poker chips
There are three different types of poker chips available on the market. Plastic chips, clay chips and composite chips:
Plastic chips
The cheapest poker chip available on the market. Often found at supermarkets and department stores at a very low cost and unfortunately often at low quality. Some players may find that plastic chips feel even cheaper than they cost and they don’t like the sound of a plastic chips. Plastic chips are commonly available in 5 and 9 grams.
Clay chips
Most professional players use clay chips as clay chips have the right feeling and sound. These chips are also the easiest chips to handle and make tricks with as they are not as slippery as composite and plastic chips. Clay chips are commonly available in 9 and 13,5 grams.
Composite chips
These chips are made of a plastic and clay combination with some metal insert added to gain weight to get the right feeling. There are no official manufacturer guidelines as to the content of plastic or clay percentage ratio, but this ratio makes the difference in price and quality. Clay composite chips are very durable and will not wear out or scratch easily. Composite chips are commonly available in 9 and 11,5 grams.
Poker chips design
Poker chips are available in different colors and design styles. The most common color combinations are single color, two colors and three colors. The single color may look a bit “pale” while the three color combination may look a bit “too much”. Poker chips are also printed in different design styles which are more or less standard:
- Dice – all four card suites printed on the chip
- Diamond – diamonds printed on the chip
- Suited – all sides (1-6) of a dice printed on the chip
Most poker chips have no printed values but some have. An advantage of using chips with no printed value is that you can assign the value you prefer to different colors. A common color standard is:
- white (commonly used as $1)
- red (commonly used as $5)
- blue (commonly used as $10)
- green (commonly used as $25)
- black (commonly used as $100)
Many other styles are available and only your own taste decides which ones look best. If you can’t find the particular design you are looking for you can customize your own poker chips. Of course, this is also a matter of how much money you are willing to spend.
How many poker chips do I need?
A simple rule: The more players you are – the more poker chips you need (Surprise! 
). We suggest:
- 1000 chips – 9 or more players
- 500-600 chips – 7-8 players
- 400 chips – 5-6 players
- 300 chips – 3-4 players
How much are poker chips suppose to cost?
Here is the best part. Simply visit our poker chips price comparison. PokerChipsGuide list the best poker chips retailers with updated prices on all kinds of poker chips. We make sure you don’t have to worry about spending too much money on your poker chips. Take your time before you make up your mind – good poker chips are essential for a good poker game.