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Poker Chip Reviews

Paulson Pharaoh's
 

Overall Score 9.5

Paulson's clay chips are the most popular chips used in casinos today.  They were just recently made available again to the home market.  I believe the first poker chip set Paulson released for the home market was the Bond set earlier this year.  With Paulson's Pharaoh's set, both the mold and the labels have been improved over the Bond chip set.  The inlays are now different for each denomination.  And amazingly, the chips I received almost appear to have been pre-oiled.  They don't have that chalky sticky feeling that new Paulson's always seem to have.

My first impression upon viewing and shuffling these beauties, is that this may be the finest set of clay poker chips available on the home market.  With the exception of the orange $1000 chip, I love the look and the way these chips feel.  Having different inlays for each denomination really adds to the look of the chips.  The edge spots look amazing when stacked high.  And they stack incredibly well.  I stopped adding chips to one stack when it hit over 150 chips.  I was afraid my cat would knock it over and wake up everyone in the house (I was up late playing with my new chips).  They stack straight and even, and I didn't encounter one spinner in the whole bunch. 

I think my favorite thing about this set is the sound they make.  They don't have that clinky metallic sound you'll get with some of the lesser clay poker chip sets you'll find.  These babies CLUNK.  They sound just like the chips you'd splash the pot with at your favorite casino.  I've always loved the way Paulson clays sound and these poker chips are no exception. 

My only real complaint with Paulson's Pharaoh's is that as with all Paulsons, you will experience color rub off with these chips.  Paulson clay chips by nature are very soft.  So soft that you can actually draw with them like crayons.  Color rub off seems to be especially bad when they're first being broken in.  I would suggest shuffling stacks of the same colors at first.  This isn't that big of a deal though as they can be cleaned and oiled easily.  Read our guide on poker chip care here.  Oiling your chips will lessen the amount of color rub off to some extent. 

Of course genuine Paulson poker chip sets don't come cheap.  A quick check on Ebay showed prices for sets of 300 chips or more costing about $1.14 per chip, with shipping adding another $30 or so to the price.  You can get a sample set before you buy for only $10.00.  If you're planning on spending $300-$500 for a new poker chip set, then it really is a good idea to order samples first.  Although they come with a hefty price tag, these beauties should last a lifetime.  I read somewhere that casino poker chips last around 5-6 years before they need to be replaced.  If that's true then these should stand up to the weekly abuse of a home poker game for oh, a hundred years or so.  These chips are about the closest you can get to playing with real casino chips at your home poker game.

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