POKER
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Professional-quality
chips can make all
the difference
Yes, you can play poker with cheap plastic chips -- those red, white and blue ones that come in a cardboard box. Or, you can play with professional-grade clay chips that come in an aluminum case. And cost $190.
Well, how serious are you?
It's easy to grow enamored of those 11.5-gram pro chips. They're heavy in the hand, pleasingly thick and make a satisfying clack when you fondle them. Not like that weenie click-click that plastic chips make.
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Interest in poker is so high that at Razor in Pearlridge Center, 500-chip sets sell at the rate of 10 to 12 on a weekend day. Cost of the chips, case, cards, dice and dealer chip is $189 (although they're $30 off right now). Upgrade to a wood case for $209.
You can also buy chips alone in your choice of colors -- or opt for chips marked in dollar amounts, up to $1,000 (those are pink).
"A lot of people like black chips because that's a $100 chip in Vegas," says David Kanana, one of the managers.
For the executive look, Brookstone in Ward Centre offers 400 chips in a sleek wood case with brass trimmings for $150.
Costco Wholesale in Iwilei brought in a shipment of the same 500-chip sets at the beginning of the summer and sold them at the bargain price of $79 -- they were gone in days. The store has been waiting for another shipment, due in mid-August.
You can get that same price by ordering through various Internet sites (try www.pokersupply.com), but these sets are heavy, so beware of shipping charges.
Custom orders are also available online: Have gold foil stripes added (5 cents per side, per chip at www.casino4you.com), or have your initials or a company logo embossed on each chip. Monogrammed antique chips dating to the early 1900s are also out there (up to $10 per chip at www.antiquegamblingchips.com).
Now, if all those seems just too exorbitant (it is just a game, after all), compromise chips are available. Try Toys "R" Us for extra-thick plastic chips, 100 for about 10 bucks. Daiei stores offers a similar type at 100 for $12.99.
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