Casino Chip of the Day

Stratosphere and Strat have two posts as it was an official name change but Treasure Island never changed their name, they just issued new chips with the shortened version. The resort is still Treasure Island.

Thanks for clearing that up. I'm still scratching my head a bit to understand if the emphasis is on Casino of the Day or Chip of the Day. Looks like it's more of a Casino of the Day as one long standing casino, like the Four Queens in Las Vegas for example, will only have 1 entry but produce dozens of $1 chips throughout the years as they modernize. The Chip Index makes sense for readers to quickly look up the chip, but then you're stuck with just 1 post per casino no matter how interesting the chip or its story. I'll get in line.

You are correct. My intent was to discuss a different casino each day with potential follow-up posts from me or from others about that casino. I planned to post an image of the one chip I collected from that casino myself as a graphic to represent my hobby, i.e., to explain why a low-roller like myself even bothered to go to all those casinos. The idea never was to provide a gallery and index of all of the chips from any of the casinos, though there are other sites that tend to do that. I just wanted to start a new daily discussion, post an image of my souvenir chip, and allowing others to tell what they had to offer about that casino, possibly including an image of souvenir chip(s) they had collected there. I specifically said that I did not want folks to post images they had found on the web, just images of chips they had themselves.

Ok, so I'm in line if I post images of chips in my collection although the casino may have been talked about once before on this thread? It just won't get a pointer in the Chip Index? Do I have that right?

Yes, I think you have that correct. Also, you have made me aware of an error I made in my 2012 post about the Grand Biloxi, i.e., an error from more than a decade ago that comes back trying to haunt me now! There I said:

"The original Grand Biloxi opened in January 1994. As with the Grand Casino in Tunica, this one was built by Grand Casinos, Inc., and it was later sold to Park Place Entertainment/Caesars Entertainment."

That was pre-Katrina, and I don't know that I ever understood that it was called the equivalent of Grand Casino (Biloxi), and that the Grand Biloxi was just the post-hurricane establishment. I will try to correct that error in my old post. With that in mind, it may well be quite appropriate to have a separate CCotD post for the true, original casino, including your souvenir chip from that establishment. Take a look at the way I described the hurricane's impact and see whether it needs to be explained better.

I'm sure it's fine. This isn't Wikipedia. A lot of those pre-Katrina casinos were wiped out, and if they weren't they decided to rebuild or move operations onshore once the law changed. There are a few still on the water, but not many. The Treasure Bay (Biloxi) was a barge that looked like a pirate ship docked to a pier. Post-Katrina they built a hotel on the north side of highway 90 and put the casino on the ground floor. New chips, of course, but they didn't rename the property even though the casino was in a totally different location. Here are their $1 chips:



Of course there is also the Treasure Bay (Tunica) location.

Doc - I also noticed that you post a lot of black light images. While researching my upcoming trip to Texas I spoke with someone at Texas Poker Supply. They mentioned that they provided the "higher denomination" chips for The Lodge in Round Rock, TX. The chip pictured in the original CCotD post is their 1st issue. The new issue set is below. The $1 and $5 chips are made by GameOn. You can see their GO logo etched into the surface. There's also a slight indent around the "inlay". It's a nice improvement as it makes the chips easier to deal and prevents the inlay from being rubbed off as easily. The $25 and higher chips have 3 layers of security, one of which is black light. Not only don't they have an indented inlay, but the text font on the inlay is slightly different as well.





I'm not sure what their exact black light markings or features are (as I don't have a black light) but I thought you might be interested in seeing a sample video that TPS sent to me showing black light security on a sample chip: TPS Sample Chip (Black Light)

Ok first off I’m thrilled that this thread has been revived, I love reading these posts. Alpha I would say make one chip of the day post per day that is from a casino not yet covered in this thread with the official header and everything. Then whenever you want and as many as you want to do you could start posting chips you have that aren’t posted but the casino has been posted, that way you can give us a story or whatever you want to include about that casino. Those ones won’t be official chip of the days since they have been covered so I assume Doc would be cool with you doing posting multiple of those types chips posts a day.

Just my thoughts.

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Playboy

Playboy opened their casino on the Atlantic City boardwalk in 1981. I was only 17 back then, but could easily pass for 21, which allowed me to gamble on occasion. In those early days the boardwalk casinos were more concerned about keeping tourists dressed in bathing suits out of the casinos. Dress codes were posted at the entrances and security could turn you away if you were not properly attired. I wore a jacket and tie to give them no excuse. Also, casino were not allowed to operate 24 hours a day, so they closed at 4am and didn’t reopen until 8am (though it may have been 10am as I’m getting old and suffer from CRS).

The Playboy was also unique in that the tall slender building had 3 floors of gaming instead of the usual one. This did not help them as patrons could not see all of the action without having to go to another floor. Back then I played blackjack. Most, but not all, of the dealers were Playboy bunnies. The casino made sure to have mirrored columns behind each table to best show off the dealer’s cotton tail. How thoughtful, especially for us 17 year old boys!

I was sitting in the second position at a $2 table and implemented the rudimentary strategy of simply doubling my wager if I lost and returning to a $2 bet after a win. As long as you don’t bump up against the $500 table limit you’ll win $2 every time you go through this cycle. My bet had increased after a number of losing hands, some of which must have been splits, because I was sitting with a $96 wager in the betting circle. This was a lot for a kid in high school in the 1980’s. Cards were dealt face up and I received an 11 against the dealer’s 5. The player in the first seat tapped the table to stand pat on her soft 19. Since I was going to double-down, I stood up to get out my wallet as I didn’t have enough chips in front of me on the table. While I was doing this the woman in the first seat asked our bunny dealer what I was doing. She explained that I could double my bet and receive one card. With this the player says, “Oh, I’d like to do that.” Before I could say anything she slides another $5 chip forward to double her bet and the dealer gives her a picture card. I eventually place a $100 bill on the table, the dealer makes change to double my wager, then proceeds to deal me a 3. She doesn’t bust with her 5 showing and I lose $192 before I know what happened. Wait, I do know what happened – the lady in seat one stood pat, then changed her mind and took my 21!!! I was too young to call the floor over as he might ask for ID, so I left the table never to play blackjack again until 2014 when I won 1st place and $15,000 in the first blackjack tournament put on my Grand Biloxi in Mississippi.

Now to the chip. This is the $2.50 chip used by the Playboy. It is the coin-in-center style with white playboy logos around the pink outer edges. These are commonly referred to as snappers -- possible because of the sound a dealer makes with them when paying off a standard $5 bet after a player is dealt a blackjack. (The dealer places a $5 chip next to the original wager then snaps the $2.50 chip on top of the redbirds.) I now use this pink snapper for my card protector at the poker tables. I wish that I had pocketed more of the $1 chips as prior to 2008 they routinely sold on eBay and other secondary markets for $20 apiece.



The Playboy closed in 1984 and was reopened as The Atlantis. There is also a long story about what became of the Playboy chips. I wrote a blog post about this on another forum back in 2016. Since posting a link to another forum may not be allowed here (forgive me as this is only my 31st post), I’ll provide a link to my own casino chip collection website where I’ve posted a copy:. You can read The Story of the Playboy Casino Chip Find there. Enjoy!

Oh, and here is what their $1 chip looks like:

Great story in that link, highly recommend people read it.

State: Texas
City: Austin
Casino: One Time Card Club

I visited this poker room during a trip through the state in 2021. This trip report was written back then, but I’ve updated it as needed for the Casino Chip of the Day thread. I’m headed back to Texas on another poker road trip later this week, so I thought it would be appropriate to post about one of these unusual Texas social poker clubs.

I was in need of a room to play at on Thursday night. I gave Google a try and whatever key word search I entered had One Time Card Club pop up in the results. I had never heard of this room before. It was located in downtown Austin. That was odd as every other club was in a strip mall in some low rent area. I gave them a call. They had a $1/$2 NLH game running. I hopped in my car and put their address into Google Maps. After working my way into the downtown area and navigating the maze of one-way streets, I must have passed the place. I never saw a sign for One Time and parking would be the typical city curbside parking (if you could find it). I decided to just park, then walk to the club. With no luck finding street parking, I settled on a parking garage with a “$10 after 6pm” flat rate. I think I saw that their daily rate was regularly $7 every 30 minutes! Even after 6pm is was 95°F in downtown Austin. The concrete buildings radiated all that Texas heat from the day. Those same buildings also blocked any GPS signal. I knew the approximate address, so I made my way there; getting turned around a time or two and dripping sweat now. I ended up in front of a non-descript building with a sign for Gus’s Chicken poking out the front. Yup, it was a chicken restaurant. I later learned from Scott Long, who ran the Ante Up podcast and published Ante Up magazine, that Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken was the best fried chicken he’d ever eaten. Apparently I missed a good meal.



Ok, so where on earth is One Time? I Googled them once again, and their Google Maps photo is of Gus’s Chicken (you can’t make out the sign because it sticks out of the building and you only see the edge)! I called the club, about to give up, but the guy said he was in front on the sidewalk, and asked me to turn the corner. There is was. He led me into the club – which is located inside of a small bar. There’s no sign for One Time, just for the bar. I suggested that they update their Google listing and include the fact that they’re inside of a bar.

He went on to tell me that the bar is owned by a friend. The owner agreed to clear out two small areas in the front and rear to set up two poker tables. He and another one of this buddies run the game. They were on their phones texting friends and regs asking them to come by. They only run the game on Thursday and Sunday evenings in their spare time. Only one table was running, and they even admitted that the second table rarely gets used. My $10 membership and $10 admission fees also entitled me to a free drink from the bar. They ordered a couple pizzas soon after for the players to eat. The hourly seat fee was on the upper end at $12/hr. They had some pretty standard looking chips, the plastic variety with a custom logo inlay, but also had a very nice ceramic tip chip (again, they don’t really use them as $1 house chips are fine to tip with).



This game was very much like a home game, complete with the two hosts calling potential players to fill empty seats. Fortunately, both dealers were competent. The table is set against the front of the bar and looks out over the street. Coeds would pass by the window on their way to the night clubs, temporarily pausing the game as the guys ogled them.



As I racked up and went to the cage, my only concerns were finding my car and not getting rolled in the process. The host pointed out that I was actually only 3 blocks away, and the garage I selected was well lit, quiet, and safe. One Time was a good time, and the $327 profit was an added bonus.



Finding small poker clubs like this are always exciting. I doubt that they will be in business long, which makes their chips that much more valuable to me. And wouldn’t you know it; less than two years later One Time Card Club is no more. It’s always sad to see poker rooms close, even if it’s just a tiny club in a bar. Let me know if you’d like a chip from One Time, I have a couple extras available to trade or sell.

Definitely give Gus's Fried Chicken a chance. I have been to one in Memphis and one in Austin and they were great.

I tried to visit this club but sadly was there on the days they weren’t open and then when I went back this year they were gone! Oh well missed my chance for the chip.

As far as Gus’s fried chicken it is the best fried chicken I’ve ever had. I was situated just outside the Memphis area for 5 months last year and went to Gus’s quite often and took everyone I knew there. There are locations in Missouri and Ohio too. I think there are locations elsewhere as well but the original if I understood correctly was in Memphis.

Quote: alpha1243

State: New Jersey
City: Atlantic City
Casino: Playboy
link to original post

I concur that we're getting some great stories! Much appreciated!

Not caught up yet but want to comment on this one. Just great storytelling, has it all, underage entry and the every detail making me smile. The lady doubles down on soft 19!

Very interesting you had learned* a betting system, the Martingale, at 17 years old. At this site it is quite notorious. I also laughed at your young self exhibiting the belief so many gamblers have that the card they were in line to get in BJ was ordained by the gods to be their card and no one else's, even though both cards are randomly selected.


* at least I'd be surprised if you came up with it on your own

the next time Dame Fortune toys with your heart, your soul and your wallet, raise your glass and praise her thus: “Thanks for nothing, you cold-hearted, evil, damnable, nefarious, low-life, malicious monster from Hell!”   She is, after all, stone deaf. ... Arnold Snyder

Did we lose Alpha? I’m on a cruise so I haven’t been able to check in due to Carnival blocking all gambling websites. Since I collected chips from Dublin last year and Belfast and Iceland don’t have casinos I won’t be collecting any until I fly to Poland after the cruise.

I have no info on the status of Alpha. My focus lately has been on the sudden change in the forum format (number of posts per page) and how that has made all of the 1500+ links in the CCotD Index thread fail. Yes, at least for now it is not possible to use the index to look up specific chip posts.

This morning, I suddenly realized that I had failed to add to the index the post that Alpha had presented for One Time Card Club. I added that this morning, but if the forum format and all old links get "fixed", then this one link I added today will likely fail. I have no idea what is going to happen on that matter, and I am in wait-and-see mode before making a final decision as to whether I should just give up on all this stuff.

How wow what a mess. Have you messaged one of the higher ups to see what can be done?

There is a forum thread at https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/info/help/38468-has-the-forum-format-changed/#post897251 discussing this issue. At least some "higher ups" have participated and are reading that thread (I think). I think I have made the impact on the CCotD index thread and my concerns clear in that thread. Other "index" threads (Discussion of the Suspension list) have the same problem with failed links.

Quote: Doc

There is a forum thread at https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/info/help/38468-has-the-forum-format-changed/#post897251 discussing this issue. At least some "higher ups" have participated and are reading that thread (I think). I think I have made the impact on the CCotD index thread and my concerns clear in that thread. Other "index" threads (Discussion of the Suspension list) have the same problem with failed links.
link to original post

Most of us administrators are reading that thread. I'm certainly aware of the general problem and the specific damage it is doing to this Chip of the Day thread. Administrators like Dieter and I found out about this format change in the same way as everyone else, and it will take people more senior than us to fix this -if it can be fixed - or to at least repair some of the damage.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Did we lose Alpha? I’m on a cruise so I haven’t been able to check in due to Carnival blocking all gambling websites.
link to original post

Quote: Doc

I have no info on the status of Alpha.
link to original post

I left on a Texas Poker Road Trip and have been gone from 10-21 August. I've spent the last couple of days sorting chips, mailing chips, scanning chips, updating my website, and beginning to write a trip report. I picked up some interesting chips and visited several new poker rooms.I should be able to post a few next week. That'll give you time to sort out whatever it is that's changed.

State: Texas
City: Corpus Christi
Casino: Poker Knights Card House

I just returned from a 10-day poker and chip collecting road trip through Texas. One of the rooms I visited along the way was Poker Knights in Corpus Christi. They are a small 4-table social club located in a strip mall. What they lack in size they make up for in décor. The room has a suit of armor and is decked out in Knights of the Round Table style. Even the throne in the men’s room!



I arrived on a Monday afternoon at 4:30pm to find one full table of 10 players and someone on the wait list ahead of me. The room has a refrigerator stocked with water and soft drinks as well as racks of chips and bowls of candy for the players. When my name was finally called Poker Knights charge a $10 membership fee, which they waive for veterans, and their hourly seat rental fee is $10, which is taken as a $5 time rake when a new dealer rotates in every 30 minutes.

The game was $1/$2 No-Limit Texas Hold’em with the usual assortment of tight and wild players. After some hours of playing I pick up pocket tens and open for a small raise. One of the more wild players bumps it to $40. Once everyone folds to me I just move all-in. I have him covered and after tanking for 5 minutes he finally calls off his remaining $180. I flop a set on a board of KhTcQh. He’s now asking for a jack. The dealer turns a Ah (terrible card for me), and rivers the Jh. I don’t recall my suits, but know that I have a 2-in-3 chance of having made a royal flush. To my surprise and delight I see the Th when I table my hand. I get pushed the pot and the dealer calls for the floor who asks me my shirt size. Apparently they award a Poker Knights logo t-shirt for royal flushes. It had been a while since I hit a royal, and was happy to have the souvenir as well as this photo.



On to the chips. They use a ceramic chip set with the same Poker Knights logo in the center along with the denomination. All of the chips look to be in very good shape with only a scant few of the $1 chips having any edge chips or wear. They don’t employ any tip chips as most if not all Texas poker rooms have put an end to this practice. If anyone is interested in adding a $1 Poker Knights chip to their collection they can contact me directly as I brought home a few extras to trade/sell.

Port day in Reykjavik so I can use my sim and access this site. Great post, I haven’t gotten down to Corpus Christi yet but it’s on the agenda. Maybe I’ll go down the next time I’m in Texas. I really love the design of the chips, I appreciate when clubs put effort into the design of their chips.

State: Texas
City: Pharr
Casino: Rounders Poker & Casino Club

Rounder was not an easy poker room to locate. I think I was able to find them using Google maps. Pharr is a tiny town in south Texas along the Mexican border. I had called their phone number to see if they were still in operation as Google maps showed them as only being opened from 7pm to 10am. No one answered, so I left a message. The next day I received a text from the owner of Rounders inviting me to come play. We had a short text exchange where I asked him what the fees were. He was quick to reply that they charged no membership fee, no admission fee, and no hourly seat fee. That’s all well and good, but obviously they raked each pot in order to make money. When I asked him about the rake, his response was, “Minimal.” I told him that it must be pretty high for him to avoid answering the question. Saying that it must be $15 he said, “Not that bad – come and play”. I assumed him that I would once I arrived into town later in my trip. I must have been put on their texting list and soon received a promotion with an ambiguous offer along the lines of Buy in for $200 and receive $300. Buy in for $400 and receive $600. I wasn’t sure if this was for a tournament or cash game. I’d never seen this type of offer for cash games and no conditions were included.



A couple nights later I texted him asking when a cash game would start and he suggested stopping by around 7:30pm. At 8pm I made my way there. It was the typical strip mall location. As I circled to park, he called my phone. I ignored it and he texted me asking if I was the guy in the parking lot. He was standing out in front of the card room, in the 105°F heat with 4 other guys all smoking or vaping. I got out of my car and approached them, asking if they had a game going. “We were just about to start”, was his reply.

He led the way inside where I see 3 poker tables with 2 guys sitting at the table closest to the cage. One was the dealer. I decided to make a pit stop in the men’s room first where I pulled out a few bills. When I emerged everyone was already seated with $300 to $600 in chips in front of them. At the cage he confirmed that sure enough, if I bought in for $200 I’d get $300, and $400 would get me $600. No strings attached. This all sounded VERY suspicious. I told him I’d just play for an hour and bought in for $200. He also finally answered my question about the rake: $5 + $1 for the promotion. The promotion was a flush race where the first player to make a flush in all 4 suits wins the kitty. He counted out $300 in generic chips and I took my seat.



The owner sat on my left and a couple players soon arrived to fill the table. Everyone spoke Spanish. Cell phones were allowed on the table. The dealer would deal the flop, then set the stub down in the rack in order to shuffle the previous deck, then resume the current hand. I was alert for any signs of cheating. The cards didn’t look marked. Only one player was wearing glasses. No one was checking their cell phones during hands. Minimal Spanish was spoken during play. The players also didn’t seem very good with the exception of two of them. The first real hand I got into was during one of the double-board PLO bomb pots that happened every dealer change. I made the 2nd nuts on one board and we chopped up the third player. I won a few smaller pots and never really lost any hand that went past the flop. I had one eye on the clock and even thought I should text my brother to let him know the situation I was in and where I was should something go foul.

Just after 9pm I quietly reached for a rack, racked up, and walked to the cage with the owner in tow. He counted out $445 in chips, reached out of sight to retrieve four $100 bills, opened a cash box to get me two $20 bills, and then took out his wallet and opened it looking for a $5 bill. I told him to keep the $5 as it was a tip. One of the $100 bills was an older variety, but I wasn’t about to hold it up to the light and check it there. I calmly walked out and the game seemed to continue on without me. I made sure that no one followed me out to my car nor was there anyone waiting around anywhere outside. You can’t be too safe in Texas. I even took a circuitous route to the next poker room on my agenda to make sure I wasn’t followed. Once safely parked I held up the $100 bills to the light and all of them looked legit.

Rounder was certainly a curious poker room. I can’t see how the room made any money, especially with that buy-in promotion. The owner and players all seemed friendly too. I can’t imagine that they’ll be in operation much longer. I can only figure that the players were all playing with house chips and playing as a team. If they beat the tourist then they split the money. If they lost, they did the same. That’s the only thing that makes any sense – unless they do pick some strangers to roll and just decided at 6’7” tall I wasn’t one of them. Who knows?

Anyway, not much to say about the chips. It’s a generic ceramic set that I’m sure anyone can purchase online. When I pointed this out to the owner when I bought my chips, he said that they count the chips at the end of each night. I don’t think that’ll do them any good if someone wants to introduce chips into the poker room. I wonder what he thought when that night’s count showed several chips missing?

Some of those small card rooms in Texas have worried me for sure. There was one club in Killeen that I walked into. The club was about 10 tables, one running and every person at the table was heavily tatted and rough looking. The cashier/host seemed annoyed I was there but as soon as I sat down everyone was super nice and chatty. They all were fascinated that I was all the way from Canada. One of the most fun poker games I’ve ever been to.

As far as the worried about being followed, I do the same from casinos or poker rooms. I watch the rear view mirror and the few times that I’ve worried that someone is following me I start making random turns to see if they follow. The only time I was actually worried was in NM in 2012 where I almost called the cops cause this car was clearly following me but fell off after about 10 minutes of me making completely ridiculous turns. I’m not sure if he got bored or what but I was holding my phone ready to call 911 lol.

State: Texas
City: Cypress
Casino: Cypress Poker Club

Cypress Poker Club is one of the newest clubs in the Houston area. Located in Cypress, their nearest competition is the Doghouse Poker Club. Unlike most poker rooms, Cypress has a standalone building with private parking. It looks to have previously been a restaurant and still has dining tables and chairs stacked in the outdoor seating area. Inside the space is clean and modern with 20 poker tables.

Cypress charges a $20 membership fee which they waive for seniors, veterans, military, and first responders. They do not charge an hourly seat fee, but take a $5 rake once the pot reaches $30. They also rake an additional $3 per pot to fund their player promotions. Both of these rakes are illegal in Texas and they risk being shut down. You always have to be a little wary of playing in a room that does not follow Texas law. If they’re willing to break the law, what other laws are they willing to break?



I grabbed my chips and had a seat. I wanted to visit two other poker rooms today, so wasn’t planning on staying that long. The owners are Asian, and one of them was sitting in the game. She was in and out of her seat so often that she played few hands. I managed to drag a few small pots before I racked up, pocketed the chips I wanted for my collection and to trade/sell, cashed out, and left.

Their chips are fairly nice. Texas is certainly upping its chip game. The colors are easily identifiable, but the white inserts are the same on all of the chips. Now much creativity went into this chip set.

State: Texas
City: Baytown
Casino: Spades Poker House Baytown

Spades has opened their second location. Their first is in Webster and the newest one is in Baytown. I visited the Baytown room earlier this month. It’s a strip mall location like so many in Texas. The room is modern and has 14 poker tables. Spades does not charge a membership fee, but they do charge a $10 daily admission fee. In breaking from current Texas law, they also take a 10% rake from each pot, with an $8 maximum.



The chips are plastic with the Spades logo in the center and Baytown, TX written in script below. I should mention that these are the same style and color used at their original Webster, TX, property. The only difference being the location. The original ceramic house chip rack was retired earlier this year.



This property does not use any tip chips. While the original ceramic $1 tip chips have been retired from the Webster property, they can still be had from a friendly cashier at the cage.

Do you keep a $25 from each place or just take a picture?

My collection only has $1 chips. Any other denominations were picked up for other collectors as they requested them.

State: Texas
City: Houston
Casino: Texas Card House Houston

This is the 6th and newest property from Texas Card House. It’s located in at: 6100 Westheimer Road #142, Houston, TX 77057. Like most TCH poker rooms, this one is also located in a strip mall. The sleek, modern poker room has 28 tables and is opened from 10am to 4am daily. If you’re already a member at any TCH location your membership card will get you in the door at this Houston property too. And like most other TCH poker rooms, they charge a $12/hr seat rental fee. TCH is working towards one integrated computer tracking system, so any hours you have on your card can be applied at any of their poker rooms.



It looks as if all of the TCH rooms are adopting a ceramic chip. The few rooms that still used a plastic chip with a sticker inlay (Austin and Spring) have all changed their racks and now have ceramic chips. These are pretty sharp looking chips. When stacked the edges comprise shades of the standard chip colors; red for the $5’s and green for the $25’s. The inlays are all oversized black backgrounds with the standard TCH logo, making the denomination easily identifiable.

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Texas
City: Katy
Casino: 101

Today's chip of the day is from 101 Poker Club in Katy, Texas. Katy, Texas is only a few miles west of Houston. 101 Poker has 12 tables set up around an enormous bar in a horseshoe shape. When I arrived there was a PLO game and a Holdem game running so I hopped into the Holdem. The owner of the club was super friendly and wanted to make sure that my first visit to his club was amazing. The owner, servers and dealers were all beyond on the ball, they seemed like veterans of the industry. About a hour into being there the owner sent his son to pick up Whataburger for all the players and staff on him. Things like that are what sets businesses apart in such a competitive market like Houston. If I did live in Houston this would be a club that I would frequent. The Holdem game broke around 2 am so I sat in the PLO game until my paid time ran out and I racked up to call it a night.

The chip is white with 4 sets of small yellow edge inserts and 4 pairs of bent diagonal yellow inserts. All the chips had a black serial code, this chip is number 0421. The centre inlay is white with a gold circle that says poker club twice in black. Inside the gold circle is the denom in black and 101 with mirrored yellow and white "1's" and a tiger in place of the "0".Overall a very cool looking chip.



link to original post

101 Poker in Katy has a new chip rack. Since 101 Poker Richmond closed (it's now called Elite Social Poker Club) they’ve decided to simply be called 101 Poker, and their new ceramic chips reflect that. The 101 Poker Richmond room had just been leasing the rights to the 101 Poker name and was not affiliated with the original room in Katy.



I should also mention that sometime between the original yellow $1 chip shown above in the original post and these new $1 ceramic chips 101 Poker in Katy introduced a grey $1 chip featuring the Katy name and had both sets on the tables simultaneously.



I stopped in 101 Poker on the 12th of this month. They still take a $10 rake from each pot. Here’s an odd hand that I was involved in.

The room had six tables running and I was quickly seated at a $1/$3 NLH game. I bought in for $400, but pocket $55 in assorted chips before sitting down with $345 in front of me. The table had four Asian players who all looked to be friends. This was also a table with a lot of gamble as players were not shy about committing their stacks. This is the very first hand that I played. I’m UTG with AK and limp for $3. MP raises to $20, as expected, and gets 3 callers. As you might have guessed, I’m against all four of the Asian players. I 3bet to $115. The original raiser folds, but the other 3 players all call. The flop comes 456 with two hearts. The BB checks to me and I move all-in for my remaining $225. The first two players fold, but the BB calls for her remaining $49. The dealer completes the board with an offsuit 7 and a 3 of hearts. I immediately table my AK. The BB, an older Asian woman, shows QJ without tabling her hand, and then reluctantly mucks it. Fortunately, no one at the table assisted her by opening their mouth to point out that there was a straight on the board, so it would have been a chopped pot. It’s been a while since I’ve been involved in a hand where my opponent folds a chop.

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Texas
City: Humble
Casino: Hangar

Today's chip of the day is from The Hangar Poker House in Humble, Texas. Hangar poker room is in Humble just north of Houston and has 5 poker tables. This was I think the only room in Texas that I played in more than once and I actually visited 3 times. As you guys know I prefer to collect $1 chips but when I went on Friday they were running only one game and it was 5/5 PLO. I sat down thinking I would get a $1 chip when they break chips for tips but this club made the players tip with actual bills. I played for one hour and took a $5 chip since they wouldn't give me a $1 chip. I left the room and figured if I had time after visiting other rooms the next day I would stop back and see if a 1/3 game was running so I could get a $1 chip. I came back the next night on Saturday to find the door locked, lights off and nobody around. I honestly thought that the club was shut down which is not uncommon in Texas. The next night I had some spare time and was in the general area of the poker room so I took one last shot at going. They were open like nothing happened and they were opening a 1/3 game!!! I was feeling a bit under the weather that night after eating at Pizza Hut (bad idea) but really wanted the $1 chip so I played for a hour and was able to exchange my $5 chip for a $1 chip out of my stack. The funny thing is that on Sunday they were now allowing players to tip with chips so if that was the case on the first night I could have just grabbed a $1 chip from the 5/5 game.

As far as the club goes there wasn't anything really different about it compared to others but the crowd was definitely a little bit rougher. I wasn't uncomfortable but I would say I was definitely more aware of my surroundings here vs other clubs. In reality I was probably just being silly as everyone seemed nice.

The chip is grey with 3 white rectangle edge inserts and 3 black triangle inserts. I'm not sure how long this chip was in play but it looks almost brand new. The centre inlay is grey with a propeller on maybe a casino chip?!? The casino name is white and the denom is white on black on both sides. The other side of the chip is almost the same except the inlay is white and the casino name is black. Also the denom is in in the middle of the propellers with with just a money sign where the denom is on the opposite side.




link to original post

I stopped by The Hangar earlier this month and picked up a few chips. Here are the fronts/backs:

State: Texas
City: Corpus Christi
Casino: PK Social Club

Earlier this month I visited PK Social Club. I found them on the Internet while planning this Texas poker road trip. Another poker player had sent me a $1 chip from PokerKing a few years back, which was also located in Corpus Christi. I thought this might be the same room…perhaps along the lines of how Treasure Island in Las Vegas is now just “TI”.

I phoned the room in advance to make sure that 1) they were still in business, and 2) to see if they were opened and had a cash game running. The woman who answered the phone said that they were and they did. When I arrived I was a bit disappointed. It was a tiny, dinghy room with only 3 tables. One table was in operation. The owner was dealing, so an assistant met me at the desk. She explained that there was a $5 membership fee, and that the $1/$2 game had a 10% rake with a max of $4 plus a $5 time rake every 30 minutes. That was unique! I bought in, pocketed some chips, and had a seat.



Everyone was short stacked with between $80 and $150 in front of them. It was a jam fest. The players all looked sketchy and wreaked of weed. They acted out of turn, flashed cards, and perpetually wanted to rabbit hunt. When the owner rotated out of the box and the assistant took over it was a mess. She consistently misdealt due to her long pointed nails, had trouble with the flop and with identifying the winning hands, and even asked the table if they wanted a new setup! What???



I later learned that the owners of PokerKing had a falling out. One of them opened this location and called it PK Social. Same group of players in a different room. Here’s the original $1 PokerKing chip.

Have you ever come across the problem where the casino/card room is using low denom chips from another casino but does have their own chips in $5 and above? If so do you keep the higher denom chips? I have quite a few $5 chips because of this and actually have 3 $/£25 chips because of this.

Looks like they got new $1 chips, I wonder if too many “disappeared” lol.

The rake system is bonkers, if you’re going to break the law by raking then just fully rake and make more money. This makes no sense.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Have you ever come across the problem where the casino/card room is using low denom chips from another casino but does have their own chips in $5 and above? If so do you keep the higher denom chips? I have quite a few $5 chips because of this and actually have 3 $/£25 chips because of this.
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I only collect $1 chips, or chips with a "1" without a £ or € sign. Today's Casino Chip of the Day illustrates the exact situation you asked about.

State: Texas
City: Corpus Christi
Casino: Lets Run It Social Club

After visiting PK Social Club and Poker Knights, I wanted to swing by Lets Run It before departing Corpus Christi in the morning. They’re not listed on Poker Atlas, so I phoned them several times that evening to find out if they had a cash game running. I was told that a cash game sometimes develops after their tournament ends. I called around 10:30pm and still no cash game on this Monday night. I decided to hop in the car and make the short drive over to their strip mall location. Maybe I could somehow pick up a chip for my collection.

It was a nice room with 5 tables that was just wrapping up a tournament. There was one player and a dealer sitting at an empty table. At the desk I was told that they hoped to have a cash game up and running soon. It was now 11pm. They signed me in, waived the usual $10 membership fee for veterans, and I asked to buy $300 in chips saying that if players saw us with chips at the table they were more likely to want to play themselves. He agreed. It was difficult to get them to sell me $1 chips as they said that the dealer would make change. This was to be a $1/$2 NLH game where players paid $5 time every 30 minutes. He finally agreed to include some $1 chips. I sat at the table chatting with the dealer. I asked him about the $1 Prime Time Social chips in the rack. He explained that they purchased the room from Prime Time Social, but for some reason decided to keep their $1 chips and to have new $5 and $25 chips made, hence the mixed rack. He also went on to explain their expansion plans; knocking out the adjoining wall and expanding into the next unit. They would likely get matching $1 chips at that time, but I was happy to have some obsolete chips from Prime Time Social now.

After waiting 30 minutes with still no new players seated, I cashed out, making sure to wait until there was a different person at the desk so they wouldn’t notice the $50 in missing chips which I pocketed. I wish these guys plenty of success.



As you can see, the chips are made by Chiplab. So many rooms use these same chips, although with different inlays. Just the Texas rooms include: Celebrity Card Club (first their Odessa location and then their Galveston location), Cowboys Card Club in Austin (later renamed Lucky Card Club and now closed), Georgetown Poker Club just north of Austin in Georgetown, The Royal Card House of San Antonio, and the now closed Wicked River also in San Antonio. You can find this same Chiplab rack in use at Wonder Casino in Keene, NH, too. This is just off the top of my head. These chips have zero security features. Worse, some states where they are used do not have any laws regulating how the chips are to be disposed of should the poker room close, which allows the chip racks to be sold at liquidation and end up in the hands of everyday consumers. But if you had evil intentions and didn’t want to wait for a liquidation sale, Chiplab allows anyone to order directly from them. Yes, you’d have a different inlay, but when a stack of $5 red chips or $25 green chips are presented to the cage in a rack, the cashier isn’t going to thoroughly inspect them before they allow you to redeem them for cash. Very dangerous. I’m shocked that the poker or casino chip collecting communities haven’t heard about this happening already.

Anyway, back to the chips. The $1 chips are the old rack from Prime Time Social and depict their stylized name with the location on the bottom. The other chips in their rack have the LetsRunIt stylized name over the silhouette of the state of Texas. It may have caught your eye that there’s no apostrophe in their name. That’s how it’s depicted on their website and Facebook page. It’s also depicted both with and without spaces between the words. It may have originated from a running club as there are plenty of pictures on the Internet with this same name/logo on running club t-shirts in Corpus Christi.

Whatever their origins, Lets Run It is a nice looking little poker room whose owners have an eye towards the future. I’d like to see them do well, expand, and purchase $1 chips to match the rest of the rack, or better yet, buy a safer chip.

Really enjoying the posts and it’s making me want to start planning a Texas road trip.

I fly to Poland tonight so I’m hoping to get some neat chips over the next couple of weeks.

State: Texas
City: Brownsville
Casino: Suits Social Club

I made the trip to the southern tip of Texas to visit Brownsville in hopes of visiting the small handful of poker rooms listed on Google Maps. My first stop was Suits. I called ahead and was told that they were still in business (a rarity) and hoped to have a cash game going shortly after they opened at 6pm. When I arrived to their strip mall location at 6:30pm still had no cash game, but did have a single table tournament, or sit-n-go, in their 3-table poker room. They charged me a $20 membership fee, but waived the $10 daily admission fee for veterans. I bought a rack of chips and waited on more players to arrive. By 7pm the game was ready to start.

They collect a $12/hr seat fee, and do this by taking $6 from each player when the dealers swap out every 30 minutes. They had a couple of promotions running, which they fund by taking a $1 promotional rake form every pot. The first was half price rake from 6pm-8pm, which I assume they offer to get games started early. We enjoyed 1 hour of the reduced rake. The second was the flush promotion where a small whiteboard has a matrix of players and suits. The first player to make all 4 flushes, one in each suit, wins whatever was collected in that evening’s kitty.

The table was talkative with the owner sitting two seat from me (along with 2 other employees). Eventually it dawned on him that we had spoken in Messenger about a year earlier. I must have noticed Suits when searching for new Texas social clubs and reached out to them asking for a chip to add to my collection. He admitted that after a gap of several weeks in our conversation he felt embarrassed to offer me a chip after such a delay on his end. He said he’d take care of that and to come see him before I cashed out.

After playing for a while I decided to cash out so I could visit another poker room that evening. As promised, the owner met me at the cage and handed me an envelope which contained one each of his $1, $5, and $25 chips, plus his business card. He was proud of his chips and their design. They were the high-quality plastic type with the standard chip colors, each with the same yellow inserts. While the chips he gave me were straight out of the box, the chips in play stood up well enough to the wear and tear of poker players and looked to be in just as good of a condition.



He was also interested in my casino chip collecting, specifically which other Texas social clubs I’d visited and what their fees and promotions were. We stepped outside and chatted about those things for 20 minutes or so. I asked him which other rooms he’d recommend. He immediately said Blades and Spades, which was a small poker room inside of a barber shop. His seemed to recall that they used generic chips, but more importantly that it was closed on Tuesday (today). He also pointed out The House Club. I had this room on my list and planned to head there next. Most of the other rooms that I had found online were no longer in business.

I love those chips! You really dug deep into Texas to find all these rooms. I haven’t done any of them on the border except El Paso and the aboriginal casino.

State: Texas
City: Harlingen
Casino: The House Club Poker Room & Lounge

After playing at Suits Social Club in Brownsville I drove to the neighboring town of Harlingen. The House Club Poker Room & Lounge, or The House Club for short (THC for shorter), is located in a larger maze of a strip mall. They have a pretty large space that has 5 tables spread out across the room. They can easily fit a dozen tables if needed. This must have been one of the largest clubs in the area as well as one of the most popular. Posters cover the row of large windows looking out onto the parking lot. They advertise tournaments and some feature well known poker players. I recall seeing Greg Raymer and Jamie Gold prominently featured.

There was one $1/$3 NLH cash game running at this hour, and one seat was available. After waiving their $10 admission fee for veterans, they explained that they charged a $12 seat fee. They must have been an older club as they had the screens on the tables showing the dealer everyone’s remaining time. I gave him $12 for me time, bought a rack of chips, and had a seat. They also had a promotion, which was fed by a $2 rake. It was awarded to the high hand of the night, which had to be aces full or better. So far no one had made a qualifying hand.

As my time ticked away, I eventually needed to add another hour, so handed the guy at the cage another $12, but only 3 hands later several players whose time had expired simultaneously, all decided to call it a night. With only 4 players remaining, the house broke the game. This is one of the cons for paying time at the cage rather than raking time at the table. When you pay at the cage everyone’s time expires at different times, depending on when they arrived. When you pay at the table upon the next dealer change, everyone is in sync, preventing this exact situation from occurring where I just paid $12 only to see the game break.

Since no one claimed the high hand kitty they ran out one hand of 7 card stud with all cards face down. I remember playing this in high school, but with wild cards. Players turned one card at a time face up until they beat the previous hand. When it was my turn I was facing trip 6’s and failed to improve. I cashed out and left with a few chips in my pockets.



For an older club their chips were in great condition, leading me to think that this was not their first rack. The ceramic chips come in the standard chip colors, each with the same black and white THC logo in the center above the denomination.

State: Texas
City: Edinburg
Casino: Texas Card House Rio Grande Valley

This is one of the six current Texas Card House properties in Texas. Known as TCH RGV, this room only has 9 tables and is located in the small town of Edinburg, Texas, in the southern tip of the state. While it’s the only social poker club in Edinburg, there are, or were, 5 or more clubs within 10 miles in several smaller bordering towns. TCH RGV is by far the largest and if you’re a member at any of their other locations you can use your membership card to gain entry here too. Any time on your card is also valid at their tables. They charge a standard $12/hour seat rental fee.

At the front desk I added $25 on my card. I also spotted a stack of $2 tip chips. If you’re not familiar with tip chips, they are used in Texas as poker rooms are not allowed to remove any chips from play. This means no rake, no promotional drop, no using chips to pay for food, and no tipping. Patrons can purchase tip chips at the cage when buying their cash chips. When you win a pot you can tip the dealer with these tip chips. Tip chips cannot be wagered. Their sole purpose is for tipping the dealer (or waitress). If you have tip chips remaining at the end of your session, you can redeem them back at the cage as you would your cash chips. This is an odd practice, but necessary to strictly abide by Texas law. I love this practice as is creates another chip for us collectors! Since the first Texas social poker clubs opened, the use of tip chips has slowly faded into obscurity. Poker rooms are willing to overlook this section of the law. They benefit from not having to produce tip chips for their club, and it makes tipping their dealers much easier. Because of this, if a room did produce a tip chip, they’re usually all stored somewhere in the back of the cashier’s cage in a box never to be used again. I had seen $1 and $2 tip chips used at other Texas Card House locations, but they too have removed them from play. I wasn’t sure why the front desk had a stack of $2 tip chips, but they may use them as a promotion – perhaps new members receive $12 in tip chips to pay for their first hour of play on the house? Either way, I asked if I could buy a couple and was told no.

I made my way inside the poker room after going through security. I asked the cashier if they had any tip chips, especially $1 tip chips and was told that I could tip with cash chips. Oh well. They had a seat opened for me at the $1/$3 NLH game and I took my place. There were 3 tables running on this Wednesday afternoon. They did have a promotion running. Each month they pick a four-of-a-kind hand. If you flop it you get $500 and if you make it on the turn or river you get $250. This month’s hand was 8888, and sure enough someone turned it later that day at another table to earn the $250. I didn’t notice the dealer raking any chips from the pot to fund this promotion and when I asked one of the regulars at the table they said that it was paid by the house. I kind of doubted that, but who knows?

I do remember the dealers not being very proficient. There were a lot of misdeals, and when you’re paying time it can be frustrating. Aside from the dealers, the room is clean and modern with good lighting and comfortable chairs. At one point I got up to use the men’s room and saw someone new at the cage. I was going to buy more chips (this would put me in the game for $900 total) and while doing so asked if I could buy a tip chip. He agreed and I got the $2 tip chip shown below. He said that they didn’t have any $1 tip chips, which likely meant that they were all stored in the back and not for sale. After grinding out the rest of my $25’s worth of time I not only got even but made a small $160 profit on the session.



TCH RGV has been opened for several years and these ceramic chips are their first issue chips. Most are pretty well worn smooth and faded along the edges so you can’t make out the eight red dashes along the edge of the $1 chips. Many also have nicks and chips in them. The $5’s and $25’s look much better, some almost like new. They probably placed a reorder to add more $5 chips at one point. The chips shown here are the best from those I was able to take. All of the TCH clubs incorporate the four-suits-in-a-circle logo. They all do this in a different manner, making each Texas Card House chip unique to its location.

You had me on the edge of my seat! 😝

I was sad for you that you wouldn’t get your tip chip but the story had a happy ending. 😊

State: Texas
City: Houston
Casino: Elite Social Club

On 12 August 2023, I stopped at Elite Poker. This club recently opened at the location of 101 Poker Richmond which had just opened prior to last year’s trip. Recall that it was previously Johnny Chan’s 888 Social and before that was 52 Social. Yes, this location has gone through a number of owners. They honored my 101 Poker Richmond membership card at the door and no longer charged an admission fee, but they were now taking rake: $5 at $35 and another $5 at $100. On top of this $10 rake they were also taking a $1 promotional drop. I believe that there was a random drawing for $300 for a portion of the evening which had ended shortly after I had arrived.



The room had 5 tables running and I was immediately seated at the $1/$3 No-Limit Hold’em game. I was disappointed to see that they were using the old rack of chips from 101 Poker Richmond, but they were augmenting their $1 chips with the old $1 tip chips from 52 Social as they had similar colorings. Very odd. I asked at the cage if they also still had other denominations from 52 Social, or anything from Johnny Chan’s 888 Social, and was told that they did not. I suspect that the new owners have them stored somewhere. It only makes sense. As it was late, and I was really only there to see if Elite had any new chips, I racked up a $15 winner without taking any chips home with me. If they’re still in business next year I’ll stop by to see if they invested in their own set of Elite poker chips.

So ... I guess I am a bit confused. Is this supposed to be an "Elite Social Club" posting for the Casino Chip of the Day thread? It seems that you do not yet have a chip of that type, and we already have a post for 101 Poker Richmond that shows both that chip and the one for Johnny Chan's 888 Social.

BTW, with the screwed-up revised "format" for this forum, almost all old links are broken, but as of today, the one in the paragraph above is working. I'm still hoping that someone will take this issue seriously and get the format/links fixed. Otherwise, I guess I really will have to give up on maintaining a CCotD index. Or just give up on the forum.

Quote: Doc

So ... I guess I am a bit confused. Is this supposed to be an "Elite Social Club" posting for the Casino Chip of the Day thread?
link to original post

Yes. Elite Social Club is new. Until they get their own chips, they are using a mix of chips from previous clubs who operated at this same location. It's as confusing as the Casino Chip of the Day guidance in that it's neither a Casino of the Day nor is it a Chip of the Day, but a mix -- a new casino with old chips. It's almost as confusing as the recent listing for Lets Run It Social Club which you may recall used $1 chips from the previous club, Prime Time Social mixed with $5 and $25 chips from their club.

Your 9/1/23 post for Lets Run It Social Club included images of $5 and $25 chips that specifically were marked "LetsRunIt". I considered that a valid Casino Chip of the Day post and entered it into the thread index. When the Elite Social Club has chips with the new name of the establishment in play and you get one, please post it for us to see, and I will consider that an "official" CCotD post to be added to the index. Of course, that last statement is dependent upon forum format issues being resolved so that it is possible to maintain a proper index.

State: Texas
City: Wichita Falls
Casino: Alpha Social Club



Clint Robertson opened Alpha Social Club in June of 2021 in a remodeled barn in Wichita Falls, Texas. The project had been in the works since 2020. Don’t let the exterior fool you. The moderate 4-table poker room is all decked out with modern equipment in a welcoming setting. For a small poker room they have a big footprint. You can find them on PokerAtlas, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and they have their own website. Alpha opens at noon on weekdays (4pm Saturday and 1pm Sunday) and don’t close until 3am. They charge a $10/hour seat rental fee which is paid at the cashier who adds the time to your membership card which is they swiped at the poker table.

None of this is out of the ordinary.



What I’d like to talk about are their poker chips. Here is the $1 chip. The $5, $25, and $100 chips all use the same design but with red, green, and black backgrounds respectively. Have you ever wondered how you might go about designing a poker chip if you opened your own Texas Card Club? Here’s what Clint did. He used the power of the Internet, and the creativity of DesignCrowd to hold a logo contest. Twenty designers submitted a total of 54 designs. The winner, as chosen by Clint, received $150. A team from Great Plains Design submitted the winning design. Part of the logo was then incorporated onto the poker chips. Pretty clever!

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Texas
City: San Antonio
Casino: Poker Palace

Today’s chip of the day is from the San Antonio Poker Palace in you guessed it, San Antonio, Texas. SAPP opened on January 7, 2021 and that is all I know about the place because I don’t remember being there.
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This casino (see original post) is the San Antonio Poker Palace (SAPP), and not just Poker Palace. This is so it is not confused with the Austin Poker Palace (APP) (see below) or any other card rooms in the state of Texas that use "Poker Palace" as part of their name.

Quote: PokerGrinder

State: Texas
City: Austin
Casino: Texas Card House

Today’s chip of the day is from Texas Card House in Austin, Texas.


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TCH Austin finally has a new rack of chips! They were the last of the Texas Card House rooms to replace the old generic plastic chip with sticker inlays with a set of custom ceramic chips.