I've got a bunch of 'em. Most of them I will either keep as souvenirs or recirculate at the casinos by playing them. But I think that the collections I have made from the seven casinos below might be of interest to a starting collector, so I'm offering them here.
All of them were picked up from poker tables; amount of wear is highly variable. Shipping is for U.S. addresses only, via 2-3 day Priority Mail. Sold only as the sets shown below; i.e., no individual chips. 8 1/2" by 11" plastic sheet for 3-ring binder included. Prices are not negotiable. If you're interested in buying any of these sets, write to me at Rakewell1 at the email address for Yahoos. Offer good for only about three days, after which they're going on eBay.
Bally's
Bally's has issued more commemorative chips than you might imagine from playing in the poker room, because most of these have been snapped up by collectors, and it's rare to see them in circulation. Most of the examples shown here I have seen just once, and I immediately took them out of play.
12 different five-dollar chips at $8 each, plus 2 one-dollar chips at face value, plus $5 shipping = $103.
Imperial Palace
As with Bally's, so with IP. That is, they have issued more different chips than you would know from a session or two playing there. But if you keep your eyes open and put in a lot of hours, you can spot the occasional appearance of the rare ones.
15 five-dollar chips at $8 each, plus 1 one-dollar chip at face value, plus $5 shipping = $126.
Mandalay Bay
Same basic story. Some of these are common, but a few I have seen only the one time that I plucked them from the table and stashed them away.
14 five-dollar chips at $8 each, plus 3 one-dollar chips at face value, plus $5 shipping = $120.
Riviera
The Riviera used to be one of the most prolific issuers of commemorative chips. I was happily gathering a few new ones each time I played there, when suddenly, in 2008, they withdrew them all from circulation and replaced them with five of the last six shown. (The sixth, the soccer one, was added later.) So with the exception of the last six, you can now obtain these only by buying them from other collectors or dealers.
33 five-dollar chips at $8 each, plus 1 one-dollar chip at face value, plus $5 shipping = $270.
Stratosphere
The Stratosphere has not issued a lot of different chips. I really don't know how many they've had over the years. These are all the ones I have seen in circulation. (Though, oddly, I somehow never picked up their standard $5 chip to put in the collection. I guess I always thought I had one already, when I didn't.) As with the other places, most of these I have seen on a poker table just the one time I grabbed them, never before or since.
5 five-dollar chips at $8 plus 1 one-dollar chip at face value, plus $5 shipping = $46.
Sunset Station
Don't laugh--I used to go out to Sunset with some regularity. Haven't played there in at least a couple of years now, though. The Hooters ones are not a mistake; there is a Hooters restaurant inside Sunset Station, so they issued a few chips accordingly.
15 five-dollar chips at $8 each, plus 1 one-dollar chip at face value, plus 1 one-dollar metal gaming token at face value, plus $5 shipping = $127.
Venetian/Palazzo
Unlike for the other casinos mentioned in this blog post, here I'm pretty confident that this is a complete collection of all of the $5 chips issued by the Venetian and Palazzo since they have been open. At least, if I'm missing any, I'm not aware of what they would be. Some of these are very common. Two of them are brand new, just issued in the past couple of months (the second "Winter in Venice" and the "Rock of Ages" one). The "Millennium" and "One-Year Anniversary" ones are very rare; I have never come across another example of either of them in hundreds of hours watching chips get exchanged across the Venetian felt.
13 five-dollar chips at $8 each, plus 1 two-dollar drop chip at face value, plus 5 one-dollar chips at face value, plus $5 shipping = $116.
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2 comments:
Hey Grump - you mentioned you played "hunfreds" of hours at the V/P. Since you are winding this thing down I was wondering if you'd share with us how many hours you've played poker last few years with maybe a breakdown of hours/casino etc. Maybe breakdown most profitable hours/places, biggest hands etc. Not to get to personal but a lot of us have lived your adventure with you almost from the beginning and sure are going to miss it. A nice recap would be nice going away present.
Thanks for all the great stories. Not many people have a hand named after them..thats something to hand your hat on for sure!
I'm 100% with itchy on this one. I have lived vicariously through your blog as a 1/2 grinder for so long. I can understand why you may not want to share a lot of details, but to the extent you feel comfortable, I would love to know more about what it was like.
Thanks for hours of reading.
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