Custom Poker Chips
Thanks largely to ESPN's broadcast of the 2004 and 2005 World Series of Poker and the Travel Channel's coverage of events on the World Poker Tour, Texas Hold 'Em poker has become a national obsession of sorts. Ratings for those two shows and the handful of clones they have inspired have been constantly impressive. In fact, the World Poker Tour is the Travel Channel's highest rated series, pulling in more than 5 million viewers per episode.
Further, they have spawned numerous games on college campuses, not to mention the creation of a truckload of new poker video games, how-to books, and websites devoted to learning the basics and then putting them into practice. Now, custom poker chip makers such as e-PokerChips.com and PokerProducts.com are getting in on the act by offering fans of the game to design their own personalized chips.
For a price, that is. e-PokerChips.com charges $0.70 for one chip, $200 for 300 chips, $350 for 500 chips and $650 for 1,000 chips. They have you supply a custom design or logo, reproduce it on high-quality printers and then laminate it to the chips. As for PokerProducts.com, they produce the artwork themselves for a $55 fee, and then stamp it to the chips. Their rates start at $10 per 100 chips for a stamp containing three initials or the monetary value of the chip.
They are not alone, as many online and brick-and-mortal outlets have started selling novelty and custom poker chips. In fact, according to In Business Las Vegas staff writer Liz Benson, total sales of both poker cards and poker chips reached "record highs" during the 2004 holiday season. So why has poker caught the imagination of so many people?
"Anyone who plays is essentially the next potential millionaire, the next Chris Moneymaker," Eric Morris, the co-founder and publisher of Bluff Magazine, once explained during an interview with The Poker Gazette. "I'm a huge baseball fan, but I'm not talented enough or in shape enough to ever be a pro. But with poker, I'm one tournament away from being a professional and winning a million dollars."