Chiptalk

So not only do I love poker, I LOVE poker chips. They are easily the best part about gambling. Holding them in my hands, throwing them into the center, scooping a huge pot of them - it's awesome, and a very addictive sub-hobby of poker. I'm a member/moderator at Chiptalk, mecca for many collectors of singles and full sets of retired casino, and custom poker chips.

I got into the whole collector hobby back in 2005, and have been hooked ever since. It's an excellent community of very knowledgeable members. If you have any questions whatsoever, it's THE place to be. The Chipboard is quite good as well, but I can't stand the format of their forums.

I personally own three sets of custom chips, and am always in the market for more.

Anyways, not only is it a site dedicated to chips, there's a heckuva lot of poker strategy discussion. Many of the members are ridiculously good players. We've got at least one pro, and many semi-pros. One of which just took second place in the WCOOP 8-game final. He won $46k for his trouble. Not bad...

To that point, we have weekly private tournaments, on Mondays and Thursdays on Pokerstars. I'd say that I'm one of the more consistent players, always in contention for the quarterly tournament of champions. By almost pure fluke, mixed with a lot of luck and very little skill, managed to win the yearly tournament of champions last year. Super fun, and also very entertaining to play with the same die-hard group every week. I'd love to set something like this up live, but getting people to commit is hard.

Another member started running a Heads-up Tournament and I'm happy to say that I won the first match. Now I'm up against Dr. Lecterrr and I can't say I'm too happy about it. I know that he's aggressive, unpredicatble, and willing to push if he's shown any weakness. Wish me luck, and check out Chiptalk if you have any interest or questions, you won't be dissapointed. Your wallet might be...