I had collected four chips from some of my larger craps wins (not really large, but hey, I'm a low roller). Mostly, I collected dice from those wins, but I had a few chips and put them away and forgot about them. In 2000, I went to Las Vegas with my wife and all of my brothers and sisters-in-law. I had run across keychains that held casino chips while looking for a home poker set a few years before and remembered the keychains I had seen. My brother-in-law had already begun collecting a $1 chip from each casino we visited, and I thought it would be a cool present (he has no further interest in chip collecting than that). Everyone could pick out the chip they wanted for their own keychain. When we got home, I thought it would be great to get three chips from Vegas World, where me and my two best friends had stayed when we first went to Las Vegas in the 1980's and give them to my friends in those keychains. So, I bought 3 more keychains and set about trying to find $1 Vegas World chips. I got one off of ebay from Lucky2Boat and starting discovering websites owned by chippers to get a few more. I decided to get an extra that I would not put in the keychain, the nicest one, and kept looking. In the process, I bought one from Monte Schuff, and someone else, maybe Scott Hartman. Finally, I found the Chip Board. I posted for 2 or 3 days under my first name only and didn't get much response. So, I posted under my full name. Charles Kaplan, who is doing so many great things for this hobby and has always helped me out as a mentor and chipping friend, sold me my last Vegas World chip and sent me a copy of the CCTN (I enjoyed it, but after I was done, my wife threw it out unknowingly). Anyway, the Chip Board fascinated me and I decided I would get a chip from all of the casinos I had gambled in. In the meantime, I made a lot of friends. At that time, there were a lot of new faces on the board around the same time, so we happily traded with each other for the common stuff. The more I thought about it, the more casinos I could remember going to. So, I kept getting chips. Once I got close to finishing that, and I had learned so much more about the hobby, I decided to get the chips that were actually in play when I was at the casino. This meant getting rid of some chips and buying others. In the process, I just picked up some chips that were just nice, or just for the sake of trading chips. In 2002, I went on a trip to Aruba, and that's when things got serious for me. I started collecting dealer buttons when I was looking for chip spacers for my home poker chip set. After a number of years on the board, I thought maybe I should join the club. I had never been to a convention and didn't see it happening any time soon (I still haven't gone to one), and had never met anyone on the board. I went to a NY Metro Area Club meeting one weekend and met Charles, Paul Liscio, Dick Bartley and a number of other people whose names I didn't recognize, and really enjoyed myself. I decided it was worth it to join the club simply to support the hobby and in some way commit to the larger chip collecting community. I have tried to give back to the hobby by posting casino reports and chip comparisons on the Chip Board. I have ideas for a few articles for the magazine as well, if I get the time and motivation at the same time.

The magazine is really my only tangible benefit of the club, but I really enjoy being a member. Now, I have been to a few Northeast Chipper Gatherings and met a bunch of great chippers. Like most, I love my chips, but value the friendships I have made even more, even with people who are just words on a screen. I hope to meet a lot of you one day, but for now, I just love the hobby. The history, the chips, the "stuff" and the people. Thanks.

Michael Siskin