I am a new member and recent frequent visitor to the board and have found this to be a great resource for purchases, trades as well as info and good humor. I thought I would share my interests with the board and it would perhaps open up some more opporunities to grow my collection.

My interest in collecting started about 10 years ago when I drove from Albuquerque to Taos NM to visit family and discovered the world of native american casinos that I never knew existed. On the return trip - I stopped at each of the many casinos (Camels Rock, Cities of Gold, etc) and decided to take home a $1 house chip from each. When I got home I started doing some research and discovered that there were Native American casinos dotted throught the southwest, CA, etc - and I decided it would be fun to collect a $1 chip from each.

I then found my way to ebay - where I was again surprised that there were all sorts of chips for sale - from all sorts of places. I just couldn't pass up buying some of the more interesting and unique looking $1 chips that were not Native American. So - I expanded my collecting goal from just Native American $1 chips - to all current open casino $1 chips - quite a goal I know. Well - as it went, I started also buying some closed casino chips as well, and the idea got into my head that maybe I should own a single $1 chip from every US casino that ever existed? As new issues have come out from casinos and card rooms that are already represented in my collection - and as I see intereting OBS chips from the same - I try and resist aquiring them, but I'm not always succesfull.

I have found it very interesting to see all the different approaches to collecting represented by board participants - I am clearly interested in breadth of collecting from many different casinos and card rooms vs depth from any particular casino, not that concerned with condition, not looking for rare or expensive chips, and only interested in $1 house chips. I am the guy that bids up to about $2 on any chip on ebay that I dont have. (BTW - I buy/sell on ebay as omachip666). However - I have just recently started collecting T25 NCV tournament chips - though I think I will limit my collection to card rooms where I have actually played vs buying or trading for them. We shall see how that goes.

Perhaps unique to other collectors - I do not put my chips in albums or frames - I actually take them out and play poker with them from time to time, mostly with my kids. My collection recently passed 500 chips and growing. I will be out in LV this June to play in some WSOP events and hope to at least spend an afternoon at the trade show!

Finally - I live in MA and frequent NH card rooms - Rockingham, Seabrook & The Poker Room in Hampton Falls as well as occasional visits to the CT casinos - and would be happy to do some trading if anyone is interested.