What type of poker chips are available to buy?
There are three types of chips on the market: plastic chips, composite poker chips, and "clay" poker chips. Plastic chips are the cheapest, very lightweight, and probably will get you beatdown if playing with serious poker players. Composite poker chips are the most common type, commonly have a metal core, are professional looking, feel very similar to actual casino chips, and are not too pricey. They are usually made out of a materical called ABS(a high strength plastic), which allows for very sharp and detailed designs to be placed on the chip. Clay chips combine clay with additional synthetics inside the chip. These clay chips are the most expensive, and can weigh between 8 grams to 11.5 grams, are usually 39mm in diameteter(casino size). They usually have better stacking ability(due to their dull surface) as compared to composite poker chips(usually a slicker surface) but less durability since the clay composite chips can get chipped or scuffed. There are no clay chips that are entirely made out of clay since it would be very weak and be easily be broken in half.
Can I buy actual casino quality poker chips online?
Actual casino chips are made by a very limited amount of specialized companies in the United States. These companies create for each casino a unique blend of materials that are entirely secret in order to protect against counterfeiting. In order to purchase these chips, you must either pay face value at the casino for them or find a reseller who will mark up the price. The modern casino chips are usually made out of a synthetic polymer acrylic composite with a laminated center. Generally, they weigh 10 grams.
How many chips should I buy for my poker chip set?You should estimate having between 80-120 chips per player in your games. It's always best to have extra chips on hand in case you have really aggressive players or in case of some extra players to your game. With 3-4 people, you can get by with usually 300 chips but again it's better to have more on hand just in case.
Some other tips:
It's best to not have the denominations of the chips printed on them since you can then adapt them to big and small games.
If you are looking to get your poker chips monogrammed with yours or someone else's initials, you can only do this on composite. If you want them on clay you'll need a label printed to place on the chip.