Gaming chips have been made from a huge selection of materials in an almost endless variety of styles since the advent of betting and the need to keep an eye on winnings. The most familiar materials used at present in the creation of current poker chips are plastic, clay composite, and acrylic composite. Clay chips, the primary of the bunch, have been made in America since the late 1800s.
Back in the 1800s, poker enthusiasts seemed to use any tiny item with value imaginable. Early poker enthusiasts occasionally used jagged gold pieces along with chips – chiefly manufactured of wood and clay. By the 1900s, poker chip designs started to play a greater prominence, and the smooth edges of older chips gave way to chips with ridges to hold them neatly stacked together.
There is little or no doubt that poker has grown constantly in universal appeal since its beginnings in the 19th century. With the explosive increase of net gambling and unique TV shows, community appeal in poker has feed the fire more rapidly than ever before. Many people are first introduced to poker by TV showssuch as "Celebrity Poker" or "Poker After Dark," and many will play their first hands online. Regardless of net poker’s rise, nothing replaces the feeling of shuffling weighty clay poker chips in your hand, throwing chips into the middle of a poker table, or creating tall pilesstacks of chips after showing a winning hand.