You basically have three choices of 'type' of poker chips - the third is the most popular:

1) Budget Plastic chips, suitable for in-frequent players or a one-off game. Expect to pay from £9.95 to £19.95.

2 ) Round and square Mother-of-Pearl chips, sometimes also called 'plaques'. You will see these in James Band films and in continental casinos. Tubes of chips from £14.95 and sets from £14.50 to £95.

3) Round "Clay" Chips which you will see in American and British Casinos and on all those poker programmes on the TV. About 90% of the chips bought in the UK are this style.

If you have chosen "Clay" chips you will need to know that they are not made of clay! Most are made from ABS plastic and have a metal insert to give them the extra weight. However, some are made from "Clay Composite" - and these are considered the best or the Rolls Royce of poker chip.

So "Clay Composite" are the best. Gamble.co.uk stock five types of clay composite chips:

• Nexgen Pro 13gm

• Nexgen Series 2

• 15gm Las Vegas

• Desert Sands, and

• Nevada Jacks

Each has something special going for them. The Nexgen range of chips are the "next generation" and highly regarded on both sides of the Atlantic. The Las Vegas 15gm are currently the heaviest on the market. Nevada Jacks and Desert Sands both have history and chip design on their side. Incidentally, these last two chips have a very high clay content and could be damaged if mishandled and may also show signs of wear if misused. (After all, clay is a brittle substance!)

Of the ABS plastic chips you can choose between single-colour chips which are the lowest cost 11.5gm chip (please see our warning) or two-colour chips which look better. When choosing between two-colour chips, it is just down to personal preference on the design (suit, dice, roulette). Most people buy "suit" chips to play card games and "dice" chips for craps and roulette.

One last consideration is whether to have numbers on them or not. There is a standard table of values. But if you want numbers already on them, you can choose between foiled numbered chips or flag chips.

Each of these types of chip are available in sets, complete with cases, cards, dice, etc.

Hopefully this will answer your queries. If not, please feel free to email us with your questions.