This year, the theme is “Poker Archetypes.” Each chip in the chip set has a common obverse showing the scales of justice weighing Presto! against Aces. Standard chip colors are used. The BARGE 2009 NLHE Champion, David “Heldar” Heller, came up with the theme.
In David’s opinion, the poker world has three types of players: Donkey/Hosers, Pokermaticians, and Lawyers.
The Donkey/Hosers are those who call a preflop raise with 72o and then flop a full house.
The Pokermaticians are those who play the game by game-theoretic, pareto-optimized, non-exploitable strategies.
The Lawyers are those who play by reading people and situations.
This year’s chip set pays homage to each of these types of poker player, showcasing archetypes of each category, and also illustrating a difference between the Lawyer’s bluff and the Pokermatician’s bluff: Lawyers bluff by telling a convincing story (not necessarily in words); Pokermaticians bluff according to an equation, using an appropriate randomizer. (Donkey/Hosers never bluff because they have flopped the nuts anyway).
Next set: 2011: Reindeer Games
Previous set: 2009: IRC Poker