Poker Trophies

If you run a poker league or hold regular poker tournaments, you might consider awarding a trophy to the winner. Let the winner take the trophy home, to place on his fireplace mantle, until your next game. Imagine coming home drunk after winning the poker tournament ... and showing-off the trophy to your spouse! You might also want to award a trophy to the player who is eliminated first from the tournament - you can actually find trophies of a horse's rear end!

Buy a trophy for about $10-15 at a local trophy shop - you can usually get a trophy of a human hand holding five playing cards. When your tournament is almost over and it gets down to the final two players ... dump the purse money on to the poker table and place the trophy behind the huge stack of bills. Make a big production out it ... I've never seen this done without all the players bursting out laughing! Let the winner take the trophy home until your next tournament.

If you are looking for a special gift for that person who just won a poker tournament (especially if that person is yourself!) you might consider encasing the winning hand in a plaque like the plaque shown to the left. You can display your winning hand, your opponents losing hand, the flop, and a poker chip from the tournament. What spouse wouldn't want this hanging on a wall?

Poker-wear bracelet You might also consider awarding a bracelet to the winner, as is done in the World Series of Poker. You can also award poker championship rings, earrings, charms, and other types of poker jewelry.

You can also create your own customized poker chips and award them to the winners. Some suppliers (such as ABCGiftsAndAwards) will create a very limited quantity of personalized poker chips. You can have a different chip created for first second, second place, third place, etc. or you can have a series of ten "ABC Poker league Champion!" chips made and give one chip to the winner of each of your ten? tournaments. You can then award one "ABC Poker Tournament of Champions Winner" chip for your league championship winner.

Poker Trophy Reviews

Poker Bracelet from www.epokerdeal.com

These are fantastic looking poker bracelets that resemble the WSOP bracelets. 50ml Gold plated and silver (rhodium) plated bracelets are available. They come in both a link style and a mesh style of wrist band. The faceplate has "World POKER Champion" and the four card suits printed on it. The entire faceplate is bordered by "Swavorkian crystals" and there are also some crystals in the center of the card suits. Future versions of the bracelet will be available without the word 'World'.

The individual links are of good quality - there are no gaps where the two ends of each link are joined together. This is not one of those cheap bracelets where you can bend the links or pull them apart. There is a hefty weight and feel to the bracelet. There is a locking clasp that appears strong enough to stay secured.

The bracelet is 8.5 inches long, the width of the face plate is 2 inches , the height of the face plate is 3/4 of an inch, and it weighs 76 grams. The bracelet comes in the standard cardboard jewelry box, just like the box that a diamond bracelet for your wife would come in ... but let's not go overboard here!

I really like these ePokerDeals poker bracelets. They are a perfect cheaper version of the WSOP bracelets. It's not like they look exactly alike, or cost the same, but the ePokerDeals bracelets definitely give that WSOP feeling. The cost is $29.99 and shipping within the USA or Canada is under $2.December 2006

ABC Gifts and Awards Trophies

Trophy ABC Gifts and Awards carries a full range of poker trophies, probably more than any other site that I have seen. They have several different styles of poker trophy ranging from a couple inches tall to three feet tall. I was sent the Clear Backdrop trophy set with an additional horse's ass trophy for the player who is eliminated first from your tournament. There is a nice hologram sticker on the trophies. The trophies include a nameplate with up to four lines of unlimited personalized text. The cost is $45 for a set of three trophies.

The nice thing about the ABC Gifts and Awards trophies is that they are specifically designed for poker. The hand on the trophy is holding a spade royal flush and the cards on the image are an ace-king with a flop and poker chips in the background. Many 'card' trophies that you can find locally are a more generic four-of-a-kind or even a euchre or bridge hand, rather than a poker hand.

You can order a similar set of trophies with an image that you provide - the image is printed in the center of the trophy. Customizable plaques are also available. You can also buy sets of trophies, say for your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place finishers. A horse's ass trophy is available for the first player who is eliminated from your tournament.

The trophies are not the same cheap, flimsy trophies that can be bought anywhere for under $10. These are sturdy and there is no bend or slackness in the joints between the base and the metal of the trophy. The bases are made of the typical fake marble common to all trophies. The text on the plaque is limited only by the space available, ABC Gifts and Awards does not charge extra for lengthy amounts of text. The trophies are shipped in cardboard boxes with plenty of bubble packing material. ABC Gifts and Awards also offers other types of poker trophies and awards and you can even order customized dealer buttons (reviewed here) or poker chip awards. October 2006

Poker Weights.com Awards

These card protectors from PokerWeights.com can be used as awards for players at your poker tournaments. They come in individual plastic envelopes and other awards such as 2nd Place, 3rd Place, 1st Out, and the Donkey award are also available.

These awards are covered with a thick enamel that gives a nice smooth feel. The graphics are very nice and feature just the right amount of gold or silver trim. The graphics are nicer than what is shown in the images on this site (and the Poker Weights site!) - the gold and silver trim causes problems for my scanner and the images come out looking a bit choppy. There are different designs on the front and back of the award.

The awards are 50.75mm in diameter, 5mm thick, and weigh about 60 grams. They cost $55 from the PokerWeights.com EBay store. October 2006

Big Chip Poker Trophy from Big Chip Awards

August 2007 - This site appears to no longer be in business

This is a rather unique hand painted poker trophy that can be customized with your poker league's name or any other non-copyrighted material. The chip is 4.5 inches in diameter and the trophy stands 5 inches tall, making it about the same size as the average metal trophy and just the right size to place on a shelf ... or on the fireplace mantle with your other trophies.

The printing of the logo is nice. It is printed on paper that is glued to the chip. The background color is not a bleached white, but rather an off-white that is a bit marbled. You have the option of three different edge spot designs on a base color of green, red, blue, or black. The surface is fairly soft and it is easy to scratch into the chip color, revealing the white base color underneath. The base of the trophy is a very light wood of some kind. There are three felt pads on the bottom of the base.

The cost of the Big Chip Award is $12.95. It is only available only in the lower 48 United States. I like this trophy and I sure hope that Big Chip Awards also sends me the 7.5 inch poker chip plaque that is available for $14.95! August 2006