Horseshoe Southern Indiana (HSI) chips and the primary $100
A buyer asking for "new HSI primary $100" chips is using forum shorthand. The Poker Chip Forum glossary expands HSI as Horseshoe Indiana, a casino that was rebranded.1 This article sets out what can be checked about the venue, what collectors say about the chips, and what is still unclear.
In this guide
The venue
The casino in Elizabeth, Indiana, near the Harrison County line, opened to the public on 20 November 1998 as Caesars Indiana. It was renamed Horseshoe Southern Indiana in 2008 after ownership changes inside the Caesars corporation, and changed back to Caesars Southern Indiana on 12 December 2019 when it moved from a riverboat to a land-based facility. In October 2017 ownership passed to Vici Properties, and in September 2021 Caesars sold the operating business to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for $250 million; the casino keeps the Caesars name under a licence.2
So "Horseshoe Southern Indiana" as a branded house name covers 2008 to 2019. Chips carrying that name belong to that period, although the pages consulted do not give exact dates when each chip was issued.
What collectors say about HSI chips
One owner on the forum describes an HSI set as Paulson chips from secondary denominations, bought from a chip dealer's sale, banking up to a $5/$10 game with a total bank of $43,225, and says the chips were never used in play.3 The pages read do not list the denominations of the primary set, so confirm them from photographs or a catalogue entry.
Because the owner calls the secondary set "never used", HSI can exist in the market in both unplayed and house-used condition; condition should be checked per chip rather than assumed.
Primary versus secondary
The wanted request that prompted this article seeks "new" primary $100 chips, meaning unplayed. Primary and secondary are collector terms for two chip designs from the same venue. Which HSI design was issued first, and how the two differ, is not established on the pages read, so do not assume an issue order. Compare the chip you are offered with a ChipGuide entry for the casino, which records issue date, colour, mould and inlay.4
Buying tips
- Confirm which casino the seller means. "HSI" is not unique to Horseshoe Southern Indiana in every thread; another poster in a trade thread described HSI as "Horseshoe Club", which does not match the glossary, so ask for a photo.
- Ask the seller whether the chip was cage stock or played.
- Check denominations against a catalogue before assuming a "primary $100" exists as described.
Write an HSI wanted request that excludes near matches
For the primary $100, include the full name Horseshoe Southern Indiana, the word primary, the denomination and a photograph of a known matching chip. If condition matters, describe what is acceptable: intact inlays, readable lettering, edge nicks, surface wear and whether chips have been altered. 'New HSI' is too short to settle all of those questions.
Useful searches include Horseshoe Southern Indiana primary 100 chips, HSI primary $100 Paulson and Horseshoe Indiana primary cash set. Search the full name before the abbreviation, and compare individual results with the photo rather than trusting the listing title.
Buying a lot rather than a single chip
Request an inventory by denomination and an overhead picture in which all chips can be counted. Ask for a separate edge photograph of the actual $100 group. A representative chip at the front of a mixed lot does not show the condition of the rest.
Can unused secondary chips complete a primary collection?
Only as an intentional substitute. The primary and secondary labels identify different designs, so attractive condition does not make one the other. Keep any substitution explicit in your inventory and wanted list. This helps when trading later: a buyer should be able to see which parts of the set are the exact HSI issue and which are stand-ins.
Sources and further reading
- PCF Poker Glossary, Poker Chip Forum: abbreviation list.
- Caesars Southern Indiana, Wikipedia: history and renaming.
- PNYs, HSIs, TPs - Sell or Keep?, Poker Chip Forum: owner's HSI set.
- ChipGuide, Museum of Gaming History: example of the database's entries.