Was trying to buy some chips to play craps... (1 Viewer)

JustDave

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...and I had no idea how far this rabbit hole went.

Some friends and I like to play craps when we take a yearly trip to Las Vegas and a few times a year we get together to play craps. Occasionally, we also have people who've never played before but are coming with us to Las Vegas and they want to learn the game. I got super tired of using my buddies random collection of poker chips he bought off eBay and decided if I was going to get some poker chips of my own I was going to do it right.

Little did I know what I was getting myself into. I thought I was spending a lot and buying a ton of chips when I picked up 1,000 Scroll chips, little did I know what I was getting myself into. I found this place looking for a few reviews of various vendors and I'm constantly blown away by how friendly and helpful everyone is on this forum. Some of the collections I've seen really blow me away and I can feel the call to explore further.

The chip denominations and what you want to have for craps was pretty different from what you'd get for the same number of poker players so I kind of had to make it up as I went. If anyone is interested in how I broke them down let me know.

Mid term goals are replacing the crappy chip trays(Paulson, Chipco or Matsui) that came with the chips and the birdcage it came with. One broke in shipping, they just kinda give me not a great vibe, and I like the idea of using both halves of the Matsui to be able to give players their chips. Currently, I end up with a bunch of chips sitting on a table off to the side as I need the extra trays. I figure if I'm gonna get excess chip trays, might as well get nice ones I'll have for a while.

As for the bird cage, it looks great at my house but when I've had to take it to friends the creaking and what not makes me anxious it'll break some day. Additionally, and I don't hear this mentioned much, 1,000 chips is quite heavy and the birdcage is somewhat awkward, I think I tweaked my back a bit the first time I carried it. Also, not a great fan of not being able to fit dice or cards inside easily. I'm tempted to go the pelican route.

Long term I think I want to get a different set just for smaller poker games, maybe in the 600 chips range. I think I'll stick with the more colorful but accessible chips like Tikis. It's probably overkill but I really wanna get some of those plaques, I think they'd be fun and I think my friends would enjoy them soon.

JustDave
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awesome choice for a first chip set, hello and welcome!
 
Welcome!

If anyone is interested in how I broke them down let me know.

I'd love to know what your set breakdown and rationale for the bank capacity.

That's really cool, my wife and I love that game. We always have to teach people how to play as well. Do you just have a felt to place on top of a table and a bumper to throw against?

I've been wanting to make a miniature table so I can learn the payouts faster. I played at one in Silver Sevens that was so small it was manned by only one person - almost like a black jack table.

I think maybe @Quicksilver-75 @slisk250 @T_Chan have experience with the building and running games of craps. They might have a recommendation for set breakdowns too.
 
To learn the game, and to give the game a sense of realism I did this. You’ll need nickels, quarters and dollars. Rather than placing spots with $5 or $6, use 25c and 30c wagers keeping in mind that 5c is equal to one unit. 6-8 both use 6 units. 4,5,9 and 10 can be placed using a quarter (or 5 units) it plays the same but without killing the crowd. I’ve found people are generally okay with losing a few bucks to learn the game. Once your players know the game basics, move into the center action slowly.
once people feel they understand “most” of the game, start a tourney. Give all the players a $100 to start. Play until X-amount of rolls or play until they go broke. Craps is a great game. My kids love it!
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Nice table Steve, I love that setup - that's the one I was thinking about! What breakdown for the bank did you find appropriate for 6-8 players using 25c/30c wagers?
 
I'd love to know what your set breakdown and rationale for the bank capacity.

We've taught a bunch of people to play and we've actually I think gotten it down. We put the board out and we take pieces of paper and cover all of the pets except the pass line and we just play with the pass line and the odds for a while. We then uncover more and more of the board at a time as people get comfortable. It's had plenty of success with new players

So we play one of two ways, we either play 'just to learn' where we turn 20 dollars into 2000 dollars. Or we play 'betting correctly' where we turn 20 dollars into 200 dollars. We play with 5 dollar as a minimum bid and almost all of the time we play with 2000 dollars. Because of the way you bet in craps where you bet 6 at time to maximize payouts and to account for hardways bets often being 1 dollar I have a lot more 1s than you'd normally expect.

So what I own:
T1 - 225
T5 - 350
T25 - 250
T100 - 150
T500 - 25

When we do a 200 buy-in:
T1 - 25
T5 - 20
T25 - 3
T100 - 0
T500 - 0

When we do a 2000 buy-in:
T1 - 15
T5 - 22
T25 - 15
T100 - 10
T500 - 1

Probably not ideal numbers but the 200 buy-in is close to what you'd get in a casino if you bought in. You'd get more 5s and no 25s, but if I do that it's harder to make change. With the 2000 buy-in I've kinda learned that you want people to have a good number of chips in front of them to get them to bet.

Unlike poker, 'the bank' is very much a thing in craps. When we play whoever is dealing is 'the bank' and is opposite the players. Up to 8 players buy in for 20 dollars and 'the bank' fronts 160 dollars. Normally the players bring food, booze, and the 'bank' doesn't. We really only do real money so people don't piss it all away.

That's really cool, my wife and I love that game. We always have to teach people how to play as well. Do you just have a felt to place on top of a table and a bumper to throw against?

We have a 'board' that's felt covered that just folds up and it covers a standard kitchen table and it has all of the usual notations. We don't have a bumper to throw against, we just make people throw the dice to the other side of the table and no one is dice setting or anything.

I've been wanting to make a miniature table so I can learn the payouts faster. I played at one in Silver Sevens that was so small it was manned by only one person - almost like a black jack table.

Having dealt a couple times just for friends, I have endless respect for craps dealers.
 
To learn the game, and to give the game a sense of realism I did this. You’ll need nickels, quarters and dollars. Rather than placing spots with $5 or $6, use 25c and 30c wagers. 6-8 both use 6 units. 4,5,9 and 10 can be placed using a quarter (or 5 units) it plays the same but without killing the crowd. I’ve found people are generally okay with losing a few bucks to learn the game. Once your players know the game basics, move into the center action slowly.
once people feel they understand “most” of the game, start a tourney. Give all the players a $100 to start. Play until X-amount of rolls or play until they go broke. Craps is a great game. My kids love it!View attachment 416700

I'm legit jealous.
 
Excellent share Steve!

Welcome to the forum @JustDave. Glad to have another poker player feeling the chippin bug!!! Definitely looking forward to seeing your progress along the way as you've pointed yourself in an awesome direction with some of the upgrade choices you are leaning towards. Pelicans are fantastic and there are also other brands with varying costs and colors available. There are tons of excellent ideas and creations on this forum that people have created. Feel free to reach out at any time, many of us here are happy to help and share ideas!!!!

Ps- plaques are awesome!!! We love them!!

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One thing I've always loved about Craps is you can have people of all different skill levels, engagement levels, experience levels at the same table at the same time and it all works. Because craps is such a collective game most people win and lose at the same time. Additionally, I never feel like I'm playing against the dealer, I'm playing against the house. The dealers are 'on your side' in craps.

I don't really like games where you play against others because by definition you are winning when they are losing(funny right on a game about poker chips). At the same time games like blackjack are not overly appealing because the guy next to you can get crushed for an hour while you keep hitting blackjacks. Additionally, when I play blackjack I feel like I'm playing against the dealer, not the house.
 
craps is my favorite casino game. i'm thinking of putting together a set for craps right now ~funny that this came up.

I really like clay for the game. going to do 1 5 25 100 & liking the idea of 500 for high rolling. something about an $1800 6/8 and doing presses sounds fun. ~not about to do that w/ my hard earned cashes though

lol, big 6/8 is high dice/low dice now ~about the same odds as the field
 
Chips n chips n chips n chips.

I've had my first set for not very long at all and am about to pull the trigger on a second smaller set for poker instead of craps, not to mention other carrying options, storage options, and trays.
 
I've had my first set for not very long at all and am about to pull the trigger on a second smaller set for poker instead of craps, not to mention other carrying options, storage options, and trays.
Good. Enjoy the journey. Get samples. Have fun.
 
Does your field pay triple for 2s or 12s? Or both? And if both can I come play on your table?

double for the 2 triple the 12. quite the commute from washington to washington (what w/ the whole continent in between) i'm figuring on making it one day though ~lol

Yall don't even know.....

yeah the table banks i've seen we're talking like if you have $500s, there's going to be 80 as a minimum. (of course if you're playing them rather than figuring them as color or the occasional wild bet that's just a weak start) but the $100s are a more respectable 160 pcs to 240 pcs, & what let's say, 640 pcs of $25, 800 $5s & 800 $1s

minus the $500s, the first casino i worked at set up a training table w/ plain HH ASMs pretty much those numbers. i think they were white, brown, one of the darker greens & charcoal. it was glorious (& they were all new!)
 
With all the delays in the garage construction, I'm most likely not going to get a table this summer...but the chips are purchased and I'll build the 12' table later. Here is a mock of what the chips will be in the layout. 800- 1s, 1120 - 5s, 480 - 25s, 160 - 100s, 40 - 500s, 40 - 1000s
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