The Beginners Guide To Mapping Out A Cash Game Chip Set - 5c/10c to $5/$10 (24 Viewers)

[MC_CPA]

5c/10c Mapping - $20 Max Buy In for 200 Big Blinds

Chips Needed - 500 Total Chips

100x 5c ($5)
200x 25c ($50)
150x $1 ($150)
25x $5 ($125)
25x $20 ($500)

Total Bank: $830


$5/$10 Mapping - $2,000 Max Buy In for 200 Big Blinds

Chips Needed - 375 Total Chips

100x $5 ($500)
100x $25 ($2,500)
75x $100 ($7,500)
100x $500 ($50,000)

Total Bank: $60,500

Why does $0.05 / $0.10 need 500 chips but $5 / $10 need only 375 chips? Shouldn't they be the same? Like if I use the $5 / $10 set and treat the $5s as nickels and $25s as quarters and $100 as dollars and $500s as 5s, it works out.

You can even add $1,000s as $10 and $5,000s as $50.

 

[Roslindale]

5c-10c
$40 buy-in. with $40 cap for re-buys

Starting Stacks x 10
5c - 25 cents - 5
25c - $2.75 - 11
$1‐ $22 - 22
$2.50 ‐ $15 ‐ 6

Build of set
60 to 80 nickle's
120 to 140 quarters
240 to 269 ones
200 snappers ($2.50)
200 fives (just because)


This breakdown covers our heavy action game

 

[Taghkanic]

People, please stop trying to create sets with the fewest number of chips possible. Get a comfortable amount, ideally with room to grow.

The marginal difference in cost is not worth (a) the machinations before ordering, (b) the annoying increase in change-making during games, (c) the un-fun nature of playing with the smallest possible stacks, and (d) the headache of later realizing “dammit, I should have gotten a few more, now I have to reorder/scrounge around for matches.”

Honestly, if the difference between 375 and 500 chips or even 750 chips is going to break you, you probably shouldn't be ordering/collecting custom chips (yet).

This is MENSA nerd shit—an interesting intellectual exercise, but not something a host should really stress over in practice. I’m not saying you should order/collect a stupid excess; just that it’s not worth worrying so much about getting the absolute minimum.

 

[MC_CPA]

Honestly, if the difference between 375 and 500 chips or even 750 chips is going to break you, you probably shouldn't be ordering/collecting custom chips (yet).

Lol this is true but at this time every rack of tiger palace chips sets retirement goals back 2 months give or take so if I can get by with 375 chips then best believe we're only getting 375 (or 380) chips.

 

[Taghkanic]

Lol this is true but at this time every rack of tiger palace chips sets retirement goals back 2 months give or take so if I can get by with 375 chips then best believe we're only getting 375 (or 380) chips.

Or, buy something less pricey than Tigers.

 

[Nitterdonker]

Or, buy something less pricey than Tigers.

 

[Bacon Dad]

HEY! Are those interlocking?!?!?

I wonder if a Tina ceramic hybrid chip could be made with an interlocking mold.

 

[Nitterdonker]

HEY! Are those interlocking?!?!?

I wonder if a Tina ceramic hybrid chip could be made with an interlocking mold.

Quite the feature, only seen in the rarest of gaming tokens

 

[JustinInMN]

Honestly, if the difference between 375 and 500 chips or even 750 chips is going to break you, you probably shouldn't be ordering/collecting custom chips (yet).

I love when the newbies come on here and say "I need a set that can cover 25¢-50¢ up to 5-10 and my budget is $150."

You can get a decent set of 600 custom ceramics for a rounding error in a 5-10 game.

 

[warewulf]

People, please stop trying to create sets with the fewest number of chips possible. Get a comfortable amount, ideally with room to grow.

The marginal difference in cost is not worth (a) the machinations before ordering, (b) the annoying increase in change-making during games, (c) the un-fun nature of playing with the smallest possible stacks, and (d) the headache of later realizing “dammit, I should have gotten a few more, now I have to reorder/scrounge around for matches.”

Honestly, if the difference between 375 and 500 chips or even 750 chips is going to break you, you probably shouldn't be ordering/collecting custom chips (yet).

This is MENSA nerd shit—an interesting intellectual exercise, but not something a host should really stress over in practice. I’m not saying you should order/collect a stupid excess; just that it’s not worth worrying so much about getting the absolute minimum.

Agree with this 100%. Also adjust for inflation if it might be a 'forever' set. I made this mistake a few times. I have a set that I built around 15 years ago with only 200 $5's. I ran the group buy for it, could've easily afforded a couple more racks of $5's. The set worked back then.

Now with inflation, I'm kicking myself for not keeping more $5's. It's Nevada mold set which is rare, and has custom hotstamp dies which were lost when BCC sold to GPI. So have been chasing a way to add on.

If you need 2 racks now, buy 3 or 4. Otherwise, you might end up having to buy a different set or pay inflated prices to add on. Post a wanted ad and people start licking their lips. The chips they were going to list for $1 each are now $2 because you need them.

 

[NoNamePokerGuy]

I love when the newbies come on here and say "I need a set that can cover 25¢-50¢ up to 5-10 and my budget is $150."

You can get a decent set of 600 custom ceramics for a rounding error in a 5-10 game.

5-10 game with a budget of 150$ is always comical. I'd like to play a in a game where my buy in, much less than the table or the night, is less than the entire value of the game in play. Because, I to, play my buy in as 1000% of my bankroll, :lol:

 

[Taghkanic]

Wrong thread nemmind

 

[sbeckett]

First of all, what an epic thread! I’m happy it has been kept alive for all these years. It really gives a layered view of how the views and preferences evolved over time.

I am looking to validate my set breakdown for a $1/$2 NLH cash game of up to 10 people.

An important caveat is that we actually play micro stakes in our local currency. However, using weird custom local denominations is impractical, and I’d like to be able to play different stakes with a single set. As a result, we use $1/$2 blinds as the cleanest-looking option and apply coefficients to represent different buy-in sizes. Players buy in for 100 BB at varying real amounts. Pocketing a chip when the stakes are low and then cashing it out when the stakes are higher is not a concern because it is a tight-knit group and because the stakes are low anyway.

We are a group of rookies who have started playing just recently. The game is very casual, people are unlikely to rebuy multiple times, although I hope that I can spark enthusiasm in them or tweak the group composition a little to heat up the game. Some might say that it sounds like I don’t have a proper poker game yet, but this thread/forum is to discuss chips in the first place, isn’t it?

Based on everything I’ve read on this forum over the past couple of weeks, the breakdown I came up with for a 500-chip set is as follows:

• $1 x 100 = $100 (each player is getting half a stack / 5 BBs, the table is not cluttered, some change-making is bound to happen)
• $5 x 250 = $1,250 (workhorse chip; 300 $5 chips scare me for some reason, but I could do 275 at the expense of $25 chips if strongly recommended)
• $25 x 125 = $3,125 (subworkhorse chip for managing rebuys or bigger buy-ins)
• $100 x 25 = $2,500 (mainly for rebuys or to color up if the game gets more heated towards the end)

TOTAL: $6,975 (roughly 3,500 BBs)​

The initial 100BB stack breakdown could be 10/23/3, or 10/18/4, or even 10/28/2 if there are 8 or fewer people playing. Rebuys or 150/200/300BB buy-ins would be managed with $25 and $100 chips.

Now, as I mentioned, the group is very casual and somewhat disorganized, but I have an ambition of hosting a tournament one day because everyone seems to want to have a culmination and a single winner at the end of the night, so they keep trying to sneak in some tournament rules into a cash game.

So for purposes of hosting a tourney I thought I could get away with an add-on of 50 x T100 and 50 x T500 chips to the above breakdown resulting in the following tournament setup (it would be a T5 tournament):

• T5 x 100 = T500
• T25 x 100 ‎ =  T2,500
• T100 x 75 ‎ = T7,500
• T500 x 50 ‎ = T25,000

TOTAL: T35,500​

The initial T2,000 stack would be 10/10/7/2, the rest would be used for rebuys and add-ons.

I understand this is against what seems to be the consensus — that (i) one set cannot be good for both cash game and tournament and (ii) one must not use same chips for home and tourney set due to fraud risk.

While the latter concern is manageable by trust coupled with chip count at the end of each night, is there any fundamental reason why my 600-chip breakdown to cover both cash game and tournament would not work?

I would greatly appreciate any comments or suggestions. This is my first post, so please do not judge me too harshly. Sorry for such a long post, there’s just a lot of excitement and so many questions.

Thank you, and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate!

 

[chippitydoodah]

If you're buying Tina's or from BRPRO those 25 counts will work. Round here they're bought & sold in 20 counts. I'd bump the $5's up to 300 and dump the $25's down to 100.

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

Might be one of the better first posts I've seen. You have clearly done some reading prior to posting, Kudos!

If you're buying Tina's or from BRPRO those 25 counts will work. Round here they're bought & sold in 20 counts. I'd bump the $5's up to 300 and dump the $25's down to 100.

Agree with the comment about purchasing in groups of 20s vs 25s. 25s are fine if you're buying anything brand new. (Tinas, or other inexpensive ceramics or china clays)

Completely disagree with the comment of $5s vs $25s. 300 $5s are a necessity for 25c/50c or 50c/$1 games. Not nearly so much for $1/$2 games, where the actual values are much lower. I typically will hand out all of my lowest and second lowest chips at buy-in. Then all rebuys are handled with 3rd largest until they are gone. Then a few of the 4th largest will come in. If you ever get to the point where the games are getting bigger (more rebuys) you will need more $25s, not more $5s.

For OPs starting stacks, 250 $5s are absolutely perfect. Because USD is not his native currency, and due to his micro stakes buy-ins, these chips represent far less than $5 USD. I think once his players get a little splashier, and the game grows, what he is going to need more of are the $25s.

@sbeckett Regarding using the same chips for both cash and tournament, again, due to the currency exchange and the fact that the chips don't represent any actual local currency amount in either game, I think your plan should work just fine.

Welcome to PCF!

 

[SteveEH]

The game is very casual, people are unlikely to rebuy multiple times, although I hope that I can spark enthusiasm in them or tweak the group composition a little to heat up the game.

With 1 buy in per player, you run the risk of the game breaking up early, assuming we're talking no limit.

You need to set expectations for players to bring multiple buy ins for the night, and set the stakes accordingly. For example, for .25/.25 blinds, I tell people to bring 3 buy ins for the night and buy in for up to 100 BB at a time.

Feliz Navidad!

 

[Taghkanic]

Based on everything I’ve read on this forum over the past couple of weeks, the breakdown I came up with for a 500-chip set is as follows:

• $1 x 100 = $100 (each player is getting half a stack / 5 BBs, the table is not cluttered, some change-making is bound to happen)
• $5 x 250 = $1,250 (workhorse chip; 300 $5 chips scare me for some reason, but I could do 275 at the expense of $25 chips if strongly recommended)
• $25 x 125 = $3,125 (subworkhorse chip for managing rebuys or bigger buy-ins)
• $100 x 25 = $2,500 (mainly for rebuys or to color up if the game gets more heated towards the end)

TOTAL: $6,975 (roughly 3,500 BBs)​

While you could in fact get away with only one rack of $1s in a 1/2 game, I think each player having half a barrel of $1s is going to be a PITA at times. There is constantly going to be someone without $1s asking to make change.

Also the lack of $1s may subtly boost your stakes, as players are going to be more likely to raise in $5 increments preflop rather than choosing more precise sizings like $7, $12, etc. This might not sound like much, but when those early increases magnify across three later streets it leads to much bigger pots... Meaning you need more big chips.

I might suggest instead going with a 600-chip set, in barrels:

• $1 x 160 = $160
• $5 x 300 = $1,500
• $25 x 120 = $2,400
• $100 x 20 = $2,000

Bank = $6,060

You could also pick up 5-10 oversized chips to use as $500s in case things got out of hand one game, either actual $500s or non-denoms.

 

[sbeckett]

Thank you so much for your feedback!

If you're buying Tina's or from BRPRO those 25 counts will work

25s are fine if you're buying anything brand new

You see right through me! I am seriously eyeing Tina’s Mirage chips sold by Apache. It doesn’t look like taking part in a group buy would save me much, and I’m not sure I’m ready to go all custom. Besides, I had a chance to visit Las Vegas in 2017 and Mirage hotel really stood out to me as to a lifelong Beatles fan:



Oh and by the way, I couldn’t agree more with what everyone has been saying all around here: GET THEM SAMPLES. I thought I was in love with the Dunes sold by Apache and I really liked Olympus chips sold by The Poker Store. Enter the samples, and it turns out the Dunes are too slippery to my liking (and beveled edges are just not my thing) and Olympus feel too thick, though the mold, the edges and the inlays are all pretty good. Mirage, on the other hand, ticked all the boxes, having straight edges, being 39 instead of 40 mm, and not being too thick. In addition, there is something in me that wants the chips to resemble “the real deal” as closely as possible.

You have clearly done some reading prior to posting, Kudos!

For OPs starting stacks, 250 $5s are absolutely perfect.

I think your plan should work just fine.

I couldn’t ask for a warmer welcome, and your confirmation that my approach should work is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much! Happy that all that reading and deliberating paid back.

You need to set expectations for players to bring multiple buy ins for the night

I couldn’t agree more! The issue is that some of my friends’ SOs are reluctant to play for money, even micro stakes (gAmBliNg iS bAd, etc.), while I am confident that most of the group would not pay attention to the game if no real money is involved. So I imagine the opposing SOs would just sit out the rest of the game annoyed and bored instead of rebuying. But never mind, I am staying positive and hopeful that together with other enthusiasts we can turn this game around.

---

I have a couple more questions if you don’t mind:

1) How unethical would it be to get the Mirage replicas by Tina? While I understand it is a tribute and Mirage is out if business, there’s still IP infringement involved.

2) I’ve been having thoughts of putting together a mixed set that would have a rack of real casino $1 chips, with the rest being Mirage replicas. Could that work? Or would it look and feel weird?

 

[sbeckett]

I might suggest instead going with a 600-chip set, in barrels:

• $1 x 160 = $160
• $5 x 300 = $1,500
• $25 x 120 = $2,400
• $100 x 20 = $2,000

Whoops, it seems you replied while I was preoccupied drafting my previous post.

Thank you for your suggestion. This does make sense and I would probably go this way if I were putting together a 600-chip cash set. But I am trying to do a 500-chip cash set with an add-on of 100 chips that would make it suitable for a T5 tournament. After I have several test runs with this initial setup, if everything goes well, I might then buy 50 more $1 and 50 more $5 chips as you suggest (25s instead of barrels because the Mirage set is the one I’m eyeing).

On a side note, while I totally share you’re change-making PITA concern, don’t you think that 15 x $1 chips per player would clutter the table? The game being at micro stakes, I see little trouble in gently nudging people towards betting in multiples of $5.

 

[Colquhoun]

1) How unethical would it be to get the Mirage replicas by Tina? While I understand it is a tribute and Mirage is out if business, there’s still IP infringement involved.

If this is an issue, get the real thing! You can start here:
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/reduced-1996-mirage-100-single.138839/

Regarding mixing Tina’s and Paulsons, I wouldn’t.

 

[sbeckett]

You can start here

Taking this avenue is bound to take some time… and money

 

[Colquhoun]

Taking this avenue is bound to take some time… and money

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

While you could in fact get away with only one rack of $1s in a 1/2 game, I think each player having half a barrel of $1s is going to be a PITA at times. There is constantly going to be someone without $1s asking to make change.

Also the lack of $1s may subtly boost your stakes, as players are going to be more likely to raise in $5 increments preflop rather than choosing more precise sizings like $7, $12, etc. This might not sound like much, but when those early increases magnify across three later streets it leads to much bigger pots... Meaning you need more big chips.

I might suggest instead going with a 600-chip set, in barrels:

• $1 x 160 = $160
• $5 x 300 = $1,500
• $25 x 120 = $2,400
• $100 x 20 = $2,000

Bank = $6,060

You could also pick up 5-10 oversized chips to use as $500s in case things got out of hand one game, either actual $500s or non-denoms.

I'm not sure you are thinking about this from OPs perspective. You realize that he is not in the US, so not playing with USD. And is playing micro stakes? If someone in the US were planning a 5c/10c game, would you recommend they buy 160 nickels and 300 quarters? I highly doubt it.

OP, I see the the conversion rate for your local currency is about 42 to 1. What is the amount of your 200 BB buy-ins in local currency?

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

I have a couple more questions if you don’t mind:

1) How unethical would it be to get the Mirage replicas by Tina? While I understand it is a tribute and Mirage is out if business, there’s still IP infringement involved.

2) I’ve been having thoughts of putting together a mixed set that would have a rack of real casino $1 chips, with the rest being Mirage replicas. Could that work? Or would it look and feel weird?

1) This is a big debate around here, with a lot of people on both sides. You will never get a consensus, so you're going to have to decide for yourself if this bothers you. I will tell you that tribute chips don't bother me in the least. I was personally involved in the design, and the first very large group buy for the Aria's card mold chips. I'm not super familiar with the Mirages, but most tributes are not exact replicas of the originals, so I wouldn't worry about it. On the other hand, I don't care for Tina chips that use the Hat & cane mold, so if you are going with hybrids using one of the recently designed molds (web, star, greek, etc) I don't think it's a big deal. YMMV.

2) Yeah, as someone else said, don't do it. Go either all clay, or all ceramic. If you really do want inexpensive clay, there are several sets easily available that are economical. Check out Majestic Star.

This was recently listed in the classifieds at less than $1 a chip, and it didn't sell. It's bigger than you need, so expansion is built in! Might still be available if you contact seller privately. He might even take less than he was asking. No idea, but always worth trying.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/majestic-star-set.138682/

 

[sbeckett]

What is the amount of your 200 BB buy-ins in local currency?

UAH 400, which roughly translates into $10 in real money.

Regarding mixing Tina’s and Paulsons, I wouldn’t.

Yeah, as someone else said, don't do it

It’s not often that an opinion is voiced so unanimously. I also received a private message suggesting I’d better not. It is settled, then. Thanks!

Check out Majestic Star

Thanks for this suggestion! At this stage, I think aesthetics > material for me, and I like the way Mirage tributes look more than Majestic Stars do (although it’s a nice set!). I absolutely digged Jack Cincy $1s auctioned off a week or so ago, though. Actually, this is where the idea of mixing Tina’s and Paulsons came from — this much I liked them.