Cash Game 600 chip cash set breakdown (1 Viewer)

Nipper

Sitting Out
Joined
Feb 2, 2018
Messages
12
Reaction score
8
Location
UK
Hi guys

I am about to pull the trigger on my first set of decent poker chips. It will probably be Ascona's or possibly semi custom Valentino's. But now I need to work out my breakdown.

As I live in the UK, I was thinking about chips with values but no currency symbol, hence my leaning towards the Ascona's. For 600 chips I was thinking the following:

250 x 1s
250 x 5s
75 x 100s
25 x 500s

I am still very new to this having only ever owned a £30 set from Amazon, so I need to try and get it right first time. I figure I can use this setup for £1/£2 cash game with friends or as a 1p/2p set to have fun with the kids. For my home games with mates there is usually between 6 to 8 of us.

There is so many conflicting suggestions on the net, some say 60/30/10 split others a 40/40/10/10

Have I got it about right or does it need tweeking slighty?

Any advice gratefully received.
 
For a 1/2 game, the 5 is your workhorse chip, so you want the most of those.
The 100's and 500's are giving you a bank of 20K - how the hell are 8 guys going to get 20K on the table? If they can, you should probably be playing higher stakes.

If you need to buy in quantities of 25, I'd recommend something like:
175 x 1
350 x 5
50 x 25
25 x 100
That allows you to start all 8 guys with 20 x 1, plus however many 5's they'll need to fill out their buy-in. More 5's for rebuys, and when you run out of those, move up to the 25's and the 100's.
 
160 - $1
200 - $5
200 - $25
40 - $100

IMO :)

I'd go with a similar breakdown, but with a bit more emphasis on the fives. Pretty much the same total bank.

120 x 1
300 x 5
120 x 25
60 x 100


FWIW, my smallest cash set has 800 chips (700 if you ignore the quarters) and has a similar breakdown and worked really well when we put it in play a couple weekends ago.

100 x 0.25
140 x 1
300 x 5
200 x 25
60 x 100
 
Why do we need more than a rack of 1s for 1/2 if we often recommend a rack of quarters for .25/.50? (Honest question, not being rhetorical)

IMO:
100x 1
350-360x 5
100x 25
40-50x 100

But it really depends on how the game plays. OP - how much cash do you, or would you, get on the table for the £1/£2 games? The set above has 21-23x 200BB buy-ins. That would cover one table for many games, deeper ones would want to go heavier on the 25s and 100s.
 
Why do we need more than a rack of 1s for 1/2 if we often recommend a rack of quarters for .25/.50? (Honest question, not being rhetorical)

You don't really need more than 100, but in general it just seems most people prefer to have closer to a barrel/person if possible.

As for the quarters vs ones question, I think it's because many 0.25/0.50 home games play a little bigger than the blinds suggest, and the 1/2 games often play a little smaller. Not sure why, or if it's just been my experience. I guess most of the 0.25/0.50 games I've played have had enough 1/2 casino players playing in them that it never really plays at a quarter the stakes of 1/2. Whereas a lot of the 1/2 home games I've played at, it seems 1/2 is a bit of a stretch for some of the players and so it tends to play smaller than a comparable casino 1/2 game. Again, that could be my bias from the particular games I've played in over the past decade.
 
For a 1/2 game, the 5 is your workhorse chip, so you want the most of those.
The 100's and 500's are giving you a bank of 20K - how the hell are 8 guys going to get 20K on the table? If they can, you should probably be playing higher stakes.

If you need to buy in quantities of 25, I'd recommend something like:
175 x 1
350 x 5
50 x 25
25 x 100
That allows you to start all 8 guys with 20 x 1, plus however many 5's they'll need to fill out their buy-in. More 5's for rebuys, and when you run out of those, move up to the 25's and the 100's.

I second a split close to the above, except that I also have to factor in for my needs surrounding chip organization and display asthetics, including:
- a preference for having full barrels
- a preference for full racks, except for the top rack, stacking them low denom to high denom, with the top rack going low denom to high denom left to right

So, for 600 chips total, I would be putting together a set consisting of:
200 x 1
340 x 5
40 x 25
20 X 100

And if buying in quantities of 25, I'd end up having 5 extra $100s, 10 extra $25s, and 10 extra $5s, no biggie.

That's a $4900 bank roll in the racks, which is more than enough for the games that i play in.

If I didn't care about having full racks, then I'd swap out 40 of the $1s for more $5s and go with:
160 X $1
380 X 5
40 X 25
20 X 100

Agree with @upNdown on the the $5s. The more the better. If possible, I prefer not playing with denoms above $5s because it's easier then to size up everyone's chip stacks without having to worry about having to count little stacks of $25s, or missing a $100 chip... the guys with the most stacks of red chips have the most $s in front of them, simple.
 
Wow, thanks for the swift replies.

I am now assuming now from all of your posts, that the common breakdowns structures that you read about on the internet ie, 60/30/10 or 40/40/10/10 is probably wrong?

In the first instance it does seem logical I suppose to think about loading up at the front end to accommodate all the blinds, but I do now understand where you guys are coming from. As you can imagine it is difficult to even gauge a breakdown from my existing Amazon set, as it has 7 denominations from a 500 chipset, so it is always a bit of a mess at the table as there is always a lot of different colour chips in the pot and always a lot of change being made just to make things work. I am really looking forward to getting a more playable chipset.

Just one other question, and I am really showing my ignorance now, when the term "barrel of chips" gets used, how many chips is a barrel?

Thanks again to you all for your help.
 
A barrel is 20 chips. In the plastic chip racks there are usually 5 slots, 20 chips in each for 100 total. So you'll also hear "a rack" which means 100 chips.

FWIW my breakdown is

100 .05
100 .25
200 $1
400 $5
80 $20
20 $100
 
Thanks for the info guys.

I've only been a member for a couple of weeks but already learned loads. Thanks pedrofisk for clarifying the rack/barrel issue.

I will sit down later this evening and re- evaluate my chip breakdown, but at least I can now I can do it based on solid info.

Thanks again for your help!
 
Finally placed my order.

I went for 600 semi custom Valentino poker room chips from BR Pro. He has brightened the colours up for me and the samples look great. They should be waiting for me at my hotel when I visit Vegas in a few weeks.

Thank you all for your input. Need to start lookin at some decent cards now
 
Finally placed my order.

I went for 600 semi custom Valentino poker room chips from BR Pro. He has brightened the colours up for me and the samples look great. They should be waiting for me at my hotel when I visit Vegas in a few weeks.

Thank you all for your input. Need to start lookin at some decent cards now
Plenty of options and opinions for cards. Do a search and you'll find many threads. Cards are even more subjective than chips I think, so get ready to buy a few different set ups to decide what you prefer.
 
Plenty of options and opinions for cards. Do a search and you'll find many threads. Cards are even more subjective than chips I think, so get ready to buy a few different set ups to decide what you prefer.

You wern't kidding, I just looked at the playing card threads. I thought chips and chip breakdown were subjective! I am almost reluctant to ask for advice on this one in case I start an internal PCF war:(. May look in Spinettis or the Gamblers General Store when I visit in a couple of weeks. I read somewhere, maybe on this forum, that they sometimes sell good quality "hardly used" casino cards? Maybe someone on this forum may be able to confirm that?
 
Finally placed my order.

I went for 600 semi custom Valentino poker room chips from BR Pro. He has brightened the colours up for me and the samples look great. They should be waiting for me at my hotel when I visit Vegas in a few weeks.

Thank you all for your input. Need to start lookin at some decent cards now

Which breakdown did you go with?
 
Which breakdown did you go with?

In the end I went with the following:

120 x 1
300 x 5
120 x 25
60 x 100

To be fair most of the comments were not too far from each other, with most recommending that I had well over gunned it on the 1's.

Must get some decent cards now.
 
Why do we need more than a rack of 1s for 1/2 if we often recommend a rack of quarters for .25/.50? (Honest question, not being rhetorical)

Some recommend this, as you CAN get by with few small chips. but many recommend having full barrels of quarters and/or 1’s to start. So many reasons for this.

Beyond easy to sort/divvy/dispense full barrrels. A full barrel of each equals a standard size barrel of quarters is $5. Barrel of $1’s is $20. If you have partial barrels, it takes longer to cut out chips, and then your amounts aren’t nice and OCD approved. For a .25/.50 game with a $60 stack, you have 20 quarters, 20 x $1 (totals $25), and fill with 7 x $5’s.

For a 1/2 game, the benefits are less pronounced, but still there. I play a lot of casino 1/2 - 1/3 and with dealers constantly taking $1’s off the table, the avg stack of $1’s is around 10. And there’s CONSTANT change making. In a self dealt game, making change is doable, but tiresome when it’s every hand.

most recommending that I had well over gunned it on the 1's.

I didn’t read the responses the same way you did.

I liked the initial response of 175 $1’s. Which allowed all 8 players to get full barrels. Regardless, I know you will make your set work for you, you’ll have a blast getting it into play.

Take some pics of the first session with these chips. ;). We love chip pr0n.
 
I’ve noticed that the breakdowns of chips provided in initial starting stacks sometimes changes how the game plays out. It shouldn’t matter, but in the private games I play in, it seems to.

For example, in a full ring 1/2 game, if people start with short stacks of 1s and 5s plus a few big-denomination chips, the game seems to play a lot nittier—people protect those big chips, and they get into play more often.

But if their whole initial buy-in is in 1s and 5s, and $25/$100 chips are only used for rebuys, the game tends to get more action-y. The same amount of money is in play, but some players loosen up when they have (what looks like) a big stack in front of them. 100 $1 chips + 20 $5 chips psychologically seems to make people feel they have a lot more room to maneuver than if they have 25 $1s, 15 $5s, and four $25s. You get a lot more limping when people have lots of 1s.

But maybe that’s just the games I’m in regularly. (Mostly loose/passive players, some TAGs, but usually a couple LAGs and sometimes a true maniac.)
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account and join our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top Bottom