Cash Game $1-2 No Limit w/ $60 buying - denomination help? (1 Viewer)

rlocke

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Hi all,

Need some feedback/advice on chip denominations for our monthly $1-2 no limit cash games. We typically have 7-10 players (average is 8), and the initial buyin is $60. Rebuys are 50% of the max stack. What are your thoughts on these options for initial chip counts:

Option 1
  • 15 x $1
  • 4 x $5
  • 1 x $25
Option 2
  • 10 x $1
  • 10 x $5
Option 3
  • 15 x $1
  • 9 x $5
I’m thinking of building a new chip set around one of these options - would 400 chips (I could add a few $50 or $100 chips if needed) be sufficient?

Thanks!
 
I know this is not what you’re asking for but I would seriously consider either lowering the blinds to $0.25/0.50 or up the buy-ins to at least $200. 30 big blind poker doesn’t leave much room to play any actual poker
 
Hi @Eriks - yes, you’re right; I’ve proposed dropping it to 50 cents/$1, or increasing the buyin to $100, but the group wasn’t interested.
 
Generally in a 1-2 game, the $5 chips are the ones most in play, so I would make sure to have plenty of 5s.

But TBH, I’d say the breakdown is kind of irrelevant for the first buy-in. At $60 (30BB), a lot of hands are going to get all-in on the flop, turn or river. Or, if someone plays a smaller pot and loses, say, $15, they are going to be even shorter in the next orbit.

My experience in this type of game is that it plays very loose until there are so many rebuys that you’re finally playing deepstacked poker. The bigger question I think is what breakdowns you use when people buy back in for 50% of the biggest stack. Someone runs up their $60 to $300. Now the question is, how do you portion out a $150 buy-in?

I don’t know how your group plays, so maybe I’m making too many assumptions. Do they tend to just keep peeling for the minimum $60? Or do they rebuy for a higher amount if the bigstack is much larger?
 
Initial buy for 0.25/0.50 NLH for $60 I do
8 - 0.25
8 - 1
8 - 5

Subsequent buys I just dole out 5's and 20's as there is enough 1's and quarters already on the table.
 
@Taghkanic - thinking a little more about our past play, while we technically cap the rebuys at 50% of the biggest stack, most people just rebuy for between $40 or $60.
 
Of the stated options, #2 is probably best, #3 right behind. #1 is just awful.

Hi @Eriks - yes, you’re right; I’ve proposed dropping it to 50 cents/$1, or increasing the buyin to $100, but the group wasn’t interested.

If the objection is "no one wants change" (edit to clarify "change" to mean fraction chips.) then maybe there would be some consensus over doing 1-1 blinds at least?

In which case I would slightly prefer option #3 to option #2.
 
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These recommendations are often game specific and with your game, probably very much so.
Most $1/2 games can get away with very few $1 chips, because people are betting with $5s before and after the flop. I'm guessing there's a lot of limping going on in your game - four limpers to the flop and the somebody tosses out $3 on the flop?
So although most $1/2 games might play well with a 4:1 ratio of $5s to $1's, yours is probably better off at 1:1 or even lower.

And I know it's hard to change a group's thinking - I played in a .25/.50 game with $20 buyins for a while, and that's almost as bad. But really think about lowering the blinds it should lead people to play better poker.
 
Most $1/2 games can get away with very few $1 chips, because people are betting with $5s before and after the flop. I'm guessing there's a lot of limping going on in your game - four limpers to the flop and the somebody tosses out $3 on the flop?
Yes - this is pretty much on point!
But really think about lowering the blinds it should lead people to play better poker.
Preaching to the choir. If it became a 50 cent-$1 game (with the same initial $60 buyin), what would an ideal chip distribution be?
 
teach your players to play with proper stacks. The vast majority of players sit at a table with 100BB. Some more, some less ,but thats the average. Change the buyin or change the stakes. Why do you have a set buyin anyway? Its a cash game, not a tourny.
 
If it became a 50 cent-$1 game (with the same initial $60 buyin), what would an ideal chip distribution be?

If you've got 8 players, half of them buying 2-3 times, that's 240+240+360 = about $840 on the table for an average night. Double that to be safe, so you want a bank of something like $1700.
I'd say
60 x .50 chips - start each player with 6 or 8
200 x $1.00 - Start each player with 16 or 17
100 x $5.00 - start each player with 8, or however many you need to get up to their buy-in
40 x $25 chips
That's a bank of $1730 that should work well for that game, I'd think. If you've got players who are used to limping and making small bets, you might be better off with a full rack of the .50 chips, at the expense of 40 $1.00 chips
 
So I was playing in $.50/$1.00 game that had 1st buy if max $40. 2nd buy in max $80. 3rd buy max $160 etc......
Some games are just unique and you either move on or you participate.
I am definitely in the more chips in play category.
I like the 15-$1’s and 9-$5’s
Keep it simple
150-$1’s
200-$5’s
50-$25’s
If you can spread up to 600 chips I would
175-$1’s
300-$5’s
100-$25’s
25-$100’s
 
Maybe limit poker might be better suited to this playing group.
Maybe the group is more of gambler where they like to go all in before flop with the short stake stacking stake as it more luck compare to skill involved this way

Or they are just new in poker where there almost never re raise or 3 bet and 99% just limp into every pot. This way may actually explain why 30 bb is enough to last for starting stake
 
Thanks everyone for the input.

Sounds like more of a fun game and social catchup and poker is the excuse to get together.

This is exactly what the game is - it’s more of an excuse to get together - I wouldn’t call competitive/serious poker by any stretch. I think the majority of us play intelligent poker if we’re at the casino with strangers, but when we get together it’s more for socializing. So I guess I can lower the stakes, but I seriously doubt it’s going to change anyone’s approach, I’d have to increase it get them to pay attention (which would probably make it less fun for most of them).
 
@riotouslevity I would say about half of the people buy in two to three times.
Option 2 then. Same comments that rebuy 3 can be all 5s..

Hopefully you are evaluating your game against the only metric that matters. Is your group having fun?

While I agree with many of the comments here about the stack sizes vs blinds..... if your group enjoys playing this style and you're not planning on forging into public card rooms, then you do you and play how you want.
 
#1 is just awful.
To clarify why I said this, the $25 chips will undoubtedly need to be changed out and the breakdown is set up that there is an average of fewer than five $5 chips per player on the table, which would make nearly impossible at times. Frankly, the $25s should stay in the bank until the average number of fives per player is at least 20-30, then they can be changed pretty easily, especially in a game with a small starting stack as it is.
 
I wanted to thank everyone for their feedback - it's amazing what you're able to discern just from our current setup!

I went down the rabbit hole this weekend and read through a ton of other posts, and here's what I think my final breakdown is going to end up:
  • 100 x $0.25
  • 200 x $1
  • 200 x $5
  • 75 x $25
  • 25 x $100
I think it should be adequate for $0.25/0.50, $0.50/$1 or $1/1.
 
I wanted to thank everyone for their feedback - it's amazing what you're able to discern just from our current setup!

I went down the rabbit hole this weekend and read through a ton of other posts, and here's what I think my final breakdown is going to end up:
  • 100 x $0.25
  • 200 x $1
  • 200 x $5
  • 75 x $25
  • 25 x $100
I think it should be adequate for $0.25/0.50, $0.50/$1 or $1/1.
Yeah this is a good set for 600. You an probably even do 1-2 with this since you went for the hundreds.

Hope players do reconsider the blinds to make the game a little less shovy, but either way, I imagine this will serve you fine.
 
Assuming these chip counts:
  • 100 x $0.25
  • 200 x $1
  • 200 x $5
  • 75 x $25
  • 25 x $100
What would the optimal chip breakdown be for a $0.25/$0.50 and $0.50/$1 game (assume 100 BB and 8 players).

Thanks!
 
With this breakdown, for stakes that use quarters I would do 8 stacks of 12/22/x of 0.25/1/5 where x is the number of fives to complete the buy in. There will be a few extra quarters and singles for a 9th buy in and then all others would be in fives and twenty-fives.

You might consider omitting quarters and play 1-1 instead of 0.50-1 and then you have 11 stacks or so of 15/x of 1/5 with extras, and then later buy ins will be all fives and twenty-fives.

A lot of ways to deal with this, you will settle on what works best. The point is that it's acceptable to only do larger chip buy ins once sufficient low chips are on the table. The alternative is to keep much larger quantities of lower chips on hand if they must always come from the bank.
 

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