Cash Game $20 Buy In - Upgrade from Unmarked chips? (1 Viewer)

L

Lester86

Sitting Out
Joined
Sep 9, 2023
Messages
12
Reaction score
3
Location
Oklahoma
I currently have the generic "dice chip" set with the red, green, white etc. unmarked chips. Its fine but I'm considering getting a set of chips that actually have the value on them so people don't have to keep asking what chips are what (after a couple drinks).

One solution I saw some guys use is just go .25/.25 blinds and all the chips are quarters. Does everyone starting with 80 chips sound like too much?

Another good one I saw on here was for .10/.20 blinds:

.10 x 20
.50 x 20
1.00 x 8

Sorry in advance if this has been covered before. Thanks!
 
Assuming you're playing No Limit, 80 Big Blinds is a little less than the 100 BB starting stack standard, but still reasonable for recreational players and friendly games.

For .25/.25 no limit you want enough blind chips (.25), lots of workhorse chips ($1), and enough value chips for rebuys ($5 and maybe some $20/$25 chips if your game will play really big or you're on a tight budget for chips).

A reasonable rule for your total Bank is #players x 3 buy ins x 100 BB buy in.

Search for set breakdowns for more advice.
 
SteveEH said:
Assuming you're playing No Limit, 80 Big Blinds is a little less than the 100 BB starting stack standard, but still reasonable for recreational players and friendly games.

For .25/.25 no limit you want enough blind chips (.25), lots of workhorse chips ($1), and enough value chips for rebuys ($5 and maybe some $20/$25 chips if your game will play really big or you're on a tight budget for chips).

A reasonable rule for your total Bank is #players x 3 buy ins x 100 BB buy in.

Search for set breakdowns for more advice.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help. I'll look for some starting breakdowns using the .25/.25 route. This seems to be a pretty popular one for the stakes I'm doing. Just curious where are you getting 80 big blinds?
 
Buy in ($20) divided by Big Blind (.25) = 80 BBs

Also don't worry about starting stacks for cash games. Just distribute all your blind and workhorse chips, add value chips as needed, and get the big stacks to make change.
 
Last edited:
When I’m buying sets of chips, I plan for the worst case which is 10 players. Even if you typically have only 8 players, you’ll know your bank will be large enough for that one big night. And you’ll have extra chips for when they get lost, damaged, or go walking out the door at the end of the night. I like to count 1 initial buy in + 3 rebuys for the 10 players @ 100 BBs.

But it your wallet, not mine.
 
Lester86 said:
One solution I saw some guys use is just go .25/.25 blinds and all the chips are quarters. Does everyone starting with 80 chips sound like too much?
Click to expand...

Yes, that sounds kind of annoying. The problem isn't the number of chips per se it's the number of quarters. I would never give out that many quarters in a big bet game no matter what.

Lester86 said:
Another good one I saw on here was for .10/.20 blinds:

.10 x 20
.50 x 20
1.00 x 8

Sorry in advance if this has been covered before. Thanks!
Click to expand...

.25/.25 blinds is alright for a $20 buy in. .10/.20 would work fine too.

You could use .25/.25 blinds up to buy ins of $50 or more and still be in good shape. At some point you'd want to double the big blind and go .25/.50, which usually buys in somewhere between $25-$100.

Getting denominated chips is definitely the way to go. Lots of options too...you don't need to spend a ton to get a decent set but you certainly can if you want.

If you're making a one time investment in a set of chips, I'd go ahead and prepare for growth. A nice versatile 600 pc cash set which can easily run a .25/.25 table and can grow into a big .25/.50 or even a moderate 1/1 or small 1/2 game is

100: 0.25
200: 1
200: 5
80: 25
20: 100

If you think you might want even smaller stakes, you can add more flexibility by getting 100 nickels and another hundred quarters.
 
Last edited:
Get chips with denominations. Needs to be said more. :)

Lot of threads offering a breakdown and chips required for your size game.

Happy hunting.
 
I've been running a casual cash home game for a few years with dice chips--which is fine for casual games among friends that play regularly. I print up a reference card with chip colors and values so everyone has one.

During early quarantine day when everyone was cleaning house, I picked up 2,000 dice chips and 1,000 ying-yangs for next to nothing.

Denominated chips are a good investment. I prefer ones that don't have any currency reference on it (no "dollars" or no symbol). This way I can use "25" as 25 cents.

We play .05/.10 cash games. A $20 buy-in gets you:
15x $0.05
17x $0.25
15x $1.00

47 chips each player

For 8 players you'd need:
120x 5
136x 25
120x 100

8 players could easily play with most 500 chip sets and you'd have enough for a few top-offs.

When I used dice chips $20 buy-in breakdown was:

15x $0.05 reds
17x $0.25 greens
10x $1.00 blacks
1x $5.00 blues

43 chips each player
 
FWIW, I do have a game with a 0.10-0.50-1 breakdown. I usually only issue a few 0.50 chips in this case. For NLHE it's 15/7/15 of 0.10/0.50/1 to make a 20 buy-in. I will issue more dimes if limit games are in the rotation.
 
Lester86 said:
This has all been super helpful! Kind of torn between .05/.10 vs .10/20 vs .25/.25.
Click to expand...
All up to you. We run .05/.10 most times that I host, but I built in some growth into the set.

Good mix of people limping for dimes and others betting quarters. I always want the freedom to run beginner/teaching games for new people, important part of getting a custom set for me. If one of the cheapo mass produced chips had pretty colors AND nickels? Think I would've been much luckier lol, spend less.
 
if you want chips get chips

But if it just is because people are dumb then just put a set of 4 chips with the denominations written on them aside on the table
 
ThrowBack said:
if you want chips get chips

But if it just is because people are dumb then just put a set of 4 chips with the denominations written on them aside on the table
Click to expand...
That works, up to a point. I did it for years and years, but it got real annoying and confusing at times, especially late at night when I’m a tired and bit tipsy host.

Funny though, I host a limit game using non-denom chips and no one cares what the value is because they’re all the same and the betting structures are set. Huge fan. We’ve been at this for a while now and no one’s asked to go no limit, only once did someone ask to bump the bets. Great social evening.
 
warma said:
That works, up to a point. I did it for years and years, but it got real annoying and confusing at times, especially late at night when I’m a tired and bit tipsy host.

Funny though, I host a limit game using non-denom chips and no one cares what the value is because they’re all the same and the betting structures are set. Huge fan. We’ve been at this for a while now and no one’s asked to go no limit, only once did someone ask to bump the bets. Great social evening.
Click to expand...
I hear this drum beating like Jumanji, in the background, ever present. I have a small 600 piece beatup clay limit set, but its not enough....
 
NotRealNameNoSir said:
I hear this drum beating like Jumanji, in the background, ever present. I have a small 600 piece beatup clay limit set, but its not enough....
Click to expand...
I had a small dice set (600) that quickly expanded to 3K dice chips. Finally sold those for a 600 chip set of denominations. Had those for a for while and finally got some majestics from apache. I have about 1K chips.
 
Lester86 said:
This has all been super helpful! Kind of torn between .05/.10 vs .10/20 vs .25/.25.
Click to expand...
How much money will players be comfortable risking for a night of poker? If it's $60 or more I'd go .25/.25 and expect people to win/lose one or two buy ins a night on average (unless they're full on degen/play every hand).

Also, will the game be mostly recreational players or poker enthusiasts? Experienced players like deep stack poker (buying in for 200 or more BBs), but I wouldn't recommend this unless all of your players are poker enthusiasts. Deep stacks put recreational players at a disadvantage and you may lose them in the long run.
 
I'll answer with yes, 80 chips is to much to start with on a $20 buy in. You can get by with a minimal set, but, you should look to purchase chips that have the ability to add on in the future. Ideally, a fractional set would consist of any 650-700 chips. You could even purchase the workhorse chips as labeled denominations and use a blank frac that could be used as any amount, nickel, dime, quarter.

Do you have a particular chip in mind that you're considering?
 
Here's some info on my last game I hosted was a 5c/10c cash game with a $5 min-$20 max throughout the night. It might give you some inspiration.

My starting stacks looked like this:

Starting Stack:
20x 5c
20x 25c
14x $1

Bank:
200x 5c
200x 25c
200x $1
200x $5
100x $20

This is way more $1, $5, and $20 than you'll ever need for these stakes but I wanted to be covered for when/if we jump up in stakes. I'd say you could lose 100x $1, 100x $5 (or more), and all of the $20 for 5c/10c stakes.

The reason I have so many nickels is because
1.) It makes it easier to hand people a whole barrel which equals $1
2.) A lot of my players like to limp and rarely raise so the nickels are needed to stop constant change making.

I just took away $1 chips if they didn't buy in for $20 and did rebuy/top off with $1 and $5 chips. By the end of the night the remaining people had 300+ big blind stacks and were opening to 50c-$1 just for fun.

I'd like to build my game up to 25c/25c or 25c/50c and ditch the nickel, but for now a lot of the people I play with probably wouldn't be comfortable with a $50 or $100 max buy in.
 

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!

Register

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Similar threads

JesusMessiah777
Tourney Question: How many chips should each player have to start a home game?
Replies
4
Views
407
Taghkanic
Taghkanic
M
Tourney Help with ideas for home game
Replies
1
Views
230
Nine_high
Nine_high
GreekRedEye
  • Poll
Tourney Would you buy a base T10 tourney set? (Yes, you read that right)
Replies
8
Views
327
BGinGA
BGinGA
L
Cash Game Super-friendly restart game...seeking advice!
Replies
14
Views
704
SteveEH
SteveEH
demax51
Tourney Hosting a 6-player game with new players who don't want to buy in for much
Replies
13
Views
319
Tonystark137
Tonystark137
Back
Top Bottom