advice for chip breakdown? (1 Viewer)

[MonoPete]

New guy here. Thanks to everyone who posts all the helpful info!

I'm going to start getting a home game together regularly, and want to put together a decent chip set. It will usually be about 8 people. Sometimes 10. Never more. We've played with this same group of friends before - it's always just thrown together at some random time. It's just a time to hang out and have fun. The poker isn't too serious. I just don't like the cheap "dice" chips, and get tired of everyone constantly asking "what is this color worth?".

Our game:

.25/.50 blinds. NL.

Minimum buy-in $20.
Most people usually buy in for $40.
Max buy-in is $50.

The game plays pretty small. No huge pots. Typical raises are $1-$2 pre-flop.

I've got some samples from Apache, and I'm probably going to order the Royals in denominations of .25, 1, and 5.

While I don't think it's a great idea for everyone to have 100 chips, I do think a game is more enjoyable with everyone a decent number of chips to start with. I think most people feel like they can play a little more when they have more chips - as opposed to just having 20 chips to start (regardless of how much it adds up to).

I was thinking of this breakdown for starting stacks of a typical $40 buy-in.

.25 - 20
$1 - 15
$5 - 4

If someone only buys in for $20 (rare), they just wouldn't get any $5 chips.

Is this too many .25 chips to start with?

When someone rebuys, I would just sell them more red chips and they could make change at the table.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[tabletalker7]

While I do like starting people off with a barrel of blind chips, I don't know about your game in general. Your max buy in is my recommended buy in for my .25/.50 table. Games where people buy in for less than 100BB tend to involve less poker playing and more "jam at the right time" lotto winnings. If that is what your players are comfortable buying in at, you may want to consider lowering the blinds.

 

[Eloe2000]

How much money would you expect on the table at the end of the night?

Our typical $40 buy-in cash game is .25/.25 with 9 players and we do...

12 x $0.25
22 x $1
3 x $5

I used to prefer 20 fracs, but have converted to less. My players still prefer slightly more with 16, but until I can find more yellow Avalon (wink wink) 12 is totally fine. I like to get up to 300 $1s on the table, so I will generally do some $1s and $5s until we just rebuy with $5s only. Sometimes we get to the $25s.

If you wanted to keep it to say 600 chips I would go with...
150 x $0.25
225 x $1
200 x $5
25 x $25

I would add on some more $1's to get to 300 total and then build on the $5s with extra budget.

For 800 chips I would go...
150 x $0.25
300 x $1
300 x $5
50 x $25

 

[JustinInMN]

For your game I would do fewer quarters and more singles along the lines of what @Eloe2000 is saying. For my 60 buy in game, I usually have 400 in singles on the table.

I thing for NL 100 chips a player is too much, but 30 is too few. I have settled on targeting 40-60 chips per player at these stakes with trying to do 70-80% of it in singles. You don't want too many quarters either. Those just sit in stacks if you give everyone 20.

Consider a breakdown of 100/300/200 of 0.25/1/5.

This gives you 8 stacks of say 12/32/x, where x is the number of fives needed to complete the buy in.

The bank would have 1325 or enough to cover 26 buy ins of 50. more than 3 per player when 8 handed. That should be good for your stakes. If you want to accommodate deeper buys, maybe add fives or twenties and cut some singles. But where you describe your game now, 100/300/200 is the breakdown I would suggest.

 

[Craig D]

How much money would you expect on the table at the end of the night?

What is the most money that has been on the table?
What is normally in play?
Do you like more or less chips in play?
How many chip are you looking to buy?

Then we will be able to help

 

[gopherblue]

This guy keeps getting it right, and I hear he’s a hell of a fella:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/breakdown-25-50-and-50-1-nl.15141/#post-265619

Or ignore him and go with this guy’s advice...he’s smaht and good-looking to boot:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/need-help-with-cash-set-breakdown.6473/#post-67892

 

[JustinInMN]

What is the most money that has been on the table?

My rule of thumb on this has always been assume three times the max buy in per player. So for 8-10 players 50 * 3 * 8 is 1200 and 50 * 3 * 10 is 1500, I suggested a bank right in between.

 

[Eriks]

I would also make sure my set is future safe. If nothing else eventually inflation will probably raise the stakes for you. My first set was perfect for what we played 15 years ago but would fall short today.

 

[warma]

I would also make sure my set is future safe. If nothing else eventually inflation will probably raise the stakes for you. My first set was perfect for what we played 15 years ago but would fall short today.

Inflation protection? That’s just an opportunity to get a new set.

 

[Eriks]

Inflation protection? That’s just an opportunity to get a new set.

True . I like to keep several inflation protected sets anyway but that is a nice justification for sure

 

[Chipandchair]

These are perfect for you and your breakdown now and future.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...-cash-breakdown-new-price.62819/#post-1248050
Starting stacks don’t matter in cash game.

 

[Polochris]

These are perfect for you and your breakdown now and future.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...-cash-breakdown-new-price.62819/#post-1248050
Starting stacks don’t matter in cash game.

I 2nd this!

100
200
200
80
20

Good for current and future games.

Dont worry so much about starting stacks in cash games. Value is value. In 1-2 orbits, the chips most likely will be evenly disbursed between players.

 

[Sal Bandini]

Starting stacks don't matter in tournies, either.

T10k, do you have 10k in chips? Yes, good to go

Cash game, $40 buy-in, do you have $40 in chips? Yes, good to go

 

[AWenger]

It will usually be about 8 people. Sometimes 10. Never more.
...
.25/.50 blinds. NL.

Minimum buy-in $20.
Most people usually buy in for $40.
Max buy-in is $50.

The game plays pretty small. No huge pots. Typical raises are $1-$2 pre-flop.

Welcome. Perfect description of the game. This is exactly the same stakes and type of game I've hosted before.

Is this too many .25 chips to start with?
Not necessarily. But I typically used a 12/12 or 16/16 breakdown for $0.25 & $1 chips, and added additional $5 chips, depending on the buy-in.

If someone only buys in for $20 (rare), they just wouldn't get any $5 chips.
This is exactly what I did -- a 16/16 stack is exactly $20.

When someone rebuys, I would just sell them more red chips and they could make change at the table.
Agreed. There's no real need to add any more $0.25 chips for rebuys if you only ever have one table going. I typically gave players rebuying up to a barrel of $1s plus additional $5s chips, until I ran out of $1 chips, then rebuys after that were entirely with $5s.

 

[JustinInMN]

Starting stacks don't matter in tournies, either.

T10k, do you have 10k in chips? Yes, good to go

Cash game, $40 buy-in, do you have $40 in chips? Yes, good to go

I have been converted on the tourney point. From a TD standpoint, it is nice to have that visual check when the stacks are set out that they are all the same instead of accounting for 2-3 different ways to construct a T10K stack.

 

[Pip17]

following this