Building a multi-use tourney set? (2 Viewers)

[GamingWithChips]

Hi guys,

Apologize for the many posts in different threads, but as I’m building my own set of Tina’s I’m trying to decide what to actually order.

I’m trying to balance a few things so bare with me lol.

I currently have a set of Poker Knights that is basically a T5 tourney set. The chips I’m designing starts at T5 and goes up to T25K. I have a 600 chip birdcage case so I was thinking about making a 300 pc T5 set and a 300 pc T500 set that would also have the ability to be combined for a big game T25 set.

Questions:

1) Has anyone else done this? Any good breakdowns that fit well? I’ve been in the excel sheets seeing what works best but I know that having only 300 chips per set can limit me. I have done sheets for 600, 800, 1000 chips (obviously the more the merrier), but I also don’t want to go over board if it isn’t necessary. And yes, I could just get a different case, but I thought I’d work with what I’ve got right now.

2) For those that do have multiple sets, do you find your groups defaults to one set/structure and don’t want to mix it up that much? Basically, do you think I’m waisting my money doing both T5/T500 sets, especially if I already hav a T5 set? Should I just build one bigger T25 or T100 set?

Our group is normally 5-7 people, but I would hope that someday soon we could get up to 10 or maybe like two tables of 6 eventually.


Any thoughts/opinions appreciated!

 

[TheRealStephen12]

It is doable. With:

80x T5
144x T25
144x T100
60x T500
72x T1K
64x T5K
20x T25K

You get 584 chips. The following starting stacks could be made with these quantities:

T5: 10/10/7 (T1K) max. 8
T25: 12/12/5/6 (T5K) max. 12
T100: 10/4/7/2 (T20K) max. 10
T500: 4/8/8/2 (T100K) max. 8 (freezeout only)

Is this recommended? Probably not, but it can be done if you wanted to.

 

[Eriks]

I don’t see the point of having different Tx sets, one size fits all buy-ins. Instead I would get one optimized set, perhaps a 600 chip one to make sure I could comfortably do a 2-table tourney.

 

[OutOfTown]

I currently have a set of Poker Knights that is basically a T5 tourney set. The chips I’m designing starts at T5 and goes up to T25K. I have a 600 chip birdcage case so I was thinking about making a 300 pc T5 set and a 300 pc T500 set that would also have the ability to be combined for a big game T25 set.

What is it that you are trying to achieve? If I did not misunderstand you, T5 and T500 with 300 pieces each will give you basically the same tournament structure.

The only difference is that you start with either 5/10 or 500/1000 blinds - but they will play identical. The only difference is that the T500 set with 300 chips will be more difficult to create, if you go with the classic T500 and T1000 chips in your buld, giving you a smaller value spread between chips.

You get 584 chips. The following starting stacks could be made with these quantities:

You'd need to consider that Tina's chips can only be ordered in multiples of 25. And from what I have read, you should calculate with spare chips as you will occasionally get broken chips.

 

[Gunnar]

I have had my fair share of tournaments and recently moved over to T500 structure. I highly recommend and my players as well.

It is also the most efficient breakdown. Go with one bigger set, that is by far the best option here

 

[GamingWithChips]

What is it that you are trying to achieve? If I did not misunderstand you, T5 and T500 with 300 pieces each will give you basically the same tournament structure.

I was hoping to be able to produce all different chips and be able to put them in play somehow, so doing a set for the bottom/top/middle of the range could do all of this and also give me the option for a bigger game if needed.

But you are right, when looking at starting stacks and breakdowns the T5 and T500 were similar so I was worried that the two would play to similarly and therefore my group would just gravitate to one set and then not want to play the other.


Maybe I will try to instead build a T25 and a T500 set? Those two should play a little differently and then I could have more chips on the lower/middle end to allow for a bigger game, and the T500 could be for a high stakes game.

 

[GamingWithChips]

I have had my fair share of tournaments and recently moved over to T500 structure. I highly recommend and my players as well.

It is also the most efficient breakdown. Go with one bigger set, that is by far the best option here

Could you let me know your breakdown? I was kind of hoping to do a starting stack of 200K because we often buy in for $20 but it’s not paramount.

I was playing with some options and it looks like 6/12/12/5 could work for 200K?

 

[TheRealStephen12]

Could you let me know your breakdown? I was kind of hoping to do a starting stack of 200K because we often buy in for $20 but it’s not paramount.

I was playing with some options and it looks like 6/12/12/5 could work for 200K?

Not Gunnar, but 10/10/7/6 is probably most common, followed by 6/12/12/5. The latter would be better, because you don’t need as many 500s in play. For Tina’s, the following is 500 chips, and leaves you with enough for 2 T200K buy-ins per player at 6/12/12/5 and color up to T25K and T100K. I also made sure to put it in Tina quantities.

75x T500
150x T1K
150x T5K
100x T25K
25x T100K

 

[OutOfTown]

Maybe I will try to instead build a T25 and a T500 set? Those two should play a little differently and then I could have more chips on the lower/middle end to allow for a bigger game, and the T500 could be for a high stakes game.

The size of the smallest chip alone will not make a difference if everything else scales in the same way. It does not really matter whether your players start with 2,000 in chips and 5/10 blinds or 200,000 in chips and 500/1000 blinds. Both are starting stacks of 200 BB. The only difference is that inexperienced players who do not think of their stack in BBs might feel like high rollers - but in reality the game will be the same.

What will make a difference in tournaments:
* Different starting stack sizes (counted in BBs!)
* The number of players
* The level progression ("size" of the steps between levels)
* The level duration
* Availability of rebuys/add-ons

I was playing with some options and it looks like 6/12/12/5 could work for 200K?

If you don't want to get more than the 300 chips you mentioned, I would stay away from any setup that includes both T500 and T1000. That is just a factor of 2, which severely decreases your total chip value. That in turn impacts how many players you can have, and if you can offer rebuys/add-ons. Thus, sets with either T25/100/500/1000 or T500/T1000/T5k/T25k are not the best options when you want to have fewer chips.

IMHO the best option is to stick with T5/25/100/500, and get more of these chips. This should give you plenty of options to run either a 2 table tournament, a "deep stack" tournament with 300 or 400 BBs starting stack, or multiple rebuys/addons. If you want to start or include T500 in your set, I'd skip the T1000 chip, and go with T500 - T2,500 - T10k - T50k, which is basically the same as the T5, just scaled up by a factor of 100.

 

[GamingWithChips]

The size of the smallest chip alone will not make a difference if everything else scales in the same way. It does not really matter whether your players start with 2,000 in chips and 5/10 blinds or 200,000 in chips and 500/1000 blinds. Both are starting stacks of 200 BB. The only difference is that inexperienced players who do not think of their stack in BBs might feel like high rollers - but in reality the game will be the same.

What will make a difference in tournaments:
* Different starting stack sizes (counted in BBs!)
* The number of players
* The level progression ("size" of the steps between levels)
* The level duration
* Availability of rebuys/add-ons


If you don't want to get more than the 300 chips you mentioned, I would stay away from any setup that includes both T500 and T1000. That is just a factor of 2, which severely decreases your total chip value. That in turn impacts how many players you can have, and if you can offer rebuys/add-ons. Thus, sets with either T25/100/500/1000 or T500/T1000/T5k/T25k are not the best options when you want to have fewer chips.

IMHO the best option is to stick with T5/25/100/500, and get more of these chips. This should give you plenty of options to run either a 2 table tournament, a "deep stack" tournament with 300 or 400 BBs starting stack, or multiple rebuys/addons. If you want to start or include T500 in your set, I'd skip the T1000 chip, and go with T500 - T2,500 - T10k - T50k, which is basically the same as the T5, just scaled up by a factor of 100.

Thanks for all of the advice!

And I was hoping that T5 and T500 would play a little differently, especially since we have beginners/casual players at best. So I was hoping maybe that T5 would feel more beginner friendly, but still can be competitive. And that T500 would feel more like the pros of our game haha

And I think most people would agree that having more chips on the bottom end of your stack ie 10/10/7/x would feel more beginner friendly than something like 6/12/12/x? Do you find that to be true and hold any weight at all? Again, my line of thinking here was that a T5 with many small chips might play a little slower or limpy than a T500 with more of the workhorse chips. I’m also aware that it /shouldn’t/ matter because everything is relative to big blinds, but for noobie players like myself and some others that play in our game I feel it would factor in.

Again, in a perfect world I’d be able to make it work, but if it doesn’t make that big of a difference then I might as well forfeit the idea and just get a bigger tourney set for different player amounts and a small cash set for the really core group of us. That would likely fit our group overall and save me a few coins.

 

[dizzyChipper]

T500 base.
100/100/100/75/25

Is this the way??

 

[Eriks]

So I was hoping maybe that T5 would feel more beginner friendly, but still can be competitive. And that T500 would feel more like the pros of our game haha

The size of the tournament buy-in is what dictates whether it will feel like a friendly casual tournament vs an all out for blood one.

You can set the buy-in to 5 bucks yet play the tourney on a T1000,000 set, it does not matter. Sure, it might feel a bit more high stakes/James Bondesque to play with millions rather than 5s, but it does not in itself alter the game.

Then there is always the argument for getting more sets because moar chips, and that’s of course tougher to argue against

 

[GamingWithChips]

Then there is always the argument for getting more sets because moar chips, and that’s of course tougher to argue against

This is where I'm at lol. I'm designing all of the chips so that I like each and every chip, so I want to try to use them all! lol, otherwise, I could just buy a set of Bank chips from apache poker and be done with it ha.

The downside to this is I have to make more of a commitment, like why not just make two full 500 pc sets and put them in a 1000 pc case. It will cost me like $250-300 more, is it worth it? Maybe for some, but we only play every once in a while and it's normally a small group, so I was seeing if I could find a why to make a small set work in many ways for me

 

[BPTDirector]

You already have a T5 set, just get a large T100 or T500 set.

 

[GamingWithChips]

You already have a T5 set, just get a large T100 or T500 set.

I definitely didn't explain in this post (my bad) but since I was making my own chips I was planning on shelving my current set of Poker Knights. But you are still right, I could just keep that and use it every once in a while and then buy the a T100 or T500 set.

 

[Jers28]

Maybe I will try to instead build a T25 and a T500 set? Those two should play a little differently and then I could have more chips on the lower/middle end to allow for a bigger game, and the T500 could be for a high stakes game.

I’m not following why a larger chip denomination equates to higher stakes in your mind. I don’t care if we play for $100 buy-in with infinite rebuys, $1k freeze out tournament or if the buy-in is $28.36. The payout will change (which is just plugging the total take x % for each place paid), but we are playing the exact same chip set in each of these and any other. If we do a freeze out with a large buy in, I’m going to change the time of the levels, but nothing else. I don’t want players asking a thousand questions. K.I.S.S. is always the best approach.

Several people have mentioned it already, but just go with one set and think of chips in terms of BBs. Who gaf what the denominations are when you’re not playing a cash game. I would also recommend skipping the T1000 chip if you use a T500 and are trying to minimize your order. I use it in my set, but I wasn’t trying to keep my set small. More chips is always my policy. lol

 

[GamingWithChips]

I’m not following why a larger chip denomination equates to higher stakes in your mind. I don’t care if we play for $100 buy-in with infinite rebuys, $1k freeze out tournament or if the buy-in is $28.36. The payout will change (which is just plugging the total take x % for each place paid), but we are playing the exact same chip set in each of these and any other.

You are right, higher stakes in play money, not real money lol, we just play for fun, so it might be fun to have big numbers instead of smaller numbers. I was also planning on having the 25-100 chip in 39mm and the 500+ in 43mm. That would make the sets feel different and both literally and figuratively, feel bigger.

Although we could maybe change things and do a T500, T100K tourney for a $100 buy in (massive for us ha), but then the set won't be used very often. So the idea behind having 2 smaller sets and then combing for 1 big set is we could take on bigger games if needed, even for how infrequently they happen.

And I am also aware I'm over thinking this a little. But I'm also waiting on the design to be finished before ordering so I have some time to sit and think and stew lol

 

[Jers28]

You are right, higher stakes in play money, not real money lol, we just play for fun, so it might be fun to have big numbers instead of smaller numbers. I was also planning on having the 25-100 chip in 39mm and the 500+ in 43mm. That would make the sets feel different and both literally and figuratively, feel bigger.

Although we could maybe change things and do a T500, T100K tourney for a $100 buy in (massive for us ha), but then the set won't be used very often. So the idea behind having 2 smaller sets and then combing for 1 big set is we could take on bigger games if needed, even for how infrequently they happen.

And I am also aware I'm over thinking this a little. But I'm also waiting on the design to be finished before ordering so I have some time to sit and think and stew lol

I get bigger denominations on tourney chips for funsies. I also get bigger chip diameters for the same reasons. I still don’t understand multiple small sets. I’d rather have one larger set so people can rebuy, the size can grow to MTT from your STT, etc. yes, you can order more chips. But, they take 3+ months to arrive.

FWIW, higher denominations and larger chips diameters…

 

[Jers28]

The T500 to T2,500 to T10,000 makes way more sense if you’re on a budget

 

[GamingWithChips]

View attachment 1587690

Those are SICK chips! I really like the black light kinda look it's got going on. Do you have black lights in your room? haha

 

[Jers28]

Those are SICK chips! I really like the black light kinda look it's got going on. Do you have black lights in your room? haha

Thank you. No black lights, but the table lights are on. The dayglo colors on Paulson’s love the table lights. Tina’s…not so much, I’m sorry to say. They look fine, but they definitely don’t reflect the UV light like clay. Tina’s also don’t cost as much as a used car, so there’s that. lol

Check it when you turn the light in the room down to really make the Tigers pop.

 

[OutOfTown]

And I think most people would agree that having more chips on the bottom end of your stack ie 10/10/7/x would feel more beginner friendly than something like 6/12/12/x? Do you find that to be true and hold any weight at all? Again, my line of thinking here was that a T5 with many small chips might play a little slower or limpy than a T500 with more of the workhorse chips. I’m also aware that it /shouldn’t/ matter because everything is relative to big blinds, but for noobie players like myself and some others that play in our game I feel it would factor in.

A starting stack with only 6 of the smallest chips (regardless of the number of the chip) will probably not give the best experience, as players will need to make change frequently. Having 10 or 12 small chips in the starting stack will make the game run with fewer interruptions to make change.

I wouldn't mind having 20 small chips in the starting stack, either. You don't need that many for a smooth tournament (and you can't have them if you want to minimize your set), but some players like to have many chips in front of them. The term "workhorse chip" does not really apply to tournaments with increasing blinds. As blinds increase, the chips used for a typical bet will change. As you go through the levels and blinds increase, you will usually want to color up and remove the smaller chips from the table once they are no longer needed.

If it feels better for you and your players to use different chip values for different buy-in tournaments, then by all means do so, but you will need different sets to run the games. There might be some small overlap in chips, like T100 and T500 being used for games with both 5/10 and 100/200 initial blinds, but that's about it. There is no meaningful tournament structure in which you would need to combine both sets and have 7 or 8 different denominations for a single table tournament. And again: The game itself will not be that different if you do not adjust one or more of the variables I have posted earlier.

 

[BigGrizz]

So I know you want to go for a 300pc set. That's going to be $150 on the chips plus $80 on the label fee. That's $0.76 per chip which is BRPro poker prices. In my opinion, you need to buy more just to make the unit price worth it. The more you buy, the closer you get to that 50 cent unit price. So at 300 chips you're paying a 50% premium on your chips. At 500 chips you get down to a $0.66 unit price. $0.58 at 1,000 chips. You get the picture.

 

[GamingWithChips]

So I know you want to go for a 300pc set. That's going to be $150 on the chips plus $80 on the label fee. That's $0.76 per chip which is BRPro poker prices. In my opinion, you need to buy more just to make the unit price worth it. The more you buy, the closer you get to that 50 cent unit price. So at 300 chips you're paying a 50% premium on your chips. At 500 chips you get down to a $0.66 unit price. $0.58 at 1,000 chips. You get the picture.

I was thinking about buying 600 chips for a few tourney sets, and then also possibly buying a little cash set.

Side note, do you think BR pro chips are that much better quality than Tina’s? Any reason these can be so much cheaper? I assumed part of it was the artwork, that BR Pro made the designs/sets and here you have to do it yourself

 

[BigGrizz]

So BRPro and Tina are about on par quality wise. Tinas are cheaper because China. Lol. As an American company, BRPro will help you with the design process and delivery of chips takes days not weeks. BRPro does not have hybrids and are all flat textured chips. Now if you wanted some complex design that takes up the whole chip face, BRPro is still the best game in town. QA at BRPro is also impecable. With BRPro you are paying for service and speed.

 

[Machine]

So BRPro and Tina are about on par quality wise.

Not in my experience. I prefer the BRPro; they are shinier on the side of the chip, they slide slightly more than the Tinas, but the biggest difference is spinners; the Tinas spin, these are non-hybrids. The hybrids slide more than the any of the other chips, but they don't have as many spinners as other Tinas

Any reason these can be so much cheaper?

Multiple reasons, but the standout for me is security. I can send photos of your chips, and Tina will duplicate them for me.

 

[GamingWithChips]

So BRPro and Tina are about on par quality wise. Tinas are cheaper because China. Lol. As an American company, BRPro will help you with the design process and delivery of chips takes days not weeks. BRPro does not have hybrids and are all flat textured chips. Now if you wanted some complex design that takes up the whole chip face, BRPro is still the best game in town. QA at BRPro is also impecable. With BRPro you are paying for service and speed.

Good to hear! I’m breaking a cardinal rule and not getting samples of Tina before I buy haha, just banking on others thoughts and opinions.

I actually have some BR Pro bounty chips so it’s my only reference to their chips, but I also had them make me a few plaques for my Poker Knights set, and you are right, I gave them my idea and a sketch and they made it!

 

[GamingWithChips]

Not in my experience. I prefer the BRPro; they are shinier on the side of the chip, they slide slightly more than the Tinas, but the biggest difference is spinners; the Tinas spin, these are non-hybrids. The hybrids slide more than the any of the other chips, but they don't have as many spinners as other Tinas

I have seen some back and forth on this, it seems some people think it’s perfectly acceptable or not very noticeable, and others think it’s a deal breaker?

My only reference to chips are the Poker Knights set of plastic slugs, and from anything if seen or heard, these can only be an improvement to those lol

 

[Machine]

I wouldn't put a $ on tournament plaques


If you need plaques for your cash game, these are the best money can buy

 

[GamingWithChips]

I wouldn't put a $ on tournament plaques


If you need plaques for your cash game, these are the best money can buy

Ya, I only put the dollar sign on those Poker Knights to exactly match the chips themselves. The tourney set I’m building won’t have dollar signs.

And those are the EXACT plaques I want, but the Canadian ones! I have searched around and asked a few people here but I wasn’t able to find any sadly.