Cash and Tournament Breakdown Recommendations (1 Viewer)

[Chickenator100]

Hey! So I’m working buying my first cash and tournament set out of the DDLMs and trying to figure out break downs for each. I was planning on using 4 colors for cash and 5 for tournaments. We typically have 6-8 people.

In terms of cash we only play .25/.50 with typical buy-in ranging from $25-40.
Starting Stacks would be 20/20/(1-5)
So I was thinking
200 x .25
200 x $1
150 x $5
25 x $20

For $1500 total and 575 chips
This one would accommodate the biggest scenario of a $50 buy in with a 200BB reload

But If I’m being realistic my friends do not buy-in/reload for that much or throw many $5 chips in so would it be more ideal to load up on the $1 as the work horse chip with a set like
200 x .25
250 x $1
100 x $5
25 x $20
For $1300 total and 575 chips

In terms of tournament we have been playing T25 20,000k with 1 table. 12/12/5/6/2 .
125x T25
140x T100
60x T500
125x T1000
50x T5000

For 500 chips in total
I know the recommended set up is 120/120/50/75/30 but I would be adding the 50 extra T1000 so I could give people reload with 10 T1000 and 2 T5000. They also prefer having more chips so this could give me the opportunity to give them 11 T1000 chips when we have less players. Added a few extras in case of lost chips and for rounding ups

I would greatly appreciate any advice or recommendations!

 

[MichaelBubly]

That is exactly the breakdown I went with / am going with for my cash game set. I also ended up with 100xnickels as I couldn't find any $5 or $20 chips yet.

 

[NotDunric]

This tool is incredibly useful in getting a baseline for both cash and tournament play at different sizes/stakes, and then you can adjust to your personal liking from there. Looks like you're more or less on the right track, though!

 

[JustinInMN]

You will find the number of quarters needed is a hotly debated topic here. Personally I think 100 is plenty for one table because those chips are only used in early streets. Put the bulk of your money into singles.

I like 100/300/160/40 of 0.25/1/5/20 in your spot.

Start players with 12/37/x for a $40 buy-in where x is the number of fives needed if you go higher. (This is like playing 1-2 in a casino where you usually get 40x5 for a $200 buy in, and then make change with the dealer/table for singles for blinds.) You can get 8 of those stacks, plus a 9th 4/4/x stack in.
Later rebuys are all fives once the singles and quarters are exhausted. (Which would happen after 325 in the bank of course, you won't exhaust the fives for another 800 dollars though . )

EDIT TO ADD: If you think you will have more games with more triple-figure buy-ins, then maybe consider changing some of those singles into fives.

I think your tournament set looks well planned. The nice think about planning 12/12/5/6 is that in a pinch you can change the set up 8/8/4/7 if you do have more players than usual and still be reasonably effective. (This is another good reason to get extra T1Ks as well.)

Hope this helps, welcome to PCF.

 

[Chickenator100]

You will find the number of quarters needed is a hotly debated topic here. Personally I think 100 is plenty for one table because those chips are only used in early streets. Put the bulk of your money into singles.

I like 100/300/160/40 of 0.25/1/5/20 in your spot.

Start players with 12/37/x for a $40 buy-in where x is the number of fives needed if you go higher. (This is like playing 1-2 in a casino where you usually get 40x5 for a $200 buy in.) You can get 8 of those stacks, plus a 9th 4/4/x stack in.
Later rebuys are all fives once the singles and quarters are exhausted. (Which would happen after 325 in the bank of course, you won't exhaust the fives for another 800 dollars though . )

EDIT TO ADD: If you think you will have more games with more triple-figure buy-ins, then maybe consider changing some of those singles into fives.

I think your tournament set looks well planned. The nice think about planning 12/12/5/6 is that in a pinch you can change the set up 8/8/4/7 if you do have more players than usual and still be reasonably effective. (This is another good reason to get extra T1Ks as well.)

Hope this helps, welcome to PCF.

I really like the idea of making it similar to a 1/2 casino buy-in. I think I will definitely go with the extra 100 $1s. I appreciate all of the suggestions. Thank you!

 

[Eriks]

Maybe I’m trying to fix something that ain’t broken, but I would consider switching the game to 25c/25c since buy-ins are only $25-40. Leaves a lot more room to play poker with 100bbs+ stacks.

 

[Machine]

Welcome, you'll find this thread has a few sections on break downs and links to resources.

I would suggest for a cash game .25 / .50 you use this break down:

60 x .25
200 x 1
200 x 5
60 x 20
10 x 100

I doubt you will ever get the 100s in but its nice to have. I run a game with the buy in 20 - 60 and its a nice spread of chips. If you're interested I can offer you as many quarters as you'd like. Here are two versions:

These are 43mm

seriously 200 is too many

 

[PARADOX]

Hey! So I’m working buying my first cash and tournament set out of the DDLMs and trying to figure out break downs for each. I was planning on using 4 colors for cash and 5 for tournaments. We typically have 6-8 people.

In terms of cash we only play .25/.50 with typical buy-in ranging from $25-40.
Starting Stacks would be 20/20/(1-5)
So I was thinking
200 x .25
200 x $1
150 x $5
25 x $20

For $1500 total and 575 chips
This one would accommodate the biggest scenario of a $50 buy in with a 200BB reload

But If I’m being realistic my friends do not buy-in/reload for that much or throw many $5 chips in so would it be more ideal to load up on the $1 as the work horse chip with a set like
200 x .25
250 x $1
100 x $5
25 x $20
For $1300 total and 575 chips

In terms of tournament we have been playing T25 20,000k with 1 table. 12/12/5/6/2 .
125x T25
140x T100
60x T500
125x T1000
50x T5000

For 500 chips in total
I know the recommended set up is 120/120/50/75/30 but I would be adding the 50 extra T1000 so I could give people reload with 10 T1000 and 2 T5000. They also prefer having more chips so this could give me the opportunity to give them 11 T1000 chips when we have less players. Added a few extras in case of lost chips and for rounding ups

I would greatly appreciate any advice or recommendations!

Cash:

100x25c
200x$1
200x$5
20x$20 or $25

Starting stack of:
12x25c
17x$1
Xx$5 (As needed to get to total buy in)

Rebuy with a mix of $1s and $5s. If you run out use $20/$25 to color some up.

If you get a full table of nine it sucks cashing out piles of chips.

 

[gopherblue]

Cash...two rules of thumb:
1. 100 x 25¢ is plenty for a single table, and
2. Always get spares (at least 5-10) of every denom in case of Murphy.


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

 

[Machine]

I give the first 7 people $2 in fracs, the 8th gets $3, any re-buys only gets 20s and 5s, they can make change on the table. You hand out oversized / plaques for 20s and everyone is volunteering to make change

 

[HebbNH]

As a former proponent of having more fracs because more chips on the table is more fun, I will tell you now, after running my last game with only 100 fracs for the first time ever, to listen to the majority and stick with just one rack of fracs (per table). You simply don’t need more than that, players can make change with each other if necessary, and it makes cash outs much quicker and easier. Load up on $1s and/or $5s instead.

 

[JustinInMN]

As a former proponent of having more fracs because more chips on the table is more fun, I will tell you now, after running my last game with only 100 fracs for the first time ever, to listen to the majority and stick with just one rack of fracs (per table). You simply don’t need more than that, players can make change with each other if necessary, and it makes cash outs much quicker and easier. Load up on $1s and/or $5s instead.

I made the same error when I bought my first set with a custom breakdown about 14 years ago. I did 200 nickels, 150 quarters, 100 singles, and 50 fives. It was enough nickels for more than a barrel per player, but all they did was mostly sit in stacks and were a liability when counting all ins.

You want most of your chips to be in your workhorse denomination and with $40 buy ins, that's firmly the one-dollar chip as the workhorse territory, which is why I suggested 300 of those, more than most PCFers would. (But in fairness, most PCFers like to plan sets that can play bigger where fives would be more useful.)

But having one main workhorse makes counting easier. The fewer denominations in play, the better. Then you just have to add two or three numbers in your head when counting a stack. Doing 4 or 5 denominations actually makes the mental math take longer, even if it's fewer actual chips to count.

 

[Machine]

As a former proponent of having more fracs because more chips on the table is more fun, I will tell you now, after running my last game with only 100 fracs for the first time ever, to listen to the majority and stick with just one rack of fracs (per table). You simply don’t need more than that, players can make change with each other if necessary, and it makes cash outs much quicker and easier. Load up on $1s and/or $5s instead.

I do run a little lean on fracs, but I don't pay out quarters; I find most people just tip the odd ones to the dealer, and at the end of the night if they don't wanna tip it, we toss them in the pot and run out a showdown of sorts

 

[TheWhat]

Ahhh I tried to save a few bucks, because God knows these chips aren't cheap, if I could do it all over again (Or for the next set ...)

100x Frac
200x $1
200x $5
80x $20
20x $50 and/or $100

Nice clean 6 racks. I mistakenly sold extra of my HSI Secondary $5s and will likely have to buy some back lol. I say this because one night we decided to play $1/2, and had we had another player, or an extra buy in or 2, we would have had cash on the table, which is basically a no-go at this point for us; with the above we would have been covered.

We play a very friendly 0.25 / 0.50 and get by absolutely fine with:

100x 0.25
120x $1
100x $2
100x $5
50x $20

I'd also recommend considering going to a 0.50 / 0.50 as it will open up the game for an easy 0.50 / 1.00 progression;l assuming you are getting denoms on the chipos.

 

[philhut]

I would suggest considering quarters and $1's in breakdowns of use. Since quarters generally are dispensed in groups of four (ie 4x.25=$1) then you may wish to have 80-120-160 or 200 quarters in your bank. I like 120 as a minimum since it gives you the ability to give every player $3 in quarters at the beginning of the game without flooding the table and then 220x$1 makes sense with orders of rolls of 25 you can order 125xquarters and 225x$1's and be all set for a ten player table adding $5's, and 20's/25's along with maybe 10x$100's just in case you make some more friends and they bring $.

i'd order this for .25/.50 as a chip minimum.
120-.25
220-1
150-5 (or 160-$5's and 40-$25's)
50-25
10-100
550 chips

$20 chips are cool but negating the extra $5 of the $25 loses $100 in chip value per barrel of 20. 550 chips fits better in the 500 chip aluminum cases that typically hold 55 chips per row allowing for 550 chips before using the card/dice spaces.

(I'm not one to really talk minimums, my cash chip sets are huge but geared for multiple different stakes depending on the crowd)

 

[LeLe]

In terms of cash we only play .25/.50 with typical buy-in ranging from $25-40.
Starting Stacks would be 20/20/(1-5)
So I was thinking
200 x .25
200 x $1
150 x $5
25 x $20

For $1500 total and 575 chips
This one would accommodate the biggest scenario of a $50 buy in with a 200BB reload

But If I’m being realistic my friends do not buy-in/reload for that much or throw many $5 chips in so would it be more ideal to load up on the $1 as the work horse chip with a set like
200 x .25
250 x $1
100 x $5
25 x $20
For $1300 total and 575 chips

There's not much needs for 200 frac

If you only need a small bank and with 500 chips, go for
100 x 25c
200 x $1
160 x $5
40 x $20/$25 for a bank of $1825/$2025

If you had more budget and you will like to cover 50c/$1 in case your game ever grow. I will get additional 100 chips
100 x 25c
200 x $1
200 x $5
80 x $20
20 x $100 for a bank of $4825

Most breakdown will work as long you have the right amount of workhorse chips, I had several Chipset with a slightly variations of breakdown (500 to 600 chips per set) and they all work to the same effect