Cash Game Cash Game Chip Set Breakdown (1 Viewer)

[bjm2020]

I'm looking to put together my first "real" chip set.

Based on my current budget, I'm looking at the Milano's, Pharao's, and Majestic's. I'll be ordering samples soon for comparison.

My game will start as a .25/.25 cash game with 10 players max. Min buyin $20, Max $50. I plan to eventually coerce the guys into moving stakes to .25/.50. At some point, I may also add a second table with up to 10 players.

Any suggestions on a good breakdown for these games?

 

[bentax1978]

How many total chips are you looking to purchase?

 

[Skeeter]

Also what your budget is for these chips. You'll be surprised at what you can find when you ask for a little insight.

 

[bjm2020]

That's my main question I guess. I'm looking for suggestions on a good number of chips that would do the job for the current game and possibly allow for higher stakes later on. I can always buy more later if I expand to two tables. Right now my priority is to get enough for the initial game and expand later if needed.

 

[bjm2020]

Also what your budget is for these chips. You'll be surprised at what you can find when you ask for a little insight.

My budget is kind of up in the air at the moment. I would probably say $300 max.

 

[mummel]

I need to create a link to a template to answer this question! Comes up so many times. I have the exact same setup, ~1,300+ Milanos.

For $25 buyins, go 25c/25c blinds and use 20x25c + 20x$1 starting stacks, and with 10 players, thats 200 X 25c + 200 x $1 chips (so 4 full racks which looks great too and takes care of your OCD!)

For $50 buyins, go 25c/50c blinds and use 20x25c + 20x$1 + 5x$5 starting stacks, and with 10 players and say 5 rebuys, thats another +100x$5 chips. These $5 chips also easily cover the rebuys in your $25 game.

So that's 500 chips total for 10 players:

200x25c
200x$1
100x$5

I ended up with 160 X $5 chips + 40 X $25 for $100 games ($1/$1 blinds with 20X$1 + 16x$5 starting stacks, with $25 for rebuys), but I will never use them. Knowing what I know now, I would do it differently. Those $5 chips are gathering dust (never broken out more than 1-2 barrels). Wasted $ sitting idle.

If I could do it again, I would actually have rather spent more on fewer $5 plaques that actually were used in play and added some bling to the game.

 

[Skeeter]

I went through this a year or two ago. Visit this thread that I started on it, it has some great information. I went with semi-custom ceramics from BR PRO Poker. Roughly the same budget, and I have been thoroughly pleased with them. There is some denom talk in there as well.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/semi-custom-ceramics.12403/

 

[Ronoh]

.25 - 100
1 - 200
5 - 200
20/25 - 80
100 - 20

Double the bottom three denoms if adding a second table, season to taste with more racks of $5s.

 

[Psypher1000]

25c x 100
$1 x 200
$5 x 200
$25 x 60
$100 x 40

This will fairly easily accomodate a full ring game of 25c/25c or 25c/50c, and is a pretty widely accepted breakdown for such (with some folks flexing a denom by 20 here and there).

 

[mummel]

I can always buy more later if I expand to two tables.

Dont do this. The China clays are notorious for having different colors from batch to batch. Buy once and buy right, otherwise you'll get say 25c brown chips that look different because of the different shade of brown depending on the batch. It's been well documented here that this is an issue.

 

[detroitdad]

.25 - 100
1 - 200
5 - 200
20/25 - 80
100 - 20

Double the bottom three denoms if adding a second table, season to taste with more racks of $5s.

25c x 100
$1 x 200
$5 x 200
$25 x 60
$100 x 40

This will fairly easily accomodate a full ring game of 25c/25c or 25c/50c, and is a pretty widely accepted breakdown for such (with some folks flexing a denom by 20 here and there).

Either of these are great suggestions.

 

[chipjoker]

I have ran a monthly cash game and I have any ware form 5 to 15 players, I run a .25/.25 $40-$100 Buy-in, most buy-in for 100.

100 - $.25
120 - $1
130 - $5
40 - $25
10 - $100 This set up was the Minimum to support my game. If I had 15 players I did add some roulettes for quarters and some other ones..

If you can get more then this, i would suggest:

200 - $.25
200 - $1
200 - $5
70 - $25 (20)
30 - $100 This will allow you to go to two table with re-buys and .25/.50, plus they may want to buy in for more. My guys like the deep stack cash game a lot.

 

[bjm2020]

I went through this a year or two ago. Visit this thread that I started on it, it has some great information. I went with semi-custom ceramics from BR PRO Poker. Roughly the same budget, and I have been thoroughly pleased with them. There is some denom talk in there as well.
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/semi-custom-ceramics.12403/

Those look very nice. I have never played with ceramics before. I'm gonna have to order some samples to see if I like the feel of them.

 

[detroitdad]

We do .25/.50 with a 100 max buy in. I like starting stacks of

12 x .25
17 x 1
15 x 5

That is simply my preference. I like enough fives to cover the first 2-4 re buys. Then I move to 25's.

I like
100 x .25
200 x 1
300 x 5
100 x 25
20 x 100

 

[detroitdad]

My friend has these and loves them. .39 per chip. Buy whatever break down you want.

Venerati ceramic chips.

http://www.buypokerchips.com/Venerati-Poker-Chips-p/set-vnrti.htm

 

[bjm2020]

Dont do this. The China clays are notorious for having different colors from batch to batch. Buy once and buy right, otherwise you'll get say 25c brown chips that look different because of the different shade of brown depending on the batch. It's been well documented here that this is an issue.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll make sure I get enough for expansion then.

 

[Skeeter]

Those look very nice. I have never played with ceramics before. I'm gonna have to order some samples to see if I like the feel of them.

I recommend you doing that with all of them. I had some sample Milano's, and while I liked them, they weren't what I was looking for. For me it was the ability to customize a mine a little bit. My wife had some input on them, and I love the way they feel and sound. For now, it's what I play with, but take your time and figure out what you like.

 

[bjm2020]

I have ran a monthly cash game and I have any ware form 5 to 15 players, I run a .25/.25 $40-$100 Buy-in, most buy-in for 100.

100 - $.25
120 - $1
130 - $5
40 - $25
10 - $100 This set up was the Minimum to support my game. If I had 15 players I did add some roulettes for quarters and some other ones..

If you can get more then this, i would suggest:

200 - $.25
200 - $1
200 - $5
70 - $25 (20)
30 - $100 This will allow you to go to two table with re-buys and .25/.50, plus they may want to buy in for more. My guys like the deep stack cash game a lot.

Are 10 $.25's per player (20 Players) enough without having to make change all of the time?

 

[detroitdad]

Are 10 $.25's per player (20 Players) enough without having to make change all of the time?

I think so. At most I would get 240 x .25 I don't think you'll need that. In my .25/.50 cash game the ones, then the fives are the work horse.

 

[Shaggy]

Are 10 $.25's per player (20 Players) enough without having to make change all of the time?

Usually... it really boils down to how your players play. If they are very limpy and betting 25c into a $1.50 pot on the flop and 50c into a $4 pot on the turn... you will need more 25c chips. My 25c/50c game plays more like 1/2... the 25c chips are really just used for the blinds, but half the time don't make it into the pot because someone raised it to $2 or $3 preflop.

What do you have now? How does your game play?

 

[Rhodeman77]

Are 10 $.25's per player (20 Players) enough without having to make change all of the time?

You will need 12 per player really unless they are bringing change to buy in with

But yes, 1 rack is enough for a single table. Each player only needs 8-12 to post blinds. After that most bets will be $1 chips or bigger.

 

[bjm2020]

All I have now are dice chips. I might set up a few games with those for now so that I can experiment with stack breakdowns before purchasing a set.

We don't currently run a cash game. We play a rebuy tournament at another venue that runs 1-2 times a month. It usually draws 20-30 players. All of the players that will be invited to the cash game are regulars in these tournaments.

Most of these players usually fall into the limpy passive category with the exception of 2 of us, who are thinking players, more aggressive, and make more proper bet sizes.

 

[detroitdad]

You will need 12 per player really unless they are bringing change to buy in with

But yes, 1 rack is enough for a single table. Each player only needs 8-12 to post blinds. After that most bets will be $1 chips or bigger.

I agree. For a one table game I have 100 quarters. The first 8 players get 12 x .25. The 9th and 10th players get all ones and fives with their starting stack and they just make change from a couple of players. If your building a set for 20 players the minimum I'd get is 200 quarters.

 

[mummel]

You will need 12 per player really unless they are bringing change to buy in with

But yes, 1 rack is enough for a single table. Each player only needs 8-12 to post blinds. After that most bets will be $1 chips or bigger.

Yeah you need quarters in 8s, 12s, 16s or 20 increments. I played in a tourney where we have 8 X $25 and 8 X $100. People were making change constantly. Im not a fan at all. I use 20 chips and my players and I maybe have to make change once in an evening, which is great, plus its MOAR chips and big stacks!

My guess is 12 is probably the min for less changing with 20 being the max. 16 is probably ideal but again, it depends on your budget. I say go 20 for 10 players but if you are doing 20 players, go 16 or 12 to save $.

 

[detroitdad]

My guess is 12 is probably the min for less changing with 20 being the max. 16 is probably ideal but again, it depends on your budget. I say go 20 for 10 players but if you are doing 20 players, go 16 or 12 to save $.

I disagree with this. This response is more dependent on your games specific style of play similar to what @Rhodeman77 was talking about. 16-20 quarter per player at my game would probably slow things down. The first half of the game the ones are the most important chip on the table. The last couple of hours the fives and 25's are seeing more action as the degeneracy picks up

 

[upNdown]

I play a .25/.50 game, and everybody starts with 12 quarters. It tends to be an aggressive game, but not crazy high stakes aggressive. There are a lot of quarter-using bets, like $1.25, 2.50, and there's one guy who's favorite bet is 1.75. My point is, we actually use a lot of quarters, and 12 per player is plenty.

 

[detroitdad]

I play a .25/.50 game, and everybody starts with 12 quarters. It tends to be an aggressive game, but not crazy high stakes aggressive. There are a lot of quarter-using bets, like $1.25, 2.50, and there's one guy who's favorite bet is 1.75. My point is, we actually use a lot of quarters, and 12 per player is plenty.

Triple like

 

[Mental Nomad]

Are 10 $.25's per player (20 Players) enough without having to make change all of the time?

Yes. People always think adding more quarters will sharply reduce the change-making, but it hardly makes a dent.

All-ins will still push most of the quarters to a few people, and change needs to happen. It doesn't matter if someone goes all-in with $2 in quarters or $7 in quarters, they all end up in the winner's hands.

I have plenty of quarters, and have experimented with buying in more and more quarters... It just puts a ton of them in front of the winners, and others still ask them for change.

 

[upNdown]

Triple like

Thanks. And to continue on - those games where people don't use quarters after the flop sound sad to me. I think my favorite bet is $6.25 - one of each!

 

[detroitdad]

I think my favorite bet is $6.25 - one of each!

Flop bet? sometimes that is a pre flop bet at my game.