Cash Game Cash games with 20$/25$/50$/100$ buy-ins, with a 600 chip set possible? (1 Viewer)

Ryuzumei

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Hi everyone, I just started my poker journey and asked some questions in my introduction thread and received really helpful advice from chipper @Ben8257! Started this thread to get some more opinions on the updated table.

My plan is to buy a CPC set with 600 chips and be able to play Cash games with 20$/25$/50$/100$ buy-ins. We are usually 6 but I'd like to make a set for max. 8 people. How many people do you normally plan on top of the usual amount playing?

Below is the adjusted table with the 160/200/200/40 chip set which was recommended and has enough high denominations to grow in the future.

For the 20$ and buy-in cash game I kept the 0.25 chips at a higher amount because the buy-in is not that high. (Does that make sense?)

Chip distribution NEW.jpg
 
Hi
I dont think you need that many quarters. 120 should be plenty. Maybe add 40 100CHF chips instead? I dont put them in play myself but I like the look of hundos :)
 
I dont realy understand your table. Why do you only have 40 25$ Chips. How many Buy Ins do you like to cover?

I would go with 150 of each denom. May be optimzing a little more the Beeakdown. But I think 150 each is a good starting point.

In most games your Workhorse Chip will be 1$ chip.
160/200/160/80 is my suggestion, but it realy depends of how much Buy Ins you like to cover.
 
Make the fractionals Non-Denominated, to be able to play as either .20 or .25 or .50.
No need for more than 100 of them.
Thus, you can have 100x CHF20 or 25, or even 80 of them plus 20x CHF100.
 
I bought a similar set myself.
I went with 100/200/200/100/40 for 25c/$1/$5/$20/$100. Total of 640 chips and $7225 bank, and that should work fine for 8 people ($900/player is more than enough for my games).
If you wanna stick to 600 chips, maybe you could go with 100/200/200/80/20. That makes it a total bank of $4825 ($600+/player, which is generally enough).

Edit: And you don’t need to think about starting stacks for cash games. Just put as many low denom chips in play asap and the give the others higher denom chips, and let them make change.
 
I dont realy understand your table. Why do you only have 40 25$ Chips. How many Buy Ins do you like to cover?

I would go with 150 of each denom. May be optimzing a little more the Beeakdown. But I think 150 each is a good starting point.

In most games your Workhorse Chip will be 1$ chip.
160/200/160/80 is my suggestion, but it realy depends of how much Buy Ins you like to cover.
All of your questions are answered in the OP?
 
You only need no more than 120 fracs. Any more is just unnecessary, especially if it's one table, 8 max.

For starting stacks, just have 12x $0.25 & 17x $1 for the $20 portion of you starting stacks, and just add however many $5s to raise it up to your required total.

I would just alocate 40x $0.25 of your 160ct. and put them towards more $25. Also like having $25 chips instead of $20 chips since that helps increase your bank more.

EDIT: Forgot since its 8 max, you really dont need even 120 quarters. Just get 100 instead, and have those additional 20 for more $1s or $5s.
 
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100 fracs only. Save the bulk for your workhorse chips, $1 and $5 (depending on stakes). A "standard" 600 chip cash breakdown will get you far:

100x $0.25 (or whatever)
200x $1
200x $5
80x $20/25
20x $100

For people who never play lower than 0.50/1, then screw the quarters, get at most 60x $0.50, and use your extra 40 where it's going to do the most good (likely the $5s).

For the people who play 1/2, screw all the fracs (natch), and convert to an extra rack of $5s.

The moral of the story: you can probably never have too many $5s.
 
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I also think you’ve got too many fracs.

100/200/200/80/20 - you can spread .25/.25 through 1/2 with this. Add a rack of $5s if desired

And I recommend ditching the idea of “starting stacks” for cash games. For .25/.50 and .50/$1 give the first 5 players a barrel of fracs and the rest in $1s with a $5 or two where needed. Get all your fracs and $1s on the table first, then rebuys and top ups with $5s until those are all out, then $25s, then $100s for value storage and change making if stacks get deep or the game gets wild.

If all your chips are on the table and your game is still running, let $100 bills play as long as they stay on the table and are visible to all players.
 
You only need no more than 120 fracs. Any more is just unnecessary, especially if it's one table, 8 max.

For starting stacks, just have 12x $0.25 & 17x $1 for the $20 portion of you starting stacks, and just add however many $5s to raise it up to your required total.

I would just alocate 40x $0.25 of your 160ct. and put them towards more $25. Also like having $25 chips instead of $20 chips since that helps increase your bank more.
@ChipFinderSK @MrWitti @Santa123 @Coyote @JJJGabriel @DZPoker @AnteAndy

Thank you all for your input! I have adjusted the table and present two options:

120/200/200/80 - (0.25$/1$/5$/25$)
100/200/200/80/20 - (0.25$/1$/5$/25$/100$)

Do you guys think that if I have 20x100$ I really need 80x25$ or could I go with 120/200/200/60/20?

We will mostly play 20$-50$ buy-ins so the 100$ buy-in option is to upscale.

@JJJGabriel "And you don’t need to think about starting stacks for cash games. Just put as many low denom chips in play asap and the give the others higher denom chips, and let them make change."

Do you mean if somebody has too many 0.25$ they exchange it for 1$ and if somebody else needs 0.25$ they can just change it in the bank/other with another player?

@AnteAndy Here I saw that you answered with the same amount for the starting rack which I agree with.

Below both tables:

Chip distribution NEW.jpg


Chip distribution NEW 100$.jpg
 
The way I think about these questions is by determining the workhorse" chip for each stake you are playing. Your 0.25-0.25 and 0.25-0.50 games will need mostly singles. Your 0.50-1 game would need more fives.

I would recommend 100/300/160/40 of 0.25/1/5/25 for a bank of 2125. This would give you a good number of singles for the smaller games in your range.

The downside to this breakdown is that you would be tight on chips for 0.50-1, but this is a wide range to cover for 600 chips.

An alternative is something like 100/200/260/40, but then you are short on singles of the 0.25-0.25 game, and five dollar chips aren't all that helpful for 20 or 25 buy ins.

You could split the difference and go for 700 chips 100/300/260/40. A common 800 chip breakdown suggestion 100/300/300/80/20 that gives you a credible breakdown all the way up to 1-2.

But hope this gives you ideas.

Good luck.
 
Notice that the OP wrote "8 max" players.

Right. That doesn't change the range of stakes we are trying to cover which is rather wide. I think most suggestions to reduce the fractional chips are on point. It then becomes a question of how many workhorse chips are needed. I personally like having 30-40 per player which would mean at least 240 of each ones and fives at 8 max. Probably can get away with fewer fives because only 20 are required for a $100 buy in.

..I believe you mean ‘you can never have too MANY $5s”

The more I am thinking about it, the more I think $20-25 buy ins are the exception to the rule. A rack of fives is $500 which is 20 buy ins itself, more than that seems unnecessary at the low end. Really that game should only be quarters and singles.
 
@Coyote Should I plan for 10 max players?

Found this thread and it's mentioned that you should plan for up to 10 players.
I would, becuae you don't know if your game grows or not. And breakdown you have listed in your previous post would work fine, especially if you mostly have $20-$50 buy ins.

If you think you'd throw a bigger game than .25/.50, than go with the 100x 25c & 20x $100 chips. Or if you would only go up to $100 buy ins absolute max, than a deepstacked .25/.50 game would work great for the 120x 25c selected break you have, especially for 10 max.
 
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@Coyote Should I plan for 10 max players?

Found this thread and it's mentioned that you should plan for up to 10 players.
Only you know how many players you may have. Apparently the maximum is set by your space / table.

Keeping a pool of players is a fine art (keeping everybody happy with stakes, enforcement of rules and etiquette etc) and already hard (hence: "always recruit").
Expanding it is even more difficult, especially outside the US, the cradle of the game, where its popularity is unparalleled. It's not easy to find trustworthy, polite and interested people in countries where not everybody playes poker.

IMHO, best poker is played with 7-8; not more.
 
The way I think about these questions is by determining the workhorse" chip for each stake you are playing. Your 0.25-0.25 and 0.25-0.50 games will need mostly singles. Your 0.50-1 game would need more fives.

I would recommend 100/300/160/40 of 0.25/1/5/25 for a bank of 2125. This would give you a good number of singles for the smaller games in your range.

The downside to this breakdown is that you would be tight on chips for 0.50-1, but this is a wide range to cover for 600 chips.

An alternative is something like 100/200/260/40, but then you are short on singles of the 0.25-0.25 game, and five dollar chips aren't all that helpful for 20 or 25 buy ins.

You could split the difference and go for 700 chips 100/300/260/40. A common 800 chip breakdown suggestion 100/300/300/80/20 that gives you a credible breakdown all the way up to 1-2.

But hope this gives you ideas.

Good luck.
If I go all the way to 800 chips I'd like to cover for 10 people max.

Does 140/300/260/80/20 seem fine or do I only need max 120cts (minimum amount) and add those to the 5s getting 120/300/280/80/20?

Chip distribution NEW 800 chips.jpg
 
120/300/280/80/20, IMO.
120 quarters, absolute max and no more for 10 players, 1 table.
Thank you very much @AnteAndy, @JustinInMN and everybody else involved! I'm very likely to stick to the concluded optimal amount for my set.

Now the mission is to design some chips/inlays until the samples from CPC arrive and I can examine them! :) Hope to see you around (at the latest when I post the chip designs) Cheers ;)
 
Does 140/300/260/80/20 seem fine or do I only need max 120cts (minimum amount)

If you do 800, I think you do 100/300/300/80/20. 120 quarters is too many, imo, even 10 handed.

In no limit, you really don't want too many small chips because they all have to be counted whenever someone goes all in. I would target 8-10 per player.

If you stick with 600 do 100/300/160/40 or maybe even 80/300/180/40.

This is the issue we are wrestling with. If you want 30 "workhorse" chips per player 10 handed you need 300 singles, especially for the smaller games. Trying to to accomodate 0.50-1 requires more fives. But that can be a squeeze in a small set.

You could do 80/240/240/40 for a set of 600 I suppose. Bank of 2065.

That goes you 30*8 on the nose of singles and fives.
 
If you do 800, I think you do 100/300/300/80/20. 120 quarters is too many, imo, even 10 handed.

In no limit, you really don't want too many small chips because they all have to be counted whenever someone goes all in. I would target 8-10 per player.

If you stick with 600 do 100/300/160/40 or maybe even 80/300/180/40.

This is the issue we are wrestling with. If you want 30 "workhorse" chips per player 10 handed you need 300 singles, especially for the smaller games. Trying to to accomodate 0.50-1 requires more fives. But that can be a squeeze in a small set.

You could do 80/240/240/40 for a set of 600 I suppose. Bank of 2065.

That goes you 30*8 on the nose of singles and fives.
I always found 8 quarters a bit too few and would probably lend to mode change making after the first two streets. And I know a lot of people not liking to make change a lot, so I always tend to have 120 max fracs in my set where even 10 players each get 12 fracs which I think is the sweet spot. And having 180-200x $1s with them would work find for either .25/.25 and .25/.50 blinds from all the games I've played in and viewed. Having more than 200x $1s (if only playing NHLE, mind you) would be a bit overkill for a single table where on the turn and river bets/raises would use more $5s than $1s, would be easier counting. Much rather have whatever additional chips from $1s over 200x to go to $5s or $25s.

20x $1 per player on a 10 max should be more than enough. 180x $1s along with 120x qrtrs works well for every game I threw. Just like the right balance of enough quantities of each denomination to reduce much change making and not having too much clutter on the home game table.
 
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Great set size advice has been given already by many.

I’m with @JustinInMN in liking about 30 workhorse chips per player. But if you want to stick with a hard 600 chip cap that isn’t realistic.

I’d go with:

25c—100
$1—200
$5–200
$20/25–80
$100–20

also, for the $20/25 max buy in game I would either go with a dealer ante of 25c or a single BB only of $25 to give you 100 BB starting stacks.
 
$20/25–80
$100–20

It's really hard for me to justify this many high denom chips that probably only have use in the 0.50-1 game of we are limited to 600 chips. I think getting 40*25 for a cool $1000 is really the most we should commit. More fives and ones are useful.

(I do appreciate where we agree, though.)
 
It's really hard for me to justify this many high denom chips that probably only have use in the 0.50-1 game of we are limited to 600 chips. I think getting 40*25 for a cool $1000 is really the most we should commit. More fives and ones are useful.

(I do appreciate where we agree, though.)
I can't edit the title right? Looking to put a 800 chip set together now, instead of a 600 chip set.

20x100$ chips are a little bit much if I think about it again. Could be replaced with 5s so the set could be 120/300/300/80?

Does this look better? @AnteAndy @Rhodeman77 @JustinInMN

Chip distribution NEW without 100$.jpg
 
20x100$ chips are a little bit much if I think about it again. Could be replaced with 5s so the set could be 120/300/300/80?

Yeah I think I am starting to agree that hundred denom chips are probably not necessary, if you do 300 * 5 and 80 * 25 that's $3500 in bank right there, more than enough for 3 buy-ins per player, which is my rule of thumb for covering a no limit game. If you have enough bank to cover an average of 2.5-3 max buy-ins per player you should almost never run out. (I am yet to have a bank grow to that sort of average in all of my hosting years.)

The reason to consider adding hundreds is it is a simple "future-proof" if you think you game would ever grow to 200 max. Without hundreds, your proposed 800 chip breakdown of 120/300/300/80 gives you 3830 in bank overall, which is good to cover 3 buy ins per player at 100 max for a 10-handed game. If you did 100/300/300/80/20 of 0.25/1/5/25/100 instead as I suggested you would have 5825 in bank which would cover 3 buy ins of 200 max 9-handed at least, should still be more than enough.

Now as for starting stacks, your spreadsheet is a helpful starting point, but there is no reason in a cash game that every starting stack has to be identical. If you were to do only 100 quarters instead of 120 you could issue stacks like this

10 stacks of 8/18/x (x being the number of fives needed to complete the buy-in)
5 stacks of 4/19/x

Or even

5 stacks of 20/15/x
7 stacks of 0/20/x (starting with 6th player, quarters are only changed at the table, not from the bank.)

So bottom line, I think I want to know if the 100 max game is a regular thing or just the point where you want to grow and the 20 or 25 buy in games are the regular stakes

In the second case, I think 100/300/160/40 for 600 chips is fine to start and better targets the lower end of the stakes you mention if that's really going to be your most frequent games, while being "good enough to try" the 100 max. (Twenty workhorse chips per player 8-handed for 100-max, and just over 2.5 buy-ins per player at 8-handed.) If you think 100 max being regular is on the horizon and you want to expand to 800 chips now, I like your 120/300/300/80 approach, or really consider 100/300/300/80/20 for a simple future proof to accommodate 200 max in the future.
 
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You’ve gotten lots of good specific solutions, and will surely get more... My advice is, if you can swing it, get a few extra chips now. Especially since you are ordering from overseas, and CPC has long lead times.

A few more chips will mean you don’t have to sweat the numbers so much, will have more flexibility, and have plenty of room to grow if your game expands. 650-750 would give you some breathing room and the luxury of structuring games how you want, without having to take any shortcuts. A slightly bigger set also may have more resale value down the road, if that is any consideration. (Most of us have had sets we considered “final” that we wound up selling.)
 

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