Cash Game Cash poker design (1 Viewer)

[Bluffhunter]

My friends and I usually play $.50 a chip. I see a lot of people with $.25 but I am not sure why there isn't many sets with the $.50, is it less popular?
What is the best breakdown for 8 player game when the minimum chip is $.50?

 

[Beakertwang]

Is this for no limit/pot limit games?

Seems like most people with .50 chips play .50/.50 or .50/1.00 blinds. For either of these, I'd get a rack of .50 chips, 2 racs of $1 chips, and 2 racks of $5 chips, and maybe up to a rack of $20's or $25's for rebuys, depending on how much bank you need total. This would give you $3250 or $3750 in bank.

 

[CantSpellPoker]

What are your stakes? I’m assuming .50/.50 or .50/$1? In your case, you obviously need .50 chips. EDIT: You don't obviously need .50 chips, you could use .25's if desired.

If your stakes start lower (i.e. many people play .25/.25 or .25/.50), then you don’t need to go from a .25 chip to a .50 chip, you just go straight from .25 to $1 and use the quarters to make up anything less than a dollar, which is why those particular cash sets don’t have .50 chips.

 

[Bluffhunter]

Is this for no limit/pot limit games?

Seems like most people with .50 chips play .50/.50 or .50/1.00 blinds. For either of these, I'd get a rack of .50 chips, 2 racs of $1 chips, and 2 racks of $5 chips, and maybe up to a rack of $20's or $25's for rebuys, depending on how much bank you need total. This would give you $3250 or $3750 in bank.

We playing no limit, and it is always .50/1 small blind/big blind, no matter the turn. Not sure if thats how it supposed to be played.
There is usually $50 buy in, so everyone starts with 100 chips and we playing as many turns as we like. At some point players run out of chips so they buy in again.
I’ve read somewhere that smaller denomination promote bets, while players tend to hoard bigger chips.
Also they don’t like denomination on chips as it confuses them.
If we make a chip $.50 then for example red is 5, which means is worth 5 chips
This makes it easier when trying to call on raises, you just count how many chips they raised, instead their value.

 

[Beakertwang]

We playing no limit, and it is always .50/1 small blind/big blind, no matter the turn. Not sure if thats how it supposed to be played.
There is usually $50 buy in, so everyone starts with 100 chips and we playing as many turns as we like. At some point players run out of chips so they buy in again.
I’ve read somewhere that smaller denomination promote bets, while players tend to hoard bigger chips.
Also they don’t like denomination on chips as it confuses them.
If we make a chip $.50 then for example red is 5, which means is worth 5 chips
This makes it easier when trying to call on raises, you just count how many chips they raised, instead their value.

Having an actual denomination on the chip would confuse them, but you give everyone "100 chips", but some chips are worth one chip, and some are worth 5 chips, and a chip is worth 50¢? Do I have that right?

Now I'm confused.

Also, what do you mean by "no matter the turn"?

 

[Bluffhunter]

Having an actual denomination on the chip would confuse them, but you give everyone "100 chips", but some chips are worth one chip, and some are worth 5 chips, and a chip is worth 50¢? Do I have that right?

Now I'm confused.

Also, what do you mean by "no matter the turn"?

There is no $1 chip
It is ncv chip or 0.50 chip
Then it is red worth 5 and green worth 20
Means snall blind and big blind is always 0.50/1
Never ineases

 

[CantSpellPoker]

I’m confused as well. It sounds like your chips don’t have actual cash value, which means you’re not really playing a cash game. If everyone buys in for $50 and you’re playing for “chips” rather than cash, it’s more like a tournament. Do people cash out during the game, or is there one winner at the end of the night?

 

[Beakertwang]

@Bluffhunter, so technically, the red chip is worth $2.50, and the green chip is worth $10?

 

[Beakertwang]

Also, can players rebuy as many times as they want?

 

[SeanGecko]

I hate it when my money has a number on it that tells me how much it is worth. Wait do you mean you don't want a number on there different then what it is worth? Like "the blue chips are worth one even though there is a $10 on it." ????

 

[RichMahogany]

This thread is making my head hurt

 

[RichMahogany]

It sounds more like you’re playing a tournament with only 2 different chips but don’t ever raise the blinds

 

[Beakertwang]

@Bluffhunter, what you're going to run into here on PCF is a lot of solid advice on how to run a home game. Not many of us are going to be crazy about your setup, and will tell you so. If your game works for you and your group, there might not be any need to change it, especially if you're not looking to add new players. Sometimes, if a group has been playing together a certain way for a while, it works great. And people can get funny about change. I for one, find your chip values and game setup a little confusing. That said, if I were ever in NJ, and you invited me to your game, I could adapt and have fun playing poker.

However, if you're asking for advice, and possibly thinking about upgrading your game (and possibly your chips?), you've come to the right place.

 

[Trihonda]

One thing about PCF is the amazing members, another is the great advice you’ll get. There’s a lot of knowledge to make you an amazing host.. if you’re willing to listen.

It’s awesome that you’re starting out on the poker adventure. Things I’d consider, as much as chips and cards, is having a good set of solid rules. Often times people just want to dabble with friends and not get too serious about poker, thus they ignore rules and major etiquette that is designed to make poker fun and fair.

It’s akin to playing soccer and when some guy shoots at your goal, hits the goal post, and he declares he’s scored a goal. Or if the other team is allowed to have an extra player... That’s not fair. Poker rules are no different. Allowing people to play “friendly” and ignore poker etiquette is allowing them to gain unfair advantages (and with money on the line, it’s Prety much cheating). So, get a set of basic rules and etiquette and put them into place from the start.

Next piece of advice is to never use the same chip set for both cash AND tourneys. It allows for chips migrating from one game to the other, and often not intentionally. This is a cardinal rule on creating or purchasing poker chip sets.

Next rule of thumb is to get samples of any chips you might be interested in. There are many varieties of chips, from cheapie plastic dice chips, to China Clays, Ceramics, to clay chips like Paulson, TRK, and CPC (customs). People often think they’ll really love a set of chips, and when they get them in hand, discovered they didn’t like them (after purchasing a huge set). Or worse, you get a set, think they’re “ok”, and use them for a few years, then get exposed to another set of similarly priced chips that you absolutely love, and regret not getting those from the start...

Lastly, we love photos on this site. It’s easy to upload files to share. Make sure you take lots of pictures of your chip and poker journey and post them for us. . Welcome to PCF


Please consider listening to the advice you will
receive. We have all started out at one point. We have been in your shoes. We understand the concept of pleasing your friends, but also get that poker is more fun (and fair) when it’s played in certain ways.

 

[WoodburyPoker]

Troll thread!
Ha ha?

 

[SeanGecko]

One thing about PCF is the amazing members, another is the great advice you’ll get. There’s a lot of knowledge to make you an amazing host.. if you’re willing to listen.

It’s awesome that you’re starting out on the poker adventure. Things I’d consider, as much as chips and cards, is having a good set of solid rules. Often times people just want to dabble with friends and not get too serious about poker, thus they ignore rules and major etiquette that is designed to make poker fun and fair.

It’s akin to playing soccer and when some guy shoots at your goal, hits the goal post, and he declares he’s scored a goal. Or if the other team is allowed to have an extra player... That’s not fair. Poker rules are no different. Allowing people to play “friendly” and ignore poker etiquette is allowing them to gain unfair advantages (and with money on the line, it’s Prety much cheating). So, get a set of basic rules and etiquette and put them into place from the start.

Next piece of advice is to never use the same chip set for both cash AND tourneys. It allows for chips migrating from one game to the other, and often not intentionally. This is a cardinal rule on creating or purchasing poker chip sets.

Next rule of thumb is to get samples of any chips you might be interested in. There are many varieties of chips, from cheapie plastic dice chips, to China Clays, Ceramics, to clay chips like Paulson, TRK, and CPC (customs). People often think they’ll really love a set of chips, and when they get them in hand, discovered they didn’t like them (after purchasing a huge set). Or worse, you get a set, think they’re “ok”, and use them for a few years, then get exposed to another set of similarly priced chips that you absolutely love, and regret not getting those from the start...

Lastly, we love photos on this site. It’s easy to upload files to share. Make sure you take lots of pictures of your chip and poker journey and post them for us. . Welcome to PCF


Please consider listening to the advice you will
receive. We have all started out at one point. We have been in your shoes. We understand the concept of pleasing your friends, but also get that poker is more fun (and fair) when it’s played in certain ways.

This all this!

 

[Beakertwang]

Troll thread!
Ha ha?

If it is, I would applaud him for his brilliant troll.

Then promptly click "Ignore".

 

[Trihonda]

...they don’t like denomination on chips as it confuses them.

This confuses me... how does the actual value of the chip (on the chip) confuse anyone?

If we make a chip $.50 then for example red is 5, which means is worth 5 chips

Still Confused. Does this mean the red chip is $2.50?

Please don’t ever change the value of your chips. It allows for chip migration. Someone pockets a green chip on a day where it’s valued at $10, and bring it the next game where it’s worth $20.

And before you say, “these are friends I trust”, that argument has been said countless times on this site, and I can give you many examples of people getting burned in similar game among friends. It’s not always intentional. Just having this as a possibility degrades the sanctity/integrity of your game.

This makes it easier when trying to call on raises, you just count how many chips they raised, instead their value.

Still confused.

Ok, My advice is to create a set that has distinct and constant values from game to game... say your yellow Chip will always be $.50 for example, your red Chip will always be five dollars, and your green chip always be $25. Then your players will adjust and understand the chip values from game to game and will not get confused.

The other aspect of (Poker) is that your game will evolve. You will get better, you will have a better understanding of hosting a game, and some of your players will get better as well. In this situation, you will not be happy with your current set up. It will not play like other poker games, And you will find it hard to recruit players to play in your game as it stands.

Another key tenant of hosting is that you should always be recruiting. As your game grows, you may alienate some of your old school poker buddies who are not interested in playing your evolved skill and or game structure. That’s OK, it’s very common.

I started out playing with a bunch of college buddies approximately 20 years ago. We played all kinds of wild card games and had fun. But as my game evolved, I realized a lot of the practices that my players considered fun, we’re a ctually potential cheats and angles that could be exploited. Some of the other facets of our game rules we’re down right inappropriate and unfair. Such as string betting and other types of angle shooting. When I tried to curb some of this very poor etiquette, I lost a few players. That said, I gained a bunch of newer players who understood etiquette and proper rules. I have way more fun now playing poker than I ever did back in the days with my buddies.

 

[Bluffhunter]

Troll thread!
Ha ha?

Why would be this a troll thread?

@Bluffhunter, so technically, the red chip is worth $2.50, and the green chip is worth $10?

Yes

Also, can players rebuy as many times as they want?

Yes

I’m confused as well. It sounds like your chips don’t have actual cash value, which means you’re not really playing a cash game. If everyone buys in for $50 and you’re playing for “chips” rather than cash, it’s more like a tournament. Do people cash out during the game, or is there one winner at the end of the night?

At the end of the night, lets just say is 1 am. We end the game and everyone counts their chips. If for example I have 276 chips, and this could be combination of Red 5 value chips, green 20 value chip and 1 value chip which is most of the time either NCV or blank chip, or it also could be chip with $.50 written on it, you just divide 276/2= $138, so you get $138 from the bank. You can count then how many times you bought in and figure it out if you lost money or you won money. If you bought in only once, in the beginning of the game, you are up $88 at the end of the night.

I am not sure why this is difficult concept to understand.
I will explain this again.
We assign a value to a chip, lets call this chip A, this chip it is either blank or NCV chip. We say this chip is worth $0.50
Every player buys in $50, so they get 100 of the chip A.
The bank also has red chips (lets call this chip B) and green chip (lets call this chip C)
The red chip is "5" and green is "20", meaning the red has a value of 5 chips and green has a value of 20 chips.
A chip= NCV or blank chip, count as 1
B chip= Red chip, has "5" on it and counts as 5 chips
C chip= Green chip, has "20" on it and counts as 20 chips

We start the game and 1 player decides to raise 27 chips A. Everyone can easily either call it and put 27 chips A or they can if they have put 5 chips B and 2 chips A, which their total is equal at 27. They could also put 1 chip C and 7 chips A etc.
It basically makes everyone able to call/match the raise really fast, instead of thinking of $13.5, they know they just need to put 27 chips, whichever combination of chips they have and is easier for them.

 

[Mental Nomad]

My friends and I usually play $.50 a chip. I see a lot of people with $.25 but I am not sure why there isn't many sets with the $.50, is it less popular?
What is the best breakdown for 8 player game when the minimum chip is $.50?

So 50c is your small blind, and you're playing a dollar game (50c/$1).

I hosted a dollar game for years with a Paulson FunNite set and the following breakdown:

20 50c chips
160 $1 chips
160 $5 chips
160 $25 chips

500 chip set. We never got very deep into the greens, even on big nights.

It was a 10-max game, but we usually played with about 8.

There is usually $50 buy in, so everyone starts with 100 chips

You may not be aware, but that means that everyone is short-stacked from the start. A more typical buy-in would be about $100.

Most people who want to buy in for $50 but want to use the full range of poker strategy would play a 25c/50c game, or even a 25c/25c game. This may explain to you why so many cash set have quarters.

Also they don’t like denomination on chips as it confuses them.

This makes absolutely no sense to me. If you're playing a cash game, then the chips have a cash value. If a chip happens to be worst $10, how on Earth is it confusing to have $10 written on it?

There is no $1 chip
It is ncv chip or 0.50 chip
Then it is red worth 5 and green worth 20

Still Confused. Does this mean the red chip is $2.50?

Yes. It sounds like he's playing a one dollar game with 50c/$1 blinds with halves (50c chips), snappers ($2.50 chips) and dimes ($10 chips.) The multiples are 1, 5, 20, based on the 50c chip.

Bluffhunter - you're playing a dollar game in a very uncommon way. The multiples 1, 5, 20 is common, as is 1, 5, 25, but it's always based on the $1, not the 50c. So 1, 5, 20 multiples would ALSO be worth $1, $5, $20, which is not confusing to anyone.

Then, since your one dollar game wants a small blind lower than $1, you can add halves (50c) or quarters (25c), which are often called fracs, which is short for fractionals. If you will never, ever, ever play with a smaller minimum bet then $1, then you only need a few fracs. A lot of players prefer to get a lot of quarters because that allows them to play 50 cent games and 25 cent games with the same set, as well as a $1 game.

The other option for your $1 game is to simply use blinds of $1/$1. Then you don't need a frac at all.

Doing it the way we're all describing to you in this thread will allow you to buy many different standard chipsets. If you insist on trying to make a set that place has a half, a snapper, and a dime, you will be forced to use rare chips or non-denominationals for everything. I can't imagine why denominations on the chips would confuse people, unless the denominations do not match the value you are giving the chips... so your use of non-standard denominations which don't match the printed denominations is probably what causes the confusion.

 

[Beakertwang]

Why would be this a troll thread?

Yes

Yes

At the end of the night, lets just say is 1 am. We end the game and everyone counts their chips. If for example I have 276 chips, and this could be combination of Red 5 value chips, green 20 value chip and 1 value chip which is most of the time either NCV or blank chip, or it also could be chip with $.50 written on it, you just divide 276/2= $138, so you get $138 from the bank. You can count then how many times you bought in and figure it out if you lost money or you won money. If you bought in only once, in the beginning of the game, you are up $88 at the end of the night.

I am not sure why this is difficult concept to understand.
I will explain this again.
We assign a value to a chip, lets call this chip A, this chip it is either blank or NCV chip. We say this chip is worth $0.50
Every player buys in $50, so they get 100 of the chip A.
The bank also has red chips (lets call this chip B) and green chip (lets call this chip C)
The red chip is "5" and green is "20", meaning the red has a value of 5 chips and green has a value of 20 chips.
A chip= NCV or blank chip, count as 1
B chip= Red chip, has "5" on it and counts as 5 chips
C chip= Green chip, has "20" on it and counts as 20 chips

We start the game and 1 player decides to raise 27 chips A. Everyone can easily either call it and put 27 chips A or they can if they have put 5 chips B and 2 chips A, which their total is equal at 27. They could also put 1 chip C and 7 chips A etc.
It basically makes everyone able to call/match the raise really fast, instead of thinking of $13.5, they know they just need to put 27 chips, whichever combination of chips they have and is easier for them.

So you play a cash game, but you transpose that values twice—once at buy-in, once at cash out—to keep everyone from counting in half dollars?

Still seems unnecessarily complicated.

 

[realcdn]

Why would be this a troll thread?

Yes

Yes

At the end of the night, lets just say is 1 am. We end the game and everyone counts their chips. If for example I have 276 chips, and this could be combination of Red 5 value chips, green 20 value chip and 1 value chip which is most of the time either NCV or blank chip, or it also could be chip with $.50 written on it, you just divide 276/2= $138, so you get $138 from the bank. You can count then how many times you bought in and figure it out if you lost money or you won money. If you bought in only once, in the beginning of the game, you are up $88 at the end of the night.

I am not sure why this is difficult concept to understand.
I will explain this again.
We assign a value to a chip, lets call this chip A, this chip it is either blank or NCV chip. We say this chip is worth $0.50
Every player buys in $50, so they get 100 of the chip A.
The bank also has red chips (lets call this chip B) and green chip (lets call this chip C)
The red chip is "5" and green is "20", meaning the red has a value of 5 chips and green has a value of 20 chips.
A chip= NCV or blank chip, count as 1
B chip= Red chip, has "5" on it and counts as 5 chips
C chip= Green chip, has "20" on it and counts as 20 chips

We start the game and 1 player decides to raise 27 chips A. Everyone can easily either call it and put 27 chips A or they can if they have put 5 chips B and 2 chips A, which their total is equal at 27. They could also put 1 chip C and 7 chips A etc.
It basically makes everyone able to call/match the raise really fast, instead of thinking of $13.5, they know they just need to put 27 chips, whichever combination of chips they have and is easier for them.

Sorry, this sounds totally ridiculous and a cash game really shouldn’t be this difficult. Just get a proper cash set with denominations and use them! $50 equals $50 worth of chips. Too easy.

 

[CantSpellPoker]

Ok, so what you’re describing is a cash game, but instead of dealing in “cash,” you’re dealing in “chips.”

Personally, I find your method much more confusing than simply using chips with actual dollar amounts on them. Isn’t it just easier for someone to say, “I raise to $5,” and then throw a chip that says $5 on it into the pot, rather than trying to figure out how many “chips” amounts to $5?

 

[CantSpellPoker]

Also, as @Mental Nomad says, you’re all starting the game short stacked based on your blinds. If you want to keep the buy-ins at $50, I would recommend lowering the blinds to .25/.50 or even .25/.25, and getting a cash set made up mostly of .25’s, $1’s, and $5’s (plus a handful of $25’s and $100’s to make sure your total bank is enough to cover how much money is on the table).

 

[Bluffhunter]

Ok, so what you’re describing is a cash game, but instead of dealing in “cash,” you’re dealing in “chips.”

Personally, I find your method much more confusing than simply using chips with actual dollar amounts on them. Isn’t it just easier for someone to say, “I raise to $5,” and then throw a chip that says $5 on it into the pot, rather than trying to figure out how many “chips” amounts to $5?

They wouldn't say I raise $5, they would just throw 5 chips or 10 chips. I would then just match the chip number. so I they throw 5, I would match it with 1 red or 5 blank/ncv chips

 

[Beakertwang]

As @Mental Nomad said, if you want to keep it simple, just get rid of the .50 chip, and play $1/$1 blinds. The game would play the same (how often does the small blind fold a in limped pot?), and you can build a workable set with just 1’s, 5’s and 25’s.

 

[Bluffhunter]

So you play a cash game, but you transpose that values twice—once at buy-in, once at cash out—to keep everyone from counting in half dollars?

Still seems unnecessarily complicated.

That is correct. So if you raise $27.5, I would then need to count that $27.5 is equal to 55 $.50 chips, and then put 55 $.050 chip on the table. If you just put 55 chips on the table, I could just quickly put 55 chips on the table without doing the multiplication

 

[joepro]

The standard for cash games in the USA is the US dollar. All US casinos and most home games assign a value of each chip to correspond with the US dollar. Having the value on the chip is not generally confusing. Betting in dollars or cents is not generally confusing. When cashing out, using the values stated on the chips to count is generally not confusing.

 

[Bluffhunter]

As @Mental Nomad said, if you want to keep it simple, just get rid of the .50 chip, and play $1/$1 blinds. The game would play the same (how often does the small blind fold a in limped pot?), and you can build a workable set with just 1’s, 5’s and 25’s.

Yes if we play for $1, it would be much easier, but a lot of guys don't want to, they rather play for $.50 a chip

 

[Beakertwang]

That is correct. So if you raise $27.5, I would then need to count that $27.5 is equal to 55 $.50 chips, and then put 55 $.050 chip on the table. If you just put 55 chips on the table, I could just quickly put 55 chips on the table without doing the multiplication

But that's why you have denominations on the chips. If I want to bet $27.50, I put out 4 chips, worth $27.50: a 25, 2 ones, and a .50. Someone else could call with four 5's, 7 ones, and a .50. The chips represent real cash.