Cash Game Chips needed for .25/.50 cash game. (1 Viewer)

OK cool, this thread has convinced me I only need three racks of quarters (not four) for my new set. Just saved me $163, thanks :D
 
THREE RACKS OF QUARTERS?

We use 120 quarters per table, and that's usually more than enough (and can evenly divide into 12 per man should we have to seat 10). Granted, by 11pm my group can get pretty aggressive and min-bets start creeping up to $4 or $5. Might as well be plaing $1/$2 at that point. But we also have 5 or 6 rebuys at that point, so there's plenty of $1 and $5 chips (soon to be plaques!) on the table.
 
My crew plays a very timid $0.25/$0.50 game ($20-40 buy in, rebuy almost never happens), and almost the only chip that gets played all night long is the quarter. When a $1 hits the table, somebody means business!

like most here i found out when i first got the fitz quarters and fiddy cent chips, if you put out just quarters your game will play to the low stakes all nite as liftapint mentions above and $1 or $2 will be a huge bet for the nite.....funny for the same buy-in if you switch it up with less quarters more $1's and a few $5's as soon as a $5 chip is in play that will be the big bet for the nite.......i think whoever invented the poker chip was the hero since the money is not front and center, it is just a chip with a denom on it

if you have not noticed this in your game try it one nite you will see a difference.....family games with 200 CPS nickles when the quarter chip comes out, thats the biggie !! crazy $$ :p
 
I play a $20 buyin .25/.50 game where most people will only bring 2 or 3 buyins max. It's a very low stakes game but people feel comfortable with this setup. We use 20-24 quarters each. With only a $20 buyin, I feel you need this many quarters because I feel that starting with about 40 chips in your starting stack feels just about right. Having a bunch of quarters doesn't slow my game down one bit and people like betting with 4 quarters or one dollar.

So I guess the breakdown has a lot to do with buyin amount.
 
Last edited:
Seem legit? Don't know who dtmarketing1 are, but they have good feedback.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bulk-Lot-of-500-Milano-10-Gram-Casino-Grade-Quality-Clay-Poker-Chips-New/271654513165?_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982&_trkparms=aid=222007&algo=SIC.MBE&ao=1&asc=35308&meid=ff47fce3cdd6483ab7ca825c33faea38&pid=100009&rk=1&rkt=10&sd=271650404291

Was thinking if I was feeling fruity I could order a 1000 piece set and double it as a tournament set and sit it in a birdcage.

Always always use different denoms for tourney and cash. You CAN get away with using the same set, but you need to make sure your denominations will NEVER cross over into the other game. For instance, if you're running a cash game, and tournament (even on different nights). And if you start your tourneys with 25/50 blinds, you never use $25 chips in the cash game.

And if you're going to look for a tourney breakdown, there's some great folks here who'd offer up solid advice. A general tourney breakdown follows:
1- Each denom should be 4 to 5x the amount of the previous denom. (ie. 25, 100, 500, etc..). Gets interesting at 500-1k, where it's the norm to have a chip just 2x the chip before it, but this is the ONLY exception I've seen regularly. So no 50 chips, etc...
2- Start stacks for at least 80-100 big blinds. if you're starting 25/50, then your starting stacks should be around 5000 ish.
3- Allow for enough chips to do any color ups, rebuys, etc... 500 chips should be more than plenty for a decent set.
 
Thanks Trihonda.

Was thinking .25 / 1 / 5 for the cash set, probably 500 chips. Then 25 / 100 / 500 / 1000 / 5000 for the tournament for the other 500 or maybe slightly favour the tournament with more chips.
 
Me again.

I think I have this nailed down now. So, because we play both cash and tounaments (no more than 8) I have found a 750pc Milano set for $385 including postage to the UK and customs. This is about £270 which is around the same I was going to pay for a 500pc Ascona set. I think I can work it with the following split.

375 pieces each (bearing in mind the Milano come in sets of 25) for a total of 750. Also, with the Milano set it means that should I need to add to it later on it should be pretty easy.

Cash set
Very tight games, not a lot of money on the table, usually people would be willing to spend around £20 each (never more than £200 on the table in a night). This setup allows for £425 on the table so plenty of scope to increase the .25/.50 games we're currently playing.

$0.25 * 200
$1 * 125
$5 * 50

Tournament Set
Rebuys are limited, usually £10 buy in, most players will rebuy a maximum of 1 additional time. Meaning I need a set to cater for 16 buyins. My 8 seated tournament would have $40k in chips on the table to start ($5k per £10 buyin). Leaving the $500 and $1k chips for the rebuys and they can make change with the table. There's also scope here to make the tournament match the buy it, e.g., £10 buyin for $10k chips.

$25 * 100
$100 * 125
$500 * 75
$1,000 * 50
$5,000 * 25

The set I've found on eBay is here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/750-Piece...901619?hash=item3f3d26eff3:g:YngAAOSwq7JUGIF~

There's nothing to suggest that this isn't legitimate. If anyone has any better options for purchasing these, please do let me know, or if you've spotted a flaw in my plan of chips to by then let me know. I also feel I can most of these to a birdcage and leave the spares (there will be a lot from the tournament set) in storage until I may need them in the future.

Thanks again :D
Adam
 
As noted many times ITT, too many of your lowest denom cash chip (quarters). Move 100 of those to $5's.
 
As noted many times ITT, too many of your lowest denom cash chip (quarters). Move 100 of those to $5's.

Yeah I thought about that but because my group consists of people who are not keen on spending much at the table we use a lot of the .25 so we're not just playing with 5 chips each. We prefer to have a lot of chips at the table rather than just a couple.

Normally (until they run out) I'd imagine a buy in distributing 16 * ¢25 and 4 * $1 and rebuys then using the $1s and $5s
 
When I bet five dollars; I want to grab 20 fine chips, check the count, stack'em, slide them into the pot, and give you the evil eye. ;)
 
When I bet five dollars; I want to grab 20 fine chips, check the count, stack'em, slide them into the pot, and give you the evil eye. ;)

I prefer this approach.

kgb-splash-the-pot-gif.gif
 
lol, now I'm confused why this thread was started. I'm all for having lots of chips in play, but it shouldn't kill the game. Enjoy your counting, and counting, and...
 
lol, now I'm confused why this thread was started. I'm all for having lots of chips in play, but it shouldn't kill the game. Enjoy your counting, and counting, and...
agreed, i hate when people call with quarters when a $1 chip will suffice, I think it often shows the strength of their hand. when a person in my game calls with quarters, its usually a hand theyre not particular interested in, and just want to get rid of quarters
 
It's only a $20 buy-in though. With such a low buy-in, you have to start with lots of quarters or else your starting stacks would be like 20 chips. That, to me, would suck. And when a raise is only between $1-$2, there isn't much counting going on.
 
Yeah I should have said the pot sizes are between $3/5 total. Raises are minimal. A lot that I play with are new players and not that flush with cash so it's not a crazy night of big spending poker. It's more about the social aspect and learning the game for most until they're confident enough to make it more serious, but that won't be for a long time I wouldn't have thought.

That's not to say in the future things wont change, but really, because the buy in is so low and the money on the table is low we use more quarts just so we're not shuffling 5 chips each.
 
It's only a $20 buy-in though. With such a low buy-in, you have to start with lots of quarters or else your starting stacks would be like 20 chips. That, to me, would suck. And when a raise is only between $1-$2, there isn't much counting going on.

8 players, one rack of quarters = 12 each. That's not enough?
 
Normally (until they run out) I'd imagine a buy in distributing 16 * ¢25 and 4 * $1 and rebuys then using the $1s and $5s

So if I read all of the above correctly, the game is basically a buy in of $5 and people might rebuy in $5 increments up to ~$20 per night. Around 8 players typically.

16 quarters x 9 players = 144 quarters total. I don't see a need for more than this. Rebuys should never contain quarters... I question the need for a $5 in this game. I think 150 quarters and 150 $1 would be perfect... could replace a barrel of quarters with a barrel of $5.

However I do agree with courage that 12 quarters per player should be enough.
 
8 players, one rack of quarters = 12 each. That's not enough?
That would mean a starting stack of 29 chips = (12) quarters and (17) dollars. And when your normal bets are in the range of $1-$2, I would rather play with more chips, but that's me.
 
It has nothing to do with "social game" or "big spending" or "new players." It's just a smoother running game. But y'all probably have more experience at this, I'll let it go. (n) :thumbsdown:
 
It has nothing to do with "social game" or "big spending" or "new players." It's just a smoother running game. But y'all probably have more experience at this, I'll let it go. (n) :thumbsdown:
Chris you have more experience in the past few months than I have in my life time probably. I do follow your thread on a regular basis .:D I'm just giving my thoughts on how my low stakes game goes. Certainly not saying my way is correct or desirable but saying it can work for some.
 
Courage, I think a lot of people that don't play these low stakes with people who play poker a few times year can't appreciate the loooooow stakes part of it enough. Bets/raises in the .50 or .75 range are not uncommon and happen far more often than a $2 bet. These are the same people who look at me like the biggest asshole in the world because I tried to introduce a bottom cover card and try to tell people not to take change out of the pot until the action is closed for that street. The same kind of guy/girl that puts out a $1 chip to call a .75 bet and stares at it intently until he gets his quarter change (which they would have just preferred taking from the pot immediately after their call) is the same kind of guy that is going to bet in quarters all night. Quarters are quite literaly the workhorse chips in these games. I have two groups of players, and I have a ton of experience over the years with the "quarter" crowd, if one rack is just going to be enough for the OPs game why would he not "future" proof a larger number of players certain nights by having two racks?

You guys that are saying cut the quarters down are not wrong in anyway, of course having less of the smallest denom would make most games run smoothly, of course I would never put two racks of quarters on the table with my group that plays .50/1 with around a grand on the table, but that is definitely not the game we are talking about it seems.... If he were to move a rack of quarters to fives as you have suggested Courage, I feel like he would have another rack of fives that sat there and never got used.

I guess I just like more chips too. :D
 
If you would consider using $25 chips as 25p and $100s as £1 then the set I'm selling might work. Also you can put together a T1000 tournament easily and save yourself £100 (185 x 5s, 169 x 25s, 155 x 100s, 40 x 500s, 10 x 1000s).
 
How is using lots of.25 chips in a $20 buy-in game any different than using lots of $1 chips in a $100 buy-in game? This past weekend we played a mixed game (not only various games but a mix of limit, PL, and NL) with a $120 max buy-in and used .25, $1, and $20 chips. Granted, all the players are adept at handling chips, but for this particular game it's an ideal mix of denominations.

I totally get playing a low-stakes game with lots of quarters on the table. Besides, this is a chip forum, where efficiency and minimum quantities are not supposed to be encouraged. ;)

@AdamAAAA: If your game played bigger, I'd agree with the recommendation for fewer quarters. For a $20 buy-in game with most pots being $3-5, I think your breakdown is ideal. The important thing is having enough chips for your particular game, and it seems that you'll be just fine. :)
 
Ok, so I have a cold/flu and am grumpy. :sick:

I've played plenty of micro stakes live in my day and tbh, the amount of quarters won't matter. If the game stays as described, I actually like @Shaggy's suggestion of 150/150. But the game will likely change and grow, as it should. I'm just saying be mindful of the issue if it becomes a problem dial back the number in play.

@AdamAAAA, apologies for derailing your thread. Hope your game goes great and your players have a blast. That's what it's all about.
 
Last edited:
Don't think it was a derail at all, just your opinion, that's what he was asking for.

Plus every time you post your avatar pops up and I guess there are worse things than that...
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account and join our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top Bottom