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Cash Game Fractional chips: a diatribe (2 Viewers)

All-time favorite frac.. Front and back:

Bingo-bit-F-small.jpg

Bingo-bit-B-small.jpg


(I honestly have considered this as a custom more than a couple times, mostly to mess with the players in my game.)
 
When I built my Pharaoh China clay set, I included a .05 and a .25, but I also included a NCV just in case a special situation popped up. I have not regretted it.
 
upNdown said:
No. That's a label I'd had designed for some chips as a gag, because my buddy jim loves to bet $1.75 in my .25/.50 game. I'm surprised to see it on somebody elses chips.
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I'd love to hear more of the story here. How many did you make? Did you actually give him a stack of them when he bought in? Did you keep them in play?
 
TX_Golf_N_Poker said:
I'd love to hear more of the story here. How many did you make? Did you actually give him a stack of them when he bought in? Did you keep them in play?
Click to expand...
I’d love to tell you a story, but there isn’t one. I had a barrel of them made and my intention was to give him maybe four in his starting stack. But my game was sporadic and then Covid happened so I wasn’t hosting at all, and I eventually ended up selling off all the chips, including that barrel. So I never put any of the pictured chips into play. Sad.

Funny postscript though - I auctioned them off, a local PCfer bought them, and he’s since become part of my game. So now when I host, we have Jim, we have the guy who bought the Jim chips (which I’m sure he re-murdered,) we just don’t have the Jim Bet chips.

IMG_3350.png

IMG_3351.jpeg

(Gorgeous golden gate mustard fracs for relevance)
 
upNdown said:
I’d love to tell you a story, but there isn’t one. I had a barrel of them made and my intention was to give him maybe four in his starting stack. But my game was sporadic and then Covid happened so I wasn’t hosting at all, and I eventually ended up selling off all the chips, including that barrel. So I never put any of the pictured chips into play. Sad.

Funny postscript though - I auctioned them off, a local PCfer bought them, and he’s since become part of my game. So now when I host, we have Jim, we have the guy who bought the Jim chips (which I’m sure he re-murdered,) we just don’t have the Jim Bet chips.

View attachment 1521655
View attachment 1521656
(Gorgeous golden gate mustard fracs for relevance)
Click to expand...
Sounds like you're not good at playing the long game. I could never sell something like that until I had the chance to play the gag. Not after putting in the effort to create the chips.

BTW, great lineup!
 
TX_Golf_N_Poker said:
Sounds like you're not good at playing the long game. I could never sell something like that until I had the chance to play the gag. Not after putting in the effort to create the chips.

BTW, great lineup!
Click to expand...
Yeah I have no patience. Especially when it comes to valuable chips that aren’t being used. (That Jim Bet barrel sold for $286.)
 
TheRealStephen12 said:
Technically the most efficient jump is an ex jump (as in Euler's number), but people here like 4-5x apparently so I'll probably do that when I buy a custom set several years down the road. When I do get one, it will probably be $.25 or 25¢ AND twenty-five cents on it, but the larger will probably be whichever of the first two.
Click to expand...
How would Euler’s number be better for play? Maybe it would be nice if you never make change with your chips or color up
 
For my micro stakes set, I left out the decimal and denomination on purpose to be super flexible with different stakes.

1 = 0.01¢, 0.1¢, $1
5 = 0.05¢, 0.5¢, $5
25 = 0.25¢, $2.5, $25


Then I have a noop chip to fill in any odd denomination. I can easily accommodate a $5 to $200 buy in (not that I play that high).

cash_side_03.webp
 
drdr said:
If I ran a .50/1 game (and I don't) I'd do it with .25s. More useable at different stakes and more freedom with bet/raise sizing. Plus MOAR chips is awesome. I view .5 chips with similar suspicion as $10 and $50 chips.
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I play .25/.50 with .25s and .50s currently and honestly I agree, I'm thinking of doing .25s only for the next set. If a .50/1 game (regardless of which frac) is anything like my .25/.50 game, then the smaller chip is just a folded SB chip and feels useless otherwise. For .25/.50 I'm thinking I want to do everything in quarters and at least they'll circulate. If we graduate to .50/1 I'll make it 1/1 because regardless of which frac you use, a SB-only chip just sits around taking up space in stacks.
 
Machine said:
Frac(s)? Frack YOU! Is this moar GenAlpha slang, ins't rizz enough?

'Fracs' is a shortened version of fractional, meaning less than a whole dollar (okay, I'll try to be more inclusive, or Euro).

Examples: .25 | .50 | .10 | .05 - popularity in this order

Rarely written as 1/4 or 1/2, this is a very rizzy way to denom a chip ( while we are here, denom is short for denominated or denomination )

I'm a data guy. I often see a significant number of people ask about breakdowns. I wrote a post about the Optimal Cash Chip Breakdown.

There is some nuance with breakdowns and fracs, I wanted to cover everything Frac() ... here goes:

Let's start with the most economical, .50. Okay, scratch that. Let's start with how to denom a frac.

This will be a poll. Please keep track of your selection and compare it to the correct answer below.

How do you write fifty cents on a chip?
Fifty cents
Fiddy cents
$.50c
.50c
50 cents
.50
$0.50c
0.50c
50c
$.50


The most correct answer: .50

The most incorrect answer: $0.50c

While I can be pedantic, I'm going to try to refrain from discussing each option ad nauseam and why it's incorrect, but I will note that '.50c' would be read as 50% of a cent.

The most economical frac is the .50. Often people will want to start or host a .25 / .50 game, and therefore will need .25 fracs; that is fine. If you can spread a game with a .50 frac, this can be the best value. Some people are motivated to spend the least money on chips, and others want to be as efficient as possible. A game .50/.50 game can be ran with 40 fracs at these stakes, though I wouldn't advise it, put in at least 60

But Machine, chip denoms are supposed to be 4-5x the previous chip, that would mean I would need a $2 or $2.50 chip or I'm losing efficiencies on chip denoms. We have weirdos who love this and build these sets. (.10 / .50 / 2 / 10)

There is a simple solution, denom the chip with 'X' or leave it blank aka nondenom; which isn't the same thing as NCV. No Cash Value is typically printed on tournament or drink chips.

The 'X' means that you can assign its value at game time. Hosting a .25/.25 game is no problem; it's a .25. If it's .50/1, it's a .50. Now, you're not losing the efficiencies regardless of the chip.

Here is one of the better examples:
View attachment 1512862
Photo / Set Credit: @BillyBluff ​

Here is an example of non denom chip:
I would not advise buying less than a rack of a given frac or buying more than a rack of the same fracs. There is more on that in the Chip Breakdown thread posted above. Basically, buying excessively more chips than you need will slow the game down. Buying less than a rack of fracs will likely limit resale value. Regardless of your current mindset, resale value will come into play.

Playing .05/.10 or anywhere up to .10/.50 would require additional chips. I would like to be able to play .05 / .10, so I have 2 fracs that are non-denom. I built the set to be very versatile.


For example:
Pink - non denom | Green - non denom | Blue 1 | Tiger - 5 | Black - 20 | White - 100

In a .05 / .10 game the pink would be used as a .05 and the green .25
In a .25 / .50 or .50 / .50 game I could use either one and I would felt the black $20
In a 1 / 1 game the blue chip is a dollar and I would prefer to use a $25 chip, I can use the Green as $25

View attachment 1512857


Happy Chipping!
- Machine
Click to expand...

None of the above. 50¢
 
I do like this, though it seems to have no actual rationale behind it except "better make sure they realize it's cents not dollars":

IMG_2067.webp


That said, let's remember: Nobody actually reads chips except people who move their lips while doing so.

They are going to ask, "How much are these orange chips worth"?

Meanwhile... Use the "X" denom at risk of someone calling them Elons.
 

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