Ragman
High Hand
Hi all - I've played in and hosted short-lived home games before, and played in casino poker rooms many times. I'm trying to get a bi-weekly or monthly home game going and I'm around 6 people, maybe 8. We'll see.
Even if that doesn't pan out, I want to put together a chip set that I can have on hand for the coming years. For the most part, I'm planning to spread low-limit ($0.25/$0.50 limit holdem to start to get players comfortable, then $0.50/$1). I'm planning to get a 500 chip set, and I've already gotten samples of and decided on china clay Majestics. I am planning to get blanks and then label them myself at some point (already been in touch with @Gear about that). In the meantime I may leave them as non-demons while I dial things in.
I like the idea of having more chips on the table rather than less to spur some action, and I've been trying to come up with the best breakdown of chip colors/denominations so we don't have to constantly make change but won't have barrels and barrels of quarters in front of people. Apache sells the Majestic blanks in sleeves of 25, which means I won't have solid colored racks unless I buy in multiples of 100. I don't really want to do just yet so I'll have to deal with a mixed color rack or two. Here is what I have come up with so far:
125 Quarters (yellow)
225 Ones (blue)
125 Fives (red)
25 Twenty-fives (green)
That gives me one rack of yellow, two racks of blue, one rack of red, and one mixed rack with one barrel each of yellow, blue, red and green, with the last barrel with 5 of each. That gives a total bank of a little over $1500 which should be gracious plenty I think. Do you think the 25s are overkill? I like having them in there so we can run tournaments (at least until I get a separate tournament set, which will probably be ceramic). Since they are stock blanks, I can always buy more as needed, and add in black 100s, etc. when/if the time comes. For now I'm looking for the best 500 chip set I can put together.
Next question, which I've seen asked and somewhat answered in other threads, is chip racks. I want to get good old plastic racks, but sizing seems to be a challenge with these china clays. I measure my sample of 10 to be right at 33mm, maybe just over. The Paulson plastic racks are said to be 66.7mm, which I think would be just about right for a barrel of 20. I'd rather not do the 21 chip to a barrel thing, but I will if needed. I see that Apache is getting the Paulson racks back in stock so I'm thinking about taking a chance on them. I'd love to hear any experience or advice on that.
Question the third, blinds. For a $0.50/$1 it's easy with quarters (1 for the small, 2 for the big). But for $0.25/$0.50 I don't want to mess around with a half bet small blind. I'm thinking about just going with two big blinds of $0.25 each (both live of course). Any experience with that? Most of the people who I'm inviting to play are kitchen table poker players, and I want to help get them comfortable with playing in a casino if they ever want to, so I'm a bit worried about them getting confused by two bigs. Maybe I'll just graduate it up to $0.50/$1 pretty quick!
Last question for now (maybe I should have started four threads) - what is your opinion of roll out table toppers, the ones that have neoprene/rubber on the bottom to keep them from sliding (and give a little cushion) and felt with a center oval? I don't have room for a dedicated poker table right now, and don't really like the table toppers that have the cup holders, cushion on them. Any experience with those or other suggestions? Playing on a hard slick table sucks,
Even if that doesn't pan out, I want to put together a chip set that I can have on hand for the coming years. For the most part, I'm planning to spread low-limit ($0.25/$0.50 limit holdem to start to get players comfortable, then $0.50/$1). I'm planning to get a 500 chip set, and I've already gotten samples of and decided on china clay Majestics. I am planning to get blanks and then label them myself at some point (already been in touch with @Gear about that). In the meantime I may leave them as non-demons while I dial things in.
I like the idea of having more chips on the table rather than less to spur some action, and I've been trying to come up with the best breakdown of chip colors/denominations so we don't have to constantly make change but won't have barrels and barrels of quarters in front of people. Apache sells the Majestic blanks in sleeves of 25, which means I won't have solid colored racks unless I buy in multiples of 100. I don't really want to do just yet so I'll have to deal with a mixed color rack or two. Here is what I have come up with so far:
125 Quarters (yellow)
225 Ones (blue)
125 Fives (red)
25 Twenty-fives (green)
That gives me one rack of yellow, two racks of blue, one rack of red, and one mixed rack with one barrel each of yellow, blue, red and green, with the last barrel with 5 of each. That gives a total bank of a little over $1500 which should be gracious plenty I think. Do you think the 25s are overkill? I like having them in there so we can run tournaments (at least until I get a separate tournament set, which will probably be ceramic). Since they are stock blanks, I can always buy more as needed, and add in black 100s, etc. when/if the time comes. For now I'm looking for the best 500 chip set I can put together.
Next question, which I've seen asked and somewhat answered in other threads, is chip racks. I want to get good old plastic racks, but sizing seems to be a challenge with these china clays. I measure my sample of 10 to be right at 33mm, maybe just over. The Paulson plastic racks are said to be 66.7mm, which I think would be just about right for a barrel of 20. I'd rather not do the 21 chip to a barrel thing, but I will if needed. I see that Apache is getting the Paulson racks back in stock so I'm thinking about taking a chance on them. I'd love to hear any experience or advice on that.
Question the third, blinds. For a $0.50/$1 it's easy with quarters (1 for the small, 2 for the big). But for $0.25/$0.50 I don't want to mess around with a half bet small blind. I'm thinking about just going with two big blinds of $0.25 each (both live of course). Any experience with that? Most of the people who I'm inviting to play are kitchen table poker players, and I want to help get them comfortable with playing in a casino if they ever want to, so I'm a bit worried about them getting confused by two bigs. Maybe I'll just graduate it up to $0.50/$1 pretty quick!
Last question for now (maybe I should have started four threads) - what is your opinion of roll out table toppers, the ones that have neoprene/rubber on the bottom to keep them from sliding (and give a little cushion) and felt with a center oval? I don't have room for a dedicated poker table right now, and don't really like the table toppers that have the cup holders, cushion on them. Any experience with those or other suggestions? Playing on a hard slick table sucks,