How few $1s can/do you get away with in a .25/.50 game? (1 Viewer)

[upNdown]

I felted a new set last week and I think I misplaced some ones beforehand? Anyway it was a drinky night, so I’m not sure of all the details, but I think it went like this:
Gave full barrels one $1s to each of the first 7 players. When the eighth player showed up, I couldn’t find any more, so I gave the last guy all $5s.
So I guess we played .25/.50 with 8 players with only 140 $1s, so 17.5 per person, and I think it went totally smoothly.
My question is, how few could I get away with? 120? 100? Probably not 100. But I wonder if an 8 handed game could play smoothly with 120 $1s?

 

[Ethan]

I’m in the more chips the better camp but if you have players that are smart about making change and not hoarding 1s in spots where they have a large number above average you can probably air on the lower side. I’d want 12/person at minimum ($4 x 3 bets) but that’s just my speculation/preference.

 

[Highli99]

100 is plenty is my game but I like having 200 in play just for chip stack reasons

 

[JMC9389]

Depends on how many players. For a full ring, I'd say 170 minimum assuming 12 quarters for each player. For less players, less than that.

 

[Schmendr1ck]

Absolute minimum? One rack for an eight-handed game (about 12/player), but players will be making change with each other a LOT.

I like about one barrel per player as a comfortable minimum. I always put out more than that for my .25/.50 games, because lots of $1s make stacks look bigger, and my players like that.

 

[allforcharity]

It's technically your small workhorse chip, so prob min 1 barrel per player, but you'd probably not require much more than that. Same for $5s, as long as you're not shy about breaking out the $25s for reloads.

 

[upNdown]

It’s cool because I was always thinking that if I wanted to get crazy and track down a suitable 43mm to relabel as a $1, it would be really expensive to do two racks.
But now I’m thinking it could be done with just one rack. At least for a 6 or 7 player game. Hmm

 

[krafticus]

8

 

[natumes]

You can get away with a single rack. I always get 2 racks of $1s when I build a set so I can give out a full barrel per player. One time we had 2 tables so I had to split it. Tables were 8 players each and we had no issues. Another game I play in always goes super heavy on $1s and I feel like that actually slows the game down more than the occasional making change. Watching people figure out how to put out a larger bet with only a few $5 chips and piles of $1s is painful. I think adjusting the amount of $1 chips on the table based on how the game usually plays makes the most sense. Plays bigger? Go light on $1s and all $5s for rebuys. Plays smaller? Barrel per player plus some extras with rebuys.

 

[LeLe]

You can get away with 1 rack for 8 person. Since a standard raise will be about $1.50 to $2 and 3B will be $5-$7 for a 25/50c game

Average 10 per person is enough to make the game flow, but it's will involve more changing but it not a deal breaker

It just like how Tourney are done with bare minimum 8-12 for each denomination

 

[jpietrella]

I feel like it depends how splashy things get, but for the game in question I think it went smoothly. My gut says 120 is the min you want, though 100 is doable and 140/160 is more comfortable.

I'm in the moar stacks camp, so I'll never tell you to use the minimum.

 

[Coyote]

IMHO, you NEED 20 workhorse chips per player

 

[upNdown]

IMHO, you NEED 20 workhorse chips per player

I don’t disagree, but at these stakes, the $1 and the $5 are definitely co-workhorses. For sure the $1 pulls a little more weight per hand than the $5, but more than enough $5s get into play on the typical hand that they’re taking a significant load off the $1s.

And now that I think about it, in the past, I usually started people with either 12 or 17 $1s. I only went up to 22 per player when I built a set that just didn’t have enough $5s.

 

[Highli99]

Let’s be honest folks, the main purpose of $1s in .25/.50 game is for straddles. As long at that happens, the $5 is your workhorse post flop.

 

[TheRealTeddyKGB]

The minimum for me would be 20 per player assuming the buy-in is $50. To me nothing is lamer than people constantly making change...

 

[JP1984]

I run my game with 200, works nicely with 100 x 25p as well. I know starting stacks aren't really a thing but it allows me to dish out 12/22/5 for a 100BB buyin. If we get a 9th they get 4/24/5 and then it's 5s after that. Has proven to be a good balance between cool stack sizes and playability....even allows me to hoard them too

 

[upNdown]

To me nothing is lamer than people constantly making change...

Now that I think back, I think I did have to make change 3-4 times, but I think that was because I kept losing all of my chips?
I don’t remember a lot of change-making going on. Seems like when it did happen, somebody would put out a $5 for a blind or a call, and as the action moved around the table, a neighbor would offer change for the $5 that was out there - never seemed to be an issue.

There will always be some amount of change-making happening, because that’s just how poker works. And I’ve never had a problem with it. But different crowds, different opinions - every game is different.

 

[Machine]

I typically have 180 in play, but I only put 60 quarters in play, 160 - 200 is likely the average, more than that and I would 'reverse color up', meaning rebuys only get 5s and 20s

any less than 160 and its noticeable with making change

 

[Marius L]

We dont use fracs, but I guess this translates to the number of $5s needed in a 1/2 game, so I'd say 160 for 8 players should work just fine. One barrel each. Few more wont hurt of course, but not really needed and can definitely make do with less also, as changemaking really isn't hard at all. Since youre asking how few you can get away with, I'd say anything less than 100 probably would start to get annoying.

 

[Shaggy]

My original sets were:
100x 25c
120x $1
130x $5
40x $25
10x $100

This worked fine for 9 players. I would just get $25s on the table sooner.

 

[detroitdad]

I host 8 player games.

starting stacks of

12 x .25
17 x 1 (140 minimum)
16 x 5

Then I use the fives for rebuys until they are gone.

 

[MeridianFC]

Everyone must do what they need to do with the tools that they are presented with. That said those of us gathered here in this particular forum must pay attention to this absolute rule that I was given and I believe in 100%

”Nobody wants to play cash with just a few chips. Just feels shitty.”

@bergs is responsible for this and should be given all the honor due for such a brilliant insight.

 

[upNdown]

Everyone must do what they need to do with the tools that they are presented with. That said those of us gathered here in this particular forum must pay attention to this absolute rule that I was given and I believe in 100%

”Nobody wants to play cash with just a few chips. Just feels shitty.”

@bergs is responsible for this and should be given all the honor due for such a brilliant insight.

I appreciate this, but only to a certain extent. Absolutely, I want to be able to sell them as many $5s as they want to buy. Stacks and stacks and towers of redbirds! Laws yes! But I’m never selling more than a barrel of $1s per player or a rack of fracs at an 8 man table.
If you think people want stacks and stacks of fracs and ones, that’s another conversation and one I’m happy to have. But I’m starting this question from the premise that twenty $1s per player is plenty. So then the question becomes is 17 alright? Is 15 alright? I don’t think I’d want to go below 15, so in my mind that “just a few chips” question isn’t really in play - at worst I’d be reducing the number on one dollar chips by 25%.

 

[Saoliver]

8

You sound like an engineer.

 

[MrCatPants]

200 if you are a full rack person. 140 or 160 if you don't have the OCD that 90% of people on here have.

 

[Mojo1312]

I appreciate this, but only to a certain extent. Absolutely, I want to be able to sell them as many $5s as they want to buy. Stacks and stacks and towers of redbirds! Laws yes! But I’m never selling more than a barrel of $1s per player or a rack of fracs at an 8 man table.
If you think people want stacks and stacks of fracs and ones, that’s another conversation and one I’m happy to have. But I’m starting this question from the premise that twenty $1s per player is plenty. So then the question becomes is 17 alright? Is 15 alright? I don’t think I’d want to go below 15, so in my mind that “just a few chips” question isn’t really in play - at worst I’d be reducing the number on one dollar chips by 25%.

The short answer is 12.