Cash Game How many chips per denomination I need? (1 Viewer)

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I planning to make a cash game set for mainly 0.25/0.5 (6-10 Players) with buy in's between 50 - 200 BB.

The following denominations are planned:

0.25
1
5
X

X= not decided yet

How many chips per denomination do you recommend my?
 
My OCD always requires full racks. Two racks of everything and one rack of $20. It's more than you need.
 
One rack of quarters.
Two racks of $1's
60 x $5's
40 x $20's

I like to keep the amount of quarters on the table to a minimum. I also like to have a $2 chip. I find it expands the value of your set with a chip that is easy to get in play. It also adds some color to tables that are typically dominated by white or blue.
 
120x25¢
200x$1
300x$5
80x$20

$3300 bank. Plenty of workhorse chips. And room to grow. Also added bonus of fitting into a 600chip carrier.
 
If you want less chips do 80x25¢ and only 20x$20

$2120 bank.

Starting stacks 8x25¢ and 8x$1 and rest in $5s

Rebuys in $1&$5 then $20s&$5s later
 
if you have a preference for even racks and even stacks as all rationale people do, i would go:

200 (.25)
200 (1)
300 (5)
100 (20/25)

assuming the top of your buy-in (200BB) and attendance (10 players) ranges in order to permit all planned games, this will allow you to give out initial buy-ins of:

20 (.25)
20 (1)
15 (5)

and 7.5 rebuys with:

20 (5)

before breaking out your $20/25s (which will give you another 20 or 25 rebuys depending on the denom you choose). that will cover you until your stakes go up. with a total bank of $3,750-4,250, you'll have plenty, but i really wouldn't go with much less. imo you should assume 3 buy-ins per player in a moderately active game, so at minimum you should have chips to cover $3k.
 
100 x 25¢
300 x $1
200 x $5
100 x $20

$3325 bank, enough quarters and workhorse $1 chips for 25c/50c, and leaves room for more $1 and $5 racks later to fill up a 1000-chip carrier.
 
120x25¢
200x$1
300x$5
80x$20

$3300 bank. Plenty of workhorse chips. And room to grow. Also added bonus of fitting into a 600chip carrier.

My maffs is super awesome. That's 700 chips.
 
I think the big question is how many chips are you looking to purchase? I think that you'll need more than one rack of $.25's because if it's a 10 person game each only get's 8 and then you'll be making change a fair amount of times and will slow the game down a little. We typically play $.5/1 and use 8 quarters but typically play 6-8 handed. Difference being the blinds. I'd probably want a starting stack of 12/12/7 for the $50 buy in and then just tack on the additional $5's for any amount over that. So with that in mind you'd need a minimum of 120 quarters. I think in home games you have to consider the number of people who will just call without raising. Just my point of view from the games that I've played in.
 
I think the big question is how many chips are you looking to purchase? I think that you'll need more than one rack of $.25's because if it's a 10 person game each only get's 8 and then you'll be making change a fair amount of times and will slow the game down a little.

You don't have to give out the same number of quarters to everyone.
 
You don't have to give out the same number of quarters to everyone.

Correct. And 100 quarters in play is an average of 10 per player, even with a full table -- enough to post blinds for three orbits (by which time every player ~should~ have won at least one pot, replenishing their 25c stack....).

I used to deal for a game that had a "no change bets" rule after the flop -- betting was in minimum increments of $1, which definitely helped minimize change-making during play.
 
Here is what I have and I have people that buy-in for 60 to 100, then re-buys are usually 40 to 100 (most people do a re-buy when they are down), and this breakdown works really well:

100 - $.25
120 - $1
120 - $5
40 - $25
20 - $100

and that is 400 chips.....I would add maybe 20 more $.25 and some 5's and 25's maybe.....But the original breakdown works very well, not too many people making change, and we will make change out of the pot if necessary, but for the most part people make change when needed.

Also, we have been doing this for about 5 years. 6-10 players, I once broke into two tables @ 13 players and it worked well.
 
I planning to make a cash game set for mainly 0.25/0.5 (6-10 Players) with buy in's between 50 - 200 BB.

The following denominations are planned:

0.25
1
5
X

X= not decided yet

How many chips per denomination do you recommend my?

A lot of good recommendations in the thread... so I'll just ask questions:


Are you buying inexpensive chips that come 25 to a barrel? We'll round numbers up.

Or are you buying expensive chips that are available in small lots (or customs?) We'll give you a tighter bank that can still meet your playing needs.

Or are you wealthy and buying CPC customs, and looking for an excuse to expand your set? We'll tell you what you want to hear.
 
You don't have to give out the same number of quarters to everyone.

Correct. And 100 quarters in play is an average of 10 per player, even with a full table -- enough to post blinds for three orbits (by which time every player ~should~ have won at least one pot, replenishing their 25c stack....).

I used to deal for a game that had a "no change bets" rule after the flop -- betting was in minimum increments of $1, which definitely helped minimize change-making during play.

Completely agree with both of you but it is easier to have the $15 stack broken out before the game, or break out quickly if even (and yes I know pulling $2 off and adding quarters isn't hard). I wasn't saying that he needed two racks just saying I'd probably bump it to 120 $.25. The guys I play with often do blow through their small chips quickly from calling pre-way too often. I was just going based on my experiences in home games.
 
The number of ones and quarters required will somewhat depend on the style of play of the players in the game. If everyone limps preflop on nearly every hand... you will need a lot of quarters... or you will be making change every couple of hands from the guys who just won the prior pots. If raises preflop are to $3 and flop bets are above $5... you won't need that many ones. This is how my game plays. I use same breakdown as chipjoker above.

When I built my first set, I got a bunch of quarters because I thought making change was bad. I had a lot of quarters and dollars on the table. What I ultimately found was having that many small chips in the game slowed the game down when people bet stacks of small stuff. It also increased the chances of the cashout totals being off at the end of the night (more chips to count). After a few years, I have found what works for my game and making change is much preferred over tons of chips for bets.
 
What I ultimately found was having that many small chips in the game slowed the game down when people bet stacks of small stuff.

Yes, this happens a lot. I had my usual two-bit cash game (25 cent big blind), and had about 140 or 160 quarters on the table, generally playing seven handed (people come and go.)

And it felt like it was too many, because they accumulated at one end, and that player then started making $5 bets and raises with stacks of quarters, and it was much more annoying to deal with than five singles or a redbird. (He's a relative notice at the game.) Meanwhile, other people would still end up short quarters... whoever is losing quarters will still end up short quarters, no matter HOW many you buy them in with, unless you buy them in with nothing but quarters... and even then, some people will always need to rebuy.

Even so, making change out of the pot drastically reduces the number of times we need to actually make change... When someone puts up a dollar and says, "call," it just sits there until the betting is done. If there are just two other limpers, you've got three quarters in the pot... dollar comes in, the three quarters go out as change, done. Or if someone raises to a dollar, and they have quarters, they do it with four quarters, because they see someone is owed change. Most of us do it reflexively now... people manage their overstock of quarters by betting them into pots regularly, and people shy on quarters become comfortable just saying "call" with a larger chip.
 
For a .25/.50 NL/PL game or with mixed limits, I've found that an average of approximately 14 quarters per player works well for our group. I round up to a multiple of 20 (120 for 8 players) and give one barrel each to the first X players who buy in, along with 2-3 barrels of $1's (depending on the game). Fives make up the difference. This method makes chips very easy to distribute without needing to assemble starting stacks in advance, which is good because we don't all buy in for the same amount.
 
Thinking on this thread, here's what I'm going to try for next two-bit micro game...

Although I have 200 quarters, I'm going to buy players in with 10 quarters and 4 bits (half quarters.) That's $3. The rest will be red and white ($5/$1.)

Then rebuys and top-ups will also come with quarters and bits. I'll have $3 stacks pre-set in the box. Odds are that the people buying more will need quarters, so that tends to put them in the right place, without overloading the table.
 
I built a set (well it's almost done) and will have the following breakdown:

(200) - quarters
(100) - 0.50 : which will only be in play if not using the quarters (for the 0.50/1.00 games)
(350) - 1.00
(150) - 5.00
(20) - 20.00 : for those $20 bill rebuys
(3) - 100.00 : it's cool to have a black chip in front of everyone's quarters :)
 
Then rebuys and top-ups will also come with quarters and bits. I'll have $3 stacks pre-set in the box. Odds are that the people buying more will need quarters, so that tends to put them in the right place, without overloading the table.

I recommend against this. My preference is to do rebuys in the largest possible chip and let them make change with the large stack. If there were enough small chips for the game to play before the player rebought... there is no reason to add more small chips. This just opens the possibility of people betting huge stacks of quarters and/or miscount their stacks at cashout.
 
I recommend against this. My preference is to do rebuys in the largest possible chip and let them make change with the large stack. If there were enough small chips for the game to play before the player rebought... there is no reason to add more small chips. This just opens the possibility of people betting huge stacks of quarters and/or miscount their stacks at cashout.

I understand your point of view - and that's the way I've been doing it all along, although perhaps letting too many quarters into the game to begin with... In my game, I'm anal about having two people very every cash-in and cash-out. The bank is rarely off by more than the donations. An abundance of quarters doesn't really add risk there, and to the degree that it does, it's small-change risk.

And change out of the pot is always seen by multiple players.

The biggest risk of error, in my experience, is in change made between players - so that's what I'd like to minimize.

I'm going to give it a shot and see how it feels/plays.
 
I spread $0.25/$0.50 once a month. Here is what I do (and it is a little excessive).

200 x $0.25
200 x $1
300 x $5
200 x $20 (or 60 x $25 since Outpost $25s are hard to come by but my players generally prefer $25 chips)
100 x $100 (just in case, but mostly for the $1/$1 and $1/$2 nights)

Starting stacks are 20 x $0.25, 20 x $1 ($25 in value) plus $5s to fill out the buy in.

I have another thousand+ chips in the set just in case 30 people show up one night . . . .

Be Prepared! -=- DrStrange
 
Starting stacks are 20 x $0.25, 20 x $1 ($25 in value) plus $5s to fill out the buy in.

That's exactly what I've been doing, and in my Saturday game it gets all 200 of my quarters and singles on the table. I'm going to experiment with keeping the quarters a little lighter and see how it plays.
 
600 chip set. Fits in a 600 chip birdcage (duh):

100x25¢
200x$1
200x$5
80x$20
20x$100

$4825 bank. Plenty of workhorse chips, and flexible for higher stakes.
 
My preference for a game like this (per player) is below (assumes 100bb buy-in):

$0.25 x 20
$1.00 x 20
$5.00 x 5

In my opinion, you should have at least 10 buy-ins worth of starting stacks depending on your normal number of players. If you constantly have 10 people playing, then I would have 11. If its usually only 7-9, then 10 is plenty. Afterwards, I would just load up on $5 and $25 chips. Based on the above you have 150 chips to spread around (200+200+50 for 10 buy-ins if you plan to buy 600 chips). I would probably get 40 $25, another 50 $5 and 60 $1. This gives you plenty of play and a lot of low denominations to give people a bunch of $5s and $1s when they rebuy so they can easily get change.

So final breakdown would be:

200 x $0.25
260 x $1.00
100 x $5.00
40 x $25
 

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