Cash Game Include .5 cent chip in set or not? (1 Viewer)

[TonyZur]

I’m trying to decide whether to include nickel chips in my set for cash games. Usually $20 buy in, 5-8 people. Sometimes more, and my set will allow for that with 1s and 5s.

I have read the beginners guide to building cash sets and am following that pretty closely.

I could set up .5./.10 for 200bb starting stacks…or .25/.25 for 80bb starting stacks.

I have found that while my group is hesitant to buy in for more than $20, they have no problem with betting $4 on a quarter blind.
Inevitably someone asks if we can raise the blinds, to which I say you can go for it whenever the bet gets to you. Point is, in effect, the 200bb seems meaningless with few limped pots.

Given that, will nickels just be a nuisance and a waste money, and would .25/.25 starting with 80bb end up playing about the same as a 200bb .5/.10 ? I haven’t done enough of either to know.

I’ll probably end up getting them anyhow for flexibility but want to start this set efficiently. Thanks!

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Up to you, but I love my nickels. Beginners can buyin between $5 and $20, helps to play baby stakes. I don't think every set needs 200 nickels, but I want my game to be cheap and splashy, newbies love having lots of chips...even if a full barrel is worth $1 lol.

If you're looking to save money, sure, cut them out, but I enjoy having and using the super low denomination for the type of game I run. For many games, it'll run the same as .25/.25, you're right. But my group would muuuch rather have a 200bb stack on the $20 buyin than the 80 bb.

 

[DZPoker]

Depends on your players.

My thought…

If you fork up for them now, you’ll have them if you ever want them. If you go efficient now, I doubt you’ll turn around and add them in the future.

 

[springbox]

If people are raising from 25c to $4, I don't think you have much use for nickels.

That being said people can have their bet sizing affected by lots of other things. Someone with only a lot of low value chips might bet more freely than someone with only a few high value ones even if they have the same amounts. Someone might blast off a 25c to $10 raise if you let them buy in for $50, but wouldn't just open jam with a $10 buy in.

If you wanna play with nickels I'd reduce the buy in to $10 and heavily encourage rebuys. At the same buy-in people probably won't change their tendencies and the nickels won't be useful.

 

[shadowler]

I agree that if you don't get them now and normalize your game at .25/.25, you will probably not go back down to nickels.

How about getting a rack of NCV / Starburst and just experiment with your group?

 

[jamesjkim]

Or you can use your $1 chips and value at 10x to play .10/.20. Seems moot though and can easily just play .25/.25 as others suggested.

+1 to some starbursts or similar that can flex as you need. Don’t think you need to add a .05 denominated chip.

 

[Rooster410]

Nope, no, nah. If using 5¢ denoms, just play for fun and don’t worry about money. A lot will disagree but that’s been my experience.

 

[DZPoker]

Nope, no, nah. If using 5¢ denoms, just play for fun and don’t worry about money. A lot will disagree but that’s been my experience.

I disagree but only under the condition that it depends on your players/game.

I play .05/.10 once every few months with a group that respects the intent of such low blinds and picked them deliberately. It’s rare for someone to be in for even $60 by the end of the night. It’s not rare for someone to only be in for $20. When someone loses $5 on a hand they’re annoyed. Not because they can’t afford fries tomorrow, because they just dumped 50BB. When someone doubles up a $10 stack they’re thrilled. Not because they can buy a hamburger tomorrow, but because they won 100BB.

Is anyone getting rich? No. That’s not why we’re there. If someone started betting dollars per hand pre-flop because it’s only a few bucks…they wouldn’t be invited back to this particular game. And there isn’t a single person in the game that couldn’t afford to lose any realistic amount.

Like I said…IMHO it depends on the players/game!

 

[Nymor]

I host 2 main groups. One group plays 5p/10p with a £20 typical buyin and at the end of the evening it ends up with a couple of people £50 up, a few close to even and one/two stuck for a couple of buyins.

The other group plays the same but with a (compulsory really) 25p straddle and that ends up roughly the same but x3 in size - someone cashing out £200/300 is not unusual.

The second group I can imagine would play 25/25 occasionally but 200bb is more comfortable for a long session that's meant to be a social as well. Introducing a straddle bumps the action up a chunk if that's needed.

Both groups play pot limit circus games but the 2nd are splashier.

I've only got 1 rack of 5s and that's more than enough for everyone to have half a barrel for blinds.

 

[louBdub]

After hosting a metric shit ton of games, I’ve learned this…

Blinds mean nothing.

The min buy in does. (This is what’s at risk, because they’re all planning to go all in. But won’t go all in with $$$ in front of them)

Most players want to risk as little as possible, but play like they’re in a $2/$5 game.

It’s the age old “I wanna feel baller” but “I’m broke as fuck” lifestyle

That’s home game poker…..

OP Answer:
Nickels are stupid.

 

[Pippa]

Yes
5c for PLO game
5c/10c

 

[exodus]

If the raises tend to be $4 at 25c/25c then nickels are going to be useless. It seems like your player pool doesn’t respect the blinds which would mean it’s a better use of the money for higher denom chips instead of nickels. Like a few have said before it’s the buy in that matter the most in home games from my experience.

 

[allforcharity]

Try the 0.25/0.25 first. Nickels can be an expensive proposition depending on what your base chipset is (ask me how I know). Needing quarters is bad enough when you have to make your own.

 

[LeLe]

I have found that while my group is hesitant to buy in for more than $20, they have no problem with betting $4 on a quarter blind.

Given that, will nickels just be a nuisance and a waste money, and would .25/.25 starting with 80bb end up playing about the same as a 200bb .5/.10 ? I haven’t done enough of either to know.

Sound like Nickel will be a waste of money, just stay with 25/25c for now.

Your group are likely to increase stake in the future too.

 

[JustinInMN]

Given that, will nickels just be a nuisance and a waste money, and would .25/.25 starting with 80bb end up playing about the same as a 200bb .5/.10 ? I haven’t done enough of either to know.

They in theory shouldn't play the same, but it sounds like if you have players that want to open for $4 regardless of blinds, it may not matter, in which case I would suggest 25c-25c is probably the better option.

It's amazing the blind spot poker players have, the same players that won't open their wallet for more than $20 are determine to lose so much preflop

 

[SeanGecko]

I'm a nickel fan. I see a lot of people telling people who play 5¢/10¢ / they should play 25¢/25¢ to get rid of nickels when their game and players don't fit a 25¢/25¢ game.

You don't need nickels.

4 dollars pre flop that's a 50¢/$1 bet.

 

[Max D]

I have nickels but they were really for ante games like 7 card studs, 5 card studs, etc. Which we haven’t played in years

 

[4SUMERZ]

I started playing $0.25/$0.25 blinds on a $20 buy in, or 80BB. The only issue wit equal small/big blind is getting those lazy small blind from announcing check/raise when the betting get back to them pre flop. For that reason alone, I introduced $0.05 chips and did $0.10/$0.25 blinds, so that the small blind would have to act. I only purchased 100 $0.05 chips, or 10 each for my 8 players. My intention was for the small blind to put 2 nickles in, then when it came back around, to remove the nickles and put in a $0.25 chip.
That didn't work so well, but it did force the SB to make the play I wanted rather than sit there looking stupid when it got back to him.
We had a ton of rebuys at our last session, as everyone was playing frisky. Only 3 of the 8 players were ahead after the smoke cleared.
I have decided to get rid of the $0.05 chips, go back to $0.25/$0.25 blinds, and raise the initial buy in to $25.00 and$25.00 worth of chips for 100 BB.
Now, I want the players to start out with 35 chips each, so I am introducing a $0.50 chip in the mix.
12 - $0.25 Chips
10 - $0.50 Chips
12- $1.00 Chips
1- $5.00 Chip

We'll see how that goes. I will likely sell my 100 0.05 Mirage chips in the future. I can't imagine going back to the nickles.

My new $0.50 chips

 

[KingZilla]

I agree that if you don't get them now and normalize your game at .25/.25, you will probably not go back down to nickels.

How about getting a rack of NCV / Starburst and just experiment with your group?

^ Good suggestion. I have one rack of no denom chips in my set and it allows for a lot of flexibility. You could use them as nickels or a high value denom if you ditch the 5¢ blind in the future.