Limit - What chipset to use if you don't know if you like it? (1 Viewer)

[GreekRedEye]

I need advice from folks that fall in the middle of the ven diagram of "love to play limit poker" and "practical."

I have never played limit poker, but want to try. But I have learned from reading PCF posts that I need to provide one to two racks per person. So, to even give this a whirl I would need to acquire somewhere around 1000 chips. There are some great limit sets I have seen advertised in the classifieds, but that is a lot of dough to lay down for something I or my friends might not like and might not want to continue. Yes, I could make custom Tinas, but that is still an investment of time and money. I don't want to be that guy who sells it 2 years later with the tagline "only felted once!"

Does anyone have a suggestion for how to play an evening of limit without a proper limit set? I am considering:

1. Buying the cheapest set of 1000 dice chips possible (I can get a thousand for $100). But I am not thrilled about the waste when I eventually get rid of them.
2. Combining colors and styles of chips together from different sets I already own. So a chip is worth the same, no matter the color, design, size, material. Do experienced limit players think this would detract from the experience and not give limit poker a fair chance?

And before people ask, I am not worried about security for the trial night of limit (would be trusted friends only) and value chips is not an issue (I can designate a handful of something I already own to fill that role).

Any other suggestions?

 

[Burke]

@grebe

 

[DuckFat]

Never played limit poker but I fall in the "love to play poker" and "practical" categories.

From a practical standpoint, I can't imagine buying a set for a one night trial. I would go with option 2, I've played with groups that did that before and it was fine. Actually, it can add to the fun if each person is only using a certain set/color so you can identify who originally had the chips.
Example
Friend 1: I bet one of John's dollars
Friend 2: I call with one Tony dollar
Friend 3: Raise to $3 because I have 3 of Ron's dollars, thanks Ron

 

[Eriks]

Just try it out with a regular set first. There will be a lot of change making but as long as you have at least 200-300 work horse chips you can make it work well enough to decide whether your group likes it or not.

 

[improviseallday]

Why don't you try playing limit with your friends online first?

Once you decide you like the game, then buy chips.

 

[philhut]

You can play limit poker using more than 1 or 2 denoms, it's just closer to casino play to use two denoms for the most part in limit games. 3/6 can use 3x$1 & $1+$5 chips respectively. Instead of 3 & 6 x$1 chips for example. This will allow a smaller set to play limit games, that said you would still need approx 300 or so of the base denomination for a full table.

That said a 1/2 limit game would be tough to play without a significant amount of $1 chips due to the difficulty in utilizing $5 or higher chips, in such a game a few $1 and many more $2 value chips may work best.

Do you still have that nondenominational sluggo set? Might be useful again.

 

[Jawnie]

Grab ya fav chips that dont get much play. Mix all the colours, ignore the denoms, set all chips to same value and go for it

 

[liftapint]

Grab ya fav chips that dont get much play. Mix all the colours, ignore the denoms, set all chips to same value and go for it

This is the way. Use what you’ve got, to figure it out.

But oh lord, that game would tilt me hard!! (Re: ignoring color/denom)

 

[London24]

I use limit nights as a chance to felt my favourite random racks that don’t get out much.

Everyone loves hoarding each other’s chips, using other players’ chips against them in crucial spots, declaring some lucky or cursed. Loads more fun than a single chip.

 

[liftapint]

I use limit nights as a chance to felt my favourite random racks that don’t get out much.

Everyone loves hoarding each other’s chips, using other players’ chips against them in crucial spots, declaring some lucky or cursed. Loads more fun than a single chip.

View attachment 1168982

That does sound like a lot of fun.

 

[upNdown]

But I have learned from reading PCF posts that I need to provide one to two racks per person.

You don’t. This is where PCF goes wrong - we sometimes forget there’s a difference between how we like to do things and how things have to be done.
Yeah that’s how it’s typically done in a fixed limit cash game in a casino, but it’s not the only way. Ever watch the WSOP? They have mixed game tournaments where some games are fixed limit, some games are no limit, and the blinds increase. They play those games with regular stacks and it’s fine.

 

[doublebooyah85]

I need advice from folks that fall in the middle of the ven diagram of "love to play limit poker" and "practical."

I have never played limit poker, but want to try. But I have learned from reading PCF posts that I need to provide one to two racks per person. So, to even give this a whirl I would need to acquire somewhere around 1000 chips. There are some great limit sets I have seen advertised in the classifieds, but that is a lot of dough to lay down for something I or my friends might not like and might not want to continue. Yes, I could make custom Tinas, but that is still an investment of time and money. I don't want to be that guy who sells it 2 years later with the tagline "only felted once!"

Does anyone have a suggestion for how to play an evening of limit without a proper limit set? I am considering:

1. Buying the cheapest set of 1000 dice chips possible (I can get a thousand for $100). But I am not thrilled about the waste when I eventually get rid of them.
2. Combining colors and styles of chips together from different sets I already own. So a chip is worth the same, no matter the color, design, size, material. Do experienced limit players think this would detract from the experience and not give limit poker a fair chance?

And before people ask, I am not worried about security for the trial night of limit (would be trusted friends only) and value chips is not an issue (I can designate a handful of something I already own to fill that role).

Any other suggestions?

14 racks of NCV tiger palace claws, duh.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Why don't you try playing limit with your friends online first?

Once you decide you like the game, then buy chips.

Sorry I gotta disagree. We hate online play, and limit makes that even worse/slower lol. If I tried introducing the games in that way I'm dead meat.

Different strokes I suppose.

 

[Nanook]

Does anyone have a suggestion for how to play an evening of limit without a proper limit set?

I have played en extremely large # of live hands of limit poker and am one of the proponents of the 1-2 racks/player concept.

I am all for 2+ racks/person for a bunch of reasons which are detailed in one of the limit threads, but......

In your case I would play the game with the chips you already have just to give it a go maybe 3x before committing to a full on limit set. I have played limit with multiple denominations (like $1 & $5's) & it works. Like others have said, there will be lots of change making and it won't run quite as smoothly as it could, but it will work.

 

[Rhodeman77]

I have played mixed Big Bet/Limit cash games in the past that used standard $1,$5, $25 chip sets and it works. As already mentioned you will need to make change most betting rounds but it is better than buying a set you don’t know you will need.

Another option, if you have a casino near you is to go rent 1000 $1chips from it. Play the game (you can make them any value you want) and then return them after the game.

 

[suchj0sh]

Mix em up! “The blinds are 1 chip/2chip, the bet is 2 chips, then 4 chips,” easy-peasy.

 

[Machine]

I use limit nights as a chance to felt my favourite random racks that don’t get out much.

Everyone loves hoarding each other’s chips, using other players’ chips against them in crucial spots, declaring some lucky or cursed. Loads more fun than a single chip.

View attachment 1168982

Yeah yeah you only posted this pick to brag we see your spots lepper! #Jelly

 

[Poker Zombie]

Not a fan of mixing them up.

I run a limit game just under once a year. This makes the cost of a 25 player Paulson set unreasonable for the amount of play that I would get on them. Here's my order of preference:

1. A "cheap" limit set. Mine are Nexgen. Way too slippery, especially for limit, but I don't mind for the price paid (5¢/chip). It gives the feel of a real limit game.
2. A standard set. I'm not a fan of making change more than necessary. If you (and your players) don't mind making change, this may be #1.
3. All chips = 1 unit. Acceptable if you are using solids, or chips that have the same base color. Otherwise, this looks like a unholy mess run by someone that doesn't know the difference between a clay chip and a dice chip. All chips = 1 unit can cause issues if you need color-up chips. If your players are very tight, this is less likely of an issue (but is can still happen). If your players are splashy, this could be a major problem as "1 units" overflow the table.

 

[London24]

a unholy mess run by someone that doesn't know the difference between a clay chip and a dice chip.

Am I OK to use this as my signature?

 

[Machine]

Also I would suggest playing a limit game about 3 times, you won't really see enough just playing once.

 

[TheBigTater]

Limit games don't require a special chip set, it's just more enjoyable to play with a set with just 2 denominations (workhorse & value chip) and piles of chips.

Most limit poker I've played in a casino was with the standard casinos cash set that included multiple denominations and it can play easily.

 

[toothpic]

Depending on the stakes, you can play limit with any of your regular sets but just add more 1s to the mix. At meet ups we've played limit as 2/4 but just added more 1s to the table (4 racks of 1s seems ok). You could do this as 3/6 limit as well.

If you're doing 5/10 limit then naturally you'll need a lot more 5s and then some high denom chips later.

You can also be a nut like me and buy a dedicated limit set. My plan is to play more 4/8 limit in the future so I bought a set I saw earlier this year with lots of 2s and some 20s.

 

[Bacon Dad]

Depending on the stakes, you can play limit with any of your regular sets but just add more 1s to the mix. At meet ups we've played limit as 2/4 but just added more 1s to the table (4 racks of 1s seems ok). You could do this as 3/6 limit as well.

If you're doing 5/10 limit then naturally you'll need a lot more 5s and then some high denom chips later.

You can also be a nut like me and buy a dedicated limit set. My plan is to play more 4/8 limit in the future so I bought a set I saw earlier this year with lots of 2s and some 20s.

Does your set consist of this?
800x$1
600x$2
200x$20

 

[toothpic]

Does your set consist of this?
800x$1
600x$2
200x$20

It's 1400x$2 and 240x$20. Two similiar but varying base colors for the $2 as it's a mix of Mardis Gras and Riverboat chips.

 

[GreekRedEye]

Wow! Lots of good replies here.

 

[GreekRedEye]

Why don't you try playing limit with your friends online first?

Once you decide you like the game, then buy chips.

Good suggestion, but would not work for my group. Poker (or any other game for that matter) is the excuse to get together in person. For us, playing online would miss the point.

 

[GreekRedEye]

Just try it out with a regular set first. There will be a lot of change making but as long as you have at least 200-300 work horse chips you can make it work well enough to decide whether your group likes it or not.

This was my initial thinking, but reading posts, it seems like those who really enjoy limit find it most fun when you have a rack of small denoms. And I want this to be as fun as possible. So, I may still go this route. But, I do think this group would love big stacks of small chips. A couple during tournament play are small chip hoarders and get "misty-eyed" when the color up comes.

 

[GreekRedEye]

You can play limit poker using more than 1 or 2 denoms, it's just closer to casino play to use two denoms for the most part in limit games. 3/6 can use 3x$1 & $1+$5 chips respectively. Instead of 3 & 6 x$1 chips for example. This will allow a smaller set to play limit games, that said you would still need approx 300 or so of the base denomination for a full table.

That said a 1/2 limit game would be tough to play without a significant amount of $1 chips due to the difficulty in utilizing $5 or higher chips, in such a game a few $1 and many more $2 value chips may work best.

Do you still have that nondenominational sluggo set? Might be useful again.

Yep, still have it. May use it for the trial game, whether I go the route of mixed chips or I use a 3 to 4 denom loadout.

 

[GreekRedEye]

I use limit nights as a chance to felt my favourite random racks that don’t get out much.

Everyone loves hoarding each other’s chips, using other players’ chips against them in crucial spots, declaring some lucky or cursed. Loads more fun than a single chip.

View attachment 1168982

Beautiful chips!

This sounds like my group. The trash-talking would be intense. Like @DuckFat mentions - folks would get a kick out of collecting each others chips and playing them "strategically" to get the most rise out of others. This is probably the way I will go. If they really like it, I may spring for a proper, dedicated limit set in the future.

 

[Eriks]

This was my initial thinking, but reading posts, it seems like those who really enjoy limit find it most fun when you have a rack of small denoms. And I want this to be as fun as possible. So, I may still go this route. But, I do think this group would love big stacks of small chips. A couple during tournament play are small chip hoarders and get "misty-eyed" when the color up comes.

True, it’s certainly part of the charm. But if it turns out your group hates playing limit, having a dedicated set or not probably isn’t the main deciding factor.

Wouldn’t be the first set that gets resold though I guess.