Limit - What chipset to use if you don't know if you like it? (2 Viewers)

[upNdown]

but reading posts, it seems like those who really enjoy limit find it most fun when you have a rack of small denoms

You mean the posts on a poker chip forum, written by people who are obsessed with poker chips, many of whom blurt out MOAR for no particular reason?

I will host my first fixed limit night sometime soon. And I’m pretty sure that at least a couple of my regulars, who aren’t PCFers, will want to know why they have to use huge stacks of low denom chips.

Honestly there are plenty of things you’ll have to deal with, if you’re trying to get a bunch of NLHE players to play fixed limit mixed games. The chips don’t have to be one of them.

 

[Rhodeman77]

I once had a $3/6 game with all $1 and the players wanted to know where the $5 chips were so they didn’t have to count out stacks of 6 chips over and over again.

After that I decided all limit games would be a 2 chip 4 chip structure. Since going to a 2 chip 4 chip betting there hasn’t been any issues.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

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.

I get this, I didn't see a point to it either. But I picked up a ton of old beatup black chips as a limit set and we love big piles of them. Don't have to worry about coloring up, and the big value chips represent a full barrel or two. You trade the fun of different denoms and colors for AN ARMADA OF CHIPS.

I'm biased because most of my games have at least 2 or 3 beginners so I'd rather them not have to make change out of the pot, I just want them focusing on how many cards they're allowed to keep while playing razzle-doozie-arney or whatever my apes have called. I'm also biased because I love cheap chips: no way am I buying 800+ of the same denom in any expensive chip.

 

[Poker Zombie]

Also along the thoughts of hitting a local casino (if no local casino exists), you could reach out to @TheChipRoom to see if there's a viable limit set available. If your group later doesn't like limit, you could always resell, taking a small loss, but the round trip would probably cost less than a set of dice chips which will eventually pollute a landfill with plastic and metal.

Save the earth - buy Paulsons.

 

[suchj0sh]

Having said to mix them and play, I DID order a big Tina No Mold limit set from @justincarothers, but it won’t be here for a while.

I think just mixing what you have up is fine if you’re just trying to get a limit game started tho, as I am doing.

 

[allforcharity]

What do you think of this starting stack for limit?

80x $1, 19x $5, 1x $25 = $200 per player, 1 full rack of chips

Should cover $2/$4 (50BB) up to $4/$8 (25BB), right?

 

[SteveEH]

Last night we played 1/2 fixed limit with my set designed for no limit and it worked well. We were also playing stud and razz with .25 antes, and I had to make change 3 times over the night for fracs. If we weren't using antes a .50 frac would have been better.

 

[BEANO52]

2/4 with 2 racks $1 per player and 1 rack $20 (maybe less).
$20 chip = easy top offs and exchanges (1 chip = 1 barrel).
Part of the "fun" with limit is having big stacks.

 

[GreekRedEye]

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.

@Rhodeman77

Rereading this thread and keyed into this suggestion. That might be an option for me as there is a casino nearby with a pretty large poker room. Buying a few racks of $1 chips is not a problem. But, how in the world do you walk out with 10 racks of chips? For those that have done this, how did you go about it. I mean, practically, how did you carry them - dump them in a bag? Stuff your pockets and pants like in some sort of Abbott and Costello skit? And how did the casino react? I imagine they at the very least have questions if not outright object to folks walking out with hundreds of chips. Were you up front with them?

Sorry if this is very clueless, but I can't be the only one who has no idea how you would approach it.

 

[abby99]

It's been a while, but I played 3/6 limit poker at Oneida Casino in Green Bay, Wi. Players had 1s and 5s. Change was needed fairly often; this is a lot easier with a dedicated dealer than in a self-dealt game.

I hosted a few 3/6 games with 6 racks each of 1s and 5s, and some value chips ($20). It worked.

Eventually I built regular sets but with a larger number of 1s. In other words, not a dedicated limit set, just "enhanced" NL/PL sets.

Having more fun is not the only benefit to playing with lots of workhorse chips. As a practical matter, it's easy to see at a glance how much each player has bet in a betting round because most players cut out chips equivalent to one bet and match that for 2-bets, 3-bets, and a cap. Another benefit, so to speak, is that players usually don't announce bets and raises in dollars. Instead, declarations are bet, raise, 3-bet, and cap it. I suggest that thinking in terms of chips instead of dollars results in a looser game, and the games play much faster.

If you decide to play with a mixture of chips, you might consider allowing $20 and $100 bills on the table to take the place of value chips. Plaques would work, too, if you have some.