Cash Game Micro stakes 500 chip breakdown .05/.10 (1 Viewer)

PokerShark

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I have a tournament set I’m happy with and keeping for life.

Now I’m exploring my options for a cash set....

If I limit myself to 500 chips and a micro stakes game I was thinking of going for a breakdown like this:

125 x 5p
200 x 25p
100 x £1
50 x £5
25 x £25

Please discuss what I’m getting right and wrong with this breakdown and if I need to adjust. This will be predominantly for a 5p/10p cash game.

For a bit of background I’ve only ever hosted tournaments at home before and most of the people I invite are occasional players who don’t study the game much or want to throw away much money at it. The cash set will be for players who crash out early in a tournament and hopefully eventually for alternative nights when players are used to the idea of not having to play a tournament in poker.

I can’t imagine the £25 chips will get much play. If they do start to see the felt a lot then I assume I’ll be doing well enough to get myself a custom CPC set!
 
I think your breakdown is fine, but I would probably drop the 25s and the extra 5p and add more 1s

100 x 5p
200 x 25p
150 x 1
50 x 5

My set has 100/200/200 5c/25c/1 and even in my 5c/10c game that plays pretty deep ($20 buy in) we have only had max ~5 or so $5 chips on the table and that was on a night with more than the usual amount of players rotating in/out and rebuys taking place. You'll never need the $25. If you can expand to 600 chips I would prefer:

100 x 5p
200 x 25p
200 x 1
100 x 5

(This is assuming 8-9 players with $10 - $20 buy-in and rebuys)
 
Nice overall breakdown but I would consider grouping by barrels, for instance- 100*.05 = $5 and each extra 20 is $1. A stack of 25 is 1.25, which is hard to keep track if you had all nickels in play.
 
How many players and what will your buy ins be?

At this point I would be lucky to host above 8 players. Hopefully a bit more in the future.

I was thinking £5 to £25 buy-ins but have little experience in this regard.
 
Assuming single table 9 ish players. I’d change to 100x 5p and add the additional 25 chips to the 5£... so 75x 5£.

This will increase your overall bank and the typical rule of thumb is one rack of blind chips.
 
Assuming single table 9 ish players. I’d change to 100x 5p and add the additional 25 chips to the 5£... so 75x 5£.

This will increase your overall bank and the typical rule of thumb is one rack of blind chips.
I kinda like 2 racks of blind chips...so one barrel per player. I like tall stacks though...I know I'm in the minority on this one.
 
I kinda like 2 racks of blind chips...so one barrel per player. I like tall stacks though...I know I'm in the minority on this one.

I concur. For my tournaments I usually have a 15/13/6 stack whereas most on here prefer 10/10/7. I’m considering going to 20/16/5 for my next tourney as surely more chips is better, no?

For this micro stakes breakdown I’m going by what I’ve read on here and gone against my instinct of having a ton of blind chips. I couldn’t quite limit myself to just one rack though.
 
I kinda like 2 racks of blind chips...so one barrel per player. I like tall stacks though...I know I'm in the minority on this one.

Yep, this is the big debate. It all depends on how your game plays. If it’s limpy, or the raises are using the SB chips, then more 5p chips is okay. If the first raise is to 25p or 50p... then you don’t need as many 5p chips.
 
You breakdown is not bad and would certainly be playable.
To me, the goal is to allow as many 'playable' chips as possible. Get 'em on the table in a breakdown where they will actually
get used.

Personally, I would opt for a few more of the 5p and 1£ chips.
And I doubt you will need any 25£ chips.
Something like:
150 5p
150 25p
125 1£
75 5£

For a 20£ buyin do stacks of 15/13/11/1. or some 15/17/10/1. and rebuy with the 5£ 's and leftover small chips.

Should be plenty of chips to splash around and plenty of bank.
 
At this point I would be lucky to host above 8 players. Hopefully a bit more in the future.

I was thinking £5 to £25 buy-ins but have little experience in this regard.

If you’re hoping for more players in the future, I would bump up the total set numbers by at least 100 chips. Recommendations below are for 10 players.

Most home games I’ve ever played in, the minimum buy-in is 40BB up to 200BB to start. Assuming you’d be playing 0.05-0.10 that means buy ins ranging from $4-$20. I might limit it to 100BB with your group so $10. With these assumptions in mind I’d go with this:

0.05-100
0.25-200
$1-300

Or

0.05-100
0.25-200
$1-280
$20/$25-20

Don’t forget spares either.

First option will give each player up to 3 1/2 buy ins which is plenty for most home games. Second option adds quite a bit to the bank for the same amount of chips. I always like getting the large denoms in play if possible and at some point ask to color up my chips to get them on the table.

Opinions on the number of blind chips you need varies. I’m in the one rack per table camp. It feels like a wasted rack to me when there’s 2 racks of blind chips. They don’t add much bank to the overall set and are therefore inefficient to me. Of course, YMMV
 
Ok, given the advice here I’ve revised my chip breakdown to this:

120 x 5p
180 x 25p
140 x £1
60 x £5

Plus 20 x £25 to make 520 chips overall.
This gives me more £1 chips to play with and groups each denomination in barrels.

I think it’s an improvement over my initial breakdown.
 
For 5p/10p games I'd prefer to have two racks of 5p chips available per table. I'm coming from internet poker though where betting "odd" amounts rather than rounding up to the next bigger chip is easy and commonplace.

You definitely won't need any 25 pound chips if you stick to those stakes, and you're much better off with 600 chips than with 500.

I'd suggest this:
200 x 5p
200 x 25p
180 x 1 pound
20 x 5 pounds
Total bank = 340 pounds, good for 34 buy-ins @ 100 BB in total, i.e. 24 rebuys for a full table.
If that's not enough yet, replace another barrel of 1s with a barrel of 5s.

If you want to play higher stakes later on, you'll need to add on to your set.
You only need more 5s for the next couple of blind levels (and for the sake of not triggering OCD fill that second rack of 1s). For example, if you want to play 25p/50p later, you could go with 200x25p, 200x1 and 200x5.

And yes, do get extra replacement chips.
 
Yep, this is the big debate. It all depends on how your game plays. If it’s limpy, or the raises are using the SB chips, then more 5p chips is okay. If the first raise is to 25p or 50p... then you don’t need as many 5p chips.
Agree.

@PokerShark you might have to determine how people in your group will play. For example, I play a 25c/50c but it is limpy, we get multiple "family" pots where everyone has limped, so 9 handed = 18 SB chips. We also get a lot of 3.5x raises, which equals 1.75, which again uses 3x SB + $1 chip or we get a lot of min raises, which is 2xSB chip for n people, then raised another 2xSB to go around the table again (some people, like me, usually take back both of my 2xSB and put the $1 out instead of calling with another 2xSB chips, but others don't. Plus my players prefer not to make change, they prefer to have the small chip breakdown so they can call exact.

My players like to have chips to play with, so regardless of 5 handed or 9 handed, I give out the following:
For a $40 or $50 buy-in which is usual for us.
25c x 20
$1 x 20
$5 x 3 or 5

I then put all rebuys in $5 chips, no more quarters or $1s. But I also have 620 chips.. = 200 25c, 200 $1, 200 $5, 20 $20. For my game this is fine, but for other people's 25c/50c, this would not be enough bank.

Ok, given the advice here I’ve revised my chip breakdown to this:

120 x 5p
180 x 25p
140 x £1
60 x £5

Plus 20 x £25 to make 520 chips overall.
This gives me more £1 chips to play with and groups each denomination in barrels.

I think it’s an improvement over my initial breakdown.

The biggest thing to figure out is, are more people playing £5 or £25 buyins? The amount of bank you need is quite different.
With a limit of 500 chips, I could get behind 100-120 SB chips. Your main work horses should be 25p and £1. IMO - The number of £5 depends on how big your game actually plays.

Maybe you can attempt to have a cash game with some tourney chips, and give it a go with one of your breakdowns to see. It could even be for free. I experimented by having less or more of particular chips out on the table with my cheap plastic set when I was "workshopping" chip breakdowns.
 
Go with @v1pe 's suggestion in post #3.

If you are only getting 600 chips putting a third of them into blind chips is a mistake. One rack is plenty. You may not need that many fives, but good to have if the stakes grow.

Edit: just saw your breakdown in post #12, that's pretty good too.

Edit #2,

If the limit really is 500, do 5p*100, 25p*200, 1*160, 5*40. Total 415 gbp. You will almost never need 5s unless you go to 10p-20p, stakes would have to get significantly higher for you to ever need a 20 or 25.
 
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Personally, if I was doing a GBP set, I’d do 20p and £20 instead of 25s. Of course you don’t need the £20 or even the £5. I used to play a micro game in college (wasn’t micro for us back then) and we used £5 notes to supplement.

100x 5p
200x 20p
200x £1

20p makes more sense to me for a 5/10 game as it’s a direct multiple of the big blind.
 
You have all convinced me that 600 chips will be better than 500. The mantra around here about there never being enough chips rings true!

So at the moment I was thinking of going for either:

140 x 5p
180 x 25p
160 x £1
100 x £5
20 x £25

Or

140 x 5p
180 x 25p
180 x £1
80 x £5
20 x £25

A lot of you have said I won’t need a denomination as high as £25 and while I agree this will probably be the case for the most part I would still like a barrel to keep aside should stake go up or things get crazy.

Personally, if I was doing a GBP set, I’d do 20p and £20 instead of 25s. Of course you don’t need the £20 or even the £5. I used to play a micro game in college (wasn’t micro for us back then) and we used £5 notes to supplement.

100x 5p
200x 20p
200x £1

20p makes more sense to me for a 5/10 game as it’s a direct multiple of the big blind.

I quite agree the 20p and £20 chips would work a lot better and if I was going for a custom set or applying my own labels this is what I would do. However at the moment I am eyeing a ceramics set with set denominations available.
 
A lot of you have said I won’t need a denomination as high as £25 and while I agree this will probably be the case for the most part I would still like a barrel to keep aside should stake go up or things get crazy.

If you are getting 600 chips it's easier to justify because it is a pretty cheap way to bulk the bank just in case your players go buy-in nuts one night :).

I think you have a pretty good breakdown, but I will pick the nit that 140 blind chips is too many for a single table: 100*5p, 200*25p, 200*1gbp would be better imo.

The upside to doing 140 is that you still have a decent amount if two tables happen.

Sounds like you already have the set in mind, can't wait for pictures. :)
 
I quite agree the 20p and £20 chips would work a lot better and if I was going for a custom set or applying my own labels this is what I would do. However at the moment I am eyeing a ceramics set with set denominations available.

Can you share what ceramic GBP denominated set you're looking at? I'd be interested in getting some myself!

Also, some vendors print to order so even though it may seem like you're buying "off the shelf" they're being made to order anyway so changing denoms/currency may be easier than you think (but of course will cost a little more).
 
I supplied the chips for an 8-player 5c/10c game last Saturday that ran for about 4 hours, mostly tournament players with little cash game experience:

120 x 5c
180 x 25c
200 x $1
100 x $5
---------------
600 chips

$20 buy-ins, and the first six players each received two barrels of both fracs plus eight $1s (subsequent buy-ins were two barrels of quarters and ten $1s, or twenty $1s once all fracs were in play). No $5 chips ever hit the table, but everything else was in play except a handful of $1s.

In retrospect, I could have used another barrel each of the 5c and 25c chips, and will probably go with this breakdown next time for that crowd:

140 x 5c
200 x 25c
180 x $1
80 x $5
--------------
600 chips, and I expect all of the lowest three denominations to be on the table again along with a few $5 chips, and zero change-making needed.

Imo, most if not all 5c/10c games will never use a chip larger than $5, and if needed, $20 bills can always play. Given that a barrel of nickels = $1, a barrel of quarters = $5, and a barrel of $1 chips = $20, it makes zero sense to have $25 chips available (not that they'd ever get used anyway). A $20 chip is the logical choice, and a barrel of 'em (20 buy-ins!) would be twenty too many. YMMV.
 
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I supplied the chips for an 8-player 5c/10c game last Saturday that ran for about 4 hours, mostly tournament players with little cash game experience:

120 x 5c
180 x 25c
200 x $1
100 x $5
---------------
600 chips

$20 buy-ins, and the first six players each received two barrels of both fracs plus eight $1s (subsequent buy-ins were two barrels of quarters and ten $1s, or twenty $1s once all fracs were in play). No $5 chips ever hit the table, but everything else was in play except a handful of $1s.

In retrospect, I could have used another barrel each of the 5c and 25c chips, and will probably go with this breakdown next time for that crowd:

140 x 5c
200 x 25c
180 x $1
80 x $5
--------------
600 chips, and I expect all of the lowest three denominations to be on the table again along with a few $5 chips, and zero change-making needed.

Imo, most if not all 5c/10c games will never use a chip larger than $5, and if needed, $20 bills can always play. Given that a barrel of nickels = $1, a barrel of quarters = $5, and a barrel of $1 chips = $20, it makes zero sense to have $25 chips available (not that they'd ever get used anyway). A $20 chip is the logical choice, and a barrel of 'em (20 buy-ins!) would be twenty too many. YMMV.

The man has spoken!

If BGinA tells me this is the breakdown to use then who am I to argue? If there’s anyone who can convince me to ditch the £25 chips... plus the concept of putting £20 notes on the table is cool in itself.

You mentioned that the $5 chips never hit the table in your game last Saturday, I take hat means that his chip set will still work if we should decide to bump up the blinds slightly later on in the night? Say to a 10p/25p set up or similar?
 
Absolutely, the key to using currency is only allow one denomination to play. Up until a few years ago, Vegas rooms allowing hundreds to play was commonplace.

So you can say 20gbp notes play, everything else becomes chips.

And of course such notes must stay on the table intil cash out. You can't pocket them any more than you could pocket chips.
 
You mentioned that the $5 chips never hit the table in your game last Saturday, I take hat means that his chip set will still work if we should decide to bump up the blinds slightly later on in the night? Say to a 10p/25p set up or similar?
Yep. In fact, that specific game changed over the last hour or so from 5c/10c NLHE to 25c/50c Limit dealer's choice. A longer game, deeper pockets, or wilder players might get more chips on the table, but there are enough $5s to cover those scenarios (plus $20 bills if needed).
 
I prefer owning full racks. I would just round up to full racks and do this:

200 x 5c
200 x 25c
200 x $1
100 x $5

Hey @PokerShark , I don't if you already bought your set but, with my experience of micro stake games, I would really follow that breakdown.
  1. It's nice and practical to have full racks for each denomination
  2. Casual players like to have more chips in front of them, as it looks more cool
  3. Casual players tend to be easily lost when counting chips. With that breakdown:
    1. a full barrel of 5cents = 1pound,
    2. a full barrel of 25cents = 5pounds,
    3. a full barrel of 1 = 20 pounds
---> Easy life = happy host & happy guests ;-)
 
Hey @PokerShark thanks for starting this quality thread. What did you end up going with?

I'm really liking the breakdowns @BGinGA posted, and would love to complete a set of my own that covers NLHE .05/.10, .10/.20 and potentially .25/.25. In support of this, I'm comfortable with bumping it up to 800 chips.

140 x 5c
200 x 25c
300 x 1
160 x 5

Would this make sense? I've been tinkering with replacing 5c with a more flexible NCV (playing as either 5c or 10c), adding a few more fives at the expense of quarters and/or adding even half a barrel of $20's to extend the bank, but all those options seem ambitious. Thanks for the help!
 
140x 5c...
means 14 chips per player if calculating with the worst case of a full 10 player table (and I think you should also always calculate for the worst case too).

14 x 5c = 70c. You cannot fill this up with bigger chips to end up with a nice even dollar amount, as your next bigger chip is a 25c.
So either you'll have to hand out stacks with different compositions to players, or you will end up with not handing out 40 of them (you only give out 10 per player, i.e. 50c, which can be padded properly with 25c chips) with initial buy-ins.

If you make it 150, you can hand out 15 per player, which is 75c and hence can be padded with 25c chips to get to even $1, $2, ...

However you also have a finite amount of 25c chips. 20 x 25c per player means a nice even number of $5. Adding the 5c chips to it, you'll end up with something uneven again, so you'd again hand out a few less 25c chips per player to end up with a nice round amount for both 5c and 25c chips combined.

If you go with 200x 5c and 200x 25c, you can give out the exact same starting stacks to everyone. You'll give $1 in 5c chips and $5 in 25c chips, leaving every stack short of $4 minimum that you can easily fill up with your $1 chips which already act as value chips at those stakes. If your stakes increase to 25c/25c, you'd drop the barrel of 5c and instead hand out one more $1 chip. And should they go even higher, you'd first pad the stacks with as many $1s as you can and add the rest in $5s. Should they go so high that you no longer need a 25c chip, dropping the full barrel of them means you can easily replace the value with either 5x $1 or 1x $5.
 
Hey @PokerShark thanks for starting this quality thread. What did you end up going with?

I'm really liking the breakdowns @BGinGA posted, and would love to complete a set of my own that covers NLHE .05/.10, .10/.20 and potentially .25/.25. In support of this, I'm comfortable with bumping it up to 800 chips.

140 x 5c
200 x 25c
300 x 1
160 x 5

Would this make sense? I've been tinkering with replacing 5c with a more flexible NCV (playing as either 5c or 10c), adding a few more fives at the expense of quarters and/or adding even half a barrel of $20's to extend the bank, but all those options seem ambitious. Thanks for the help!

Hi, I did go with the numbers that @BGinGA suggested. He’s the man when it comes to things like that. I haven’t hosted with a full table yet but I’m happy with the breakdown and can top off my chips to full racks in the future if I feel that I really have to.

The breakdown you mentioned for yourself looks good to me but there may be others out there who will advise you differently. You can never have too many chips it seems!
 

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