Cash Game New Member's Optimal Chip Break Down (13 Viewers)

[springbox]

While I understand the meaning of Buy-ins, it's something I haven't researched, yet, in how that mechanic works in a £10 cash game. I fully admit I should do this before ordering any chips (!!!) so that may well be tonight's exercise. When people can do it. How they re-buy in to the game. I'm sure all that is on this forum somewhere.

Trying to put you in the shoes of my neighbours - as said this is a social affair as none of us play poker - I reckon the odd person(s) after the big blind will limp in with 10c, hoping for the blinds to call. And I think that'll happen A LOT at the beginning. Hence why I'm leaning toward more chips is MOAR as they will feel they can stick in the game for a bit. I want it to be fun over anything else. I want them to come back and play again!

So I get you - I really do - but I wonder if your friends are pretty damned good and know how to play, and don't mind looking down at only 18 chips in their stack, .whereas my neighbours would be "Is that all I get for ten bloody quid?"

I'm going to learn a LOT after the first poker night, that's for sure. I can't really visualise how things will go. Cue me coming back here in a few months apologising to you! But I'll bear what you said in mind for the second or third game if our limp-fest turns into one game being two hours+ long.

For a cash game, typically you set a minimum and maximum buy-in amount. At any time between hands if a player's stack is below the maximum they can purchase more chips up to the maximum. This is most commonly when you go bust, but if you're sitting on $2.15 after losing a hand you might wanna just get back to $10 instead of playing a tiny stack.

I try to hand out all the small denomination chips with peoples initial buy-ins, and then when people want to top up or rebuy give them $1s or $5s and have them make change with other players.

 

[Tarsus4]

This is a really helpful thread.

I've got a group that plays .25/.50 max-$60 buy-in, and we play with a set of 500 super-diamonds I've had since college. Looking at upgrading to something like the following in hybrid Tina's:

150x $.25
225x $1
200x $5
100x $25
25x $100
700 chips

I've seen the other messages on this but can someone check my reasoning on those specific counts? (1) at 12/17, the .25s and 1s run out at roughly the same time (12 players). You can also do 10x 12/22 for everyone to feel big-stacked or 17x 8/13 to run two almost-full tables. (2) The set comfortably grows to $1/$2 $300 buy-ins (20/16/8 $1/$5/$25) so it's relatively inflation-proof for a while. (3) There's a full rack of most of the denoms (esp the 25s) for convenience and resale, and only one multi-denom rack.

The only thing that seems may be a pain with this is multi-table tourneys, which is a far-off dream for me anyway.

 

[Tarsus4]

150x $.25
225x $1
200x $5
100x $25
25x $100
700 chips

I've seen the other messages on this but can someone check my reasoning on those specific counts? (1) at 12/17, the .25s and 1s run out at roughly the same time (12 players). You can also do 10x 12/22 for everyone to feel big-stacked or 17x 8/13 to run two almost-full tables. (2) The set comfortably grows to $1/$2 $300 buy-ins (20/16/8 $1/$5/$25) so it's relatively inflation-proof for a while. (3) There's a full rack of most of the denoms (esp the 25s) for convenience and resale, and only one multi-denom rack.

I'm finalizing my denoms for an order of the Dunes of Arrakis set, and because it has a .05 chip I'll never use, I thought about upgrading them to 0.50s, rounding the set to an even 800:

150x 25c
100x 50c
225x $1
200x $5
100x $25
25x $100

Downsides:
1) Wasting chips on fracs
2) Thin on $5s for $1/2 (I currently play 0.25/0.50, so that's a long ways off)

Upsides:
1) Another denom makes the set display nicely =) Aesthetics aren't awful for 0.50/1 either.
2) I can keep the .50s away for a single table of 0.25/0.50, but add them in to make fuller stacks for two tables.
3) It enables a 20 player T0.25 tournament (6/5/11/7/2 = T$100), with 40 rebuys and exactly enough 5s left for color-ups. I really like this!
4) You could even stretch to 25x 4/4/7/8/2 = T$100, which is an awkward amount of 1s to spread across three tables, but you could do it.

I want a third rack of 5s but I'm not going to 900 chips. So the other options I have are cut the .25s back to 125 (fine, but would rule out 16x starting stack for the stakes I play the most today) and/or cut back on $25s (making $1/2 VERY thin) or the $100s (sooo pretty). I just don't see 25 or 50 more $5s making a big enough difference to compromise on the others. Anyone think otherwise?

 

[Kam]

I wouldn’t get a rack of 0.5c, I’d switch that to a rack of $5.

If you’re looking to have a set to cover up to a cash $1/$2 game, your total bank of chips should be around Big Blind x 5000 minimum, so $2 x 5000 =$10,000. This allows for 2-3 rebuys at 200 BB buy in.

You’re light with your breakdown as is though, ~ $6k ish.

Most folk recommend not mixing cash and tournament sets, but your call.

GL!

 

[Tarsus4]

I wouldn’t get a rack of 0.5c, I’d switch that to a rack of $5.

If you’re looking to have a set to cover up to a cash $1/$2 game, your total bank of chips should be around Big Blind x 5000 minimum, so $2 x 5000 =$10,000. This allows for 2-3 rebuys at 200 BB buy in.

You’re light with your breakdown as is though, ~ $6k ish.

Most folk recommend not mixing cash and tournament sets, but your call.

GL!

I hear you. My only concern is if I'm not running tournaments or $1/2, why do I even need the third rack of $5s? It lets you play with enormous stacks at $1/1, maybe?

The main reason I'm looking at the 0.50s is it gives me options to go wider, to issue 20 very playable starting stacks for a variety of stakes. If I'm not going past a full table, then even at $1/1, 20/16/x ($1/5/25) works just fine, doesn't it? Then you have two full barrels left of $5s and $25s for rebuys. Would a third rack get play?

Maybe it's a style choice to use the 5s over 25s, but it's one I haven't experienced yet since I don't play those stakes. I'd be eager to hear about it.

 

[Kam]

I hear you. My only concern is if I'm not running tournaments or $1/2, why do I even need the third rack of $5s? It lets you play with enormous stacks at $1/1, maybe?

The main reason I'm looking at the 0.50s is it gives me options to go wider, to issue 20 very playable starting stacks for a variety of stakes. If I'm not going past a full table, then even at $1/1, 20/16/x ($1/5/25) works just fine, doesn't it? Then you have two full barrels left of $5s and $25s for rebuys. Would a third rack get play?

Maybe it's a style choice to use the 5s over 25s, but it's one I haven't experienced yet since I don't play those stakes. I'd be eager to hear about it.

I think from reading the other thoughts and experience here, you don’t *need* a 3rd rack of 5s, but a 3rd gives some more flexibility. Anything above 3 racks and the efficiency police come out and it’s just personal preference.

Style wise, I prefer lots of barrels & stacks of $5 in play vs efficient with $25s.

For a $0.5/$1 $200 buy in, I issue each player 35x 5s. With a full ring of around 9 players, I’m handing out 315x $5s at the start of the game. For rebuys I’ll hand out a barrel or two of $5s until I have ~4/5 racks out there, then I’ll start with the $25s.

You could reduce this of course and issue a mix of $5/$25, especially at $1/$2 it’d be mainly $5 & $25.

If you’re ordering Tinas, the benefit is that you can always do an add on order in the future - it’s not a 1 time deal. Maybe start with what you want and see how it plays out.

GL!

 

[Tarsus4]

I think from reading the other thoughts and experience here, you don’t *need* a 3rd rack of 5s, but a 3rd gives some more flexibility. Anything above 3 racks and the efficiency police come out and it’s just personal preference.

Style wise, I prefer lots of barrels & stacks of $5 in play vs efficient with $25s.

I played with a $100 starting stack using your distribution and one thing I don't think occurred to me before was how unintuitive making bets with a 25 is. For example: I want to bet $40, and what I'm instinctively doing is grabbing a handful of 5s and counting out "10.. 20.. 30.. 40" before pushing it in. I'm not grabbing a 25 and three 5s even though that's more efficient; it's just not how my brain wants to do math. Contrarily if I'm going to bet $8, I have no problem tossing in a 5 and three 1s, that's a lot easier.

I think I'm on team "lots of fives".

 

[Booshme]

Well gentlemen, I’ve read this post many times, and all I want to do is share my next set.
DDLM from BrPro, 600 43mm chips with 100 black non-denoms (for my baby .05/.05 game with newbs and as .50 in case I ever want to buy 100 more chips for a .50/1 game).
I have the triton octagon table (which I love), so 8 players max.
I like a barrel of fracs for each player, but compromised and only got 140 to make my set an even 600.

I settled for $20 greens since rebuys are mainly done in $20 bills, usually for $40 or $60 dollars.
I wanted both DDLM plaques so I went against convention and got $40 and $100 plaques that likely will never be seen in play any time soon.

The bank is enough for the games I host, and I am very happy with the selection, even though it took many hours lol.

I also have a .10/.50/2 set I will soon share (once it’s beautifully set up in my new unorthodox case)

 

[dappercrow]

I usually have a large table of ~10 players regularly, with occasionally two tables of 6 or 7 each. I'm tempted to buy twice the number of recommended chips here, but it might be a shame to dump a lot of resources into a massive set of micro-stakes chips.

Up until now, I've been getting by with five different colors of dice chips with 160 of each. A usual night only sees about half the players buying in a second time. Each $10 buy-in has looked like:

10 x 5c
10 x 10c
10 x 25c
8 x 50c
2 x $1

This thread (and others I've been reading since Thanksgiving) has me convinced I've been going about this all wrong. Admittedly, the 5c chips tend to be despised at the table, but there is a lot of limping when there are a lot of players and people start to get tired.

I've been ordering samples this week while kicking around plans for a new set, but I should also do some field research on chip distributions with my friend group. I'll try some of the recommendations in this thread. I can explain why I'm changing things up at the same time I offer the samples for opinions. (Though I can already hear the earful I'll get from my wife after. She knows I'm here.)

 

[Booshme]

I usually have a large table of ~10 players regularly, with occasionally two tables of 6 or 7 each. I'm tempted to buy twice the number of recommended chips here, but it might be a shame to dump a lot of resources into a massive set of micro-stakes chips.

Up until now, I've been getting by with five different colors of dice chips with 160 of each. A usual night only sees about half the players buying in a second time. Each $10 buy-in has looked like:

10 x 5c
10 x 10c
10 x 25c
8 x 50c
2 x $1

This thread (and others I've been reading since Thanksgiving) has me convinced I've been going about this all wrong. Admittedly, the 5c chips tend to be despised at the table, but there is a lot of limping when there are a lot of players and people start to get tired.

I've been ordering samples this week while kicking around plans for a new set, but I should also do some field research on chip distributions with my friend group. I'll try some of the recommendations in this thread. I can explain why I'm changing things up at the same time I offer the samples for opinions. (Though I can already hear the earful I'll get from my wife after. She knows I'm here.)

I’m glad you’ve seen the light brother

 

[Machine]

10 x 5c
10 x 10c
10 x 25c
8 x 50c
2 x $1

I would not felt all these denoms, either 5c and 25c or 10c and 50c, I would recommend 10c and 50c.

 

[Salbino]

.

 

[Salbino]

I usually have a large table of ~10 players regularly, with occasionally two tables of 6 or 7 each. I'm tempted to buy twice the number of recommended chips here, but it might be a shame to dump a lot of resources into a massive set of micro-stakes chips.

Up until now, I've been getting by with five different colors of dice chips with 160 of each. A usual night only sees about half the players buying in a second time. Each $10 buy-in has looked like:

10 x 5c
10 x 10c
10 x 25c
8 x 50c
2 x $1

This thread (and others I've been reading since Thanksgiving) has me convinced I've been going about this all wrong. Admittedly, the 5c chips tend to be despised at the table, but there is a lot of limping when there are a lot of players and people start to get tired.

I've been ordering samples this week while kicking around plans for a new set, but I should also do some field research on chip distributions with my friend group. I'll try some of the recommendations in this thread. I can explain why I'm changing things up at the same time I offer the samples for opinions. (Though I can already hear the earful I'll get from my wife after. She knows I'm here.)

As others have mentioned, each denomination should be 4-5x the previous. You really only need like 80-100 *blind chips whether that be 5c or 25c.

I recommend getting the 5c or 25c based set because those can also play 10c 50c whereas you can’t do it the other way around.

figure out what you want your starting stack to be for each player - $10 buy in for 5/10c blinds - 10xnickels, 6x quarters, 2x dollars, 1x five-dollar. For rebuys you can hand out 2x five-dollar chips. You say you could have as many as 12 players with half rebuying so like 18ish buy ins? I’d personally get 10 starting stacks and 10 rebuy stacks for a total of 20 $10 buy ins. -> *100 nickels, 60 quarters, 20 dollars, 30 five-dollars = 310 chips*. I’d personally add like one or two barrels of five-dollar chips and or a barrel of twenty-dollar chips to cover wild nights lol

 

[dappercrow]

Yeah, after thinking it over, I'll probably do 5c, 25c, etc. If we up the stakes, we can do .10/.25 next, and maybe .25/.5. Those might also be smaller nights too. As an observation, if people only use nickels for the SB in .10/.25, then I probably don't need any more than for the .05/.10 games.

 

[Salbino]

Yeah, after thinking it over, I'll probably do 5c, 25c, etc. If we up the stakes, we can do .10/.25 next, and maybe .25/.5. Those might also be smaller nights too. As an observation, if people only use nickels for the SB in .10/.25, then I probably don't need any more than for the .05/.10 games.

Good observation reg the blinds

Not sure if you already know which set you’re getting but discount poker shop has cheap good loose chips and of course there is Justin’s Group Buy on here but that’s a little bit more money, and addicting lol

 

[Labrat]

If we up the stakes, we can do .10/.25 next,

At that point, I would just do .25/.25. It won’t play any differently than .10/.25.

 

[dappercrow]

Good observation reg the blinds

Not sure if you already know which set you’re getting but discount poker shop has cheap good loose chips and of course there is Justin’s Group Buy on here but that’s a little bit more money, and addicting lol

I ordered a few samples already, including a barrel of Justin's chips. My wife is surprisingly excited at the idea of custom chips, so there's a good chance I'll go that route for the poker chips. I'll probably do a separate set of Apache Banks for 18xx games, depending on the samples. I'm planing on spending something like $500-$1000 on everything with plans to make it last a while. I think that should get me 1000 poker chips, 400 18xx chips, decent cases for everything, and maybe a nice button.

Currently leaning towards something like the following for the 1000 set:

160 x 0.05
340 x 0.25
300 x 1
160 x 5
40 x 20

It's definitely overkill for my games, so I'll probably scale back. I think I'm only thinking this big to fill a birdcage. I also don't want too many mixed racks, but that's probably my immaturity showing through. I think this would get me longevity from the current .05/.10 all the way through .25/.50 though.

At that point, I would just do .25/.25. It won’t play any differently than .10/.25.

I've been seeing that approach around here a lot. But, if I'm getting the .05 chips anyways for .05/.10, I'll try to use them as long as possible. Maybe it will get annoying though.

 

[Machine]

I ordered a few samples already, including a barrel of Justin's chips. My wife is surprisingly excited at the idea of custom chips, so there's a good chance I'll go that route for the poker chips. I'll probably do a separate set of Apache Banks for 18xx games, depending on the samples. I'm planing on spending something like $500-$1000 on everything with plans to make it last a while. I think that should get me 1000 poker chips, 400 18xx chips, decent cases for everything, and maybe a nice button.

Currently leaning towards something like the following for the 1000 set:

160 x 0.05
340 x 0.25
300 x 1
160 x 5
40 x 20

It's definitely overkill for my games, so I'll probably scale back. I think I'm only thinking this big to fill a birdcage. I also don't want too many mixed racks, but that's probably my immaturity showing through. I think this would get me longevity from the current .05/.10 all the way through .25/.50 though.


I've been seeing that approach around here a lot. But, if I'm getting the .05 chips anyways for .05/.10, I'll try to use them as long as possible. Maybe it will get annoying though.

you're break down should be

100
100
300 x 1
400 x 5
100 x 20

, but I like to waste money too so i get it

 

[dappercrow]

you're break down should be

100
100
300 x 1
400 x 5
100 x 20

, but I like to waste money too so i get it

That doesn't seem like enough quarters for two tables of .05/.10 games. But I will try out some different stack sizes with my dice chips first and see what my group says before pulling the trigger.

 

[Machine]

That doesn't seem like enough quarters for two tables of .05/.10 games. But I will try out some different stack sizes with my dice chips first and see what my group says before pulling the trigger.

2 tables?

100 x .05
200 x .25
300 x 1
300 x 5
100 x 20

I would do 400 5s so that you don't need to buy more in the future when your game changes to .50/.50

 

[keertiji]

So you've likely posted that you're looking for 500 chips for you're home game. - How did I know? Lucky guess

Often when people post, they leave out important information, that would help with more accurate advice.
Consider making sure you've answered the following questions in you're post.

Specifically what game do you plan to play, NLH, PLO, Fixed or spread limit?
What is the expected average buy in?
What is the expected amount of re-buys per player?
What stakes do you plan to play (blind structures)?

How did you arrive at 500? Did you roll 2d6 x 100? Did you see a set on Amazon and thought, I bet those overseas manufacturers did a case study on the amount of poker chips needed to have a game and crafted those .12 chips just for me!

I'm going to ask a favor of you, if at the end of reading this, it's caused you to reassess you're approach to how many chips you need, please add a '+1' reply.

Okay the secret sauce - How do I figure out how many chips I need?

Its a calculation:

blinds + art + flavor = bank + emotion

Ta-da! Thats it.

The questions above will guide you to your needs, these days the cool kids like 100-250 BB as the range for buy-ins. Its considered 'deep stack'. The bank, this is the total amount of money at any given time that your chip set needs to accommodate. So from time to time people may lose their initial buy-in and would need another, this would be a re-buy, it would seem typically, players would be most likely to buy-in about three times.

Lets use an example of a common stakes game, .25 / .50, to give a run down of how to calculate the bank needs.
.50 (big blind) x 200 (number of big blinds) = $100 x 3 (initial buy-in, and two rebuys) = $300 x 10 (assuming Holdem (players)) = $3000

So how do we translate this into a chip set? Well this is where the art comes in, some of it is going to be experience playing / hosting, and some of it is math.
Lets start with some basics, well we need a chip that is less than $1, lets call this the fractional chip, frac for short. For now (foreshadowing) lets go with .25 as our frac. and lets just agree on a boring chip denomination - .25, $1, $5, $20/25, $100. Lets see how we do with arbitrary chip count of 500.

This is an often-made mistake, too many fracs. Also keep in mind our target Bank is $3,000

.25​	200​	Bank​	.25​	100​	Bank​
$1​	200​		$1​	100​
$5​	100​		$5​	300​
	500​	$750​		500​	$1625​

So we can see by the 2 examples in the table above, 500 just won't cut it. Maybe if we reduce the buy-ins to just 1 buy-in for 10 players ($1000).

You make a great point, the larger denoms will quickly get us to our bank goals, welcome to yourself sustainment, can't wait to see how close to that 500 chip count you get to, you're just a few realization steps from 600

Lets talk about a few flavor options, maybe you like a ton of fracs or maybe you want to be as efficient as possible, here's an interesting option, if you change to .50/.50 you can get away with less fracs. Personally, I prefer the .25s and I run as lean as I think possible, which is 60 x .25. The Pros go with a non-denom frac, so they can adjust it depending on which game they spread.

Edit: This post was written end of 23, it was a short time later I went to .5/.5, and I enjoy the admin and meta better.

PLO on the other hand will play larger than NLH so you may need a bit more bank, or maybe you just want more bank than what you actually need just in case the game breaks through the bank one night.

I've 'stress tested' what I think is efficient in my .25/.50 (PLO) game. I didn't get there overnight, and I've had a lot of help from this forum. This is my actual break down I use for my game, it serves me well. I will note that I have more than this in chips.

.25 x 60
$1 x 180
$5 x 300
$20 x 20
$100 x 5

Would I suggest this? not really this is my custom order, this would be more on par for a generic breakdown .25/.50:

.25 x 100
$1 x 200
$5 x 300
$20 x 20
$100 x 5

Should you do 200 fracs? No, you shouldn't unless you absolutely love to have too many on the table, it will slow down the game, is that a big deal, nope. I will also note here these are single table numbers, and this is all an example, a guide so you can map out what your needs are.

Okay so let's recap:
Stakes / Blinds - the structure in which the bank will be based off.
'Art' - a realistic baseline of amount of chips, and the value based on the denoms, some experience helps
'Flavor' - quirks / preference on chip ratios and the affects of different options on the game play
Bank - the amount of currency in play that the chip set needs to support
'Emotion' - plus / minus the emotional appeal of chip amounts, I have both $20s and $25s; another aspect is a capped buy-in or match stack


Well, did I get a +1? Happy chipping, don't forget to use the search function and find the 1.5 million posts asking about this topic, there are other great post you can also find using the link in my signature (landscape on mobile)

- Machine

thanks for taking the time to write this. it does make you think when you start out on wanting to get the perfect chip set, about the amounts of each denom you will need. I have a generic 500 chip case of useable chips, but in a couple of scenarios I have been forced to build the game around the chips rather than the chips around the game. Having too many of one that is not really required is stupid, especially if you are ordering custom clay/ceramic chips, clay especially, that can get pretty spendy, pretty quickly! I agree, you need to have enough fracs, but definitely not too many, and i think if you have .25s, then you can forgo the .50s, and if you have the .50s then yes, probably better to forgo the 25's and make it a .50/.50 or a .50/1$ game. For me the number is not something to aim for, it is the game that needs to be aimed for and ensuring you have the right amount of the right amounts to ensure the game moves smoothly and is enjoyable for all who sit at the table. And yes, I hate having too many chips on the table, I find my neck starts to twitch when someone puts in 10x 100 chips to call a bet of a 1000, when they have a 1000 chip right in front of them. Tidy and organised is how it should be, unless of course I am on a tear and don't have time to stack 'em up. Any idea where I can see advice/opinion on clay vs ceramic? TIA

 

[Labrat]

Any idea where I can see advice/opinion on clay vs ceramic? TIA

You serious, Clark?

 

[keertiji]

You serious, Clark?

don't panic, found it.

 

[Machine]

if you have the .50s then yes, probably better to forgo the 25's and make it a .50/.50 or a .50/1$ game.

I started with .25/.50, and I found that in my game, historically, it seems to be more social, that ppl would hold up the game by talking and not realizing it was their action. We moved to .5/.5 so that the dealer could keep the game moving; if you don't defend your action by being ready and taking it, the game will move along.

Which is to say I have chip sets with both .25 and .5, but I like the .5 better for a few reasons.

• Top of the list is, you need fewer fracs to run a game with .5.
• Tipping makes it easier to tip at least $1
• It's not often someone folds for .25.
• It makes the pot easier to calculate.
• Really does affect game speed, especially over the course of hours

 

[keertiji]

what would your ideal chip stack consist of for a tourney with a 10k starting stack, blinds starting at 25/50?
maybe this has been answered somewhere, what I go with is

8 x 25s = 200
13x 100s = 1300
3 x 500s = 1500
2 x 1000 = 2000
1 x 5000 = 5000

total 10,000

i know it is probably not super important, but in considering ordering chips I don't want too go crazy and over order, especially with the comedy postage prices that we have from the US to new zealand these days, as the US really does seem like the only place to get reasonable.

Usually play tourneys up to 9 handed, same with cash, was thinking to order a set that bridges both the cash game and the tourney.
Any thoughts appreciated and hopefully not too many complaints and insults for asking something that has probably been asked approximately 1 g'zillion times.

 

[Machine]

I don't run many tournaments, so I don't typically give much advice for breakdowns or blind structures. I would suggest using the search function and reading as much as you can.

Tommy released a really good tool for helping with this - https://www.pokerchipforum.com/poker-chip-calculator/

 

[Booshme]

what would your ideal chip stack consist of for a tourney with a 10k starting stack, blinds starting at 25/50?
maybe this has been answered somewhere, what I go with is

8 x 25s = 200
13x 100s = 1300
3 x 500s = 1500
2 x 1000 = 2000
1 x 5000 = 5000

total 10,000

i know it is probably not super important, but in considering ordering chips I don't want too go crazy and over order, especially with the comedy postage prices that we have from the US to new zealand these days, as the US really does seem like the only place to get reasonable.

Usually play tourneys up to 9 handed, same with cash, was thinking to order a set that bridges both the cash game and the tourney.
Any thoughts appreciated and hopefully not too many complaints and insults for asking something that has probably been asked approximately 1 g'zillion times.

for my tournament structure, I had ChatGPT browse this website and offer suggestions, it'll post the links to the specific posts for reference if you ask it to. it's helped me compile the info on here much quicker with much less effort. I even had it create a PDF for my tournament, with starting stacks, referencing total chip counts, how many rebuys or re-entries I can do, etc etc. I have my ChatGPT as a rule double check everything, to verify rather than assume, and it's helped me in my poker journey. it even made a flyer for my league invite lol

 

[JustinInMN]

what would your ideal chip stack consist of for a tourney with a 10k starting stack, blinds starting at 25/50?
maybe this has been answered somewhere, what I go with is

8 x 25s = 200
13x 100s = 1300
3 x 500s = 1500
2 x 1000 = 2000
1 x 5000 = 5000

total 10,000

The two options that come up the most are 8/8/4/7 or 12/2/5/6 of T25/100/500/1000.

I wrote this post a while back, a lot of good info in this thread.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/how-to-create-a-tournament-structure.32785/post-629445

Also I highly recommend @Chris Manzoni 's YouTube channel.

Great topics for new tournament hosts.

Here's the video on starting stacks...

Here's the video on Coloring up...

Here's the video on seating.

This should help.