New player, new host. (1 Viewer)

[skinnyD]

((Posted this in the intro's forum as well, but figure it would get some more exposure here.))

Starting to host a weekly night with some buddies. We're all pretty big nerds and play lots of trading card games. One of the best feelings is top-notch brand new card sleeves and their shuffle feel. I have to imagine it's just as satisfying with some awesome chips, so I definitely appreciate y'alls hobby.

I've ordered some samples of Majestics and Pharoah's (I mostly like their look), and am looking into backing a recent kickstarter for some interesting ceramic chips (https://www.kickstarter.com/project...-cards-and-tabletop-counter-chips/description).

I'm fairly new to poker, but I think I have 2 plans:
1. is to play $0.25/$0.50 NLHE with a 100bb buyin, and maybe play a max number of hands a night? 75 or so? I think ideally it lasts 3.5 hours, and we'll probably play slow to start.
2. is to use the same ~$50 buyin, scale 6x to $300 in chips, and play $1/$2 NLHE without buying quarters. (essentially it would be like 150bb buyin at $0.16/$0.32 blinds i guess then). I guess I could also do this and scale 4x to get $200 in chips at $1/$2, and keep it 100bb. Maybe this conversion will just be confusing to my group, and I should just get quarters?

So -- thanks for reading so far. I have some questions for you all:
1. Which plan do you prefer? Is 100bb vs. 150bb a big difference in gameplay?
2. Should we do re-buy's? Does it make the game "unfair" in any way? I kinda want the most anyone needs to bring $50, but if there's strong advantages to re-buy's i'm not sure I want everyone to need $100+.
3. Chips. I know this question gets asked a ton, but if anyone is willing to part with a nice starter cash set lmk. Again, not sure if I'll need quarters or not yet, I guess I'll determine that based on the responses here.


My chip plan is ~600 for a table of 8 players:
0.25’s - 150 (if i get them)
1’s - 300 (if i get quarters: 350)
5’s - 200
25’s - 80 (if i get quarters: 0)
100’s - 20 (if i get quarters: 0)

This makes my starting stacks either 35/23/6 for $300, or 18/41 for $50 if I get quarters. (I think I would love everyone to have large stacks, would be fun).

Cheers! And glad to be here.

 

[Jake14mw]

Welcome to the forum! Personally, i would not do the scaling thing, it just adds complexity for no good reason. I would buy the quarters. How much are Majestics and Pharoahs these days, between 40 and 50 cents each? Take a look at this sale that is happening on Sunday. https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/jack-cincinnati-summer-sale.76695/

You could get actual real clay casino chips for between 50 and 80 cents per chip. You can use the $25 chips for quarters. WAAAY better chips for only a little more.

 

[upNdown]

Personally, i would not do the scaling thing, it just adds complexity for no good reason.

100%
if you somehow ended up with the “wrong” chips, scaling is one possible solution. But since you’re starting fresh, get the chips you want, and go from there. Anything is doable, but if you’re buying chips for a cash game, the number printed on the chip should be how much that chip is worth.

 

[ruskba]

Scaling is perfectly fine and fun at the same time, as it can allow you to get chips in play that you might not otherwise.

1. No difference in 100 vs 150bb's
2. If it's a cash game, then absolutely you have to allow rebuys. If you don't want rebuys, then play a freezeout tournament. Also, don't limit it to a certain number of hands. You can just say "game ends at 11pm" or whatever makes sense.
3. Be sure to throw out a budget, people will be very helpful with options to fit what you want to spend.

 

[skinnyD]

Welcome to the forum! Personally, i would not do the scaling thing, it just adds complexity for no good reason. I would buy the quarters. How much are Majestics and Pharoahs these days, between 40 and 50 cents each? Take a look at this sale that is happening on Sunday. https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/jack-cincinnati-summer-sale.76695/

You could get actual real clay casino chips for between 50 and 80 cents per chip. You can use the $25 chips for quarters. WAAAY better chips for only a little more.

Really appreciate that link. I think this seems perfect, and I do really like the look of these chips too! Awesome opportunity for me. Thanks again.

Scaling is perfectly fine and fun at the same time, as it can allow you to get chips in play that you might not otherwise.

1. No difference in 100 vs 150bb's
2. If it's a cash game, then absolutely you have to allow rebuys. If you don't want rebuys, then play a freezeout tournament. Also, don't limit it to a certain number of hands. You can just say "game ends at 11pm" or whatever makes sense.
3. Be sure to throw out a budget, people will be very helpful with options to fit what you want to spend.

2. Rebuys are usually the same amount as the buy in correct? And the time thing seems so simple, idk how I ignored it.
3. My budget is probably about a thousand dollars or so. I think the sale on Sunday seems great for me.

 

[Rhodeman77]

The ChipRoom sale will be a feeding frenzy. If you decide to try to get some of those chips be ready to go as soon as it starts, add the chips you need and pay as fast as possible.

 

[ruskba]

2. Rebuys are usually the same amount as the buy in correct? And the time thing seems so simple, idk how I ignored it.

It's generally nice to set a buying/rebuy range, something like 20BBs up to either 100-150BB (whatever you decide), or some allow the upper limit to be half the biggest stack (if half is over the original 100-150BB max buyin amount).

 

[detroitdad]

We play .25/.50 blinds with a 100 max buy Dealers Choice cash game. If you're below 100 bucks you can add on up to 100 as many times as you like. If you get felted, you can rebuy up to 100 as many times as you like. My group routinely brings 2-4 buy ins per game. Its only the rare occasion where someone will go through all of their buy ins (it does happen from time to time, especially when poker is stupid).

We don't play a set amount of hands. We usually play until about 2 am, sometimes earlier, sometimes later (3 am a few weeks ago).

As stated, if you are worried about actual loss, simply play a tourney. We play $40.00 tourneys. Sometimes we allow one rebuy, sometimes they are a freeze out, sometimes they are unlimited rebuys.

Playing "x" times the value is fine. We occasionally do it when family is playing and only want to buy in for 20 bucks. When we do this. We play 10 x's the value of the chips. Everyone buys in for 20 bucks. I give everyone 200 in chips. We play 1/2 blinds. Its a complete blast. I'm usually in the game for about 100 lol.

With a 1k budget you have several options. This vendor sells amazing ceramic poker chips. I enjoy them so much I have about 2000 of them. The price is determined on the quantity that you order. Plus they have frequent sales.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/forums/abc-gifts-and-awards.53/

@ABC Gifts and Awards

 

[MrCatPants]

Less quarters for sure if you are using them. In a .25/.50 game you can get away with 12 (and even 8) quarters per player. I'd just do 100 quarters, or even 80.

Can also play .50/.50 and find a .50 chip. Half my cash sets are set up with a .50 fractional chip (frac) for that reason - you can get away with 6 or even 4 per player that way.

 

[Coyote]

Avoid multiplications and divisions. Unnecessary complexity.
Only functional division is by 10, with denoms representing dimes, but 2/5 is the least efficient stakes, when it comes to chips' use.
I 'd rather get a Non-Denominated chip to play as either quarter or half dollar (or even $2 in bigger games), at no considerable game security risk.
So,
100x ND frac
200x $1
200x $5
100x $20

Buy-ins could be standard 100BBs (so $50 for .25/.50 or .50/.50) or a range of min 60BBs and max 150BBs. Max could eventually be up to HALF the big stack.
The term "re-buy" is applicable only to tournaments; in cash games, players can top up to the max (without having been felted) or re-buy as much as they want.

To protect players with shallower wallets from distinctly more rich "maniac" (ultra-Loose Aggressive) fellow players (and also to protect any friend from loosing too much, since this is a home game) you could establish a maximum of, say 400 or 500BB per player per night/session.
Many a poker connoisseur here will tell you that maniacs are bound to lose, which is true, but you have to have the cash liquidity to follow them to their demise and profit from it. Not necessarily the case for everybody in home games.

Always recruit and always cater to the weak, to have a home game survive.

Good Luck!

 

[SeanGecko]

ALL THE QUARTERS!!!!

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

@skinnyD So how did this turn out? Did you buy chips from the Jack Cinci sale?

If not, there's another great budget option. What do you think of the chips Sean posted just above me? What if I told you you could get FULL CUSTOM chips with your own personal design on them for less than 40 cents each? Because that is what you see in Sean's post. Those are his. The following photo are mine. We both ordered them in same group buy and more buys for these chips will be happening soon.

These are ceramic chips made by an Alibaba vendor in China. Well over 100,000 of these have been bought by PCF members in the past year, and most of us absolutely love them. If you are interested, check out the following links:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/custom-artwork-group-buy-us-can-cards-mold.58260/
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/custom-artwork-us-can-cards-mold-2-the-quickening.62360/
https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/cards-mold-pron-we-love-pron.69344/

 

[snerpy]

I prefer plan 1. I created my cash chip set with the intention of playing .25/50 with the possibility of playing up to 1/2.

I don’t envision my group of guys will be raising the stakes anytime soon so getting the .25 chips were a no brainer.

Your 600 chip setup seems pretty spot on. Looks pretty similar to my 500 chip setup which I have played 9 handed with no issues. I start all players off with .25/1/5 (8/18/6) and I will color them up as the night goes on and when stacks get deeper.

100 x $.25
200 x $1
125 x $5
50 x $25
25 x $50

Good luck!

 

[bananasandblow]

I prefer plan 1. I created my cash chip set with the intention of playing .25/50 with the possibility of playing up to 1/2.

I don’t envision my group of guys will be raising the stakes anytime soon so getting the .25 chips were a no brainer.

Your 600 chip setup seems pretty spot on. Looks pretty similar to my 500 chip setup which I have played 9 handed with no issues. I start all players off with .25/1/5 (8/18/6) and I will color them up as the night goes on and when stacks get deeper.

100 x $.25
200 x $1
125 x $5
50 x $25
25 x $50

Good luck!

Agreed. My flexible 500 chip cash set has a similar breakdown.

I've noticed a lot of folks on this forum advocate for 200x $1s and $5s, although I've gotten by with 150 of each in 8-handed poker nights.