Noob poker distribution question (1 Viewer)

[Wieldy]

Hello everyone,

New member here. I have been reading through all the threads I can find and can't seem land on an answer. Sorry for asking such a common question.

I am starting a home cash game group. We are all new to poker though I've been diligently reading the TDA rules and watching videos and going through the free content on PokerCoaching to try and be a good host. I've saved a few posts on here with house rules I'll be shamelessly copying. Any other tips or resources would be greatly appreciated.

Here is the main question of the post. I think I landed on 10c/25c blinds with a $25 buy in and $25 or 50% biggest stack rebuy with no limits.

I chose 10c/25c so that I could get 5c and 25c chips and if we ever move to 25c/50c I'll just be out the 5c chips. Where if we did 10c/10c I wouldn't have 25c chips on hand and would need to buy them.

Here is what I have come with after reading through other examples on here, please let me know if this checks out or if I need to adjust.

Buying for 10 people:
Starting Stack
5c/10
25c/18
$1/15
$5/1
Total = $25 x 10 people = $250 (probably will have 7-8 people most of the time but I figured it doesn't hurt to have more)

Total Bank:
5c/150
25c/200
$1/200
$5/50
Total: $507.50

I'm looking at purchasing 600 chips so if there is a better distribution of chips keep that in mind please.

TL;DR Please help with 10c/25c $25 buy in chip distribution.

Thanks!

 

[Colquhoun]

The starting stacks are fine, but you don't need to be locked in to them. Since its a cash game, once enough chips are out there, rebuys can be any higher denom, and the players can make change with others at the table.
Some will say youre ordering too many 5c, that 100 is fine, but I think if youre going to be doing 10c/10c, 150 is ok. You could probably do with 120 of them, depending on how many limpers thee are in your game.
You may want to get some $25 (or $20 if your players buy in with cash) for just rebuys...that way you can have all the chips on the table and just hand one out on a reload. I guess it depends on your group and how much money is on the table during your games.

 

[NotDunric]

My advice as someone who started my home game a little over a year ago: if you and your players are comfortable with a .25c big blind, just run the game as .25/.25 instead of .10/.25.

My game started in late 2021 as .05/.10 to get people warmed up to playing and learning the game, and it wasn't long before we all realized that we were playing deeper than a .10c game 'should' which was skewing the action quite a bit. We bumped it up to .10/.25 for about a month before deciding we hated it, because regardless of your frac denom (.05 or .10) either A) the need for a two-chip small blind using two nickels or B) the annoying need for 10 quarters to make even change for someone's dimes. Moving it up again to a flat .25/.25 didn't change the game's 'size' at all since the BB remained the same, and nobody cared about the extra .15c in the small.

Doing away with having the second frac denomination also makes sizing your set easier: you really only need 100x .25s to run a game effectively. My current .25/.25 cash set is only 400 chips:

100x.25
200x$1
60x$5
40x$25

Bank of over $1500, which the closest we've come to maxing out was with a splashy night that saw ~$1300 hit the table.

 

[upNdown]

I’ve never played those stakes, so grain of salt. But my gut tells me that ten nickels per person is plenty and there’s no need for you to own more than a rack. The nickels really should only be used for the small blind, and then pulled back when the guy completes or calls. Yes you’ll have people who will bet amounts like $1.30 (the ole one of each.) But I have to think the vast majority of bets in this game will be made in multiples of .25.
I’d probably use those extra fifty chips on $5s - you’ll need them (and probably more) if you do move up to 25/.50.

 

[LeLe]

I will skip 5c denominations and just go 25/25c if you have plan to upgrade to 25/50c

The following breakdown is enough to cover 25/25c to 25/50c

25c x 100
$1 x 200
$5 x 100
$25 x 40

For starting stack, give the first 5 person

25c x 20
$1 x 20

And the next 5 person

$1 x 20
$5 x 1

Finish giving out your $1 and $5 first before giving out $25

 

[chipchipchip]

I’m another vote for playing $.25/$.25 and skipping the nickels. And pushing rebuys into $1’s and then $5’s rather than duplicating the starting stack.

And if you need the $25’s just sit back and enjoy the show. It’ll be a fun night!

 

[swana]

I’ve never played those stakes, so grain of salt. But my gut tells me that ten nickels per person is plenty and there’s no need for you to own more than a rack. The nickels really should only be used for the small blind, and then pulled back when the guy completes or calls. Yes you’ll have people who will bet amounts like $1.30 (the ole one of each.) But I have to think the vast majority of bets in this game will be made in multiples of .25.
I’d probably use those extra fifty chips on $5s - you’ll need them (and probably more) if you do move up to 25/.50.

My thoughts EXACTLY!!

 

[swana]

I specifically like having a $0.05 for low stakes, like family poker. We play. 05 /.10. Anyway OP might have situations or games that might play lower than .25 / .25 and you lose flexibility if you don't have nickels... He also stated he wanted to start with .10 / .25 too which there is nothing wrong with. Call me a traditionalist but I like a small blind to be small and a big blind big.

 

[NotDunric]

For starting stack, give the first 5 person

25c x 20
$1 x 20

And the next 5 persons

$1 x 20
$5 x 1

^This can be really convenient, but nobody needs 20 quarters in the long term, and you'll just end up making change right away for those players getting the $5s. Here's how I made 9x $25 starting stacks for my game this past weekend:

The taller stacks are 12x .25c / 22x $1, with the shorter two stacks being 8x .25c / 23x $1. Uses exactly the 100x quarters and 200x $1s in my set. If we have a 10th player right at the start of the night then yeah, I'd shorten up some of the taller stacks with a $5 to give a minimum of 8x quarters to that player, too. Players should really never need more than 4 quarters at one time, so even giving 8-12x is more than enough, albeit with the occasional need for change when a player runs low.

 

[Beakertwang]

My group plays 5¢/10¢ games, max buy-ins $20. I give the first 5 players 20 x 5¢, 20 x 25¢, and however many $1 chips to complete their buy-in. Subsequent buy-ins get 20 x 25¢, and the rest in ones. When all the quarters are gone, rebuys are in $1’s, and if necessary, late rebuys are in $5’s. It works great.

Here is my microstakes chip breakdown:
5¢ x 100
25¢ x 200
$1 x 200
$5 x 80
$25 x 20 (just in case things get really crazy someday )

Figure I'd just quote this from another thread.

I would like to add that I can actually get by with fewer nickels in my game, especially now that my group has learned how to make change correctly. Additionally, they don't limp as much as they used to. I could probably get by with 60 nickels in a 9-handed game. I feel like anything more than 100 just gets in the way.

 

[Machine]

Why 600 chips? I've answered your question in multiple threads as have others. I also cover your question in the New Members Start Here thread, a link can be found in my sig.

Welcome!
​

To start off, please don't miss understand me, we enjoy your question and are happy to answer here, but if you search a little more you'll find several similar threads.

If you've not gotten the underlying hints, .10/.25 is odd, and you'd have a better game if you fix it.

Options I would suggest:
.05/.1 - with a max $25 this would be the best for a new group in my opinion
.25/.25 - simple, easy solid option
.25/.50 - less chips but significantly larger game play and while it might not seem like much, it is, max buy in would be $40 or $60

Okay so back to the first question, why 600 chips? Do you have limited storage? are you an even freak and have to have full racks? did you roll 2d6 and come up with some random algorithm? are you part of a number cult and you worship 600?

Your setting an illogical expectation, though it is a good ball park number . What you should do is figure out how much cash you'll need to support in chips by understanding how big of a game you want to host, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day... you might want to run a larger game sooner than you think, plan for tomorrow today!

Okay so 10 players x 25 buck per player = 250 doll hairs of a bank, but maybe you should plan on say $300 per player for tomorrow, when you go pro locally. Okay so say we need a bank of 3000.

Then calculate buy ins per person and you'll understand the chip break down needs!
you might try searching 'workhorse chip' following some of the links in the New Members thread!

 

[Beakertwang]

If I were to do a new set now for a microstakes game, it would be the following:

5¢ x 60
25¢ x 140
$1 x 300
$5 x 80
$20 x 20

Bank of $1100+ will work for 5¢/10¢, .25/.25, and a relatively tame .25/.50.

 

[allforcharity]

Do 0.25/0.25. Still 100BB for your initial $25 buyin. You save on fracs which are on average your most expensive type of cash chip when talking about repurposing clays

 

[JustinInMN]

To echo everyone else. It is not written in stone that the small blind be less than the big blind. When designing sets, this is an easy shortcut to take. In other words, if you think 10¢-25¢ is your stake and you would never play smaller ( 5¢-10¢ or 5¢-15¢ for example) then play 25¢-25¢ instead and forgo the need for nickel chips.

Then I think your set design is pretty straight-forward: Do 100/300/160/40 of 25¢/1/5/25 (or optionally 25¢/1/5/20) for a total bank of 2125 (or 1925 if using 20s instead of 25s). More than good enough for 25¢-25¢ and will run well with 25¢-50¢ if you raise the stakes.

As for number of chips in the set, think about it more in terms of how many chips you want each player to have and multiply that. My personal taste is 40-60 chips per player is the sweet spot. Less than 40 is no fun to stack, but more than 60 can get a little lengthy when counting all-ins. So for 9-10 players, 500-600 is a good number (roughly 50-something per player plus a little extra for the high denominations, just in case).

Starting stacks can be something like this

$25 buy ins (25¢/1)
8 * 12/22
1 * 4/24
4 * 0/25

so that's 13 buy ins before you even tap the fives, plus over 40 additional buy-ins available using combinations of fives and twenties (or twenty-fives).

$50 buy ins (25¢/1/5)
8 * 12/32/3
1 * 4/44/1
15 * 0/0/10

that's 24 buy-ins before you have to touch the twenties or twenty-fives.

So anyway, I think this is the best way for the stakes your are discussing. Hope this helps.

 

[chipchipchip]

This above reminded me of the $20 vs $25 debate. I’d never considered a $20 having only used $25’s in casinos but if your player pool will be buying in mostly with $20 bills the $20 is a simple solution to saving time making change. Once that was pointed out to me I decided to go with $20’s for my custom set. Good for thought. Whatever you do have fun!

 

[Wieldy]

Why 600 chips? I've answered your question in multiple threads as have others. I also cover your question in the New Members Start Here thread, a link can be found in my sig.

Welcome!
​

To start off, please don't miss understand me, we enjoy your question and are happy to answer here, but if you search a little more you'll find several similar threads.

If you've not gotten the underlying hints, .10/.25 is odd, and you'd have a better game if you fix it.

Options I would suggest:
.05/.1 - with a max $25 this would be the best for a new group in my opinion
.25/.25 - simple, easy solid option
.25/.50 - less chips but significantly larger game play and while it might not seem like much, it is, max buy in would be $40 or $60

Okay so back to the first question, why 600 chips? Do you have limited storage? are you an even freak and have to have full racks? did you roll 2d6 and come up with some random algorithm? are you part of a number cult and you worship 600?

Your setting an illogical expectation, though it is a good ball park number . What you should do is figure out how much cash you'll need to support in chips by understanding how big of a game you want to host, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow creeps in this petty pace from day to day... you might want to run a larger game sooner than you think, plan for tomorrow today!

Okay so 10 players x 25 buck per player = 250 doll hairs of a bank, but maybe you should plan on say $300 per player for tomorrow, when you go pro locally. Okay so say we need a bank of 3000.

Then calculate buy ins per person and you'll understand the chip break down needs!
you might try searching 'workhorse chip' following some of the links in the New Members thread!

Well would you look at that, answers to my questions.... Sorry I missed that post from the link.

So as far as 10c/25c vs 25c/25c I think my group just likes the *idea* of a smaller blind, but really that's the only reason. With all the posts here among other posts I've read I guess it does make more sense to do 25c/25c.

The 600 chip number comes from where I'm ordering the chips from. You can order multiples of 100 and 600 is around the price I planned on spending on chips so that's why, no real thought about anything else really.

I have samples of cheap chips coming in to choose from. Monte Carlo and Casino Royale from Apache but looked at actually ordering from The Poker Store because they had 5c in Monte Carlo, but I guess that doesn't matter now if I'm going 25c/25c.

 

[Machine]

The 600 chip number comes from where I'm ordering the chips from. You can order multiples of 100 and 600 is around the price I planned on spending on chips so that's why, no real thought about anything else really.

This is very common, but not 'the way', it lands on the mark often enough though.

You will likely find it easier to get new players with a .05/.1 blind structure, but easier to skip the .05 denom, you could always add it later if you change your mind.

 

[JustinInMN]

This is very common, but not 'the way', it lands on the mark often enough though.

You will likely find it easier to get new players with a .05/.1 blind structure, but easier to skip the .05 denom, you could always add it later if you change your mind.

Dare I ask?

What is "the way?"

 

[Machine]

Dare I ask?

What is "the way?"

Calculating chip count, understanding the why in chip count instead of measuring from budget.

 

[JustinInMN]

Calculating chip count, understanding the why in chip count instead of measuring from budget.

Ah, so like for me, I know roughly what a good number of chips in a NL stack should look like (I like 40-60, others are okay with less) and multiplying that by players. I also have the strategy of loading up on the "workhorse" denomination as at least half the set. (In this poster's case, the single.)

 

[Machine]

Ah, so like for me, I know roughly what a good number of chips in a NL stack should look like (I like 40-60, others are okay with less) and multiplying that by players. I also have the strategy of loading up on the "workhorse" denomination as at least half the set. (In this poster's case, the single.)

Yeah I wouldn't disagree with you, I would say you have an advanced method and understanding of what you want, but without a baseline one should start with fundamentals of understanding the bank, then grow into what they want on the table.

For instance while these are shit chips, I love these stacks

 

[upNdown]

then grow into what they want on the table.

Exactly. I think those stacks are whack. I’m all for starting players with 40ish chips and rebuys are going to come in stacks of 10-20 workhorse chips. So for my game you’d need to run like the sun to have stacks like those dice chips.
But some people like big stacks of lower denom chips and that’s fine too.

 

[Machine]

Exactly. I think those stacks are whack. I’m all for starting players with 40ish chips and rebuys are going to come in stacks of 10-20 workhorse chips. So for my game you’d need to run like the sun to have stacks like those dice chips.
But some people like big stacks of lower denom chips and that’s fine too.

its a crazy game multi way action preflop and at least 1 hand an orbit with 3+ stacks going in preflop. Typically start off the night with a 5-15 straddle on the button no blinds, can restraddle utg, The standard is to run it twice once someone is all in.

 

[Servo]

I find the following breakdown to work well for .10/.25:

100x$.05
180x$.25
180x$1
100x$5
40x$20 (or $25)

That gives you 10 even starting stacks (if you care about even; you don’t have to) of 10/18/10/2, or similar, with plenty of $1s, $5s, and $20s for rebuys. Doubtful all the $5s, let alone the $20s, even hit the table. Bank is $1530, or 600 blinds/6 buy-ins per person on a full table.

I believe you could also use the same set up to .25/.50, depending on your group, as the bank would still be providing 300 blinds/person. Even more so if you run more like 8-handed than 10. Worst case, replace the rack of $.05s with another rack of $5s when the time comes.