Cash Game Six-handed limit breakdown: How low can you go? (1 Viewer)

[wendell]

I'm currently looking at buying a cash game set for a group that essentially never plays cash games. I'm mainly buying the set to cover NL games, but I'd like to try introducing fixed limit mixed games and want a breakdown that could cover six-handed (or maybe seven-handed in a pinch) limit games.

The discussions I've found on PCF suggest that around a rack per player is ideal for a 2-chip/4-chip format (general advice is that 1-chip/2-chip is no good?), for a full buyin of 25BB each, and then using 20x chips for rebuys is fine (but obviously more chips = better).

So the question then, as per my title: How low can you go? For a 6-handed game a full rack each would mean 600 workhorse chips, which is probably 400-500 more than I would be buying for a straight NL set. Which isn't the end of the world, but it's entirely possible that my group plays once or twice and then decides that they hate limit. So how many (workhorse) chips per player could I get away with until I figure out if I want to buy a full limit set? Would two barrels per player enough? Three barrels? Is a full rack the absolute minimum?

 

[SlowPokeTony]

Limit games always have a workhorse with big stacks but I guess they don’t necessarily need to be played that way. 3 barrels would be manageable as long as they aren’t the only chips in play and you can make quick change. There’s no way for you to try it out with chips you already have before you purchase a huge set you might not even need?

 

[wendell]

Fair point - I could try it out with chips I have, but I'm probably about to make a snap-purchase of some cards mold chips for the Aussie group buy. So given that I might be buying a chunk of chips anyway for a no limit set, I figure I may only need to add a rack or two to make limit work. And at cards mold prices that's not the end of the world if they don't get played again after that.

 

[TheJack]

I played 6 handed limit games with only 160 workhorse chips. It was 1chip/2chip game. So 25 chips each. I used some smaller denoms for blinds and some bigger for value. My players are new to limit so there was almost no raising. It was a lot of changing chips but was ok game.

 

[Legend5555]

I played 6 handed limit games with only 160 workhorse chips. It was 1chip/2chip game. So 25 chips each. I used some smaller denoms for blinds and some bigger for value. My players are new to limit so there was almost no raising. It was a lot of changing chips but was ok game.

Just to be clear, with limit "2chip/4chip" means 2 chip small bet and 4 chip big bet. The blinds are 1chip/2chip for a 2chip/4chip game.

You can't really do a 1chip/2chip structure because you would need a half chip for the SB.

 

[SlowPokeTony]

Just to be clear, with limit "2chip/4chip" means 2 chip small bet and 4 chip big bet. The blinds are 1chip/2chip for a 2chip/4chip game.

You can't really do a 1chip/2chip structure because you would need a half chip for the SB.

Could have 1/1 for the blinds with 1/2 bets but yeah 1/2, 2/4 makes more sense. I’ve played .25/.50 with .50/$1 bets and we didn’t use a ton of chips because the quarters and dollars both got a lot of use.

 

[moose]

Just to be clear, with limit "2chip/4chip" means 2 chip small bet and 4 chip big bet. The blinds are 1chip/2chip for a 2chip/4chip game.

You can't really do a 1chip/2chip structure because you would need a half chip for the SB.

You can if you eliminate the small blind and have a single blind.

 

[Nanook]

Just to be clear, with limit "2chip/4chip" means 2 chip small bet and 4 chip big bet. The blinds are 1chip/2chip for a 2chip/4chip game.

You can't really do a 1chip/2chip structure because you would need a half chip for the SB.

What you are talking about is more commonly referred to as a 2 chip game as in 2/4 limit with $1 chips. Bets are in increments of 2 chips. Small bets are 2 chips and big bets are 2x or twice the 2 bets = 4 chips.

You can do a lot of things including using you'r existing set, however there are reasons they do it the way they do in a card room. For limit they make all the chips the same denomination and use more chips to speed up the game. It gets rid of all of the counting for both the dealer and player. Once the group has played at least a few sessions it also eliminates a lot of the tanking that is seen so often in nl.

I know people will argue with me and say they are successfully running a 6 player limit game with 200 chips or whatever but if you do this the game isn't going to run the way it should.

My opinion is that for 2 and 3 chip games 1 rack/player and for a 4 chip game 1.5 racks/player is pretty much bare minimum. If you have less chips then everyone is constantly running out of chips and it defeats the whole reason you use 1 denomination in limit in the 1st place

 

[Rhodeman77]

I have played mixed format games with a normal cash set break down ($1, $5, $25 chips) for $1/$1 no limit/Pot limit games and $4/8 limit games. It works fine. Yes there is change making but with experienced players there isn’t a problem.

 

[CrazyEddie]

So the question then, as per my title: How low can you go?
So how many (workhorse) chips per player could I get away with until I figure out if I want to buy a full limit set?
Is a full rack the absolute minimum?

The absolute minimum is playing a one-chip/two-chip game and giving everyone 24 chips, which ensures there's enough chips for all players to cap the betting on all four streets in a single hand. Add some 20x chips so that everyone can buy in for around 100 chips (50 big bets) and you'll have enough bank for most situations. Players can make change as needed, and will probably be doing so every hand.

After that it's a matter of preference. The more chips you have, the less change-making you'll do. How much change-making you want to put up with is up to you and your crew. Some people hate it. Some people do it without a second thought.

You can also play fixed-limit poker using a standard set. I like a three-chip/six-chip game using ones and fives; a small bet is three ones, a big bet is a one and a five. An early-street raise is a one and a five, a late-street raise is two ones and two fives. If you just want to see if your crew likes playing fixed-limit as a game without considering how they like handling poker chips then you might consider that approach.

If you want to see how they like playing with big piles of poker chips then buy a cheap set of trashy chips and declare that every chip is a dollar (or whatever) irrespective of color. If everyone has fun having mountains of chips in front of them then you know what to do next. And if not, then you've saved yourself a whole bunch of money and trouble.

 

[upNdown]

I have played mixed format games with a normal cash set break down ($1, $5, $25 chips) for $1/$1 no limit/Pot limit games and $4/8 limit games. It works fine. Yes there is change making but with experienced players there isn’t a problem.

NOT POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CrazyEddie]

NOT POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!

defies the laws of physics

 

[Nanook]

I have played mixed format games with a normal cash set break down ($1, $5, $25 chips) for $1/$1 no limit/Pot limit games and $4/8 limit games. It works fine. Yes there is change making but with experienced players there isn’t a problem.

You can walk from coast to coast (USA) too. Both sound miserable to me..... just sayin

 

[upNdown]

Mostly what @CrazyEddie said. We spend so much time here arguing about the best way to do things, but that’s usually like the last 5% - I’d try not to get too hung up on it.
FWIW, I used to play in a $2/4 limit game in a card room, using $2 chips. And there were a handful of $1s on the table for small blinds and chopped pots and tips. And it was great. Optimal? I don’t know. But still great.

 

[Nanook]

If you are looking for the MOST cost effective way of having a usable set for limit just go to your local card room and harvest whatever you deem a minimum number of $1's (most likely) for me that would be 1600+ and now you are renting a set that is fully 100% refundable any time you want. Total cost = $0.

If you don't like that idea, then to me the next best thing would be to get in on one of the cards mold GB's for one of the more common designs like ARIA'S & for roughly 30c/chip you get yourself some really nice chips & once again you can probably sell them just about anytime for what you spent on them

 

[wendell]

If you don't like that idea, then to me the next best thing would be to get in on one of the cards mold GB's for one of the more common designs like ARIA'S & for roughly 30c/chip you get yourself some really nice chips & once again you can probably sell them just about anytime for what you spent on them

Yeah I think that's the path I'm going to be going down.

Thanks everyone for the input - the different perspectives on it has been a huge help.

I'm leaning towards going with three racks of $1's for ~50 chips each, which should hopefully be enough to limit change making to between hands most of the time (rather than in hands). If that turns out a bit cumbersome maybe I can add in a 5x chip (gasp!) which I'll have anyway for the NL games, just to keep things moving in the first few nights. And if it's a success then I'll add another 3-6 racks to the set as quickly as possible.

 

[Marius L]

Yeah I think that's the path I'm going to be going down.

Thanks everyone for the input - the different perspectives on it has been a huge help.

I'm leaning towards going with three racks of $1's for ~50 chips each, which should hopefully be enough to limit change making to between hands most of the time (rather than in hands). If that turns out a bit cumbersome maybe I can add in a 5x chip (gasp!) which I'll have anyway for the NL games, just to keep things moving in the first few nights. And if it's a success then I'll add another 3-6 racks to the set as quickly as possible.

I'm sure this will work, but the less if the workhorse chip you have, the i think its a good idea to add 5x chips. Easier to both call, raise or simply make change with the pot while in a hand that way.