Cash Game Starting Stack Logic - A Real Question (1 Viewer)

[dav84x]

Hey guys - I've shopped around here for years and thank you all for what you've shared. All of my poker questions have always been answered but I am a new user because my home game has started up again and I want to make it as good as possible for my group.

We play a VERY simple $25 .25/.25 cash game with not a ton of rebuys and I have read (I think) every single starting stack and chip breakout post on here but could not find a bit more reasoning.

I personally like (due to mild OCD) to have .25 x 16, $1 x 16 and $5 x 1. I just like the balance of 16 chips for .25 and $1 and I also think it brings a good amount of each chip into play. I very rarely see anyone recommend this and usually see .25 x 8 or 12 max for these stakes.

My games run well, but are my games missing something, am I missing out on anything by having this amount of chips on my table? I do have enough chips to run this stack for 10 players with some extra $1 and $5 but we normally don't have 10 players, I just made the set to accommodate that amount.

Perhaps I just am looking for validation that this isn't crazy, but I'm also always open to suggestions from anyone including my own players on recommendations that I might not have considered.

Thanks!

 

[Eloe2000]

I have been running .25/.25 for years and don't like playing with any less than 16x.0.25 but we all really prefer a barrel (but none in rebuys). I absolutely despise playing .25/.25 with 8 fracs. It is ridiculous. And I absolutely hate playing $1/$2 with a rack or less of $1s. The dealer has to work like a ninja making change. It is just wrong. Fight me.

We currently start:
20x$0.25,
20x$1,
3x$5

Rebuys are usually 20x$1+4x$5, and then I move on to 8x$5 and then to 2x$20

For the life of me I just cannot understand how people think playing .25/.25 with 8 fracs per person at the table is enough, especially in a self dealt game.

With my CPC set I recently received I only ordered 160 .25s and 300x $1s and it wasn't enough of either. It is add-on time!

 

[Machine]

Is this NLH?

It slows the game down a little, it's not bad but it's not great.
Sometimes I wonder if it would be better to play
.10/.20 and give out 8 nickels and 8 quarters instead

That's the logic by giving out more quarters it will incourage lower bets.

 

[dav84x]

Is this NLH?

I slows the game down a little, it's not bad but it's not great.
Sometimes I wonder if it would be better to play
.10/.20 and give out 8 nickels and 8 quarters instead

That's the logic by giving out more quarters it will incourage lower bets.

Yes, sorry NLH. My friends have always preferred quarters as the lowest so I never explored less than that.

 

[Jackypoo]

I do pretty much the same 16 quarters, 16 1s, and 4 5s for a $40 buy in. So if validation is what you want I'd say you're good

 

[dav84x]

I have been running .25/.25 for years and don't like playing with any less than 16x.0.25 but we all really prefer a barrel (but none in rebuys). I absolutely despise playing .25/.25 with 8 fracs. It is ridiculous. And I absolutely hate playing $1/$2 with a rack or less of $1s. The dealer has to work like a ninja making change. It is just wrong. Fight me.

We currently start:
20x$0.25,
20x$1,
3x$5

Rebuys are usually 20x$1+4x$5, and then I move on to 8x$5 and then to 2x$20

For the life of me I just cannot understand how people think playing .25/.25 with 8 fracs per person at the table is enough, especially in a self dealt game.

With my CPC I recently received I only ordered 160 .25s and 300x $1s and it wasn't enough of either. It is add-on time!

Great advice, I appreciate it. If we do decide to play higher stakes by a little I may use what you start with. Thank you!

 

[Santa123]

Usually people try to reduce fracs to a minimum because the availability of those chips (Paulson) is low.
Standard recommendation is one rack of quarters.
How ever as a player I favour 16/16/.... or 20/20/...

 

[SlowPokeTony]

That’s my same starting stack for .25/.25 or .25/.50. It’s always 16/16/x. Never any issues. I’ll limit the smaller chips in a tournament but a cash game let’s get them all in there.

 

[detroitdad]

If you mentioned it and I missed it sorry, what is your workhorse chips? In my opinion that's what you want to have the most of on the table. I think your breakdown, or Eloes is just fine for the starting stacks

 

[upNdown]

I have been running .25/.25 for years and don't like playing with any less than 16x.0.25 but we all really prefer a barrel (but none in rebuys). I absolutely despise playing .25/.25 with 8 fracs. It is ridiculous. And I absolutely hate playing $1/$2 with a rack or less of $1s. The dealer has to work like a ninja making change. It is just wrong. Fight me.

We currently start:
20x$0.25,
20x$1,
3x$5

Rebuys are usually 20x$1+4x$5, and then I move on to 8x$5 and then to 2x$20

For the life of me I just cannot understand how people think playing .25/.25 with 8 fracs per person at the table is enough, especially in a self dealt game.

With my CPC I recently received I only ordered 160 .25s and 300x $1s and it wasn't enough of either. It is add-on time!

I wonder if the people playing with 8 fracs per person are playing .25/.25 or .25/.50. Because as I see it, a .25/.50 game should require fewer fracs.
I don’t think I’ve ever played .25/.25 so I guess I don’t have much to say. But fwiw, I think 12 fracs is great for .25/.50.
As to the OP, it’s your game so do what you like, as long as it works. But getting caught up on starting stacks for a cash game isn’t productive. People will buy in for different amounts and people will rebuy. Just make sure there are enough fracs on the table to start with.
Ten hands in, people will be making change, no matter what they each started with.

 

[swana]

I would agree that for a .25/.50 game 12 fracs work like a charm. I also don't see why 16 or 20 wouldn't work either but anything less than 12 or more than 20 would be suboptimal in my opinion.

 

[dav84x]

If you mentioned it and I missed it sorry, what is your workhorse chips? In my opinion that's what you want to have the most of on the table. I think your breakdown, or Eloes is just fine for the starting stacks

Workhorse is the $1, but we really do use the .25 quite a bit too. That could be our stakes or the fact that I have a bunch out there, or both haha

 

[Machine]

Another way to look at, you say workhorse is the $1, but for that to be true, it would need to be the majority of the chips on the table, and typically by a significant margin. This is not the case, you have just as many quarters as dollars. 48% of the chips are 25c.

 

[dav84x]

Another way to look at, you say workhorse is the $1, but for that to be true, it would need to be the majority of the chips on the table, and typically by a significant margin. This is not the case, you have just as many quarters as dollars. 48% of the chips are 25c.

That is very true - some guys like dropping 4 quarters in while others keep it simple and put $1 haha I guess the balance feels right on the table most of the time. Thanks!

 

[R0ACH_XCVII]

You’re not crazy my friend… More chips on the table is better IMO.

 

[dav84x]

You’re not crazy my friend… More chips on the table is better IMO.

So, what you really mean is just get 10,000 $0.05 chips and leave it at that?

 

[Machine]

So I found learning about obscure denomination quricks by reading various threads and your post made me think of something I felt was important but you don't see so often.

How would you 'write' 5 cents on a chip?

$0.05c?

It's a topic that comes up but hard to search for. I'm not sure if you are set on chips or you plan to acquire a set and if it is a custom set it could be costly if you get it wrong, of course wrong would be defined by you.

I like 5 with the word 'cents' through the number

I dislike $0.05 and most variations of this

 

[dav84x]

So I found learning about obscure denomination quricks by reading various threads and your post made me think of something I felt was important but you don't see so often.

How would you 'write' 5 cents on a chip?

$0.05c?

It's a topic that comes up but hard to search for. I'm not sure if you are set on chips or you plan to acquire a set and if it is a custom set it could be costly if you get it wrong, of course wrong would be defined by you.

I like 5 with the word 'cents' through the number

I dislike $0.05 and most variations of this

Funny you post this...I was just looking into this last week. I do like the chips that say 5 with 'cent's through it or under it. The reason I prefer that is because the proper way to write the symbol would be 5¢ but that bothers me because dollar chips are $1 etc with the symbol in front. For me this is not limited to poker chips, I've always wondered why we do that when you say both the same way. I haven't decided yet on what I'll do for anything custom but its something to think about.

 

[SteveEH]

More chip = MOAR fun IMO

I start with a barrel of quarters and a barrel of 1s.

 

[JustinInMN]

Imo, in 0.25 - 0.25 the single is clearly the workhorse chip and I think putting 16 in play to start makes perfect sense. Also compared to 0.25-0.50 more quarters are needed need in general because an opening raise to 0.75 will be more common and using four quarters to open to a dollar will be more common to avoid single-chip rule confusion.

In 0.25-0.50 fewer quarters are needed because standard 3x and 4x opens to 1.50 and 2.00 require multiple chips anyway. (I still say the single in the workhorse at this stake here, but I know others prefer to get more fives in play.)

So in short I like 16/16/x for 0.25-0.25, I think 12/17/x is better for 0.25-0.50.

 

[JustinInMN]

How would you 'write' 5 cents on a chip?

$0.05c?

It's a topic that comes up but hard to search for. I'm not sure if you are set on chips or you plan to acquire a set and if it is a custom set it could be costly if you get it wrong, of course wrong would be defined by you.

I like 5 with the word 'cents' through the number

I dislike $0.05 and most variations of this

Personally I like superscript fractions as I did on my customs. I think the leading zero makes it pretty obvious.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...edition-2020-custom-43mm-sunfly-hybrid.50781/

(an idea I stole from here: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/pay-cpc-customs-with-winnings.27248/)

Also Alt+0162 will give you the "cent" sign on a keyboard . (That was a key that used to be on typewriters .) So it can be incorporated in any text design.

¢

Lowercase c is probably acceptable, but not as obvious.

I also like using the word "cents" to strike through the number, but that only works if the denom is largest and in the center of the chip.

There are ways.

 

[Colquhoun]

…I've always wondered why we do that when you say both the same way. I haven't decided yet on what I'll do for anything custom but its something to think about.

I thought the reason the $ and ¢ were on different sides of the denomination is because of where the decimal point is.
$ on left side of 1.00, ¢ sign on the right side of .25

 

[DontKnowWhen]

I like 5 with the word 'cents' through the number

@Machine
Do you perhaps have an example of what this looks like?

 

[Chippy365]

In our .25/.50 we only have 8 .25 each as there is more than enough on the table. More is just longer to count out at the end of the night imo.

 

[Psypher1000]

@Machine
Do you perhaps have an example of what this looks like?

Chip image courtesy of Chip Guide.

 

[dav84x]

In our .25/.50 we only have 8 .25 each as there is more than enough on the table. More is just longer to count out at the end of the night imo.

Thanks! Would you say it's enough as in there is rarely a time players need to make change? Or enough as in players make change somewhat regularly but it's not a hassle at all?

 

[SaucyAussie]

I plan to run my first cash game next month after 6 months of tournaments. I will have a .05/.10 Limit table for the beginners and a .25/.25 NLH table for the guys that play regularly.

For the .25/.25 game I was thinking of doing 20/15/4 and giving people the option of buying in for $20 or $40. I think most people will opt for $20. I do like the idea of having more chips on the table.

 

[dav84x]

I plan to run my first cash game next month after 6 months of tournaments. I will have a .05/.10 Limit table for the beginners and a .25/.25 NLH table for the guys that play regularly.

For the .25/.25 game I was thinking of doing 20/15/4 and giving people the option of buying in for $20 or $40. I think most people will opt for $20. I do like the idea of having more chips on the table.

I agree with liking chips out there. I think it's just a matter of finding the balance that fits each game and the players.

 

[DontKnowWhen]

Chip image courtesy of Chip Guide.

View attachment 915294

Thanks !!!

 

[Mortalpawn]

One guideline I use is to put out 30-50 chips per person for the initial buy-in no matter what the stakes. People like having a nice stack of chips to start.

You are typically only playing with 3 denominations in a cash game, though its possible to go to as many as 5 denominations in a large tournament when you consider chip-ups. For the lowest denomination, around 15 is ideal, and I typically use 10 as a bare minimum. If you are using SB=BB as your smallest chip then you would want more of the BB chip. If you are using SB=1/2 BB then you can get away with less of the smallest chip since its mainly just used for the SB, and too many (for example 5 cent chips on a 10/20 or 10/25) really don't add anything because the blind chips are worth so little. The nickles just end up being the blinds and everyone bets in 0.25 increments after that.

The middle denomination is your workhorse chip in a cash game, so again you want at least 10, but as many as 20 is possible. I would say 10-16 is typical. Highest denomination in a cash game is often only 1-2 chips, but can add value as some players like to collect the high value chips from others.

For rebuys, I used to make them the same as the initial buy-in but lately I've moved to just using mid-high chips as I found if you get a lot of rebuys the table can get filled up with too many of the lowest denomination blind chips. Anyone who rebuys can just make change from the biggest chip holder for blinds.