Under table chip/cash drawer organization (1 Viewer)

Under table chip/cash drawer organization

  • Black jack tray

    Votes: 6 46.2%
  • Individual racks

    Votes: 6 46.2%
  • Other

    Votes: 1 7.7%

  • Total voters
    13

markleteenie

4 of a Kind
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I am in the process of designing a drawer to go underneath my poker table. I know that several people have implemented drawers and I've seen a variety of organization methods.

For chips, do people prefer the black jack style tray or a way to put individual (100 count) plastic racks?
I think the black jack style looks cleaner, but you have to load chips from racks to the tray. It seems more efficient to be able to load the chip trays directly into the drawer, no?
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I don't have any practical experience with this scenario, so I'm asking the community for thoughts and opinions.
Also, is there an "ideal" amount of chips that this drawer would hold? 400/600/800 chips or 4-8 rebuys? Do you use it just for rebuys outside of the initial buy ins, or should it hold all of the chips that are in play? I'm framing this in the context of a cash game, not tournament.

I think other useful organization areas could be for cash/mixed game placard section/buttons/lammers/extra setups. Other must haves?

Thanks!
 
I like the blackjack tray, but often just use the chip racks. I lay a folded hand towel beneath the blackjack tray to give it a little slant.

I prefer the blackjack tray for tournaments to organize my starting stacks. For cash games, I prefer the chips trays as they provide a more accurate way of doing rebuys and cashing in at the end of the night.

I also keep my cash bag in the drawer as it can be locked if needed.
 
My drawer holds both. I cut a small blackjack tray in half so it fits about half the drawer. I think it has maybe 4 full rows plus two half rows and the card slots. Just screwed a piece of wood to back end so it sits flat and fixes the problem @power13 describes. Can fit a few racks in there too, along with cash bag and whatnot.
 
My drawer holds both. I cut a small blackjack tray in half so it fits about half the drawer. I think it has maybe 4 full rows plus two half rows and the card slots. Just screwed a piece of wood to back end so it sits flat and fixes the problem @power13 describes. Can fit a few racks in there too, along with cash bag and whatnot.
Makes sense, you just need the drawer to have enough height to allow for the raised space plus the chip height. I was trying to minimize the profile of the drawer so opted for as flat a solution as possible.
 
This is the tray I used. I didn’t realize that the short rows are smaller diameter, so they aren’t both super usable. The card slots are nice to have

Trademark Poker Table Chip Tray (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OOR12M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_FgsyEbZABGWWW

So my method gets you about 150-170 chips, which isn’t that much better than just a rack or two...so it might be a waste.
 
@power13 - I see your drawer holds 800 chips. After having this tray for a while, do you think that's enough, or too much? Is there anything you would change?

What about you other guys, what chip capacity do you have?

@Rhodeman77 - is that single stacked or double stacked?
 
This is the tray I used. I didn’t realize that the short rows are smaller diameter, so they aren’t both super usable. The card slots are nice to have

Trademark Poker Table Chip Tray (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OOR12M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_FgsyEbZABGWWW

So my method gets you about 150-170 chips, which isn’t that much better than just a rack or two...so it might be a waste.
Oh the short rows are for spacers, or maybe coins?

How tall is your drawer, if you can fit a deck of cards on edge in the slots?
 
Yea I assume the smaller ones are for coins, spacers, or misc buttons. It's about 3.5" deep, but I guess I haven't actually put cards in there, just cash so far. I can try it out tonight and text you pics or whatever if you want.

https://navepoint.com/navepoint-2u-rack-mount-drawer-with-lock-and-key/

I see it as just chips for rebuys, so I didn't it to hold an entire set. About 100 workhorse chips with some value chips and that's it. My games don't get deep, so I'm not handing out rack after rack of $5s.
 
@power13 - I see your drawer holds 800 chips. After having this tray for a while, do you think that's enough, or too much? Is there anything you would change?

What about you other guys, what chip capacity do you have?

@Rhodeman77 - is that single stacked or double stacked?

Single stack. I can get 700 chips in to start. Once the initial buy in done I grab a Few racks of high denomination chips to put in the drawer and don’t have to do any filling for the rest of the game.
 
Single stack. I can get 700 chips in to start. Once the initial buy in done I grab a Few racks of high denomination chips to put in the drawer and don’t have to do any filling for the rest of the game.
Do you have a separate drawer/system for the money (bills)?
 
I had @T_Chan build a custom rack that fills the entire space so now it holds 1k. But TBH 800 is plenty. I've configured so I keep extra supplies I don't need to access during the game in the back so have more like 600 chips in there at any given time. It's a great storage solution in general though. I was able to get rid of a couple cases that I have no use for now.

@power13 - I see your drawer holds 800 chips. After having this tray for a while, do you think that's enough, or too much? Is there anything you would change?

What about you other guys, what chip capacity do you have?

@Rhodeman77 - is that single stacked or double stacked?
 
I just put the chip racks in my drawer, because at the end of the night I check my racks
That they are all full and accounted for then I move the racks into a case, then remove the drawer so I can fold up the table
 
I use a chip tray like the one you have shown in the OP. (Mine has 10 rows of 50) It has a slant as others have said but that's not an issue as I have it suspended from the drawer's edges. The slant (and gravity) helps to keep the chips in place and I use those clear acrylic separators to help keep the stacks organized. It's a great setup for cash games as I'm constantly reaching in there to make change. At the end of the night I have couple empty racks available for my big winners to count ans sort their chips.

It all works like a charm.

My drawer is long enough to have room behind the chip tray for other paraphernalia like cards, dealer buttons, etc.
 
I'm wavering between the aesthetics of a larger tray, with the practically of using individual chip racks, since all of my chips are already racked up. It seems like that might ultimately be more efficient, instead of having to "transfer" chips.
 
I had @T_Chan build a custom rack that fills the entire space so now it holds 1k. But TBH 800 is plenty. I've configured so I keep extra supplies I don't need to access during the game in the back so have more like 600 chips in there at any given time. It's a great storage solution in general though. I was able to get rid of a couple cases that I have no use for now.


I use a chip tray like the one you have shown in the OP. (Mine has 10 rows of 50) It has a slant as others have said but that's not an issue as I have it suspended from the drawer's edges. The slant (and gravity) helps to keep the chips in place and I use those clear acrylic separators to help keep the stacks organized. It's a great setup for cash games as I'm constantly reaching in there to make change. At the end of the night I have couple empty racks available for my big winners to count ans sort their chips.

It all works like a charm.

My drawer is long enough to have room behind the chip tray for other paraphernalia like cards, dealer buttons, etc.
Does that set live in the drawer, or do you switch out the chips based on the set you're putting into play?
 
My default breakdown lives in the drawer and I swap out stuff before a game if we are going to play something hat will require ano Th we breakdown
 
I'm wavering between the aesthetics of a larger tray, with the practically of using individual chip racks, since all of my chips are already racked up. It seems like that might ultimately be more efficient, instead of having to "transfer" chips.

I think this is actually a great point. I didn't really consider ease of use with the dealer tray option, and it was kinda annoying to unrack chips to load it up, then I didn't have spacers so it lost time recounting stacks as I pulled them out for rebuys. Luckily the dealer tray insert is just that, an insert. Dirt cheap to get it set up and try it out, and if you don't like it, just pull it out of the drawer and you're back to using regular racks.
 
I think this is actually a great point. I didn't really consider ease of use with the dealer tray option, and it was kinda annoying to unrack chips to load it up, then I didn't have spacers so it lost time recounting stacks as I pulled them out for rebuys. Luckily the dealer tray insert is just that, an insert. Dirt cheap to get it set up and try it out, and if you don't like it, just pull it out of the drawer and you're back to using regular racks.
Very true. I agree with the cheapness of the tray. My concern is for figuring out the dimensions - I'm probably building my own tray instead of buying one.

In my case I only have one set (haven't been bit by the chip bug yet) so that's where it lives.
That is a simpler situation to deal with and makes sense.

My default breakdown lives in the drawer and I swap out stuff before a game if we are going to play something hat will require ano Th we breakdown
Do you generally have the same set in play too?
 
Very true. I agree with the cheapness of the tray. My concern is for figuring out the dimensions - I'm probably building my own tray instead of buying one.


That is a simpler situation to deal with and makes sense.


Do you generally have the same set in play too?
Yes same set almost always
 
Maybe get a custom tray from that site that you can build cases.. think it’s called my case builder
 
Seems to me that a drawer is a lot easier to custom build than a chip tray. In my case, I built my drawer to the dimensions of the tray. The tray lip just sits on the drawer's edges. And yes, you can just lift out the tray if you want to temporarily or permanently re-purpose the drawer.

Added benefit: Since the tray rows have a slant, it leaves a nice little cavity below the tray to hide extra cash. (or other items :D:sneaky:)

Lastly, the tray is cheap and flimsy, but when it's installed as I've described it's not an issue at all.
 
Do you have a separate drawer/system for the money (bills)?
My old table had a money drop with a push paddle for bills. I loved having it. Now with my new table and chip drawer I haven't come up with a way to aesthetically put one in. What I do now is just keep a binder clip in the drawer. Once two rows of chips are out there is plenty of room for a wad of cash bound by the clip.
 
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This is the drawer solution I use.
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Living in base housing I lack the space for a full table like when we lived in a real house in Virginia. I've adapted my dining table! I helped my wife choose the one just the right size and it has 3 drawers on each side.

Maybe this helps, I just use high density foam from interlocking floor tiles cut to 39mm or other sizes. Infinitely customizable and it lifts right out.
 
Thank you for the good input, I'm going to bump it and see if I can get some more feedback. Probably going to build my drawer out this week.

I might just end up building it to accommodate either configuration.
 

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