Cash Game Workhorse-Heavy Breakdown; How Many Higher Denomination Chips? (1 Viewer)

[ArielVer18]

The game is 0.50/1 NL. The following breakdown works fine for me for a single table:

60 $0.25
essentially unlimited $1
100 $5
100 $25
20 $100

The idea is the quarters are the blind chips and the $1s are the workhorse chips. $5s are used to store value and can be used in a pinch for bigger bets. $25s are used to store value and rarely used to make bets. $100s, thus far, have never been felted.

Yes I know not the typical PCF recommended breakdown. The breakdown is inspired by how $2/$5 NL games look in local cardrooms: mountains of $5s and some higher denoms to hold value.

I have over 2000 $1s, but most of my friends don't play limit and don't have enough experience efficiently building towers with multiple racks of chips, so typically only 1200-1400 $1s will be on a single table.

Can I get away with less $5s and higher denomination chips? Have I simply gotten lucky thus far by rarely having games go $4k+ deep? Perhaps less $5s and $25s, but more $100s?

 

[davislane]

any pics of the chips in play?

 

[Rhodeman77]

In any 50c/$1 game I’ve played, it plays closer to a $1/2 casino game and $5’s are the workhouse chips. Having 2 racks of 1’s per player in a no limit game would be cumbersome and slow the game down too much IMO.

 

[JustDave]

Ignore that, I'm tired and can't do math

 

[kmccormick100]

This is basically how Stones $1/2 game is run, $200 max buy in, you usually get 2 racks of $1s as a buy in. FWIW it makes the game play much smaller than a standard $1/2 or $1/3 game in my experience.

 

[HaRDHouSeiNC]

In any 50c/$1 game I’ve played, it plays closer to a $1/2 casino game and $5’s are the workhouse chips. Having 2 racks of 1’s per player in a no limit game would be cumbersome and slow the game down too much IMO.

Yah my old $1/2 game after a couple hours played more like 2/5
We had 2 racks of $1s or so out and pretty quickly all the $5s like I think I had 5 racks

 

[ArielVer18]

any pics of the chips in play?

hmm i cannot seem to find good recent photos of us towards the tail end of the night. Maybe this one?

 

[davislane]

hmm i cannot seem to find good recent photos of us towards the tail end of the night. Maybe this one?
View attachment 890761

i was exepcting to see your massive abbiati set....

 

[TKEUofM]

My group is similar. 1,200 singles and a few racks of $5s and some $25s. We play $1/$1 with a $10 max bet and raise. We avoid no limit or pot limit as it’s more about hanging out, having a few drinks, and some laughs. The capped betting keeps anyone from losing too much too fast. But we also like building stacks and don’t need to worry about counting out all the singles for an all in bet.

Normal buy in is $100. $60 in singles and $40 in $5s. Rebuys or add ons are mixed chip based on whatever I grab. And we also rarely get the $25s in play.

There’s tons of suggestions you can follow, but it all comes down to what you and your group wants.

 

[doublebooyah85]

If it’s a no limit game the $5s will eventually be your workhorse unless you put some type of measurement in place. Max buy in $100 or make it a spread with a max big bet.

 

[ArielVer18]

i was exepcting to see your massive abbiati set....

aww... I haven't spread $1/$2+ with the Abbiati set yet to justify putting all those $5s into play. Here's from last friday, also $0.50/$1 NL. Six players left after nine others already left. Not a great photo imo. At the peak, I believe there were over 800 reds used.

 

[ArielVer18]

In any 50c/$1 game I’ve played, it plays closer to a $1/2 casino game and $5’s are the workhouse chips. Having 2 racks of 1’s per player in a no limit game would be cumbersome and slow the game down too much IMO.

It's in a weird range where $1s as workhorse means massive starting stacks but $5s as workhorse means a smaller starting stack. Kinda like $2/$5 where some locales use $5s as the workhorse chips and some use $25s.

 

[JeepologyOffroad]

Lol and people think I’m nuts for putting 3 racks of 1s in play. Love it.

 

[Geremie]

aww... I haven't spread $1/$2+ with the Abbiati set yet to justify putting all those $5s into play. Here's from last friday, also $0.50/$1 NL. Six players left after nine others already left. Not a great photo imo. At the peak, I believe there were over 800 reds used.
View attachment 890793

Good call with the Guilds! Solid setups and awesome to shuffle

 

[LeLe]

$5 are usually the workhorse chip for 50c/$1 stake game

$1 chip are usually the workhorse chip for lower stake like 10/20c to 25/25c stake

The recommended breakdown is more for efficiently and also to allow different denomination of chips to be felted. Also they will be easier to sell in future compared to the non-norm breakdown.

This is your game, if you want to use a non-norm set up go do it by all mean.

 

[grebe]

I agree with consensus....the $5 is going to be your most efficient workhorse here.