[tomb1]

Well, 15 people is pretty easy for a nice tourney using 500 chips. But don't waste precious chips by buying too many of the lowest denoms. And you don't need that 5th denom, unless you just want to get some $5,000 chips for flash (and I can certainly understand that!).

Here's what we do most every week:
8 x $25
13 x $100
3 x $500
2 x $1000
==> Total 26 chips for a $5,000 starting stack, and a nice pile to play with (390 of your chips to start 15 players).

Using fewer $25 chips keeps your quantities down and keeps those chips for basically blinds and limps. Your $100s do most of the heavy lifting, and you get 4 times the dollar amount for each one you buy.

For 15 people you could comfortably buy these quantities, and even have a few left over:
120 x $25
225 x $100
90 x $500
55 x $1000
and what the heck, add 10 x $5,000 just for fun (or skip 'em and buy more $500s and $1000s)
==> Total 500 chips to buy.

Blinds start at 25/50, so your starting stack is just right at 100 x BB. Change the time between levels to regulate how long you want the game to last. We use these blinds:
$25/$50
$50/$100
$100/$200 (sometimes we add $150/$300 , but usually skip it)
$200/$400 (color up the $25s)
$300/$600
$400/$800
$500/$1,000 (color up the $100s, if you want)
$1,000/$2,000
$1,500/$3,000
$2,000/$4,000
$3,000/$6,000
$5,000/$10,000