[PocketRocket]

No I wasn't specifically referring to you, but rather some of the younger posters here that aren't old enough to go into a gaming establishment. And what you saw was more the norm for real life poker in both cardrooms and casinos than what one might see on TV. Limit poker is what you'll most commonly see in most gaming establishments for cash games.

And as I mentioned, some tournaments are even started with a single denomination chip.

What does limit play have to do with the OP? Only to suggest that his allegations may be what is outlandish along with his declarations of how things "should be" rather than what their group has apparently been used to in the past. Bottom line is ... You probably don't invite people to your games so that they can tell you how you should play the game, do you? Conversely, when I'm a guest or newbie at someone else's game, I play by their rules as long as they're legit and reasonable (if they aren't, I leave.)

Originally Posted by austin5string

Actually, I have seen poker in a casino where there is only one denomination on the table - not sure why you would think I haven't. Unless you weren't referring to me. (just assumed you were since you quoted my post)

Not to beat a dead horse, but how many cardroom tourneys have you seen that start you with $.50, $1, $2, $5 and $10 chips?

Also, what does limit play have to do with his post?

[austin5string]

Ah.. I didn't interpret his post as him being a guest at the game, since he was setting it up and distributing the chips.

[PocketRocket]

You're right, I misread the post. It looks like he hosted a group where he was the "guest". Odd. As a matter of fact, it sounds a bit like a situation where someone may have been posting friends of their parents. The group he describes sounds like an older crowd who, as someone noted, are most likely cash players only. Reminds me of the time that someone was shocked that a group would want to play using cash rather than chips, that was amusing as hell since I had always played with cash as a youngster, throughout military service, and well into my 30's before I started using chips . (I grew up around folks who only played with cash as well).

Originally Posted by austin5string

Ah.. I didn't interpret his post as him being a guest at the game, since he was setting it up and distributing the chips.

[Brewster]

Originally Posted by Q10 soooted

I think the OP was complaining more about the 1x/2x/2x/2.5x/2x increments in the chips (at least the way I read it).

Colors=no big deal
Having 3 chips that are 2x the value of another chip in play=dumb

Bingo!!! Your cookie is in the mail.

It is quite funny but they have never played a cash game (it has all been tounaments so far). The miniscule step up in increments is what is driving me totally nuts.

BTW: I got my chips off of ebay so I had no control over the colour distribution. Had I known better, I would not have ordered any blue chips and I would have purchased more greens.

I think the best punishment for the unbelievers is to take all of their chips.

[DaveHNK]

I've got the same type of set up at what is now my new regular game. Of course, I'm a guest and not the host. But these knuckleheads have a T124 or T142 buy-in -- not sure if I'm dyslexic, or if they actually change the buy-in from week to week. Denoms are 1/3/5/10/20 and yeah, re-buys are a complete pain.

But since they ain't my chips and ain't my place, I have the luxury to just drink the free beer while I watch them hand out chips, figure re-buys and answer the ever-present "how much is this one?"

[Brewster]

I won most of them over this weekend when I hosted the most organized event yet. Going with a T300 tournament (using the "proper" denominations) and using tournament director to deal with the blinds the tournament ran without a hitch and everyone had a great time. They all agreed that a colour up (something totally new to them) was a fantastic idea and will be included in all tournies from now on.

Thank you for the help and support in my time of need.

PS: I eliminated the last person to win the tourny with everyone's favorite hand: The Hammer (I got lucky and flopped a full house - sevens over twos)

[DaveHNK]

I think I'm going to have to fight a guerrila campaign at my weekly game. Next week I think I'll bring along a Tournament Director for the clock (at previous games, the blinds have gone up when there was a consensus at the hosts table that it "felt" like fifteen minutes ) Anyway, if that goes over well, we can then begin talking about more rational denoms

[R Deckard]

Chalk another one up for the Tournament Director! Everyone thinks it is great, and it elevates the game to a whole new level of professionalism. The best thing is, because you are the only one who knows how to program it, suddenly everyone listens to you! Heh! You can even program the chip color/denom display--who's going to argue with that?

[DaveHNK]

Hopefully that's how it'll work out. There's already one woman we play with who thinks the guy in charge is taking everything too seriously. Not sure how well a blind timer, tournament management program will go over with her. Then again, I considered myself more of a laid-back poker player before stumbling onto this site. Might as well try and spread the obsession with the gear to others as well.

[seymour]

Since we started using TD for our games, when someone plays for the first time with it (we have semi-regular players, as well as our regulars), there are always lots of comments about it! (as well as my ASMs, since we were using dice chips previous to that). Stuff like "crazy", "hardcore", "serious", "friggin awesome", etc

Can't wait to see the reaction to the Copags I have on the way (and soon some KEMs and Dal Negros). Oh, and the Egyptians octagons and plaques - I didn't tell the guys, I want to surprise them

We used to just use the timer on someone's watch, occasionally forgetting to put the blinds up after a longer hand, forgetting to restart the timer, etc etc. We're all pretty laid back and slack ourselves, but TD just makes things go nice and smooth. No worries about stuff, or having to check your watch to tell someone how much time is left - it's there for all to see.

Especially helps when lots of beer is involved

Before I did (too much) research on this sort of thing, we did end up using "proper" denoms for the chips when we switched from just going by number of chips, all equal to 1. I think it was something like T25k to start, and 100/500/1000/5000. That probably came from TV or something - I never watched poker on television myself until well after I was playing a lot with them.

I don't think I could deal with weird denoms like the OP has to deal with, without freaking out