[fracas@aol.com]

This will probably be a boring thread for most of you, since I'm not buying real clay or doing anything fancy, but I'd like a sounding board for my thoughts here. My criteria are:

Chips for 12 players.
The home game I'm a regular in usually has 8-10 players, but has 11 probably 20% of the time, and 12 once in a while, so a set for 10 max wouldn't really cut it. And since it's my first set, there's no mismatched backup chips I could scavenge for an 11th or 12th person.

Value ratio of 1/5/10/50/100/etc.
I recognize that 1/5/25/100 would be more efficient, but the folks I play with are used to this and switching would throw them off. Specifically, we're all accustomed to White=T100, Red=T500, Blue=T1000, Green (if used)=T5000. Cash game ratios may be different.

Both tournaments and ring games.
While I've only played tournaments so far, I'm planning on trying out some cash games once my schedule changes, and I'd like to keep the option open to host them, too. So I'm avoiding the most common composite chip styles like dice, etc. for security (plus I happen not to like them). And I'm trying to come up with breakdowns suitable for different levels of cash blinds.

I found a set of 500 chips that I like with a case, but it's got some drawbacks. The set includes 150 white, 150 red, 100 green, 50 blue, and 50 black (based, I assume, on values of 1/5/25/50/100 for those colors). So my tentative plan is: buy the set and 150-200 extra blues, using those as my workhorse T1000's. To carry the extras I'll get a couple of racks with covers, or just carry 125 white / 125 red / 200 blue / 50 green in the case, which should be enough for most setups (see below).

Tournament breakdown for 12 players would be
10 x 100 white
10 x 500 red
9 x 1000 blue
2 x 5000 green
=============
T25000 total.

Cash breakdown (again for 12 players) would depend on the blinds. Either:
10 x .05 white (SB)
15 x .10 blue (BB)
10 x .50 red
3 x 1.00 green
=============
10.00 total. Black 5.00 chips and remaining greens allow 2 rebuys per person. Total value = $452.50. Is two rebuys enough?

Or:
15 x .10 blue (.10 SB, .20 BB)
11 x .50 red
8 x 1.00 white
1 x 5.00 green
=============
20.00 total. Black 10.00 chips and remaining greens and whites allow 4 rebuys per person. Total value = $1245.00.

Or:
8 x .25 green (SB)
16 x .50 blue (BB)
10 x 1.00 white
==============
20.00 total. Red 5.00 and black 10.00 chips allow 5 rebuys per person. Total value = $1525.00.

What do you guys think? And what am I not thinking of? I could go into more detail, but this is probably too long as it is. Let me know if you want me to post pics of the chips, or have other questions.

Thanks to all!