[Rando]

I've seen loads of good info and advice on this forum - almost so much that I feel like I'm swimming in it and can't fully absorb it all! Fantastic work to all who contribute. I've been lurking for a while, but haven't really gotten to vocal about anything yet.

I play mostly just home games with friends, generally just freezout tourneys (6-8 players typically) But ran an "experimental" cash game a few weeks back and it went over quite good. I'd like to purchase a set of chips and get them hotstamped to run a semi-regular cash game at home here. Some people really enjoyed the stakes we played at (we did .25/.50 and min $20 buyin) but there were a few who felt it was rich for their blood so I'd like to build a set that can also accomodate a .05/.10 game as well from time to time.

Here's kinda what I've been thinking as far as chip breakdown:

200 chips @ .05
200 chips @ .25
100 chips @ .50
150 chips @ 1.00

This totals up to 650 chips, and would let me do the following two game arrangements.

Small Game (.05/.10 NLHE - 10 players max - $5 buy minimum):
Each player would be given
20 X .05 ($1.00)
15 X .25 ($4.00)

Anyone wishing to buyin for more would recieve $1.00 chips equal to their desired total buyin. This would give all players a minimum of 50 times the big blind and gives 36 chips to each player who buys in for the minimum. I don't like sitting at a table and having only a "few" chips, regardless of the value, it's nice to have "lots" and I think 36 is enough to not feel short stacked.

Big Game (.25/.50 NLHE - 10 players max - $24 buy minimum):
Each player would be given
20 X .25 ($5.00)
10 X .50 ($5.00)
15 X 1.00 ($15.00)

Again, this gives everyone at least 50 times the big blind, and puts players with a minimum of 45 chips, which is a little deeper stacked than above (for the same reasons).



That's a total of 650 chips to make each of these games possible. I'm thinking I'd just buy a 1,000 chip set. A few questions regarding this distrobution/purchase:

How do the layouts above look for those two levels of play?
Will we be constantly making change off each other with either of these layouts?
How should I fill out the set to reach 1,000 chips? I was thinking of buying another 100 chips @ $0.50 another 50 chips @ $1.00 and 200 chips @ $5.00. This would bring my total order to 1,000 and would look as follows:

200 @ $0.05
200 @ $0.25
200 @ $0.50
200 @ $1.00
200 @ $5.00

This gives me a total value of $1350 in chips, if ever I wanted to throw a "huge" game.

The chips I was looking at are the 13g Pro Clay Casino chips (I would be hotstamping values on one side, and possible some letters or some such on the otherside to represent our homegame) http://www.chiptalk.net/forum/poker-...lay-chips.html
The price works for me, and they sound like they are pretty solid!


Totally appreciate any and all advice or suggestions.

[dad604]

I would eliminate the $.50 chip. Maybe something like:

200 - .05
300 - .25
300 - 1.00
200 - 5.00

Or just 100 - $5's and 400 - $.25's. I find that you don't need that many of the higher values.

[cowboys]

Welcome Rando! I'm interested in the advice you'll get for this also.

[ipgyst]

I would get rid of the $.50 also. Then your multiples between values are all 4 and 5. (.05 x 5 = .25, .25 x 4 = 1.00, 1.00 x 5 = 5.00)

[AceDeuceNoUse]

Welcome to the sickness!

I would agree with what has been stated so far - remove the .50's and bump up the quarters and dollars. Given the stakes you have indicated, you could probably do with fewer 5's, but if you're anticipating a 1000 chip set, it's better to be with than without!

Originally Posted by Rando

Small Game (.05/.10 NLHE - 10 players max - $5 buy minimum):
Each player would be given
20 X .05 ($1.00)
15 X .25 ($4.00)

Anyone wishing to buyin for more would recieve $1.00 chips equal to their desired total buyin. This would give all players a minimum of 50 times the big blind and gives 36 chips to each player who buys in for the minimum. I don't like sitting at a table and having only a "few" chips, regardless of the value, it's nice to have "lots" and I think 36 is enough to not feel short stacked.

Given your starting stacks, the 200-300-300-200 breakdown suggested by dads604 would give you plenty of breathing room:
(colors arbitrarily selected for purposes of the example)

Originally Posted by Rando

Big Game (.25/.50 NLHE - 10 players max - $24 buy minimum):
Each player would be given
20 X .25 ($5.00)
10 X .50 ($5.00)
15 X 1.00 ($15.00)

Again, this gives everyone at least 50 times the big blind, and puts players with a minimum of 45 chips, which is a little deeper stacked than above (for the same reasons).

You may want to consider a $25 min. buy-in with a 20-20 breakdown for the .25 and 1.00 to make your chip distribution job easier; fill in any larger buy-ins with 1's and 5's. You will still have decent sized stacks and plenty of extras for rebuys:

[links_slayer]

Originally Posted by dad604

I would eliminate the $.50 chip. Maybe something like:

200 - .05
300 - .25
300 - 1.00
200 - 5.00

Or just 100 - $5's and 400 - $.25's. I find that you don't need that many of the higher values.

Totally. In our $0.25/$0.50 NL games the $5 chips rarely see action. You're not getting as much "bank for your buck" but IMO it's better to buy more of the denoms that are gonna see the most action.

[KYBill]

Originally Posted by links_slayer

Totally. In our $0.25/$0.50 NL games the $5 chips rarely see action. You're not getting as much "bank for your buck" but IMO it's better to buy more of the denoms that are gonna see the most action.

We use a ton of 5.00 chips in ours.

With .25/.50 we have a min buy in of 50.00 and let people reload once they go under $25.00. I cant see having a .25/.50 game without a lot of 5's.

[Rando]

Thank you very much for the comments everybody. I've tweaked things a little bit as pretty much everything suggested makes really good sense.

I'm currently going to be going as follows:

200 chips @ $0.05
300 chips @ $0.25
300 chips @ $1.00
200 chips @ $5.00
Total Chip Value: $1,385.00

This allows me to do the .05/.10 game with a chip handout of 20 X $0.05 and 16 X $0.25 (minimum $5.00 buyin) with LOTS of chips leftover to beef up the night as people reload.

Also lets me do the $25 game (0.25/.50) by handing out 20 X $0.25 and 20 X $1.00 (How did I not see this handout option previously? - It's much cleaner) with again LOADS of room to expand the night as people reload.

It keeps me at 4 colors, which is probably good as I wouldn't really ever be using the 5th denomination. As is, in either of my games I'm likely only going to be using 3 colors (the 0.05 won't get in used in my big game, and I can't see anyone in the .05/.10 game needing a $5.00 chip.)

How do people feel about the chip choice? Now I've just gotta decide on colors, and decide if I wanna hotstamp the values on both sides, or figure something else to stamp on one side..... Oh yeah, also gotta save some money up!


Thanks again to all who offered up their advice. I'm gonna be much happier with this set than if I had just impulse bought it and hadn't taken the time to post and read your comments.


Viva la poker!

[northernlight]

Originally Posted by Rando

Also lets me do the $25 game (0.25/.50) by handing out 20 X $0.25 and 20 X $1.00 (How did I not see this handout option previously? - It's much cleaner) with again LOADS of room to expand the night as people reload.

For a 25$ buy-in, I'd suggest you to change the blinds from .25/.50 to .25/.25.

With a big blind of 50cents, pots in NL game will get quite big rather quick and a 25$ buy-in is not going to be enough.

We play a lot of 25$ buy-in NL or PL Holdem with my mates with same stacks you described (20 x 25c, 20 x 1$) and it works perfectly for the .25/.25 blinds. So I'd suggest to change the blinds as described or increase the buy-in to 50$ and add some 5$'s as well.

Some people find it strange to have same size small blind and big blind, but trust me, it works just as good. Even casinos do it in ring games, for example Casino Helsinki.

Cheers,
northernlight

[tomb1]

Originally Posted by Rando

Thank you very much for the comments everybody. I've tweaked things a little bit as pretty much everything suggested makes really good sense.

I'm currently going to be going as follows:

200 chips @ $0.05
300 chips @ $0.25
300 chips @ $1.00
200 chips @ $5.00
Total Chip Value: $1,385.00

That's a great set Rando. Very flexible on the low end or the high end. Nice work, and hope you enjoy the chips. And welcome to ChipTalk!