Cash Game Set Up

[gopherz]

I have been playing tournament poker for awhile, now I want to run a low stakes cash game. What would be the ideal chip set up for 8-10 players for a .25/.50 cash game. Minimum buy in would be $25 max buy in $50. Here is what I was thinking. Thanks for the advice

12 - .25
12. - $1
2 - $5

or
16 -. 25
16 -. $1
1 - $5

or
20 - .25
20 - $1

[stinky]

I usually do .25/.25 instead of .25/.50. With .50 as the BB you wont need as much quarters as a min raise would be $1. Plus with .25 cent blinds, a $20 buy in is still decent and people dont have to have an extra $5 to buy the minimum.

Plus it also depends on how your games play. I have crowds where they tend to bet lots of quarters and raising doesnt happen very often so we need lots of quarters. My home game tends to be more aggressive and the quraters rarely make it to the pot so we dont need a lot.

for .25/.50 $25 buy in:

12/16 x .25
22/21 x 1
fill in the rest with $5's.


for 2.5/.25 a $20 buy in still gets you decent stacks:

16/20 x .25
16/15 x 1

For the $40 buy in

20/16 x .25
20/21 x 1
3 x $5

[umbkcshah]

What kind of chip limit are you putting on the set? How much cash do you expect to be in play by the end of the night? These are the two questions that need to be answered first imo.

Quarter amount isn't that critical as if you have 12x8 players, that's 96 on the table, so sometimes you need to make change. I personally find that plenty for the game. If you consider a 1/2 NL game, there generally aren't alot of 1s on the table (granted some is due to rake/tips, but they aren't that necessary in general to the game flowing pretty well).

[bta15]

I run a dealers choice NL .25/50 game and most start with $20. I give 12 quarters and 17 $1's. If people buy in for more they get $5 chips. The first couple rebuys I use the rest of my quarters (have 1 rack) and $1's (1.5 racks) then all the rest of the rebuys get $5 chips.

[EasilyFound]

I think 12/17 and rest in 5s is the way to go. I don't think you really need more than 12 .25 for each player.

[Spazhead]

I use

20 x 25c
20 x $1 for $25 buy in

and add
5 x $5 for the $50 buy in

rebuys are
20 x $1
1 x $5 for the $25 rebuy

or

20 x $1
6 x $5 for the $50 rebuy

total chips I use
200 x 25c
400 x $1
400 x $5

total bank $2450
if your game gets bigger than that use $25 chips


for the $25 buy in blinds are 25c/25c
for $50 buy in blinds are 25c/50c

[p5woody]

I just put together a 500 chips set to handle 16 players with .25 ante and $20 buyin.

starting stack 12/12/1
200 - $.25
200 - $1.00
50 - $5.00
50 - $10.00 (I went with $10 chip, easier to make change for rebuys)
Total bank of 1000 covers our group easily

[MikesDad]

I wouldn't go with more than 12 x 0.25.. the $1 is the workhorse chip in an 0.25/0.50 game.

Rarely have anyone buy-in for $20, usually $60
I've been experimenting among 12/22/7, 12/27/6 (the most chips on the table),
8/23/7 and 8/28/6. rebuys all $5s until late when I like to get some $25s in play

-- Dennis

[Freelancer72]

i always have games with max buy-ins of 200BB, so i'd either cap it at $100 for max buy-in or i'd do 25¢/25¢ blinds with a $50 max buy-in.

anyways, there is absolutely no need for more than 12 x 25¢ in that game. like was said before, the $1 chip is the workhorse.

my starting stacks are
12 x 25¢
27 x $1
14 x $5

my own set for 1000 chips is

120 x 25¢
300 x $1
440 x $5
100 x $25
40 x $100

this could also cover a 1/2 NL game with $400 max buy-ins in case your game grows.

[Lucky Dog]

We play a $50 buy in with the blinds at .25/.50. Everyone's starting stack is the same so no one person has a chip advantage out of the gate. We allow a maximum rebuy of up to $50.00 once your chipstack is below $10. Starting stacks are as follows:
20 quarters
20 singles
5 fives
We use $20 plaques and $5 chips as rebuys and make change on the table. These starting stacks work beautifully and it's easy to set up the game. There are a too many quarters in the game at first but as people bust out and rebuy it works itself out nicely. You could use this model for a $25 game by taking the $5's out of the starting stacks. If we play a $20 game then we change the blinds to .10/.20 and bring dimes into the game. for a $20 game the starting stacks are as follows:
20 dimes
20 quarters
13 singles
The $20 plaques are used as rebuys and change is made from the table. Again we start the game with an excess of dimes but it works out nicely as rebuy plaques make there way into the game. The chip increments of twenty makes it real easy to set up the game and the plaques become status symbols for the chip leader(s). Hope this helps.