flexible 1,000 chip ring game/tournament set

rickrayl · #1 (**permalink**) 07-12-2005, 01:22 PM

I am new to this forum, but have, in a short time, learned a lot about poker chips. One of the things I struggled with (after deciding I simply had to have a set of the Pharaoh's Club chips) was how to set up the most flexible set possible for use both as a cash game set and a tournament set, allowing for inflation, the possibility that I may want to play higher stakes over time, and my desire to use chips at their stated face value whenever possible. I’ve read many posts on the subject, but nothing really covered everything I wanted to be able to accomplish from a single set of 1,000. While I generally play with 5-7 players at either low limit ring games or small NL tournaments, I wanted to be able to play with 10 players and at virtually any possible structure. I came up with the following set, and thought I’d offer some explanations as to how I got there:

200 Blue “NCV” chips
200 White $1 chips
200 Red $5 chips
200 Green $25 chips
100 Black $100 chips
50 Purple $500 chips
50 Orange “NCV” chips
1,000 chips total

I believe this combination will work for any 10 person tournament or ring game I might conceivably want to play (even up to limits I’d never consider at this point). I also wanted to have at least a 50 big bet (based on a limit game) buyin possible for everyone, and give everyone around 40-50 chips to start. The key is having two of the NCV chips (and having 200 of one and 50 of the other). I have analyzed all levels from $.25/$.50 blind NL to $100/$200 limit, but as just a few examples:

For a $.25/$.50 blind structure NL game, 10 players: 20 blue (designated $.25), 20 white ($1), and 5 red ($5) [45 chips, $50 value]. (To play these limits in a limit game [i.e., a $.50/$1 game], I would use 4 orange (designated $.25), 18 blue (designated $.50), 15 white ($1), and 5 red ($5) [42 chips, $50 value].)

For a $.50/$1 blinds NL game (or a $1/$2 limit game), 10 players: 14 blues (designated as $.50), 18 white ($1), and 15 red ($5) [47 chips, $100 value].

For a $1/$2 blind NL game (or a $2/$4 limit game): 10 white ($1), 20 blue (designated $2), 15 red ($5), and 3 green ($25) [48 chips, $200 value]

For a $5/$10 limit game: 10 white ($1), 18 red ($5), 20 blue (designated $10), and 8 green ($25) [56 chips, $500 value]. (You could also stick to the valued chips here by using 10 white ($1), 18 red ($5), and 16 green ($25) [44 chips, $500 value].)

For a $15/$30 limit game: 20 red ($5), 20 green ($25), 4 black ($100), and 1 purple ($500) [45 chips, $1,500 value].

At the extremes, for a $100/$200 limit game (or a $50/$100 blinds NL game): 20 green ($25) , 10 black ($100), 5 purple ($500), and 6 blue (designated $1,000) [41 chips, $10,000 value]; the orange can be designated as $5,000 if the game ever gets completely insane (you’d have $250,000 in the 50 orange chips alone!).

For a T1000 tournament, 10 players, rebuys allowed, each player would start with 20 red ($5), 16 green ($25), and 5 black ($100) [41 chips, $1,000 value]; you’d have up to 10 rebuys using 5 black and 1 purple. If several people want to rebuy multiple times, additional rebuys would be 2 purple and/or the orange could be designated $1,000. The remaining 40 greens would be used to color up the reds, and purples can color the greens.

For a T1500 tournament, 10 players, rebuys allowed, each player would start with 15 red ($5), 17 green ($25), 5 black ($100), and 1 purple ($500) [38 chips]; you could handle 10 rebuys with 5 red ($5), 3 green ($25), 4 black ($100), and 2 purple ($500). You’d still have 20 purple chips left and could use orange as $1,000, which would handle up to 20 more rebuys if needed. (You’d also have at least 10 blacks left to color up the $1,000 in reds.)

If you want a larger structure for your tournament, you can designate the blue as $200 and the orange as $1,000, which would allow you to skip the reds entirely for something like a T5000 event: 16 green ($25), 8 black ($100), 14 blue ($200), and 2 purple ($500) [40 chips], with rebuys of 5 blue ($200), 2 purple ($500), and 3 orange ($1,000). (You could even designate the blue as $1,000 and the orange as $5,000 if you want a really large structure; this would give you nearly $500,000 in total chip value.)

You could also stretch to cover up to a T1500, 20 player tournament with 1 rebuy allowed: 10 red ($5), 6 green ($25), 6 blue (designated $50), 5 black ($100), and 1 purple ($500) [28 chips]; the first 10 rebuys would be 8 green ($25), 6 blue ($50), and 2 purple ($500); you could accommodate another 10 rebuys with 1 purple ($500) and 1 orange (designated $1,000). (Even if everyone rebuys, you’d still have 20 blues left ($1,000) to color up the reds; and you could use 5 oranges to color up the $5,000 in greens.)

Finally, you could even stretch to a 30 person T1000 tournament with no rebuys: 10 red/white (deeming white $5), 10 green/blue (deeming blue $25), 2 black ($100), and 1 purple ($100) [23 chips]. You could even use only one color of any denomination at a table to start, so, for example, 2 tables would be using red and green for $5 and $25, one table would be using white and blue for $5 and $25. After the first few levels, you can color the red/white with green/blues and you’d have a total of 360 green/blue $25 chips on the tables along with the 60 blacks and 30 purples. While far less than ideal, it would be possible.

Sorry for the length of this post, but I struggled mightily with this issue thought I’d pass the information (and my analysis) along for others struggling with the same thing.

Matthew · #2 (**permalink**) 07-12-2005, 01:43 PM

Nice 1st post and welcome. In summary, you've come to the right place - there will be no shortage of good advice to help you make your decision.

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