Cash Game Best 400 chip line up for $0.25/$0.50 Blinds (1 Viewer)

[BigSlick4523]

Just wondering what people think the best line up for $0.25/$0.50 blinds would be for a 400pc set

quick story on our games we play $0.25/$0.50 once people start busting out of our monthly tourney

most people buy in for $50 to start some $40 and then once the game gets going when more people get in they can buy in for the high chip stack at the table

usually get 8-10 players for 2-5hours

might see around 1.5k - 2k or so in the middle sometimes on rare occasion slightly more

this is my breakdown as of now

$0.25 - 120chips

$1 - 120chips

$5 - 120chips

$25 - 30-35chips

$100 - 5-10chips

$500 - Zero

we rarely even get $100 chips on the table cause sometimes people just put cash on the table as well

I usually do this for $50 buy ins

$0.25 - 12chips
$1 - 12chips
$5 - 7chips

for 10 people thats 120 quarters , 120 $1s and 70 $5s

I was thinking about going to 80-100 quarters and 80-100 $1s and adding more $5s

I am one who likes more chips at the table when people are sober
but 99% of the time hardly anyone is sober so I try to not have a lot of chips on the table if possible
takes forever for drunks to chip out chips to bet etc....


let me know what yall think

thanks

 

[Eriks]

I’m not one of the $5-chip hoarders and am all for efficiency, but 400 chips for 8-10 people playing cash sounds not good. Any particular reason you wanna keep it at 400?

 

[chippitydoodah]

Your breakdown looks fine to me as is. Usually someone winds up with almost all the fracs so I wouldn't cut those down.

 

[TheJestyr]

I’d pretty much do the exact same as you. 10 players is a lot to try to squeeze into 400 chips, but hey, we work with what we’ve got

I love where your head is at with standardizing the buy ins. That 12/12/7 looks good.

I could maybe see improvement if you drop down to 112x 25c? The first 8 guys get 12, the last two get 8?

But honestly I’m just nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking.

I think your breakdown is about as good as 400 chips is gonna get for what you’re looking for.

 

[allforcharity]

I would drop the quarters to 80 and then distribute the extra 40 chips at 1 or 5 as needed for bank. Since you have so few chips, your bank coverage really matters.

 

[iLogik]

At 40$ buy in I’m not sure this would work but, I have a group where we do 8-10 players at $20 buy ins but a lot of rebuys.
This set gets me by pretty well. Would maybe want another rack of $1 to make less change but works well enough.

.25 -100
$1 - 200
$5 - 80
$20 - 20

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

I would drop the quarters to 80 and then distribute the extra 40 chips at 1 or 5 as needed for bank. Since you have so few chips, your bank coverage really matters.

Agreed. I'm team TooManyFracs but for a super efficient breakdown I can't justify having more than rack.

Personally for 400 I'm not focused on starting stacks, I'm focused on making 400 chips stretch to more than $2,500. You mention $2.5k in the middle but your bank barely gets there.

80 fracs
120 $1s
140 $5s
40 $25s
20 $100s


This covers more bank than you need. You can change some around if needed but it sounds like your quarters are for blinds only.

 

[JustinInMN]

this is my breakdown as of now

$0.25 - 120chips

$1 - 120chips

$5 - 120chips

$25 - 30-35chips

$100 - 5-10chips

$500 - Zero

Your need for 25s is minimal, and your need for 100s is non-existent. I think you are too tight on singles for good gameplay, imo. For just 400 chips, I would eliminate the 100s, some of the 25s and some of the quarters to give you this:

25¢ * 80
1 * 180
5 * 120
25 * 20

Bank is 1300, covers 26 buy-ins of 50.

For 50 dollar buy-ins I would build stacks in one of 2 ways.

Method A, all the quarters out right away
First 4 stacks: 20/20/5 of (25¢/1/5)
Next 5 stacks: 0/20/6
Next 7 stacks: 0/0/10
Next 10 stacks: 2*25.

Method B, distribute the quarters
First 10 stacks: 8/18/6
Next 6 stacks: 0/0/10
Next 10 stacks: 2*25.

If you could do 500 chips it would be better and I would suggest this.
25¢ * 100
1 * 200
5 * 180
25 * 20

That takes your bank to $1625 and you have to go though 22 buy-ins before even touching the 25 chips.

With 400 chips, even with my suggestion, you only get 16 buy-ins before having to introduce 25s. With your suggestion you only get 15 buy-ins before having to introduce 25s. Not that there's anything wrong with introducing 25s, but that chip is worth half a buy-in alone, meaning it's really only workable provided there are plenty of lower chips on the table already once they are introduced. Delaying that introduction as long as possible makes for the best gameplay. The 100s would not at all be workable in a set this small.

 

[JustinInMN]

At 40$ buy in I’m not sure this would work but, I have a group where we do 8-10 players at $20 buy ins but a lot of rebuys.
This set gets me by pretty well. Would maybe want another rack of $1 to make less change but works well enough.

.25 -100
$1 - 200
$5 - 80
$20 - 20

I really like this one for $20 buy-ins (and presuming 25¢- 25¢ blinds), but for $50 buy-ins I think the OP needs a little more bulk in the fives and twenty-fives that this breakdown. (Or needs to expand to 500 or 600 chips . )

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

most people buy in for $50 to start some $40 and then once the game gets going when more people get in they can buy in for the high chip stack at the table

usually get 8-10 players for 2-5hours

might see around 2k - 2.5k or so in the middle sometimes

Your need for 25s is minimal, and your need for 100s is non-existent. I think you are too tight on singles for good gameplay, imo. For just 400 chips, I would eliminate the 100s, some of the 25s and some of the quarters to give you this:

25¢ * 80
1 * 180
5 * 120
25 * 20

Bank is 1300, covers 26 buy-ins of 50.

I'd usually agree but it sounds huge and match-the-stack, he cites a need for double that bank. Definitely tight on singles though.

 

[JustinInMN]

I'd usually agree but it sounds huge and match-the-stack, he cites a need for double that bank. Definitely tight on singles though.

Yeah I was trying to get to 25-30 buy-ins with my recommendation, which is my goldilocks zone. I could see swapping out 20 fives for 20 twenty-fives to add more bulk to the bank and take it to 34 buy-ins. But more twenty-fives than that, I would start to get worried about the inability to break twenty-five denom chips on the table as the fives would start to feel limited.

That answer may just be 400 isn't enough.

 

[BigSlick4523]

Love all the suggestions I might take it to 500 chips and add some $1s and $5s

Again I am usually team MOAR chips on the table but some people end up bombed before the end of the night n if they got alot of chips in front of them its usually a nightmare

Also sometimes people get weird n try to be like high stakes poker n leave some cash on the table as well lol

 

[JustinInMN]

Love all the suggestions I might take it to 500 chips and add some $1s and $5s

Again I am usually team MOAR chips on the table but some people end up bombed before the end of the night n if they got alot of chips in front of them its usually a nightmare

Understandable. But the other nightmare is bombed people trying to break a $100 chip when there are only 40 $25 chips on the table distributed among 10 people. Or to a lesser extent, trying to break $25 chips with 100-120 reds on the table. The latter is more doable, but still can get tricky before too long, especially if enough players are impaired.

 

[BigSlick4523]

I’m not one of the $5-chip hoarders and am all for efficiency, but 400 chips for 8-10 people playing cash sounds not good. Any particular reason you wanna keep it at 400?

Only because alot of times its a nightmare with alot of chips on the table with some of these players lol

 

[upNdown]

.25 - 100
$1. - 140
$5 - 200
$25 - 50
$100 - 10

Shit, that’s 500. Knew it was too easy.

.25 - 100
$1 - 140
$5 - 140
$25 - 15
$100 - 5

 

[BigSlick4523]

Agreed. I'm team TooManyFracs but for a super efficient breakdown I can't justify having more than rack.

Personally for 400 I'm not focused on starting stacks, I'm focused on making 400 chips stretch to more than $2,500. You mention $2.5k in the middle but your bank barely gets there.

80 fracs
120 $1s
140 $5s
40 $25s
20 $100s


This covers more bank than you need. You can change some around if needed but it sounds like your quarters are for blinds only.

I like this

Usually some people will put cash on the table as well I try to get them to buy chips but if they have chips already they will just throw a $50 or $100 cash on the table as well

 

[upNdown]

Personally for 400 I'm not focused on starting stacks, I'm focused on making 400 chips stretch to more than $2,500. You mention $2.5k in the middle but your bank barely gets there.

Not sure if it makes much of a difference, but maybe that’s not the primary concern if this is an “after the tournament” cash set, where the game isn’t likely to last as long (and thus fewer buyins.)
Either way I’d guess I’d say that 400 chips is the bare minimum and not quite enough, in my mind.
I want a half barrel of fracs and a full barrel of $1s per person at these stakes. I NEED more that a single rack of $5s, and preferably as close to two as possible. That doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room, you know?

 

[JustinInMN]

I like this

Usually some people will put cash on the table as well I try to get them to buy chips but if they have chips already they will just throw a $50 or $100 cash on the table as well

If you are allowing cash on the table, then I would make the rule it's $100 notes only and then I wouldn't at all bother to get 100 denom chips. That said, I am now becoming more convinced in this paradigm 40 twenty-fives is better than just 20 as in my initial suggestion. Or you could allow $20 notes only ($100 notes would have to be changed, though I guess you don't get too many of those anyway given you said most buy-ins are $40-$50) and not bother with 25s and just get a tidy bank of 100/200/100 of 25¢/1/5 and call it a day .

 

[chippitydoodah]

Unless we are talking about one more rack of Tigers at $1,400, why couldn't you just go up one more rack to 500 chips ?

 

[allforcharity]

Maybe get all quarters, 1s, 5s in chips and let $20 bills play

 

[BigSlick4523]

I could go up to 500 chips that's not a prob cause my chips are nothing special was just tying to figure out a nice breakdown for 400

at 400 chips I was thinking maybe something like this

$0.25 - 80
$1 - 130-140
$5 - 140
$25 - 40-45
$100 - 5-10

that way I could start out 10 people with 8quarters , 13 $1s for $15 then 7 $5s to make it $50

that would be 80 quarters , 130 $1s and 70 $5s to start 10 people out with $500 worth the chips then go from there

 

[Eriks]

Only because alot of times its a nightmare with alot of chips on the table with some of these players lol

I would guess it’d be a bigger nightmare having them all constantly making change from the pot

 

[BigSlick4523]

I would guess it’d be a bigger nightmare having them all constantly making change from the pot

True some.of these people are recs that rarely play as opp to me well I rarely play anymore but ive been playing for 22years and I am sober at these games so being one of the only sober ones sucks in a game full of drunks

 

[springbox]

80 quarters
140 ones
140 fives
40 twenty fives

$1860 bank. If you really need to stretch let a $100 bill play. If you wanna make sure you don't cap out on bank don't let people match the big stack.

 

[BigSlick4523]

if I stay at 400 chips I think this might be my best bet breakdown wise

$0.25 - 80
$1 - 100
$5 - 170
$25 - 40
$100 - 8
$500 - 2

for a bank of $3,770

if I go 500 chips maybe something like this

$0.25 - 80
$1 - 140
$5 - 200
$25 - 60
$100 - 15
$500 - 5

for a bank of $6,660 - def wouldn't need that many don't think we have ever had over 3k in the middle at once - prob rather be safe than sorry if the game ever got out of control

 

[Machine]

you know 400 chips is 200 too short. why are you trying to play too thin? 100s and 500s are a waste

 

[Nine_high]

Just wondering what people think the best line up for $0.25/$0.50 blinds would be for a 400pc set

quick story on our games we play $0.25/$0.50 once people start busting out of our monthly tourney

most people buy in for $50 to start some $40 and then once the game gets going when more people get in they can buy in for the high chip stack at the table

usually get 8-10 players for 2-5hours

might see around 1.5k - 2k or so in the middle sometimes on rare occasion slightly more

this is my breakdown as of now

$0.25 - 120chips

$1 - 120chips

$5 - 120chips

$25 - 30-35chips

$100 - 5-10chips

$500 - Zero

we rarely even get $100 chips on the table cause sometimes people just put cash on the table as well

I usually do this for $50 buy ins

$0.25 - 12chips
$1 - 12chips
$5 - 7chips

for 10 people thats 120 quarters , 120 $1s and 70 $5s

I was thinking about going to 80-100 quarters and 80-100 $1s and adding more $5s

I am one who likes more chips at the table when people are sober
but 99% of the time hardly anyone is sober so I try to not have a lot of chips on the table if possible
takes forever for drunks to chip out chips to bet etc....


let me know what yall think

thanks

Play .50/.50 and you can do this with four racks:

50/150/150/40/10

Bank is $2925. If you think you need north of $3k adjust slightly, you can go down to 40x .50 and maybe swap a barrel of ones out to get more bank: 40/130/170/50/10 or similar.

Or add that fifth rack and you are golden:

60/170/200/60/10 or 50/200/200/40/10

 

[JustinInMN]

$0.25 - 80
$1 - 100
$5 - 170
$25 - 40
$100 - 8
$500 - 2

Working from the top down

The two five-hundreds will be near impossible to break with only $1800 in hundreds and twenty-fives on the table distributed among 10 players. On average these chips would be distributed about $200 per player, making breaking a five-hundred usually impossible. You would need nearly 30% of these chips concentrated with one player to make change. This should be a non-starter.

The 100s are a little more credible to break since you would have about $1850 in fives and twenty-fives on the table to work with. Still this necessitates five denominations in play. 2-3 denominations are really what's ideal for cash.

I do fear you have really shorted yourself on singles here. You are looking at 10 starting stacks of 8/8/8 for 10 $50 buy-ins. This feels like you will be breaking fives on every single hand.

But I think I see what you are trying to to do, you are trying to make your bank as "top heavy" as possible in terms of denominations without it tipping over, so to speak, to cover a really high total bank.

I personally would prefer a minimum starting stack of 8/18/6 for $50, so that necessitates a minimum of 80/180/60, which is 320 chips right there. The question then remains how to spend the last 80. If you split that evenly with extra fives and twenty-fives, 40 each, that gives you 80/180/100/40 or a bank of 1700. You could boost the bank to 2100 by adding 20 twenty-fives and taking away 20 fives, which would make 80/180/80/60. But the problem is you will only have $600 in chips in your first 3 denominatioms, distributed among 10 players to break any twenty-five chips. Someone will have to trade about half their change every time someone needs a twenty-five chip broken.

So let's meet in the middle on the singles. Do an 8/13/7 starting stack. Meaning we allocated 280 chips to 10 $50 starting stacks ototalling 80/130/70. We have 120 chips to allocate. If we divide between extra fives and twenty-fives evenly, we get a bank of 2500 with a 80/130/130/60 breakdown. This at least gets $850 on the table in smaller denoms, or an average of about $85 per player, breaking a twenty-five chip now requires one player to give up less than a third of their small chips on average.

This might be your best bet with a constraint of 400 chips. It's 50 buy ins.

All that said, this exercise shows we are trying to find the balance between limiting chips on the table and increased change making.

A 400 chip set means players will average no more that 40 chips in their stacks. Two barrels worth. Going to 500 chips raises that average to an extra half-barrel, but probably saves on change making. Going to 600 means putting an average of 3 barrels in each players stack of the bank gets maxed out, but would put change making at a minimum, and certain never a situation where a player would have to give up more than 20% of their small chips to break a big chip.

It sounds like inebriation is the motivator for keeping the stacks small, but at the same time, how much of an obstacle is inebriation for change making, or for having to track potentially five denominations when counting stacks, or that guy that finds the opportunity to make a bet of $198.25 using five denoms of chips?

But overall, what I am trying to show is that when introducing large denominations to a game, you have to consider whether or not there are enough smaller denominations to make needed change, and how often that will occur, and the impact on game play.

 

[Dugthefish]

Change to a single $1 blind. It's an extra quarter in blinds, makes virtually no difference in game play, and eliminates the need for a frac.

 

[Santa123]

100 25c
300 $1
And cover the rest with cash.

As time goes by you will continue to add higher denominations.