I usually play .05/.10 or .05/.05, which is admittedly plays way smaller than your game, but is conveniently conveniently divisible by 100. A few thoughts based on my experience (multiplying my stakes by 100 below). In short, it generally in agreement with
@Alex Lundstrum ’s breakdown above.
100 5s seems to be too few, but 200 is a bit too many. There are pre-flop raises to 15 or 20 in 5/5, and 35-30 in 5/5/10, and if anyone limps, you’ll want them.
I’d probably go with 200 5s. Better to have too many than too few.
25s will likely be your workhorse chip, Especially on the flop and occasionally on the turn. A raise to 40 in a 5/5/10 game and then 3 callers means there’s 160 in the pot, and flop bets tend to be in 25s. After that, anything up to about 500 is pretty management with 25s. In addition, 25s will likely be a key part of starting stacks if you’re only going with 200 5s. Buying in for 1000 will probably look something 36x25s (900), and 20x5s (100) for the initial few people, and then 4x100s(400), 20x25s (500), 20x5s (100).
Would probably do at least 300-400 25s.
Turn and river bets will likely be in a combination of 25s and 100, leaning more towards 100s. In addition, you’ll likely handle your rebuys with mostly 100s + some 25s or 500s, depending on the rebuy amount and how many chips on the table.
Would probably do 200-300 100s.
If you do 200x5s, 400x25s, and 300x100, then that puts you at 900 chips. If you’re looking to get a nice round 1000, then I’d probably
consider something like 80x500s, and 20x1000s, with the 500s and 1k primarily coming into play for rebuys.
200/400/300/80/20 gets a bank of 101,000.
If you’re worried that’ll be a bit light, then
a fun alternative could be to use $2k chips, rather $1k chips. You don’t see it in casinos, but it could make the 500s a bit more useful, and will give you an extra $20k in the bank. This depends on buy-in size and player preference, though. Not much use in them if players typically buy in for sub $2k.
If you want to use plaques, then I’d just do 100x500s, and then plaques for however many 1ks you want.
A few extra thoughts:
If you have a full time dealer that accepts tips, you’ll want some 1s for each player. Alternatively, plan to have lots of $1 bills and players can buy $10-20 of those when they buy in.
If you play 5/5/10, consider getting a few $10 chips to use as a rock, if your group is into that sort of thing. (See the Aria’s 5/5 game as an example. Seems to make for more action, and it’s an excuse to get an extra chip. Bonus points if you put it in a chip protector like they do in casinos
Whether you go custom or re-label, be sure to get a few extra of each chip. Don’t keep them anywhere near your playable set, but they’ll be nice to have if one breaks or gets lost.
hope this is somewhat useful!!