Tourney Chip amounts? (2 Viewers)

[1pbce1]

I haven't hosted a tournament in ages but I've got a lead on 2 great tournament sets which I'd like to buy.

If I was to host a tournament if would probably be 1-2 tables of 6max and I'd want it to last around 6 hours.

Here is what I can get:

I can put 500 of each together and the best mix is;
Set 1 - White 25 x207 Blue 100 x69 Red 500 x80 & Green 1000 x 144.
Set 2 - Green 50 x140 Blue 100 x120 Red 500 x140 & White 1000 x100

Is there enough of each set? How many of each chip should I get?

Thanks

 

[Coyote]

I 'll take the liberty to contribute some basic stuff before the true experts on the other side of the Atlantic wake up

For a classic, orthodox T10,000 starting stack tourney, you are going to need the following classic and tested values of chips, in these minimum quantities per player:
8x25
8x100
8x500 (or even 4x500)
5x1000 (or 7x1000 if only 4x500)
Plus 5 or 3x1000 for coloring up (replacing lower value chips - this can be done also intermediately, if you have extra chips of each denomination, to cover the total value of the lower denomination chips in play).
So, total 10x1000 anyway.
Plus 2x5000 for each rebuy/add-on you want to make available.

Multiply that with the number of players.

 

[andy699669]

I 'll take the liberty to contribute some basic stuff before the true experts on the other side of the Atlantic wake up

For a classic, orthodox T10,000 starting stack tourney, you are going to need the following classic and tested values of chips, in these minimum quantities per player:
8x25
8x100
8x500 (or even 4x500)
5x1000 (or 7x1000 if only 4x500)
Plus 5 or 3x1000 for coloring up (replacing lower value chips - this can be done also intermediately, if you have extra chips of each denomination, to cover the total value of the lower denomination chips in play).
So, total 10x1000 anyway.
Plus 2x5000 for each rebuy/add-on you want to make available.

Multiply that with the number of players.

Oops, you actually need more T1000 and less T500. Having 4 T500 is optimal, but you will need more powerhouse chips to play with the T1000 (and possibly T5000). For P10 single table, 12-12-5-6 stacks are optimal. The 8-8-4-7-blank is for at least 3 table tournaments.

10UP T10000 Chips
12-12-5-6 Distribution (in parenthesis is in case of only able to buy in rolls of 25):
120 (125) T25
120 (125) T100
50x T500
75x T1000
25x T5000
With 400 chips you can have yourself a tournament up to 10, the distribution above includes colour-up armaments of 15x T1000 to dump the T25 and T100 chips with, and T5000 is for rebuys/continues. Hand 2 of the T5000 so they can respawn in play, or alternatively, you can give them T20,000 right away, but the two T5000 chips act as life-saver if you are at the verge of Game Over. If you can keep them up to a specific threshold stage, you can either use them in normal game (acts as add-on/extend play), or return them for a small prize (not taking the extend play option).

 

[TexRex]

Coyote's plan is workable, though you could easily get by with fewer 500s than Coyote is suggesting. You could get by with 2 for each player, and I'd recommend it if you are limited to 500 in the set. I'd only go to 3 each if you had 12x25 and 12x100, and then you could do 3 or 5. But you need fewer 500s than any other if you have a 1000. I'd get at least 5x1000, but would prefer 7, and have at least 1x5000 in a set this small.

Neither set you posted is particularly good for your needs. 500 could work for 12. The WSOP years ago did 8/8/2/3/1, but that's not a particularly workable set, especially for a home tournament. Casinos aren't worried about your experience, but a home host should be. Better would be 12/7/2/8 and then have 5000s for coloring up or rebuys. I like 12/12/3/7 even better, and 12/12/3/12 works but only leaves you 32 for 500s. If a bigger chip set is a possibility, then you have way more options.

Other issues:

• Having 50 and 100 in the same set is a waste!
• Best to have at least 10 of the smallest denom and preferably at least 10 of the 2nd as well, unless you start at 100.
• Most people get too few of the biggest chips. I'd add 5000 if possible for several reasons. They can be used as rebuys. They can be the primary color up chip. When limited on set size don't use anything smaller than 1000 as a color up chip. I would make sure you have enough 100s though (use 12 if possible). 5000s can add to you stack size when you want to make stacks bigger.
• Any chance your game could grow? If so, do you have room for more than 12? If so, you need to plan accordingly. I'd buy in multiples of the most players you could sit at a table. If it's really 6, OK. If it's 8, 9, or 10, I'd plan accordingly instead of planning for only 6 per table. It's expensive when your game grows but your chip set can't because you can't get them any more. That means another chip set -- always a great answer to the problem on this forum, but not necessarily for your pocket book!
• 2 tables of 6 ~ Is it possible to have a final table with 8-10 players? If you are limited to 6 per table, it's going to be odd when you have to be at 4 and 3 to a table trying to eliminate one player.
• You mentioned colors, but could you get denominated chips? Most players prefer them to having to remember colors. Neither set uses what I think of as standard colors. Without denoms, I'd be inclined to stick with standard colors because players who play in more than one game will get confused easier. Denoms eliminate that entirely.
• A 6 hr game is going to depend on your structure more than the starting amounts. With a decent chip set, that's very possible to do. If limited to 500 chips, you probably want to have blinds go up in the 20-33% range on average, not in the 50-60% range, and definitely not doubling the blinds.

Comments on the specific sets you mentioned:
Set 1 - White 25 x207 Blue 100 x69 Red 500 x80 & Green 1000 x 144.
For 12 players, you don't need more than 144x25s. You either need 96 or 144x100s. At most you need 36x500. If limited to 500 and you have options, I'd go 12/7/2 (144+84+24) and the rest in 1000s because you will need a lot of 100s (that's 248x1000). If a 5000 chip is a possibility, the tell us because that opens up many other possibilities.
Set 2 - Green 50 x140 Blue 100 x120 Red 500 x140 & White 1000 x100
I don't think this is very workable at all! The 50/100 is a waste, and having more 500s than 100s is really not a good idea unless you eliminate the 1000s and go with 2000s. Even that wont' fix the 50/100 problem, but it would help.

Typical colors (at least in much of the USA) ~
White or Blue 1 ~ any multiple starting with a 1 (100, 1000, 10,000; 100,000)
Red 5 ~ Could be 500 or 5000 (red probably starts with a 5).
Green 25 ~ Could be 25,000

White and Blue can be more flexible if you don't use 1s.

I wouldn't put green and blue right next to each other as with these chips, they are the closest in color range and under certain lighting conditions might be hard to distinguish. That may depend on how dark or light each chip color is, but I've seen those two get mixed up easily. I'd tend to prefer them on opposite ends of the spectrum if these are the 4 colors you are limited to.

 

[1pbce1]

Wow, great replies! I'll digest and come back with any questions

 

[JustinInMN]

Are the denominations already on the chips or do you have some flexibility in color?

That might help but to be honest, I don't think either of these sets are "great" for tournament based on breakdown alone. Now if we're talking high quality cermaics or clays we can probably forgive the breakdown if it's a good deal.

But if we're talking plastic chips, they're cheap enough to order new to ensure getting a good breakdown.

For tournaments I like starting stacks of 12*T25,12*T100,5*T500 to make T4000 + however many T1000s you want to make the desired stack size.

If you need to stretch your set over a bigger field use 8/8/4 to make T3000 + how ever many T1000 you need to make your start size.

So for T10000 at a minimum you need 100*T25, 100*T100, 50*T500, 100*T1000 using the shorter stacks.

With the deeper stacks it is 150*T25, 150*T100, 75*T500, 150*T1000 which puts you at 525 chips.

So I guess what I am saying is neither of these sets fits great, so unless these are exceptional chips it's not worth saving a few bucks buying used if the breakdown is bad.

 

[1pbce1]

Are the denominations already on the chips or do you have some flexibility in color?

That might help but to be honest, I don't think either of these sets are "great" for tournament based on breakdown alone. Now if we're talking high quality cermaics or clays we can probably forgive the breakdown if it's a good deal.

But if we're talking plastic chips, they're cheap enough to order new to ensure getting a good breakdown.

For tournaments I like starting stacks of 12*T25,12*T100,5*T500 to make T4000 + however many T1000s you want to make the desired stack size.

If you need to stretch your set over a bigger field use 8/8/4 to make T3000 + how ever many T1000 you need to make your start size.

So for T10000 at a minimum you need 100*T25, 100*T100, 50*T500, 100*T1000 using the shorter stacks.

With the deeper stacks it is 150*T25, 150*T100, 75*T500, 150*T1000 which puts you at 525 chips.

So I guess what I am saying is neither of these sets fits great, so unless these are exceptional chips it's not worth saving a few bucks buying used if the breakdown is bad.

Thanks for the reply! Yes they are exceptional sets - both unused sets from closed UK casinos, and I like the idea of having sets with some history.

The second set (with the 50's) is a no-go as they are super-diamond chips and after getting a sample they are not great. The first set however are brand new ceramics, really cool design (essentially my dream chip), and they are offering them to me at 20p/chip. I'm quite new to chipping, but that sounds like a great deal.

I'm just finding out if they have a 5k chip, although I don't think they do, however I'm not against getting a different design 5k chip for now and getting a custom made up in the future, so if we go on the premise that we've also got any amount of 5k's to play with, how many 25,100,500 and 1k chips do I need for, say 10 x 10k starting stacks?

 

[BGinGA]

12/12/5/6 would be an optimum T10k starting stack, so the minimum set needed to support 10 players is:

120 x T25
120 x T100
50 x T500
75 x T1000 (includes 15x to color-up T25/T100)

T5000 chips aren't needed for a ten-player T10k event, since the event will typically end before the T500 chips can be removed. But getting a barrel (20 chips) or so allows for more set flexibility, including re-buys, add-ons, larger starting stacks, and T500 color-ups if needed due to any of those tourney parameters.

 

[JustinInMN]

Okay so that's a horse of a different color .

Then yes, pounce on set A . If you're open to adding on custom look-alikes for T5000 chips I would suggest getting another 100 T100s as well, that makes this set very playable.

You can do 20 stacks of 8/8/4/7 with a bunch for T25 left over if you just get the extra T100s, and as you alluded before, T5000s would be good and maybe a few extra T1000s.

If you get these, hope to see pictures.

 

[1pbce1]

So....

8 x 25 = 200
8 x 100 = 800
4 x 500 = 2000
7 x 1000 = 7000

= 10k

8 x 16 = 128
8 x 16 = 128
4 x 16 = 64
7 x 16 = 112

That gives me 16 x 10k stacks for 2 tables of 8, although I doubt I'll ever get that. If I get, say 32 x 5k chips then would all that do me?

 

[v1pe]

You've got lots of good advice so far. Do you have a pic of the chips so the experts here can confirm their worth? Of course if you love them that much, it may not matter. Either way, chip pron is always a plus.

 

[JustinInMN]

That gives me 16 x 10k stacks for 2 tables of 8, although I doubt I'll ever get that. If I get, say 32 x 5k chips then would all that do me?

Yup this is a pretty good breakdown. Getting 5k chips isn't totally necessary but just nice to have if you are going to allow rebuys or experiment with bigger stacks 20-40 should do nicely to these ends. The extra T100s on the other hand I would consider an absolute must.

You've got lots of good advice so far. Do you have a pic of the chips so the experts here can confirm their worth? Of course if you love them that much, it may not matter. Either way, chip pron is always a plus.

Yes, pics would be really good.

 

[1pbce1]

Thanks for the input. Pictures will come when I've got them

 

[Darson]

The first set however are brand new ceramics, really cool design (essentially my dream chip), and they are offering them to me at 20p/chip. I'm quite new to chipping, but that sounds like a great deal.

That is a great deal! Maybe if you have more details there could be some of us that would also buy in with the volume perhaps dropping the total chip price? I would love to have a GBP denominated set.

 

[WhiteMamba1646]

Always want to start by figuring out your starting stack amount and multiply that by the amount of players you will have, also take into account rebuys and add ons. for a T10000 starting stack you can either do T25-12/T100-12/T500-5/T1000-6 or T25-8/T100-8/T500-6/T1000-6 and then figure out how many chips you need. If you have T5 chips you can also do T2000 or T1000 tourney starting stacks which can be T5-5/T25-7/T100-8 with an additional 2 T500 for the 2k starting stack. But always want to have "Chip up" Chips to help when you need to get rid of the lower denominations as well as for Add ons. Here are some starting stacks i have done in the past for some tournament's ive hosted.

T2000 tourney

T2000 Tourney

T5000 Tourney

T5000 Tourney

T2000 Tourney

 

[1pbce1]

That is a great deal! Maybe if you have more details there could be some of us that would also buy in with the volume perhaps dropping the total chip price? I would love to have a GBP denominated set.

They are not GDP, just tournament values

 

[Darson]

They are not GDP, just tournament values

That's fine - you mentioned they were from a casino? I'm British (although living in Texas) hence my excitement at a source of UK chips.

 

[Kasper Storrs]

I'm British (although living in Texas) hence my excitement at a source of UK chips.

^ this
I don't think there are any paulsons in play here but maybe Matsui/B&G? No idea what uk gaming convention is regarding old chip stock.

 

[1pbce1]

I'll put you guys in contact when I've got what I want - he only has limited stock.

 

[1pbce1]

Got the ceramic chips, oh baby! Where shall I post the pictures?

 

[Darson]

Right here! And let us know how to score our own!

 

[WhiteMamba1646]

Right here

 

[Kasper Storrs]

Post story, history of chips and pr0n here!

 

[JustinInMN]

Yest, post pictures here for sure.

Also feel free to contribute pictures to the topics on the pron board.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/forums/poker-chip-pron.36/

Can't have too many picture posts.

 

[1pbce1]

Right well here goes. Sorry in advance if this is a let down, doesn't compare to some of the sets on here!

Since getting back into chipping I've become jealous. Not because of the sets people have, but how often the guys in the US are able to pick up amazing bargains on quality chips. Those 'Craigslist find' threads frankly make me sick. I'm also envious of how easily you can get ex-casino chips. I love chips with a history as opposed to buying something new from a warehouse. My dream has always to own some ex-UK casino chips.

I contacted some casino people in the UK including the head of poker for Grosvenor Casinos and asked him what happened to the old Gala casino chips (Grosvenor bought Gala a few years back). His response was that all those chips were destroyed. Bugger.

Then a couple of weeks ago I saw an eBay add for some Gala and Ladbrokes chips in sets of 4:

These were EXACTLY what I was looking for. On the off chance I decided to mail the seller to see how many he had. I was extremely happen then to find he had about 500 of each, plus some other sets!

I asked for a sample of 10 of each:

Although I really liked the look of the Ladbroke chips, I didn't like the feel (super diamonds) and the breakdown he had wasn't great (see my first post about the set with the '50' chips). The ceramics felt great, I've always liked ceramics, and he did have a workable breakdown for a single table tournament (thanks to the advice I got in this thread).

I asked how he got these chips and he said he bought a job lot from someone who worked in a Gala before it closed. He had actually acquired 4 different tournament sets, all 3 Gala sets listed here:

http://themogh.org/cg_chip2.php?id=UKXXGC&p=0111111#1

And a set of the Ladrboke tournament chips listed here:

http://themogh.org/cg_chip2.php?id=UKMULC&p=1111#4

(Ladbroke Casinos was acquired by Gala in 2000 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4476356/Hilton-has-good-day-of-deals-at-the-gaming-table.html)

I thought about buying everything he had, but decided it might be a waste so just went for the ceramic set, at 20p a chip, which I was more than happy to pay even if it was too much. The seller was brilliant and answered all my many questions. Unfortunately for you guys, whilst I didn't get all the ceramic chips, I got the only playable set (I took all his 100's and 1K's). Got them today and they are brilliant:

Here is a T10K stack, I've gout enough for 8 of these plus some colour ups:

Essentially this is my dream set so I am very happy. Now I just need to host my first tournament in 10 years! Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread. Hopefully this write up was worth it.

The seller does have some 25's and 500's left of the ceramics, plus around 500 of the Ladbroke's and then about 500 of the following 2 sets:

He will sell the Ladbroke and star Gala chips at 15p each, and the worn Gala suits chips at 10p each. If you're interested drop me a DM and I'll put you in touch. Note he will only ship to the UK, so if you're outside the UK you'll have to get someone to buy and pass on (I cannot do it unfortunately).

 

[1pbce1]

Let me know what you think

 

[Kasper Storrs]

Cool story and history with these! One of only a few UK casino sets to make it out alive which aren't plastics, surely. Now if we can show card rooms and casinos here that chips matter, maybe more of them will think about upgrading.

 

[Darson]

Very cool! If I was you, I would have bought all the ceramics. If you lose a chip or two, it's nice to have spares and you can't beat the price.

Sadly the plastics are meh...

 

[JustinInMN]

I agree, I love those ceramics! Glad you found a playable set there and that's a really good price for ceramics new. I'm with you, I am kinda meh on those super diamonds, I was worried that's what all the sets were before you started describing them

I'm glad this is a dream seat, great score!

 

[BGinGA]

Nice score of decent ceramics in good shape from a real casino located in your area at a good price with a playable breakdown. By my count, that's a win x 6. Nice job!