Chip Buying Advice for Micro Cash Game (1 Viewer)

[v1pe]

Hey, folks! You all seem like a helpful bunch so I thought I would ask for some advice.

I'm in the market for a new set of chips. I host the occasional tournament and/or cash game for anywhere between 6 - 10 or so players. I am hoping that grows over time, but that's where we are for now.

Most of the folks I play with aren't wanting to put up a lot of cash. Typically the tournament I host is $10 buy-in with rebuys, most people will rebuy once - maybe twice. So if I run a cash game I'm probably looking at 5c/10c or 10c/25c blinds.

I've really only looked at Apache, but it seems like my best option is Majestic's as they come in 5c and 25c denoms. I was thinking a set of 500-600 chips should do the trick for a cash game set. Do you think this breakdown would work for 5c/10c and 10c/25c with an avg buy-in of $20-25? (I have samples of Majestic's and the newer Dune's, both of which I quite like.)

5c x 200
25c x 200
1 x 150
5 x 50

How many players do think this would support assuming some rebuys throughout the evening?

Very open to suggestions on other chip brands or breakdowns, TIA!

 

[Chicken Rob]

I bought some custom GOCC ceramics for a .05/.10 game. My breakdown was:

100/200/200/80/20
.05/.25/1/5/20

This has held up pretty well for a single table game. We've had nights where we got almost all of it on the table in a 7 handed game.

Total bank $1055.

 

[ekricket]

I bought some custom GOCC ceramics for a .05/.10 game. My breakdown was:

100/200/200/80/20
.05/.25/1/5/20

This has held up pretty well for a single table game. We've had nights where we got almost all of it on the table in a 7 handed game.

Total bank $1055.

As alluded to above, you'd be surprised once you get nice chips with denominations on them how much your groups pockets will open up. A dice chip game that is normally a $200 dollar bank gradually becomes a $1000 bank game with nicer equipment. At least that's my experience. When they can throw things around with numbers on them they tend to throw more of them.

Just saying you might want to get a larger bank while you are ordering and shipping.

 

[Chicken Rob]

A 600 chip set with the breakdown I recommended will allow your game to grow and last until you move up to .25/.50 games. you'd be surprised how fun a deep stack .05/.10 game is, even if you normally play for bigger stakes.

 

[BSteck]

If you're open to using dollar denominations for cents, it'll open up more chip options for you. (ie $5 = 5c, $25 = 25c, $100 = 100c)

Then you can get the set you like instead of just the set that has a 5c chip.

Plus... 5/25/100/500 might work a little better for an occasional tourney set than .05/.25/1.00/5.00.

Just something to throw in the hopper as you ponder your options.

 

[Kyoumatic]

As another option, you can customize many stock design ceramic chips to have the denominations you specify.

 

[v1pe]

Thanks, fellas, good 'put all around.

I do like the look and feel of the Majestic's (although my experience with china clay is extremely limited), so sticking with those isn't a problem.

If I went with BSteck's idea and used 100's for $1, 500's for $5 and so on, I could probably get away with buying fewer chips overall.

Someone is selling a nice looking set of 1200 Majestic's on the board here with the following breakdown:

400xT100
200xT500
360xT1000
200xT5000(relabeled orange)
40xT25000(relabeled green)

If I picked up the 1200 chips I could go with 100/5, & 200/25 to go with it and I'd have the breakdown that Chicken Rob suggested. The one problem being that the T25000 relabeled chips would be the same color as the 25's but I would probably keep the T25000's in storage most of the time anyway unless I was hosting an MTT.

I'm considering just getting 10's instead of 5's and forcing the game to go to the 10c/25c level. If I'm honest with myself we are more likely to play a tournament anyway, and if on an off night we play cash I don't think anyone is going to balk at 10c/25c blinds.

Overall that would look like:

100xT10 (blue)
200xT25 (green)
400xT100 (black)
200xT500 (purple)
360xT1000 (yellow)
200xT5000(relabeled orange)
40xT25000(relabeled green)

Does that look like a pretty good breakdown?

 

[TexRex]

My thoughts on cash breakdown:

$.05 -- 100
$.25 -- 200
$1 -- 125
$5 -- 100
$20 -- 75

Total bank = $2125

I think the $.25 is your primary workhorse chip. I would generally stick to the 10-12 per denom per player. Some people like a lot of chips, but I prefer a bigger total banks and more flexibility.

 

[v1pe]

I ended up splitting that set of 1200 for a tournament set, so I will probably look to purchase a separate cash set shortly down the road.

I'll probably shoot for a different design than the Majestic's so that I don't accidentally mix/match things between cash and tournament games. I ordered a sample of the Milano's and I like the Dune's so one of those will probably do...maybe the Milano's will work best if I can figure out if someone makes a fractional denom label so I can relabel some.

 

[ekricket]

I ended up splitting that set of 1200 for a tournament set, so I will probably look to purchase a separate cash set shortly down the road.

I'll probably shoot for a different design than the Majestic's so that I don't accidentally mix/match things between cash and tournament games. I ordered a sample of the Milano's and I like the Dune's so one of those will probably do...maybe the Milano's will work best if I can figure out if someone makes a fractional denom label so I can relabel some.

I think you are after nickels for your cash set, and the CC Dunes doesn't have those. The CC Pharaohs and Championship Poker Series ones do, not sure of you've looked at them.

 

[v1pe]

I think you are after nickels for your cash set, and the CC Dunes doesn't have those. The CC Pharaohs and Championship Poker Series ones do, not sure of you've looked at them.

I have seen the CC Pharoahs, but not the Championship Poker Series...I'll have to check those out!

Does anyone have advice on where to buy labels if I decide to go with more of custom set using blank Milano's or Majestic's?

 

[BGinGA]

@Gear for labels that will astound you. Pretty much any china clay you buy will be vastly superior to the Milano chips. Personally, I'd get the Dunes and pick a denomination to re-label as nickels. Cash sets should have different spot patterns for each chip, imo.

 

[v1pe]

@Gear for labels that will astound you. Pretty much any china clay you buy will be vastly superior to the Milano chips. Personally, I'd get the Dunes and pick a denomination to re-label as nickels. Cash sets should have different spot patterns for each chip, imo.

I do quite like the Dunes, and I'll probably take your advice and do just that

 

[TheOctagon]

I do quite like the Dunes, and I'll probably take your advice and do just that

Not sure if you pulled the trigger yet, but @Apache has the (edit: not Milano) Majestic yellow nickels listed so you could avoid custom or re-labeling altogether.

 

[v1pe]

Not sure if you pulled the trigger yet, but @Apache has the (edit: not Milano) Majestic yellow nickels listed so you could avoid custom or re-labeling altogether.

Oh great to know thanks! I ended up pulling the trigger on a majestic higher denom 100/500/1000/5000/25000 set, so I'll probably go with a different chip for my cash setup.

 

[MattinIdaho]

I have a game pretty much the same size and buy in amounts. This is the chip set I use for that game and it's worked great and has allowed me to be flexible if I end up with a few more players.

 

[TheOctagon]

I have a game pretty much the same size and buy in amounts. This is the chip set I use for that game and it's worked great and has allowed me to be flexible if I end up with a few more players.

I get giddy over any set with a snapper. I don't think I've seen a full cash set of these on the felt. Really nice!

 

[MattinIdaho]

I get giddy over any set with a snapper. I don't think I've seen a full cash set of these on the felt. Really nice!

Thank you. It was my 13 year son that HAD to have the pink chip in the set.

 

[Lemonzest]

I do quite like the Dunes, and I'll probably take your advice and do just that

My group plays for similar stakes (20 NL) and I just bought a set of the Dunes CC.

Breakdown I got is as follows:

Green 20.........(350 pcs.)
Blue 1..............(300 pcs.)
Red 5................(100 pcs.)
Black 100..........(100 pcs.)
Yellow 1,000......(100 pcs.)
Brown 5,000......(50 pcs.)

I probably didn't need that many green 0.20 and maybe should have gone with more blacks but whatever. I will roll with this for now and see how it goes.

I plan to use the green $20 chip as 0.20 and use the blue $1 as 0.10. Blinds for the game will be .10/.20.

I know the .10 and .20 chip are close in value but my thinking was to avoid any 5 c. chips or any bets that include 5c. value. For example, if we had 0.25 chips and someone makes a bet of 0.75 and in your stack you only have 0.10s it is a pain to make change. Maybe I am overthinking this but I know when I am 3-4 beers in I hate trying to figure this kinda stuff out.

We will use the blacks for $1 and the red chips will be actual value of $5. If for some reason game is playing big we can bring in the yellow for $10.

I really love the look of these chips and especially the yellows are just beautiful.

PS. Also in regards to breakdowns I think it is important to have a lot of chips in your lowest 2 values. In my experience it helps as people continue to rebuy over the course of the night. It just saves time with people having to make change from their stacks. That is why I went with the 1,000 set even though a 600 set is likely sufficient.

 

[v1pe]

My group plays for similar stakes (20 NL) and I just bought a set of the Dunes CC.

Breakdown I got is as follows:

Green 20.........(350 pcs.)
Blue 1..............(300 pcs.)
Red 5................(100 pcs.)
Black 100..........(100 pcs.)
Yellow 1,000......(100 pcs.)
Brown 5,000......(50 pcs.)

I probably didn't need that many green 0.20 and maybe should have gone with more blacks but whatever. I will roll with this for now and see how it goes.

I plan to use the green $20 chip as 0.20 and use the blue $1 as 0.10. Blinds for the game will be .10/.20.

I know the .10 and .20 chip are close in value but my thinking was to avoid any 5 c. chips or any bets that include 5c. value. For example, if we had 0.25 chips and someone makes a bet of 0.75 and in your stack you only have 0.10s it is a pain to make change. Maybe I am overthinking this but I know when I am 3-4 beers in I hate trying to figure this kinda stuff out.

We will use the blacks for $1 and the red chips will be actual value of $5. If for some reason game is playing big we can bring in the yellow for $10.

I really love the look of these chips and especially the yellows are just beautiful.

PS. Also in regards to breakdowns I think it is important to have a lot of chips in your lowest 2 values. In my experience it helps as people continue to rebuy over the course of the night. It just saves time with people having to make change from their stacks. That is why I went with the 1,000 set even though a 600 set is likely sufficient.

Yeah, I decided I wanted to avoid using denoms for anything other than their face value. We've played with dice chips for so long and I am so tired of the constant questions about what's worth what... That's what set me off on a search for nicer chips in the first place

As of now, my plan is to purchase a set of 43mm hybrid sunfly chips via the upcoming group buy. I really like the designs so far and I think it will be cool to have a set of ceramics to go along with my China Clay tourney set (majestics).

I'll probably go with something like:

.05 x 150
.25 x 200
1 x 200
5 x 100
20 x 50

 

[Lemonzest]

Yeah, I decided I wanted to avoid using denoms for anything other than their face value. We've played with dice chips for so long and I am so tired of the constant questions about what's worth what... That's what set me off on a search for nicer chips in the first place

As of now, my plan is to purchase a set of 43mm hybrid sunfly chips via the upcoming group buy. I really like the designs so far and I think it will be cool to have a set of ceramics to go along with my China Clay tourney set (majestics).

I'll probably go with something like:

.05 x 150
.25 x 200
1 x 200
5 x 100
20 x 50

Good call. Those chips look nice. I also like the idea of having CC and a separate Ceramic set. Just for a different look/feel and experience.