First, I appreciate the request for more info!
Cash game: How many players? No more than 10 on any given night.
What stake ranges do you need to cover for? $25 min and $60 Max Buy-in.
How much money on the table at the end of the night? Should be $500 on average, but I feel like closer to $300-$400.
Will the game expand? Not anytime soon!
Tournament game: How many players/tables? 20 people max
Starting structure? Was thinking 5K starting stack with 25/50 starting blinds
How many rebuys allowed? 10 re-buys or so. We can use higher denom chips to cover rebuys.
Okay, cash game first. 0.25/0.25 blinds, max $500 on the table, but need some wiggle room just in case. With $25-60 buy in x10 players, you will need mostly quarters and ones as your workhorse chips.
200x $0.25, 200x $1, 100x $5 gives you 500 chips for $750 bank total. Barrel each of quarters and $1s for the first $25 of buy-in, $5 chips to make up all the rest (and reloads).
Is it possible to get away with fewer chips? Yes, but I wouldn't comfortably go below 120x $0.25, 180x $1, 100x $5 (400 chips for $710 bank). 12x $0.25 and 17x $1 for the first $20 of buy-in, $5 to make up the difference.
Tournament game. Starting blinds 25/50, T5000 starting stacks, 20 people (2 tables), 20 rebuys (1 per person)
Popular breakdown: 12/12/3/2 (29 chips) x20 players = 580 chips for starting stacks. Add 120 chips (mostly T1000 but some T500) for colour-up/rebuy. 700 chips
Can try to bring down the number of chips at the expense of greater change-making in the earlier part of the tournament.
Skinny breakdown: 8/8/4/2 (22 chips) x20 players = 440 chips for starting stacks. Add 60-100 chips of T1000 for colour-up/rebuy. min 500 chips*.
So between the 2 sets, you've probably got a bare minimum of 900 chips and a slightly looser total of 1200 chips. Now set your budget for the total, and you have an idea of what types of chips you can reasonably afford to get.
The above numbers are merely my opinions based on what I perceive are your game requirements. You will ultimately have other ideas. Also bear in mind that sets are rarely available in *exactly* the breakdowns that you need, and you may have to round up each denomination to the nearest 25 chips to meet block quantities.
