I was having a real hard time trying to decide what to buy to run a low stakes $25NL cash game. Wanted to share what I did and what my solution was thanks to this forum and pokerforum.ca
I have been running a 25c/25c ($25 buy in game that allows top ups at any time to half the big stack). I have a 10 person table. This is my setup and it works great so far..
I bought a 500 chip case which gave me 10 rows.. 10 players = 10 rows so it works out perfect
in each row I have the following
16x 25c
16x $1
16x $5
5x $25
I know that adds up to 53 chips per row not 50 but most cases allow for a few more in each row depending on the thickness of your chips because they are generic cases. Worst case just leave some $5s out and keep them as spares. (you would only lose 6 buy ins if you had to remove 30 $5 chips)
If you look at the photo below I have my case ready to go for each game like this. The first 10 buy ins are pulled from the front of each row which consists of the following:
16 x $1 (grey)
16 x 25x (pink)
1x $5 (red)
= $25
I move one of the reds up to divide the greys and pinks so you don't forget to give it out with the first stack. Makes it easy to hand them out this way. If for some reason you don't have 10 starting players and someone buys in again, give them another starting stack until all the initial $25 stacks are out there. Get all these 25c, $1 chips on the table first. After all the starting stacks are on the table, start digging into your $5 (reds) and have them make change with someone at the table.. After all the reds are on the table start into your $25 (greens), if you go through all your greens then start putting $20 bills on the table and tell the table they are a bunch of degens!!
This gives 10 players 9x $25 buy ins! that's $2250 on the table. For a 25NL this is A LOT, I play with some really deep pocket players and I have never had them all on the table before with 10 players for a 4 hour game.
So for this entire setup you need the following
160x 25c
160x $1
160x $5
50x $25
that is 575 chips, for the first 3 denoms (25x, $1, $5) you will need to buy 175 of each. This will give you spares which you can store as spares for when they walk or replace broken ones..
TIP: COUNT YOUR GREEN CHIPS as you hand them out!!! Make sure you know how many green chips are out there. Before anyone cashes out with a green chip you do a table count of the greens. Because of the way my stacks are I know there are 5 per row so it's easy to count know how many are on the table and don't let anyone touch the case other than the banker. This has worked really well for my games so far and players are happy who are regulars to cash games
The other thing this does is it fills my case so when I put chips away at the end of the night i know instantly if any chips are missing this si also why it is nice to have spares to make sure the case is always full. Buy your spares now because newer runs might be different colors or quality or they might not make them any more.. Spend a few extra dollars to get a few extra of each denom
If you are using a bird cage (acrylic carrying case) get one that holds 6 racks. Each rack will hold 100 chips so you would only need 5 racks but get 6 and put all your spares in the other spare rack and cover it so you don't accidently pull from it.
I hope this helps someone else get going with a new set for their game. We need more lower stakes games to get players into the game!!
I have been running a 25c/25c ($25 buy in game that allows top ups at any time to half the big stack). I have a 10 person table. This is my setup and it works great so far..
I bought a 500 chip case which gave me 10 rows.. 10 players = 10 rows so it works out perfect
in each row I have the following
16x 25c
16x $1
16x $5
5x $25
I know that adds up to 53 chips per row not 50 but most cases allow for a few more in each row depending on the thickness of your chips because they are generic cases. Worst case just leave some $5s out and keep them as spares. (you would only lose 6 buy ins if you had to remove 30 $5 chips)
If you look at the photo below I have my case ready to go for each game like this. The first 10 buy ins are pulled from the front of each row which consists of the following:
16 x $1 (grey)
16 x 25x (pink)
1x $5 (red)
= $25
I move one of the reds up to divide the greys and pinks so you don't forget to give it out with the first stack. Makes it easy to hand them out this way. If for some reason you don't have 10 starting players and someone buys in again, give them another starting stack until all the initial $25 stacks are out there. Get all these 25c, $1 chips on the table first. After all the starting stacks are on the table, start digging into your $5 (reds) and have them make change with someone at the table.. After all the reds are on the table start into your $25 (greens), if you go through all your greens then start putting $20 bills on the table and tell the table they are a bunch of degens!!
This gives 10 players 9x $25 buy ins! that's $2250 on the table. For a 25NL this is A LOT, I play with some really deep pocket players and I have never had them all on the table before with 10 players for a 4 hour game.
So for this entire setup you need the following
160x 25c
160x $1
160x $5
50x $25
that is 575 chips, for the first 3 denoms (25x, $1, $5) you will need to buy 175 of each. This will give you spares which you can store as spares for when they walk or replace broken ones..
TIP: COUNT YOUR GREEN CHIPS as you hand them out!!! Make sure you know how many green chips are out there. Before anyone cashes out with a green chip you do a table count of the greens. Because of the way my stacks are I know there are 5 per row so it's easy to count know how many are on the table and don't let anyone touch the case other than the banker. This has worked really well for my games so far and players are happy who are regulars to cash games
The other thing this does is it fills my case so when I put chips away at the end of the night i know instantly if any chips are missing this si also why it is nice to have spares to make sure the case is always full. Buy your spares now because newer runs might be different colors or quality or they might not make them any more.. Spend a few extra dollars to get a few extra of each denom
If you are using a bird cage (acrylic carrying case) get one that holds 6 racks. Each rack will hold 100 chips so you would only need 5 racks but get 6 and put all your spares in the other spare rack and cover it so you don't accidently pull from it.
I hope this helps someone else get going with a new set for their game. We need more lower stakes games to get players into the game!!
