Cash Game New Member's Optimal Chip Break Down (2 Viewers)

[Machine]

So you've likely posted that you're looking for 500 chips for you're home game. - How did I know? Lucky guess

Often when people post, they leave out important information, that would help with more accurate advice.
Consider making sure you've answered the following questions in you're post.

Specifically what game do you plan to play, NLH, PLO, Fixed or spread limit?
What is the expected average buy in?
What is the expected amount of re-buys per player?
What stakes do you plan to play (blind structures)?

How did you arrive at 500? Did you roll 2d6 x 100? Did you see a set on Amazon and thought, I bet those overseas manufacturers did a case study on the amount of poker chips needed to have a game and crafted those .12 chips just for me!

I'm going to ask a favor of you, if at the end of reading this, it's caused you to reassess you're approach to how many chips you need, please add a '+1' reply.

Okay the secret sauce - How do I figure out how many chips I need?

Its a calculation:

blinds + art + flavor = bank + emotion

Ta-da! Thats it.

The questions above will guide you to your needs, these days the cool kids like 100-250 BB as the range for buy-ins. Its considered 'deep stack'. The bank, this is the total amount of money at any given time that your chip set needs to accommodate. So from time to time people may lose their initial buy-in and would need another, this would be a re-buy, it would seem typically, players would be most likely to buy-in about three times.

Lets use an example of a common stakes game, .25 / .50, to give a run down of how to calculate the bank needs.
.50 (big blind) x 200 (number of big blinds) = $100 x 3 (initial buy-in, and two rebuys) = $300 x 10 (assuming Holdem (players)) = $3000

So how do we translate this into a chip set? Well this is where the art comes in, some of it is going to be experience playing / hosting, and some of it is math.
Lets start with some basics, well we need a chip that is less than $1, lets call this the fractional chip, frac for short. For now (foreshadowing) lets go with .25 as our frac. and lets just agree on a boring chip denomination - .25, $1, $5, $20/25, $100. Lets see how we do with arbitrary chip count of 500.

This is an often-made mistake, too many fracs. Also keep in mind our target Bank is $3,000

.25​	200​	Bank​	.25​	100​	Bank​
$1​	200​		$1​	100​
$5​	100​		$5​	300​
	500​	$750​		500​	$1625​

So we can see by the 2 examples in the table above, 500 just won't cut it. Maybe if we reduce the buy-ins to just 1 buy-in for 10 players ($1000).

You make a great point, the larger denoms will quickly get us to our bank goals, welcome to yourself sustainment, can't wait to see how close to that 500 chip count you get to, you're just a few realization steps from 600

Lets talk about a few flavor options, maybe you like a ton of fracs or maybe you want to be as efficient as possible, here's an interesting option, if you change to .50/.50 you can get away with less fracs. Personally, I prefer the .25s and I run as lean as I think possible, which is 60 x .25. The Pros go with a non-denom frac, so they can adjust it depending on which game they spread.

PLO on the other hand will play larger than NLH so you may need a bit more bank, or maybe you just want more bank than what you actually need just in case the game breaks through the bank one night.

I've 'stress tested' what I think is efficient in my .25/.50 (PLO) game. I didn't get there overnight, and I've had a lot of help from this forum. This is my actual break down I use for my game, it serves me well. I will note that I have more than this in chips.

.25 x 60
$1 x 180
$5 x 300
$20 x 20
$100 x 5

Would I suggest this? not really this is my custom order, this would be more on par for a generic breakdown .25/.50:

.25 x 100
$1 x 200
$5 x 300
$20 x 20
$100 x 5

Should you do 200 fracs? No, you shouldn't unless you absolutely love to have too many on the table, it will slow down the game, is that a big deal, nope. I will also note here these are single table numbers, and this is all an example, a guide so you can map out what your needs are.

Okay so let's recap:
Stakes / Blinds - the structure in which the bank will be based off.
'Art' - a realistic baseline of amount of chips, and the value based on the denoms, some experience helps
'Flavor' - quirks / presences on chip ratios and the affects of different options on the game play
Bank - the amount of currency in play that the chip set needs to support
'Emotion' - plus / minus the emotional appeal of chip amounts, I have both $20s and $25s; another aspect is a capped buy-in or match stack


Well, did I get a +1? Happy chipping, don't forget to use the search function and find the 1.5 million posts asking about this topic, there are other great post you can also find using the link in my signature (landscape on mobile)

- Machine

 

[springbox]

I agree that people tend to go too heavy on the fracs, 100 is really all that's needed. My only quibble would be with the suggestion of 300x$5. I truly don't think you ever need more than a barrel (if that) of any given denomination per player. You can easily keep your set at 500 if instead of 100/100/300 you went 100/100/200/80/20. That changes your bank from 1625 to to 5125. 100/160/160/80 gets you to 2985 which is also quite adequate for .25/.50 imo, and a better balance of chips.

Of course, the real answer is to play some games and then figure out what's good for you and your players. Some games are very loose with their rebuys, some may see less than one rebuy per player. Some players love having stacks and stacks of chips in front of them, others want the most efficient spread they can get.

 

[Machine]

You can easily keep your set at 500 if instead of 100/100/300 you went 100/100/200/80/20. That changes your bank from 1625 to to 5125. 100/160/160/80 gets you to 2985 which is also quite adequate for .25/.50 imo, and a better balance of chips.

Spoilers!! This is exactly where I’m trying to lead the readers.

My only quibble would be with the suggestion of 300x$5.

I get them all in play month over month, and with a capped buy-in. This is where the art or flavor comes in, it will be different from game to game, ymmv

 

[MrRossKeys]

If I'm hosting a game with my custom chips, I hope to get at least most if not all of the denominations into play at some point. .25/.50 NLH game everyone starts with fracs/$1/$5's, and before the end of the night I've gotten a bunch of $20/$25's into the mix and maybe even a single $100 chip. I typically host 2 tables for cash as well, but here is my go-to breakdown

Players starting stacks ($100 buy in)
.25's = 8 each
$1's = 8 each (2 tables) or 13 each (1 table)
$5's = 18 each (2 tables) or 17 each (1 table)

This works out to (at minimum):
.25 x 160
$1 x 200
$5 x 340
$25 x 80
$100 x 20
Total Chips= 800
Total Bank= $5940

I could see a 1 table setting working with 500 chips, but I think my smallest cash set is 600 chips.... and now that I am hosting 2 tables I almost always order 1000 chips. Having more chips on hand just in case is always worth it, though I agree with the OP that you don't really need a ton of fracs or $100's unless your game supports having a lot of those denoms.

 

[ekricket]

Tournament sets require calculations and minimum number of chips. STT is 460 chips.

Cash sets are useless with less than 1500 chips. No matter what your stakes are, the denominations are just scaled for them. But 1500 chips is official PCF quantity.

 

[loosechange101]

Built my first set with:

200x $5
150x $25
100x $100
50x $500

For 5c/10c no limit hold em cash games, typically 5-7 players, with some wiggle room to do small tournament styles.

In the end we never played tournament style, only cash games, and we had far more $5s than needed, and not quite enough $25s.

So the advice in this thread is pretty spot on. More chips in the middle of your target stakes range is best.

 

[BigJackJones]

Okay, I'll start it out... Plus

 

[snakster1966]

when I have .25-.50 games, I try to make sure people at the table respect the stakes. I accomplish that with a $40 initial buy in. I think a $100 initial buy-in (with the necessary number of $5s that would entail) encourages people to play above the stakes. Players allowed to reload at any time up to 75% of big stack (or $40, whichever is greater). If there is someone new at my game and starts opening for $10 at a .25-.50 game, that person will not get a return invite. Again, my goal is to have a fun night playing and respect the stakes; not get next month’s rent. As such, I generally have about a rack of quarters on the table; maybe 150-175 $1s, the rest $5s as needed. Occasionally, a few $25s may come into play, but that is pretty rare and may reflect that I have a full table of players who are all staying late.

 

[Old State]

Make it easy on yourself. I recently moved my .50/$1 game $100 max buyin to $1/$1 $120 max. Everyone gets a barrel of $1s and a barrel of $5s. Got rid of the .50s. Cashing in and out is much easier ….especially cashing out. All reloads are in $5s. If the game gets big, I may throw a few $25s on the table.

Keeping the minimum number of chips needed in play makes for a better game to manage. If you play in the casino you will notice they cash you in by default that way. Cash in for $300 of a $1/3 game and you will get all $5s. You make change at the table. They won’t give you $1s you ask.

 

[PokerChipScot]

Cash games i've played in only needed 3 chip levels. Did we want more to show off our chips? Of course... but our Nickle/Dime/Quarter game was $.25/1/5 on the table 99% of the time... If we put $25s on the table it was because someone had gone belly up and when they bought in we gave them that and the table made change, so the physical number of chips rarely went up (by more than a few chips) and we enjoyed asking occasionally "Who's got the green chips now?"

8/8/6 is what people bought in for ($2/$8/$30) so 2 "yuppie food stamps". The quarters were usually for ante and opening bets, and we had a rule you could only raise 4 times, so nobody tossed in more than $5 in a round of betting. Some games like elevator hi/low that could still be $35 total if there was a lot of action, but those pots were normally split. We did make change among ourselves a lot however. If you were betting $1 at a time, at some point someone would put in a $5 and take 4 $1... it made everyones stack easy to count.

When people bought back in, they bought back in for $25 (or 50/75). With 6-9 people at the table usually, we were playing dealers choice a lot early on, then limit hold'em. Then we got into tournaments and everything changed...

Nobody ever lost their shirt unless they were aggressive and stupid. I think the most i lost in a night was $80, and the most i won $120 or so.

 

[upNdown]

Cash sets are useless with less than 1500 chips. No matter what your stakes are, the denominations are just scaled for them. But 1500 chips is official PCF quantity.

But this is a really good point, especially for people first exploring this site, who see the huge sets. The huge sets are dumb.
If you want to host multiple tables for a cash game, I have nothing to say about that - I only host a single table cash game because I am not a casino.
But I’ve been hosting NLHE off and on for around ten years and I’ve owned probably more than 10 cash sets of varying quality and cost and I’ve never had a set reach 1000 chips for NLHE. Even when I owned too many fracs or that unnecessary third rack of $1s, I’ve never gotten it up to 1,000. Personally I think the sweet spot is somewhere around 750 chips for a single table, big bet cash set. And no fucking snappers, we’re not playing blackjack!

 

[allforcharity]

PCF "standard" is 600 chips for 1 full ring game at one consistent set of stakes. Customize from there for fewer people or wider range of stakes or as many chips as you can possibly afford.

 

[BatteredAggie]

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about how many fractional chips to buy, and I’d like some help deciding how many I need for a friendly 5c/10c NLH cash game set for mega beginners who limp and min raise all the time. We get together more for the social aspect than because everyone is a serious poker player.
The game is usually 6-8 players, maximum of 2 rebuys total per night. Buy-ins and rebuys are both capped at $10 currently. I wouldn’t be surprised if as we play more we start to see more re-buys, so I’d like to plan to support up to 10 rebuys.

Right now I’m leaning towards something like below:
175 - $.05
200 - $.25
100 - $1
25 - $5

This gets me $280 total in the bank.

I know this is more $.05 chips than normally recommended, but for a typical hand with my crew we will see no pre-flop raises (unless my hand is deserving of one) and everyone trying to limp in pre-flop. A post-flop bet will also commonly be a minimum raise (probably because everyone limped in with garbage haha).

Feedback from someone who hosts a game similar to this for chip denomination breakdown would be greatly appreciated! I’m hesitant to use less than 20 $.05 chips per player for starting stacks so that players aren’t constantly making change throughout the night.

 

[Machine]

Recently had a short discussion with a member of great experience, his priority was to not slow the game down with making change. That was his focus. I've played in games where we used 5 racks or more of the smallest value. Self-dealt game and pushing and stacking chips slowed the game down to a crawl.

I would argue that making change isn't going to slow the game down as much as having too many of the small denom. I have been running a game .5/.5 on 60 .25 fracs, I also have a dedicated dealer, so it doesn't really slow the game down, but I don't think fielding the fewest is for everyone. And I get it, you're not advocating for 5+ racks

When I bought my first custom sets, I had to learn by my own mistakes (dense forehead), and part of that was what game I wanted to run. Today I've purchased multiple sets for different types of games. Everyone's journey is different, if you were going to buy CPCs or the latest Paulson's at $5+ per chip, I would take a heavier hand and caution on your chip breakdown.

No one needs > 100 of the lowest denom especially at .05/.1. The chip will be wasted and sit on a shelf, unless you are running two tables or, there is an argument of 120. The reason being if you field 10 players everyone starts with 1/2 a barrel. Now if you are spiteful or hardheaded you might buy 175 and put them in every single game and claim 'it is the way!'. I would explain you must do you, keep an open mind and make observations, try limiting different amounts over time and see what flows the best for your game. Your game may start off slow but I think new players will ramp up, and things will change. I point this out because it will take time for the game to get into the grove so that you can see once the players find their comfort level and play within a normal range for themselves.

Another way to look at it would be from a betting perspective; most bets are going to be around the pot size even in NL, preflop 8 limpers is .80, are you going to bet .10/.20/.30 into an .80 pot? I think the betting range is going to be .40 to $1. So are you going to dull out 8 x .05?

The cost of having 60ish more chips than you need is going to be 30 to 120 USD, which if you prefer isn't going break your bank or slow the game to a crawl. The important thing is having the most elite chips on the table so you can make fun of the plebs and be righteous in your chip pious-ness.

Don't forget to enjoy the journey

 

[BatteredAggie]

Recently had a short discussion with a member of great experience, his priority was to not slow the game down with making change. That was his focus. I've played in games where we used 5 racks or more of the smallest value. Self-dealt game and pushing and stacking chips slowed the game down to a crawl.

I would argue that making change isn't going to slow the game down as much as having too many of the small denom. I have been running a game .5/.5 on 60 .25 fracs, I also have a dedicated dealer, so it doesn't really slow the game down, but I don't think fielding the fewest is for everyone. And I get it, you're not advocating for 5+ racks

When I bought my first custom sets, I had to learn by my own mistakes (dense forehead), and part of that was what game I wanted to run. Today I've purchased multiple sets for different types of games. Everyone's journey is different, if you were going to buy CPCs or the latest Paulson's at $5+ per chip, I would take a heavier hand and caution on your chip breakdown.

No one needs > 100 of the lowest denom especially at .05/.1. The chip will be wasted and sit on a shelf, unless you are running two tables or, there is an argument of 120. The reason being if you field 10 players everyone starts with 1/2 a barrel. Now if you are spiteful or hardheaded you might buy 175 and put them in every single game and claim 'it is the way!'. I would explain you must do you, keep an open mind and make observations, try limiting different amounts over time and see what flows the best for your game. Your game may start off slow but I think new players will ramp up, and things will change. I point this out because it will take time for the game to get into the grove so that you can see once the players find their comfort level and play within a normal range for themselves.

Another way to look at it would be from a betting perspective; most bets are going to be around the pot size even in NL, preflop 8 limpers is .80, are you going to bet .10/.20/.30 into an .80 pot? I think the betting range is going to be .40 to $1. So are you going to dull out 8 x .05?

The cost of having 60ish more chips than you need is going to be 30 to 120 USD, which if you prefer isn't going break your bank or slow the game to a crawl. The important thing is having the most elite chips on the table so you can make fun of the plebs and be righteous in your chip pious-ness.

Don't forget to enjoy the journey

Thank you for the advice! I appreciate the acknowledgment that there is not a "one size fits all" for poker games.

And I would say I think that bad bet sizing and bad pre-flop play in the group is probably why I lean towards getting more $.05 chips. Post-flop bet sizes of $.10/$.20 are very common even with a pot of $.80 from everyone limping into the flop. If I toss in a justified $.25 or $.50 bet post-flop there's usually a round of groans.

I wonder if poor pre-flop play and bad bet sizing from new players are why there is often such disagreement here between newbies and experienced players here for how many low denomination chips are really needed. The answer may be "less for good players" and "more for bad players".

 

[BGinGA]

I’ve seen a lot of discussion about how many fractional chips to buy, and I’d like some help deciding how many I need for a friendly 5c/10c NLH cash game set for mega beginners who limp and min raise all the time. We get together more for the social aspect than because everyone is a serious poker player.
The game is usually 6-8 players, maximum of 2 rebuys total per night. Buy-ins and rebuys are both capped at $10 currently. I wouldn’t be surprised if as we play more we start to see more re-buys, so I’d like to plan to support up to 10 rebuys.

Right now I’m leaning towards something like below:
175 - $.05
200 - $.25
100 - $1
25 - $5

This gets me $280 total in the bank.

I know this is more $.05 chips than normally recommended, but for a typical hand with my crew we will see no pre-flop raises (unless my hand is deserving of one) and everyone trying to limp in pre-flop. A post-flop bet will also commonly be a minimum raise (probably because everyone limped in with garbage haha).

Feedback from someone who hosts a game similar to this for chip denomination breakdown would be greatly appreciated! I’m hesitant to use less than 20 $.05 chips per player for starting stacks so that players aren’t constantly making change throughout the night.

140/200/220/40 ($477 bank) is more chips than you will ever need for a single-table 5c/10c or 10c/20c game. It's a good balance of 'enough chips to avoid excessive change-making' and 'not too many chips avoiding slowdowns from excessively large pots and restacking'.

Just preach to the players to "use your big chips please until they catch on that using ten nickels to bet 50c isn't as easy as betting two quarters.

 

[BatteredAggie]

140/200/220/40 ($477 bank) is more chips than you will ever need for a single-table 5c/10c or 10c/20c game. It's a good balance of 'enough chips to avoid excessive change-making' and 'not too many chips avoiding slowdowns from excessively large pots and restacking'.

Just preach to the players to "use your big chips please until they catch on that using ten nickels to bet 50c isn't as easy as betting two quarters.

Is the assumption for this chip breakdown that the smallest denominations are almost only being used to post blinds? And that players are generally either raising pre-flop to 2.5BB or folding, and betting 2.5BB or more post-flop?

 

[upNdown]

Is the assumption for this chip breakdown that the smallest denominations are almost only being used to post blinds? And that players are generally either raising pre-flop to 2.5BB or folding, and betting 2.5BB or more post-flop?

No. That's a recommendation thats on the high side of standard for the smallest denom.
Fair to say good poker involves more raises than limps, but I suspect you'll find the entire world of variety of raise sizes in PCF home games, beyond 2.5.
My game is .25/.50. I use 100 quarters for 8 players. For reasons not worth explaining, there's a whole lot of $1.75 raises, not to mention $1.25, $2.25, etc, and the game plays just fine with only 100 quarters on the table.

 

[wootaki]

No. That's a recommendation thats on the high side of standard for the smallest denom.
Fair to say good poker involves more raises than limps, but I suspect you'll find the entire world of variety of raise sizes in PCF home games, beyond 2.5.
My game is .25/.50. I use 100 quarters for 8 players. For reasons not worth explaining, there's a whole lot of $1.75 raises, not to mention $1.25, $2.25, etc, and the game plays just fine with only 100 quarters on the table.

What's your game's buy-in/re-buy/top-off structure?

I am looking at also doing .25/.50 with 8 players $50 buy-in and have been considering 200 x .25's just to have a more aesthetic starting stack (IMO) but reading this thread is giving me concerns about game flow.

This will be a social game and part of my inspiration for setting this up is my love for 'Rounders' so having stacks of chips and splashing the pot acting like I'm KGB is a thing. Most players do not currently play at all or regularly. One likes to play tournaments at card rooms and 2 more play home cash games from time to time. I don't really expect multiple re-buys due to half the players not being big gamblers. At least until/unless they begin to develop a taste for it once we have one.

Initially, wanted to start everyone with

20 x .25
35 x $1
2 x $5

with a 600 chip set of 200 x .25, 300 x $1, 100 x $5
but am now thinking of saving some $ and just getting 100 x .25's and starting everyone with

12 x .25
37 x $1
2 x $5

or

12 x .25
22 x $1
5 x $5

The other idea behind starting with 20 x .25's is to encourage using them over the $1's for raises and not have the quarters lose its value by just being used for blinds. Even though most of us are noobs and this game is meant to be friendly, I would prefer to play no limit, but also do not want the 2-3 more experienced players to be raising $5 or $10 routinely just cause theyre used to seeing money on the table and/or playing more aggressively. I feel like if you only have 12 quarters, you would only use them for your blinds and raise with your $1's, which was surprising when you mentioned you're used to seeing $1.75 and $2.25 raises.

Just wondering if the differences between these starting stacks or the total chip breakdown 600 vs 500 would dictate the flow of the game significantly. I know most people would prefer more $5's than $1's but again, I like the barrels on the table and I need the "three stacks of high society" anyway. I do plan on getting some $20 plaques to increase the bank and cover more rebuys.

 

[upNdown]

What's your game's buy-in/re-buy/top-off structure?

I am looking at also doing .25/.50 with 8 players $50 buy-in and have been considering 200 x .25's just to have a more aesthetic starting stack (IMO) but reading this thread is giving me concerns about game flow.

This will be a social game and part of my inspiration for setting this up is my love for 'Rounders' so having stacks of chips and splashing the pot acting like I'm KGB is a thing. Most players do not currently play at all or regularly. One likes to play tournaments at card rooms and 2 more play home cash games from time to time. I don't really expect multiple re-buys due to half the players not being big gamblers. At least until/unless they begin to develop a taste for it once we have one.

Initially, wanted to start everyone with

20 x .25
35 x $1
2 x $5

with a 600 chip set of 200 x .25, 300 x $1, 100 x $5
but am now thinking of saving some $ and just getting 100 x .25's and starting everyone with

12 x .25
37 x $1
2 x $5

or

12 x .25
22 x $1
5 x $5

The other idea behind starting with 20 x .25's is to encourage using them over the $1's for raises and not have the quarters lose its value by just being used for blinds. Even though most of us are noobs and this game is meant to be friendly, I would prefer to play no limit, but also do not want the 2-3 more experienced players to be raising $5 or $10 routinely just cause theyre used to seeing money on the table and/or playing more aggressively. I feel like if you only have 12 quarters, you would only use them for your blinds and raise with your $1's, which was surprising when you mentioned you're used to seeing $1.75 and $2.25 raises.

Just wondering if the differences between these starting stacks or the total chip breakdown 600 vs 500 would dictate the flow of the game significantly. I know most people would prefer more $5's than $1's but again, I like the barrels on the table and I need the "three stacks of high society" anyway. I do plan on getting some $20 plaques to increase the bank and cover more rebuys.

Buyins are $50-$100. People are free to top off or rebuy whenever they want, up to that $100 stack. As it gets later into the session we tend toward more of a match the stack situation on rebuys. (It’s worked fine in my game so far, but I’d recommend having specific rules in place.)
I start everybody with 20 x $1, I give the first five guys 20 x .25, and finish the stacks with $5s. All rebuys are done exclusively with $5s (or bigger as the night rolls on) - I’ll never put more than 20 x $1 per player on the table - it’s just unnecessary.

My game tends to be made up of mostly experienced players. These guys decide what they want to bet, then look at their stack - they’re not afraid to bet $1.75 even if they’re out of quarters. But I can understand how newer players might not have that level of comfort.
I know there are plenty of PCFers who will put out 200 quarters and/or 300 ones because they like bigger stacks and/or they want to avoid the change-making. To this I say:
1) change-making is unavoidable and it’s no big deal. Don’t fear it.
2) if you prefer bigger stacks, that’s your right. I say they’re unnecessary and inefficient. But then again I embrace big stacks when it comes to $5s, so I’m kind of full of baloney. Do what you like, as long as it works.

Personally, I don’t buy into the theories that the amounts of denoms you have in play will affect betting. Every game plays differently and is influenced by a number of factors. But I don’t think having lots of a particular denom in play will influence players to bet more with that chip. At least not experienced players. This is a controversial opinion.

 

[springbox]

Initially, wanted to start everyone with

20 x .25
35 x $1
2 x $5

with a 600 chip set of 200 x .25, 300 x $1, 100 x $5
but am now thinking of saving some $ and just getting 100 x .25's and starting everyone with

12 x .25
37 x $1
2 x $5

or

12 x .25
22 x $1
5 x $5

With 8 people you only need 160 x 25c for each to have 20, which is still enough for 16 each if you have 10 players. So I wouldn't go over 160. I would also suggest capping the $1s at 30 per player, so a total of 240. With so many $1s and quarters on the table, even if re-buys are all in $5s it'll be easy to make change. Maybe starting stacks of:

20 x .25
30 x $1
3 x $5

and a chipset of

160 x .25
240 x $1
200 x $5

This gives you a bit of bank room for a larger game, and still has a very large amount of chips in play (53 per player to start the game!) You could swap some $5s for more $1s, but you certainly don't need to. For comparison at micros I hand out 33 chips per player. (10x5c,18x25c,5x$1). If I ran a 25c/50c I would probably do (20x25c,20x$1,5x$5) but I already own a set with 200 quarters. If I didn't play 5c/10c I would've bought fewer quarters.

 

[wootaki]

With 8 people you only need 160 x 25c for each to have 20, which is still enough for 16 each if you have 10 players. So I wouldn't go over 160. I would also suggest capping the $1s at 30 per player, so a total of 240. With so many $1s and quarters on the table, even if re-buys are all in $5s it'll be easy to make change. Maybe starting stacks of:

20 x .25
30 x $1
3 x $5

and a chipset of

160 x .25
240 x $1
200 x $5

This gives you a bit of bank room for a larger game, and still has a very large amount of chips in play (53 per player to start the game!) You could swap some $5s for more $1s, but you certainly don't need to. For comparison at micros I hand out 33 chips per player. (10x5c,18x25c,5x$1). If I ran a 25c/50c I would probably do (20x25c,20x$1,5x$5) but I already own a set with 200 quarters. If I didn't play 5c/10c I would've bought fewer quarters.

In consideration of budget, if I had to limit myself to 500 that would be an ideal breakdown, however, the 'Rounders' thing makes 300 $1's mandatory. Will most likely be getting the CPC set and using the $100's as $1's. Could make it work with 100/300/100 and not do barrels of quarters or just add an extra 100 to the set and make it 160/300/140.

 

[Machine]

500 that would be an ideal breakdown

 

[springbox]

In consideration of budget, if I had to limit myself to 500 that would be an ideal breakdown, however, the 'Rounders' thing makes 300 $1's mandatory. Will most likely be getting the CPC set and using the $100's as $1's. Could make it work with 100/300/100 and not do barrels of quarters or just add an extra 100 to the set and make it 160/300/140.

The breakdown I posted was 600 chips. Still, you could do 160/300/140

You can also get rounders chips customized by CPC with different denominations, but it'll cost more than stock. You could do green quarters, black $1s and purple $5s so they look like the movie chips.
Example

 

[wootaki]

The breakdown I posted was 600 chips. Still, you could do 160/300/140

You can also get rounders chips customized by CPC with different denominations, but it'll cost more than stock. You could do green quarters, black $1s and purple $5s so they look like the movie chips.
Example

Yeah didnt have my calculator handy

I dont mind the denominations. Looks better/movie accurate with the $ signs and 00's to me and easy for me to just say consider them in cents

 

[allforcharity]

"Excessive change-making" is a mythical child-eating beast lurking in the woods as long as you have 8+ SB chips per player at the table, which practically maxes out at 1 rack total.
I can see an argument for 2 racks if it is a total limp-fest and the buy-in is 40BB or less. I doubt too many of us play like that.

 

[TheBigTater]

Welcome to idontreallywantpokerchipsforum.com

A thread promoting only needing to buy the minimum/efficient amount of chips needs a ban hammer.

Okay, yep you probably only need a rack of fracs. But unless you plan on playing micro/small stakes for the rest of time you need more $5's, $25's & $100's to future proof you set against stakes hikes & inflation as time goes by.

 

[varoadstter]

I've played .25/.50 with guys from the neighborhood for 18 years and we tend to have "too many fracs" in play for convenience. That doesn't bother me. What does bother me is that the non-chippers in the group absolutely insist on having a 50 cent chip in addition to the 25 cent chip. So we typically do 12 quaters and 6 half-dollars. Our standard bet is $1.75 so those fracs get a lot of play. I'm more often than not the dedicated dealer as well, so over time I've learned to overcome the large number of small denoms in play.

Not related to the OP topic but even though our stakes haven't changed (.25/.50 with a typical $40 buyin), the play most definitely has. Now that we have embraced straddles, bomb pots and the seven/deuce game, the amount of money in play for a typical full-ring (9-10 handed) has increased from about $150-$200 to something more like $400-$800. It's absolutely bananas and I love it. Truthfully though, our group is also filled with lawyers, bankers, small-business owners, and software engineers (like me). We have a much larger disposable income than we did nearly 20 years ago. Will we ever increase the stakes of the game? I'd bet not. There are still those guys who just don't like to rebuy more than once and it helps keep the wives from getting frustrated with the ones who are typically donating every week.

 

[allforcharity]

Welcome to idontreallywantpokerchipsforum.com

A thread promoting only needing to buy the minimum/efficient amount of chips needs a ban hammer.

Okay, yep you probably only need a rack of fracs. But unless you plan on playing micro/small stakes for the rest of time you need more $5's, $25's & $100's to future proof you set against stakes hikes & inflation as time goes by.

We have budgets. Otherwise, why haven't we all bought 3-table tourneys and 2-table cash of every Tiger Palace line there is?

 

[BGinGA]

What does bother me is that the non-chippers in the group absolutely insist on having a 50 cent chip in addition to the 25 cent chip. So we typically do 12 quaters and 6 half-dollars.

You can't fix stupid, no matter how intelligent or educated.

If I played in that game, I'd set aside every damn 50c chip I won, never to be used in another bet for the rest of the night.