Starting stack - .25/.50 cash game w/$50 buy-in? (2 Viewers)

[TheYeti]

For years, I've been using 40/20/2 - .25/1/5 for the starting $50 stack at our No Limit cash game. Now that I'm looking at getting a new set of chips, I'm trying to cut down the total chip count to save some $$$. I'm thinking I could cut down on the .25 chips since we always seem to have A LOT of them on the table.

I typically have between 7-10 players, never more than that. Probably don't need any higher denom than $25, I currently have $100 chips but they only seem to be needed once in a blue moon.

Suggestions?

 

[Saoliver]

A barrel of 25¢ per player should be plenty. With experienced players/dealers, making change should be quick and painless. Even just a rack of 25¢ can work fine.

200x 25¢
200x $1
300x $5
80x $25
20x $100

That should be sufficient, unless you get a ton of buy-ins throughout the night. If you think it's light, then go for my favorite breakdown for 1000 chips:

200x 25¢
200x $1
400x $5
160x $25 (I prefer $20 )
40x $100

 

[TheYeti]

A barrel of 25¢ per player should be plenty. With experienced players/dealers, making change should be quick and painless. Even just a rack of 25¢ can work fine.

200x 25¢
200x $1
300x $5
80x $25
20x $100

That should be sufficient, unless you get a ton of buy-ins throughout the night. If you think it's light, then go for my favorite breakdown for 1000 chips:

200x 25¢
200x $1
400x $5
160x $25 (I prefer $20 )
40x $100

Thanks for that! Yeah, I'm not sure if I should go with $20s or $25s...have always only had $100s for larger denoms, and like I said, they don't get much use. I thought the $25s would at least get played more. Can you tell me the reasons for $20s over $25s?

 

[detroitdad]

100 x .25
200 x 1
200x 5
80 x 25
20 x 100

I use this exact breakdown for all of my sets and it works perfect

 

[Saoliver]

Can you tell me the reasons for $20s over $25s?

I generally don't like green chips. And $20 bills are a thing. $25s aren't. LOL.

Neither is right or wrong. Just a preference thing.

 

[TheYeti]

100 x .25
200 x 1
200x 5
80 x 25
20 x 100

I use this exact breakdown for all of my sets and it works perfect

Thanks! But, if I have 10 players, only 10 .25s each?? Seems a little light.....maybe not, what do I know!

 

[Dodger]

$50 and up starting stack for .25/.50 is as easy as:

Barrel of quarters
Barrel of $1’s
Fill in the rest with $5’s

Helps to visualize it too:

 

[upNdown]

You think you can get away with fewer than 400 .25s on a single table?
I don't know . . .
Wait.
Are you playing fixed limit or no limit?

 

[TheYeti]

I generally don't like green chips. And $20 bills are a thing. $25s aren't. LOL.

Neither is right or wrong. Just a preference thing.

That is a very good point.

 

[TheYeti]

You think you can get away with fewer than 400 .25s on a single table?
I don't know . . .
Wait.
Are you playing fixed limit or no limit?

Ooops, yes, No Limit. I edited to OP to include that.

 

[detroitdad]

Thanks! But, if I have 10 players, only 10 .25s each?? Seems a little light.....maybe not, what do I know!

Nope. Trust me it's worked for 15 years.

12 x .25
17 x 1
6 x 5

 

[Saoliver]

Nope. Trust me it's worked for 15 years.

12 x .25
17 x 1
6 x 5

This does work fine. Just note that everyone doesn't start with quarters. Give this breakdown to 8 players, and the 9th and 10th players get $1s and $5s.

But like I said, making change should be painless with experienced players.

 

[TheYeti]

$50 and up starting stack for .25/.50 is as easy as:

Barrel of quarters
Barrel of $1’s
Fill in the rest with $5’s

Helps to visualize it too:
View attachment 671409

Thanks for the visualization! That looks perfect! Easy to count, nice even stacks....me likey!

I could get away with only 500 chips, which is great! 200/200/50/40/10 .25/1/5/25 (or 20)/100

 

[upNdown]

Ooops, yes, No Limit. I edited to OP to include that.

It was a fair question, given your chip count. If you took a survey of this site, the results might be split evenly with some people saying 100 quarters are plenty, some people insisting they need 120, and some people holding out for 200, because they like more chips on the table. But you might be the only person out of 5,000 or so members who's using 400 fracs in a NLHE game

 

[detroitdad]

Are quarters your workhorse chip? If not, 100 is plenty

 

[Chris Manzoni]

My humble submission - we have been doing a barrel each of fracs and ones plus the rest in $5s for 15 years, works great.

 

[AWenger]

When I hosted these stakes, I always used a 12x/12x or 16x/16x breakdown for the $0.25/$1 chips, respectively, then topped off the buy-ins with $5s up to the buy in whether it be $20, $40, or more. A 16x/16x stack is $20.

12 was plenty of quarters per player. Times I had two tables, we had to give some players 8 quarters and it worked out fine. It also can depend on personal prefernce of you & your players and how your poker game plays.

In my NLH games, the quarters were generally only used sparingly for the blinds and when someone raised to $1.50 or so on the flop. After the flop we were generally betting whole dollar amounts.

So I'd recommend 120 or 160 quarters for a single table (although some games still work with slighly less), or even up to 200 quarters if you sometimes might have more than 10 players/1 table.

 

[TheYeti]

It was a fair question, given your chip count. If you took a survey of this site, the results might be split evenly with some people saying 100 quarters are plenty, some people insisting they need 120, and some people holding out for 200, because they like more chips on the table. But you might be the only person out of 5,000 or so members who's using 400 fracs in a NLHE game

Well, I see the error of my ways now. This is just how we've been doing it for 15+ years. I knew there were too many .25s, just didn't want to get new chips until now. My "Faux Clays" are just about 15 years old, too.

 

[swana]

If you took a survey of this site, the results might be split evenly with some people saying 100 quarters are plenty, some people insisting they need 120, and some people holding out for 200, because they like more chips on the table.

I play a fair bit of .25 / .50 and I'm squarely on team 120 when it comes to how many .25cent chips to have. We play up to 10 players and my preference is to have everyone start with the same chip stack so every player will start with 12 or $3 (no matter how many people are playing). As mentioned this is not a requirement by a long shot but I find it strikes the right balance of not having too many fracs on the table but also cuts down on making change unnecessarily (but it will still need to be done).

 

[Mojo1312]

Change the blinds to .50/.50 and ditch the quarters. A rack of fifty cent fracs will support a full ring cash game.

 

[Dugthefish]

Even a barrel of blind chips per player is too many after the first few orbits.

First 5 players get:
20x .25
20x 1
7x 5

Next 5 get:
20x 1
8x 5

If you're in the US, consider raising buy in to $60, since most player Will buy in with three $20 bills.

Extra quarters and dollars for this game, I've since reduced. So much easier, especially at the end of the night!

 

[TheYeti]

So, there's some really clean $1 Jack Cincinnatis in the classys tonight, almost threw my name in, but...what are the chances I could build a set out of Jack Cincis? I don't even know what denoms are available. I guess this sort of thing just comes with experience, yeah?

 

[ChipFinderSK]

So, there's some really clean $1 Jack Cincinnatis in the classys tonight, almost threw my name in, but...what are the chances I could build a set out of Jack Cincis? I don't even know what denoms are available. I guess this sort of thing just comes with experience, yeah?

Used $1s, $5s, and $25s should all be available; you’d need to find fracs though.

 

[TheYeti]

Used $1s, $5s, and $25s should all be available; you’d need to find fracs though.

And, how possible is that??

 

[ChipFinderSK]

Jack Cincy didn’t have any fracs, so you have to either use non-denominated chips, fracs from another casino, or relabel/murder chips to create your own.

 

[TheYeti]

Jack Cincy didn’t have any fracs, so you have to either use non-denominated chips, fracs from another casino, or relabel/murder chips to create your own.

So, are there any "readily available" clay chips in the denoms I want? I'm willing to build a set over time, just don't want to go out and buy 200 1s, 200 5s, and then find out I can't find fracs in the same set.

I know you guys do this stuff all the time, but it's kinda Greek to me at this point.

 

[Saoliver]

So, are there any "readily available" clay chips in the denoms I want? I'm willing to build a set over time, just don't want to go out and buy 200 1s, 200 5s, and then find out I can't find fracs in the same set.

I know you guys do this stuff all the time, but it's kinda Greek to me at this point.

Casino fracs are very rare and usually very expensive. Often times, people will build a set of $1s and up, then relabel another chip to make a frac for their set.

 

[TheYeti]

Ahhh, yes, relable. Forgot about that option! But, wouldn't the sticker relabels clash with the OG inlays? Oh man, too much to consider...maybe just get a set of China clays and be done with it.

 

[Saoliver]

Ahhh, yes, relable. Forgot about that option! But, wouldn't the sticker relabels clash with the OG inlays? Oh man, too much to consider...maybe just get a set of China clays and be done with it.

Nah. A good artist and @Gear labels can get them REALLY close.

 

[TwoHomie]

Jumping into this thread late, but a few thoughts as someone who went though a similar journey to you a year ago.

To your question about stickers vs original inlays, the answer is “they can actually look pretty close”. Gear is the go to vendor here, and you can check out some pics of people’s projects to get a feel for how similar/different the look vs originals.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/testimonials.10918/

To your point about “may just get China clays and be done” China clays are a perfectly fine option!!! To 99% of your players, they’ll be way better than any home games chip they’ve played with. They’re cheaper, easier to get the denoms you want, and if you order now you may even have them for a game this weekend.

if you love em, the great! If not, play with your CCs and start to put together a used Paulson set over time. Once you get that set together, you can probably sell your China clays on this forum for 90% of what you paid for them.