Starting stack - .25/.50 cash game w/$50 buy-in? (5 Viewers)

[DrBill]

If you’re really trying to cut down on chips, I would say that you really don’t need anymore than 600 chips.

Since the big blind is .50, your starting stack doesn’t need as many quarters as a whole because even a min raise is already a dollar. Now, if you’re players like more chips (which is absolutely understandable) then you can definitely do a barrel of quarters.

My personal game is .25/.25 with a $40 buy in. That way you can have somewhat of a ‘deep stack’. And there is still a decent amount of money on the table.

Starting Breakdown for my game
.25 - 12
1 - 17
5 - 4

What I would suggest for you is the following.

.25 - 20
1 - 20
5 - 5

Your chip count

.25 - 200
1 - 200
5 - 140
20 - 60

Btw, I like to use $20 because they’re more likely to be used in lower stakes games like we play.

 

[DrBill]

Some great cost effective options are to relabel some Bud Jones Roulette chips (amazing quality for the price), go completely custom with ceramics at ABC, or like you mentioned China clays (Royals being my favorite)!

 

[LeLe]

100 25c is plenty for 0.25/0.5 or 0.5/1 NLHE game.

My Cash set goes 100/180/200/100/20 25c/$1/$5/$25/$100

I always give 20/20/15 25c/$1/$5 to the first 5 player and 20/16 $1/$5 to the remaining people. $5/$25/$100 are solely for Rebuy in only

As often we started the game once we have at least 5 ppl rather waiting for the full ring

 

[TheYeti]

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.

Wow, those Gear labels do look outstanding! Thanks for making me aware of those.

I've already got samples from Apache of Milanos, Dunes, Pharaohs and Majestics. As an afterthought, I also ordered samples of the Royals that haven't arrived yet. I also have some samples of the ceramic "dice mold" chips on the way from a generous forum member. So far, I think the Majestics are my favorites of the CCs, I think the colors "pop" more than the others. I had a set of ceramics years ago (Nevada Jacks) and never really liked the feel of them, these new "dice mold" chips are supposed to be quite different, so I will reserve judgement until I have them in-hand.

Your suggestion to get the CCs now and build a better set over time is exactly what I was thinking.

 

[TwoHomie]

Wow, those Gear labels do look outstanding! Thanks for making me aware of those.

I've already got samples from Apache of Milanos, Dunes, Pharaohs and Majestics. As an afterthought, I also ordered samples of the Royals that haven't arrived yet. I also have some samples of the ceramic "dice mold" chips on the way from a generous forum member. So far, I think the Majestics are my favorites of the CCs, I think the colors "pop" more than the others. I had a set of ceramics years ago (Nevada Jacks) and never really liked the feel of them, these new "dice mold" chips are supposed to be quite different, so I will reserve judgement until I have them in-hand.

Your suggestion to get the CCs now and build a better set over time is exactly what I was thinking.

You definitely pay a bit of a premium for Gear labels over something more DIY, but agreed, the laminates on them really make them look amazing.

And maybe I’m just projecting because that’s what I did, but I think CC first to at least get chips in hand is a nice option. I bought majestics, and still absolutely love them. They allowed me to quickly get a fun set of chips in play with my friends, and they also allowed me a low-risk/low-cost way to refine the breakdown of denominations before pulling the trigger on fancier set of chips (Paulson, cpc.) The chip room sales or the classifieds sales typically go pretty quickly, and it’s often hard or expensive to expand out sets after the initial sale. Much better option IMO to figure out if your group does better with 100 or 200 fracs when you can bulk buy majestics or CCs or ceramics, rather than buy 100 Paulson, realize you want more, and then have them not be available.

And who knows, maybe you and your group love the CCs or ceramics that you end up with. Nothing wrong with that, and if you do, then you’ll definitely save yourself some cash and some heartache when you can’t find the chips you need. If you do decide to upgrade, then welcome to the journey! It’s a fun one

 

[TwoHomie]

There are also group buys of cheaper ceramics ordered from China, but I’m way less in the know about those. Check out the forums > group buy section for more info.

 

[Chip1525]

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?

Isn't 40/20/2 a $40 stack rather than $50?

 

[TheYeti]

Isn't 40/20/2 a $40 stack rather than $50?

Oops, yes you are correct of course! Should have been 4 red birds! Been too long since I've had an actual game.

 

[Chip1525]

Oops, yes you are correct of course! Should have been 4 red birds! Been too long since I've had an actual game.

Figured it was a typo and you haven't been skimming $10 off every buy-in for years. Which would have been brilliant.

 

[JustinInMN]

For 0.25-0.25 or 0.25-0.50 specifically, I like to load up on singles.

So I would suggest 100/300/160/40 of 0.25/1/5/20 for a bank of 1925. That's nearly 4 buy ins per player. Should be plenty.

If you are thinking the game will grow to 1-1 blinds, then I like the approach @detroitdad suggests. That will support both games.

If you decide to do a 0.50 frac instead of 0.25, then I think 60 for a table is plenty. The only downside is then you can't play down to 0.25-0.25. But the upside is a good breakdown for 0.50-0.50 and 0.50-1 games: 60/240/200/80/20 of 0.50/1/5/25/100.

A lot of ways to approach this.

 

[LeLe]

Figured it was a typo and you haven't been skimming $10 off every buy-in for years. Which would have been brilliant.

should i start doing this for my home game, there a lot of extra cash for my paulson saving fund

 

[philhut]

I prefer to issue change once then higher denom's afterwards.
20-0.25
20-1
5 -5

you could go down to this minimum (as low as i'd go in chips)
12-0.25
17-1
6 -5

I personally would not issue less than the min above or you will be spending a good portion of your night making change.....20/20/5 and the rest of the rebuys in 5's or 20 or 25 chips etc...

 

[BirdCage]

$40 starting stack w/full quarter barrel, half $1 barrel, one $5 and one $20 works well too. Just add two additional $5’s for a $50 starting stack.

Reload each $20 bill with four $5’s or one $20 chip.

Simple with many chips and colors in play.

 

[JustinInMN]

@BirdCage

I would think breaking those twenties can be pretty difficult at times with only one five per stack on the table.

But these are excellent sets.

 

[BirdCage]

@BirdCage

I would think breaking those twenties can be pretty difficult at times with only one five per stack on the table.

But these are excellent sets.

Thanks. That is a funny and good point. However in practice, we play .25/.50 NLHE and by the time anyone is busting out (betting with) a $20 chip, the game has progressed such that more buy-ins have occurred and more $5's have been put into play. At least one player will be able to break a $20 with either $5's or $5's and $1's.

 

[BirdCage]

For more starting stack fun, I just finished this oversized inlay set and pictured below is a $50 starting stack:

20 quarters
10 $1's
10 $2's
3 $5's

I hope to put it in play this month.

 

[cpac54]

@BirdCage

I would think breaking those twenties can be pretty difficult at times with only one five per stack on the table.

But these are excellent sets.

I was just thinking, "I must be doing it wrong, our buy-ins are typically between $100-200 and I don't bust out the $20s or $25s until I get all my $1s and $5s into play!"

 

[JustinInMN]

I was just thinking, "I must be doing it wrong, our buy-ins are typically between $100-200 and I don't bust out the $20s or $25s until I get all my $1s and $5s into play!"

That's how I do it too. Only in my most recent 0.50-1 game did I get some 25s in play because one one guy was in absolute god mode and colored up 500 in fives after an hour.

Otherwise I have almost $3000 in chips in my set before I would have to tap the twenty-fives.

 

[cpac54]

That's how I do it too. Only in my most recent 0.50-1 game did I get some 25s in play because one one guy was in absolute god mode and colored up 500 in fives after an hour.

Otherwise I have almost $3000 in chips in my set before I would have to tap the twenty-fives.

We get $20s and $25s in play with our .50/1 game pretty frequently, but with "only" 3 racks of $1s and $5, it's a lot easier to tap those out.

 

[BirdCage]

Definitely don't need $20's or $25's in play, but they're excellent for adding color to the pots and adding bravado during raises!

Nothing better than watching friends "splash the pot" using a single $20 chip with 7,2o after a glass of scotch or two.

 

[JustinInMN]

We get $20s and $25s in play with our .50/1 game pretty frequently, but with "only" 3 racks of $1s and $5, it's a lot easier to tap those out.

Yeah I have 550 fives in my set and I usually put out 50*0.50 and 150*1 chips out as well to start. We would have to get pretty deep to be forced into using the twenty-fives. But the guy was up like 600 after an hour, seemed prudent to color up.

 

[stavman]

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

this has been my perfect breakdown for all 3 sets I’ve had.
Works for me up to 10 handed. This breakdown works wonders all the way to .50/1.

 

[CrazyEddie]

 

[LeLe]

For me i always finished the $1 & $5 before introducing $25 chip in game, usually there will be about 10+$25 chip in play. My $100 have never been in game yet before.

Since i got 100 $25 to burn through before $100.

I wonder if my $500 'card' will ever be in play

 

[JustinInMN]

View attachment 677368

More chips is always better than more denoms. It's not even close.

 

[codeman00]

Our $0.25/$0.50, $40 buyin game works well with:

$0.25 - 20 (full barrel)
$1 - 15
$5 - 4

I like being able to grab a full barrel to make things easier if possible. In this case, it's the 0.25 chip. Any rebuys are done with the $5 and then the $20 if needed.

I've also found that by reducing the number of 0.25 chips and increasing the number of higher denom chips, the game plays a bit bigger. Use this "manipulative power" with discretion though, depending on your player's bankroll and pain tolerance.

 

[JustinInMN]

I've also found that by reducing the number of 0.25 chips and increasing the number of higher denom chips, the game plays a bit bigger. Use this "manipulative power" with discretion though, depending on your player's bankroll and pain tolerance.

It also has the practical effect of making all-ins easier to count.

Personally I like to load up on singles in my 0.50-0.50 60 max game, I start players with 8/41/3 of 0.50/1/5 (2 full barrels of singles!) I keep distributing singles until 400 are on the table and then I do more fives. But I have an absurdly oversized set for this .

For 0.50-1 150max I do a more fives heavy breakdown. 8/21/25 of 0.50/1/5 and I stop distributing ones once there are 150 on the table.

 

[joeyshin]

Something to keep in mind is the starting stack breakdown will determine how big the game will play. If you give a lot of fracs, the game will play small. If you give more $5s and less fracs and $1s the game will play bigger.

if your players are likely to buy in several times, I like a bigger playing game since it’s taken more seriously. But if your players usually go home after busting, then I keep the game running small since playing smaller is still better than not playing.

I play 25/50 with $50 buy in but I give out more $5s and the game plays like a $1/$2 and by midnight it’s a $2/4.