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Starting Stack Thread (3 Viewers)

T1200 stacks ready for tonight’s game. Starting with two tables of six.

Like to get lots of 5’s and 25’s into play :)

8C5EE3E3-EA00-47B6-AB2A-50435EB21C61.jpeg
 
Seems like most people have large quantities of chips in play. Is there an advantage to this? In the structure we used for years we always tried to limit the amount of chips and color up as much as possible. We also never had less than 30 people in a tournament but I have continued this structure in small single table tourneys with the neighbors.

We always used 20 chips starting stack for $1000 because they fit nicely in racks. Blinds start at 5-10. We give out 10 $5 6 $25 3 $100 and 1 $500.
 
Old State said:
Seems like most people have large quantities of chips in play. Is there an advantage to this? In the structure we used for years we always tried to limit the amount of chips and color up as much as possible. We also never had less than 30 people in a tournament but I have continued this structure in small single table tourneys with the neighbors.

We always used 20 chips starting stack for $1000 because they fit nicely in racks. Blinds start at 5-10. We give out 10 $5 6 $25 3 $100 and 1 $500.
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That just seems crazy low. I'd think there'd be constant change-making, once the $100's started getting regular use. Even the casinos will start you with more chips, and you know they're all about efficiency.
 
Old State said:
Seems like most people have large quantities of chips in play. Is there an advantage to this? In the structure we used for years we always tried to limit the amount of chips and color up as much as possible. We also never had less than 30 people in a tournament but I have continued this structure in small single table tourneys with the neighbors.

We always used 20 chips starting stack for $1000 because they fit nicely in racks. Blinds start at 5-10. We give out 10 $5 6 $25 3 $100 and 1 $500.
Click to expand...

MOAR CHIPS!

But yeah, like @upNdown mentions, change making makes a game less efficient for the players. If coloring up is taking too much time, you can always have one player at each table "buy" all the chips about to be colored up. Then you quickly count and only color up the one player and race off (or round up if you're lazy) the remainders.

Most of my starting stacks are 40 chips deep. Two barrels in each side of the rack makes set-up just as easy. Rebuys are 20-22 chips deep, and served up in chip tubes.
 
Poker Zombie said:
MOAR CHIPS!

But yeah, like @upNdown mentions, change making makes a game less efficient for the players. If coloring up is taking too much time, you can always have one player at each table "buy" all the chips about to be colored up. Then you quickly count and only color up the one player and race off (or round up if you're lazy) the remainders.

Most of my starting stacks are 40 chips deep. Two barrels in each side of the rack makes set-up just as easy. Rebuys are 20-22 chips deep, and served up in chip tubes.
Click to expand...

Never had a single issue with change making. Even if there is change made it takes two seconds and usually made out of the pot by the dealer....and usually before all the betting is done. So the time issue is nonexistent.

The tourneys always ran supper smooth and people actually used comment how they didn't like the clutter of of the chips. We would color out the $5 after 4 rounds. The the $25 after the next three. All conveniently during the breaks. The blacks and purple would mostly stay but we would even change out as many blacks as possible. The tourney winner usually didn't have more than 60 chips at the end sometimes less if we put the oranges into play!

We never got into the high denomination tourneys as it's all relevant anyway. This system allowed us to run 30-40 person tourneys and a cash game with the same 1000 chip set....though we later added a cash set.
 
Old State said:
Seems like most people have large quantities of chips in play. Is there an advantage to this? In the structure we used for years we always tried to limit the amount of chips and color up as much as possible. We also never had less than 30 people in a tournament but I have continued this structure in small single table tourneys with the neighbors.

We always used 20 chips starting stack for $1000 because they fit nicely in racks. Blinds start at 5-10. We give out 10 $5 6 $25 3 $100 and 1 $500.
Click to expand...

I like deeper stacks. I love everything about the chips that I own. I want them on the table. I use 45 chips in my starting stacks and it hasn't ever been an issue. Granted most of my players know how to manage stacks so that definitely helps.
 
Old State said:
if there is change made it takes two seconds and usually made out of the pot by the dealer....and usually before all the betting is done.
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This is an incorrect procedure.

Player A bets 100, Player B calls. Player C raises to 400, puts 500 out and takes the 100 from Player B?
Why this wrong...
  • Player D could think the bet was 500 to him
  • Player D could think he's heads up vs A
  • Player B could be skipped on the next orbit.
  • Player B could claim he had raised to 200.
Sure, you may not have ever had to deal with these (or other) issues, but there is a reason that change is never taken out of the pot until all action is complete.

Also, if you have dedicated dealers, this is less of an issue, but when you do a rotating deal on a 10 player table, making change becomes more inconvenient as the dealer is often further from the player needing change.

The only reason to have just 20 chips in a stack is because it makes a chip-set cheaper (a valid issue with 40 player set-up) or your players hate chips (which seems to be the case in your group).
 
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Poker Zombie said:
This is an incorrect procedure.

Player A bets 100, Player B calls. Player C raises to 500, puts 500 out and takes the 100 from Player B?
Why this wrong...
  • Player D could think the bet was 500 to him
  • Player D could think he's heads up vs A
  • Player B could be skipped on the next orbit.
  • Player B could claim he had raised to 200.
Sure, you may not have ever had to deal with these (or other) issues, but there is a reason that change is never taken out of the pot until all action is complete.

Also, if you have dedicated dealers, this is less of an issue, but when you do a rotating deal on a 10 player table, making change becomes more inconvenient as the dealer is often further from the player needing change.

The only reason to have just 20 chips in a stack is because it makes a chip-set cheaper (a valid issue with 40 player set-up) or your players hate chips (which seems to be the case in your group).
Click to expand...

If Player C raises to 500, why would he put out 500 and take 100 in change from player B?

Perhaps @Old State meant that when Player C raises to 200 by placing a 500 chip (and announcing raise), the dealer take 5x100 out of the pot, puts the 500 chip in the pot, puts 2x100 in front of Player C and then gives Player C 3x100 change. Or likewise makes the same transaction with another player who has a ton of 100 chips. I've seen both of those and its not much of a hassle at all.
 
WedgeRock said:
If Player C raises to 500, why would he put out 500 and take 100 in change from player B?

Perhaps @Old State meant that when Player C raises to 200 by placing a 500 chip (and announcing raise), the dealer take 5x100 out of the pot, puts the 500 chip in the pot, puts 2x100 in front of Player C and then gives Player C 3x100 change. Or likewise makes the same transaction with another player who has a ton of 100 chips. I've seen both of those and its not much of a hassle at all.
Click to expand...

Meant to type 400. Fixed.

I've seen it taken out of a player that has mass stacks, so the bet stays on the table, but out of the pot is just wrong (unless there is enough in the pot without touching what was bet before the pot is right).

But really, I can't think of any good reason (except cost or hating chips) to have so few chips on the table that change making is a regular occurance.
 
WedgeRock said:
If Player C raises to 500, why would he put out 500 and take 100 in change from player B?

Perhaps @Old State meant that when Player C raises to 200 by placing a 500 chip (and announcing raise), the dealer take 5x100 out of the pot, puts the 500 chip in the pot, puts 2x100 in front of Player C and then gives Player C 3x100 change. Or likewise makes the same transaction with another player who has a ton of 100 chips. I've seen both of those and its not much of a hassle at all.
Click to expand...

Correction, the change was usually after the bets were collected. IF it was needed...which I really can't remember happening that often. Either way no issues.

We start the blinds at $5-10. The likelyhood of large raises early on are rare. Change was often made between players if needed. We simply never had an issue and our tourneys ran flawlessly. We did eight 35-40 person tourneys every year from 2001-2008 (and several smaller ones in between) without even a slight issue. We paid out close to $30K in prize money every year without a complaint. Even most casino tourneys I played in in AC didn't give out many more chips than that and colored up often. I always assumed the massive piles of chips on TV were there for dramatic effect.

Here were the blinds were used. Most tourneys finished in around five hours and about at the $1000 blind level or before.
1
$5
$10
20 mins
2
$10
$20
20 mins
3
$15
$30
20 mins
(Sometimes had a $20-40 level)
break
end of rebuys - add on
remove $5 & $10
15 mins
4
$25
$50
25 mins
5
$50
$100
25 mins
6
$75
$150
25 mins
break
remove $25
break
10 mins
7
$100
$200
25 mins
8
$200
$400
25 mins
9
$300
$600
25 mins
10
$400
$800
25 mins
Break
10 mins
11
$500
$1000
25 mins
12
$600
$1200
25 mins
13
$800
$1600
25 mins
14
$1000
$2000
25 mins
15+
+$500
+$1000
25 mins
 
Last edited:
Old State said:
Who said change was made before all bets were collected?
Click to expand...
You did.
Old State said:
.and usually before all the betting is done
Click to expand...

I'm not saying it didn't work. You asked...
Old State said:
Seems like most people have large quantities of chips in play. Is there an advantage to this?
Click to expand...

And the advantage is less change making, and having lots of chips in play.

If your players would prefer as few chips as possible, then have at it. It works, but you make more change. I hate having to make change during a game - to me it feels like the host was too cheap to buy enough chips to spread around. That however, is not an "advantage", it's just a preference. I collect chips.

The primary reasons TV tournaments have massive piles of chips is because TV tournaments tend toward extremely deep fields, but we typically only see the final table. The WSOP events I played in had very small starting stacks. 8xT25s with a 25/50 starting level. However, after hundreds of players are eliminated, those chips are still there, and not colored up until they are no longer needed for the ante. Because they aren't taking the time to color up piles of chips that are still needed, you get big piles of chips. If they required dramatic effect, they would require the players to shove all their chips in when declaring "all-in", as seen in James Bond/Casino Royale.
You don't need to change the way you run your tournaments, but I wonder what the player would think if they had the same starting amount, but 10/10/8/0 in their starting stacks, or 15/13/7/0. Maybe they'd hate it, maybe they'd like it.

I'd bet those that like to limp a lot would love it.
 
T5000 starting stacks for my 5 tourney sets. Surprising the little differences in the colors.

Which should I use for this weekend's tourney?

(Obviously, I'm still looking for yellow 1000s for the Paulson Fun Nites set so they're not an option yet)

I try to alternate, but so far this season I've been using the Grand Casinos and BCC Fun Nites.

(These all need a good oiling :eek:)

20180104_205900.jpg


20180104_205924.jpg
20180104_210113.jpg
20180104_210000.jpg
20180104_210028.jpg
 
GenghisKhan said:
T5000 starting stacks for my 5 tourney sets. Surprising the little differences in the colors.

Which should I use for this weekend's tourney?

(Obviously, I'm still looking for yellow 1000s for the Paulson Fun Nites set so they're not an option yet)

I try to alternate, but so far this season I've been using the Grand Casinos and BCC Fun Nites.

(These all need a good oiling :eek:)

View attachment 144790

View attachment 144793 View attachment 144794 View attachment 144792 View attachment 144791
Click to expand...
You might have a problem.
 
GenghisKhan said:
T5000 starting stacks for my 5 tourney sets. Surprising the little differences in the colors.

Which should I use for this weekend's tourney?

(Obviously, I'm still looking for yellow 1000s for the Paulson Fun Nites set so they're not an option yet)

I try to alternate, but so far this season I've been using the Grand Casinos and BCC Fun Nites.

(These all need a good oiling :eek:)

View attachment 144790

View attachment 144793 View attachment 144794 View attachment 144792 View attachment 144791
Click to expand...
I say you get the Atlantic Clubs into play.
 
David O said:
I say you get the Atlantic Clubs into play.
Click to expand...

Well in that case, the starting stacks are all ready for Sunday night's tourney. Well, unless we do a callout for a cash game tonight....:whistle: :whistling:

Cause who can wait 2 days for poker with the buddies? That's a pretty long wait.:LOL: :laugh:

We were just hit with 51cm of snow and it's still coming down. This is perfect "get out of the house" weather.


20180105_155251.jpg
 

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