The Beginners Guide To Mapping Out A Cash Game Chip Set - 5c/10c to $5/$10 (4 Viewers)

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

Noted! Letting $20s play is a great idea.



I think I misunderstood or misrepresented what I was hoping for. 2 tables hasn't occured but I wanted ~2x buys per person just to be well covered.
We play 6-8 mostly, microstakes, can get up to 10 on a good night, or slim down to 4. We'll never play 10 people in 0.50/1.00 and its rare if we ever play that big hence why big chip delegation got slimmed down.

I have never played 0.25/0.25 but am interested if it does make the game easier and chips easier to delegate. I'm assuming that just means SB BB are both 0.25 and not like an ante game right?

Taking into consideration what everyone said, I see the chip count now being:

200x - $0.25
300x - $1
300x - $5

If they want to play larger stakes as rare as it is then I'll tell them to bring $20s. Additionally I can use some cheap dice chips for nickels and hope we outgrow them or if not, easy enough to add 100-200 $0.05 chips on. This should eliminate adding to existing chips for color consistency and setting up for additional purchases to be for larger chips only.

Thanks for the help!

OK, that clarification makes a huge difference! On a single table, you do not want to keep adding more smaller denoms after your initial buy-ins. Rebuys and top ups should only be done with bigger chips. $5s & $25s.

I see you are leaning towards letting $20 bills play. Some like this idea, but I don't. Yeah, if it's just a few and it's only once in a while, then save your chip budget. But if it's going to be a regular thing, and you see more that 5 or so bills on the table, I would personally much rather have chips in play. You want to be able to look at your opponents' stacks and quickly estimate how much they have behind. That is much easier to do with a stack of $25 chips out front than with a stack of bills.

If you're going to play at the $50 - $100 level for rebuys, bite the bullet and get some $25s. You really want your total bank to be more than enough to cover your expectations of your biggest possible game.

Regarding your revised breakdown, on a single table, you could even cut back your $1s to 200. 20 per player is plenty.

 

[JustinInMN]

I see you are leaning towards letting $20 bills play. Some like this idea, but I don't. Yeah, if it's just a few and it's only once in a while, then save your chip budget. But if it's going to be a regular thing, and you see more that 5 or so bills on the table, I would personally much rather have chips in play. You want to be able to look at your opponents' stacks and quickly estimate how much they have behind.

This is the main reason that rules around cash in play should always be limited to one specific denomination only. That does add to the visibility of opponents stacks knowing if it's a bill it must be a 20 (or a 100 as the case may be)

Also bills in play should always be front of stack for two reasons.

1) Visibility akin to keeping big chips in front.
2) Security, the further from the rail, the harder it would be for someone to snatch and grab. (Probably more of an issue in public rooms than trusted home games, but still.)

 

[euvi]

At 5¢-5¢ and 5¢-10¢ the quarter is the workhorse, and I do share the taste of targeting 1-2 barrels of the workhorse chip per player in NL games. If you buy in for $300 in a live casino game, you will usually be given the buy in with 3 barrels of fives. (sometimes a little less if they break a couple chips into singles for blinds.)

If those were the only stakes of interest for @euvi , I would probably say stick with the 300 quarters. But because we are trying to stretch over a range, some tradeoffs are needed. (Although just letting the set grow is always an option as well. I mean I have an active set of 2000 chips .)

Thanks for your input! I do want to stick with the 300 quarters, but to allow for growth to .25/.25 I'm also considering topping up the ones to 200 or so and adding a couple barrels of fives. I think buying an extra one or two hundred chips is a reasonable tradeoff. Also more chips is more better.

 

[JustinInMN]

Thanks for your input! I do want to stick with the 300 quarters, but to allow for growth to .25/.25 I'm also considering topping up the ones to 200 or so and adding a couple barrels of fives. I think buying an extra one or two hundred chips is a reasonable tradeoff. Also more chips is more better.

That's the spirit. Good luck .

 

[Quad Johnson]

Why would we want this thread deleted? It's surely one of the 2-3 best threads on this topic on the forum. (Though I would be curious what has changed in your approach to this over the past 6 years.)

There is an "unwatch" button at the top right if you don't wish to get notifications on this anymore. But PCF would lose something of value if this thread were lost.

That totally changed my perspective. I only ever really took the negative posts as people hacking on my efforts.

Carry on, glad to contribute.

 

[BottomPair7]

This thread was incredibly helpful when I transitioned my game from tournament to cash. Poker, no matter the stakes, isn't a one size fits all. Thank you for the time and effort you put it.

 

[JustinInMN]

That totally changed my perspective. I only ever really took the negative posts as people hacking on my efforts.

Carry on, glad to contribute.

We're all throwing our 2 cents in of course, but a six year discussion about a topic of broad interest is valuable.

 

[russdawg1]

There is no stake where you would need more than 100 5¢ for a single table. 10 chips per player in initial starting stacks is fine. Otherwise 200 quarters and singles are pretty good for stakes between 5¢-5¢ and 25¢-25¢.


Many PCF hosts (myself included) have a strategy of getting all the needed low denom chips in play right away and then doing rebuy stacks with higher chips only. This is part of why it's okay to reduce the number of "blind chips". (There are many other posts detailing this in this very thread.)

So your starting stacks for 5¢-5¢ through 10¢-25¢ could look something like this:

First 10 stacks 10/18/x of 5¢/25¢/1 (where x is the number of singles needed to make the desired buy in.)
11th stack 0/20/x
Remaining stacks in singles and fives.

Or even...

First 5 stacks 20/20/x
Next 5 stacks x/20/x
Remaining stacks in singles and fives only.

That said, the higher blinds in your range a little optimistic for 600 chips. You are surely covered for your first two stakes for sure. But really you probably need to be willing to go to 800 chips to cover a range that would handle 2000BB (2 buy-ins * 10 players * 100BB) at 25¢-50¢ or 50¢-1 blinds.

I would suggest this breakdown if you want to include 25¢-50¢ or 50¢-1 blinds in quantities of 25 chips.

5¢ * 100
25¢ * 200
1 * 200
5 * 150
25 * 50

This does cover 2 buy-ins per player, but if you should get to a spot where you need more in a 50¢-1, you could let $100 notes play.

Hope this helps.

Glad everyone seems to be echoing about the same suggestions. Makes me a bit more confident in my stack selection

OK, that clarification makes a huge difference! On a single table, you do not want to keep adding more smaller denoms after your initial buy-ins. Rebuys and top ups should only be done with bigger chips. $5s & $25s.

I see you are leaning towards letting $20 bills play. Some like this idea, but I don't. Yeah, if it's just a few and it's only once in a while, then save your chip budget. But if it's going to be a regular thing, and you see more that 5 or so bills on the table, I would personally much rather have chips in play. You want to be able to look at your opponents' stacks and quickly estimate how much they have behind. That is much easier to do with a stack of $25 chips out front than with a stack of bills.

If you're going to play at the $50 - $100 level for rebuys, bite the bullet and get some $25s. You really want your total bank to be more than enough to cover your expectations of your biggest possible game.

Regarding your revised breakdown, on a single table, you could even cut back your $1s to 200. 20 per player is plenty.

Will definitely consider slimming down the chips as I don't wanna lug around too many if I can help it. Planning on throwing it all in an apache 4800 with some china/justin racks. I might get a rack of $25s instead of letting $20 bills play. Still trying to find the right balance of quality of play and keeping chips from collecting dust for our current group and what our group could look like in the future. I want to be prepared but not waste money

This is the main reason that rules around cash in play should always be limited to one specific denomination only. That does add to the visibility of opponents stacks knowing if it's a bill it must be a 20 (or a 100 as the case may be)

Also bills in play should always be front of stack for two reasons.

1) Visibility akin to keeping big chips in front.
2) Security, the further from the rail, the harder it would be for someone to snatch and grab. (Probably more of an issue in public rooms than trusted home games, but still.)

Good notes, thanks!

 

[allforcharity]

I might get a rack of $25s instead of letting $20 bills play.

It is usually economical to do so. For most custom sets it doesn’t cost more than any other denom you're already going to get, and more mixed ex-casino sets they tend to be cheaper because a lot of people have transitioned to T100 base sets and not many need multiple racks for their cash games, so they come up in the Classifieds at a good price fairly often.

 

[Player922000]

Any micro stakes players out there? We play low stakes for fun and do 5/10 cent blinds. $20 buy-in and typically have 6-8 players. The denoms we use now are 5/10/25/$1/$5. I haven’t really seen any sets like that on here and I'm trying to upgrade our chip set to something a bit nicer. Do sets like these ever pop up on here or am I looking at 1) just making a custom set or 2) switching to 5/25/$1/$5 which I’ve seen a couple sets of on here?

 

[allforcharity]

Any micro stakes players out there? We play low stakes for fun and do 5/10 cent blinds. $20 buy-in and typically have 6-8 players. The denoms we use now are 5/10/25/$1/$5. I haven’t really seen any sets like that on here and I'm trying to upgrade our chip set to something a bit nicer. Do sets like these ever pop up on here or am I looking at 1) just making a custom set or 2) switching to 5/25/$1/$5 which I’ve seen a couple sets of on here?

Skip the 10c chip, waste of time and expense.

 

[SteveEH]

.05/.10 is pretty much the lowest stakes you'll see, but IMO most people here do .25/.50 or higher.

I use $ sign denominations for these stakes and tell my players to pretend it's a cents sign.

My set, below, can accommodate higher stakes. For a pure .05/.10 set, plan for quarters and dollars to be the workhorse denominations, and if you're on a budget or want less chips on the table, 5s for rebuys. You don't need a .10 denomination for .05/.10.

 

[Player922000]

Skip the 10c chip, waste of time and expense.

The only thing I’m dreading is we’ve been using 10c chips for literally a decade. So I feel like it’ll take forever for us all to get used to not having them

 

[JustinInMN]

The only thing I’m dreading is we’ve been using 10c chips for literally a decade. So I feel like it’ll take forever for us all to get used to not having them

Fwiw , I do use 10¢ and 50¢ fracs for my micro stakes game instead of nickels and quarters.

The two issues with the dime are

1) is a cluttered denomination when the nickel is present.

2) Does not divide nicely with the quarter when the quarter is present

Doing 5¢ and 25¢ chips is definitely the most common recommendation on pcf and it works well

 

[Player922000]

Fwiw , I do use 10¢ and 50¢ fracs for my micro stakes game.

Do you only use 10 and 50 denoms? Or you’re saying in addition to the usual denoms?

 

[JustinInMN]

Do you only use 10 and 50 denoms? Or you’re saying in addition to the usual denoms?

Only use those two. Sorry for the late edit, I hit post too quickly

 

[SteveEH]

Fwiw , I do use 10¢ and 50¢ fracs for my micro stakes game.

But you play .10/.20.right?

@Player922000 you could do .10/.10 blinds and skip the .05 denominations and the game would play the same. May be a little more difficult to make change from quarters though... It shouldn't be too hard to adjust by removing the .10.

 

[JustinInMN]

But you play .10/.20.right?

@Player922000 you could do .10/.10 blinds and skip the .05 denominations and the game would play the same. May be a little more difficult to make change from quarters though... It shouldn't be too hard to adjust by removing the .10.

We started at 10¢-10¢ and have since moved to 10¢-20¢, both work fine. And I only use the dimes for my micro game with family. Otherwise my NL stakes start at 50¢-50¢.

 

[Natskule]

Fwiw , I do use 10¢ and 50¢ fracs for my micro stakes game instead of nickels and quarters.

The two issues with the dime are

1) is a cluttered denomination when the nickel is present.

2) Does not divide nicely with the quarter when the quarter is present

Doing 5¢ and 25¢ chips is definitely the most common recommendation on pcf and it works well

Love a good 10¢/50¢/$2/$10/$50 set

 

[allforcharity]

I have nothing against dime fracs, but they should not be used with quarter fracs.

Best to combine 0.05 with 0.25, and 0 10 with 0.50. The 0.05 and 0 25 always offer more flexibility at microstakes, it just depends how your group plays and at what range.

Nickel and dime games would not be taken seriously by anybody I play home games with. So we do 0.25/0.25 at a bare minimum, with 0.25/0.50 and 1/1 being most common.

 

[UncleSalty]

General Rules To Mapping Out A Cash Set

1. Plan your chip set around 10 players per table. A full table is 10 players, you may only run 7-8 normally but I'm a big believer in being prepared. Someone might bring a friend and who wants to turn down action? I don't! The extra chips will also provide you cushion with your set.

2. Only have denominations that are 4-5x the value of the previous denomination. This one is very important. I know some of y'all have guys that like a bunch of different chips. I read one post in my forum searches where a guy runs $1/$2/$3 and $5 chips all in one game. This is such a waste of chips and only makes cash outs at the end of the night more of a headache. Follow the KISS mantra - Keep It Simple Stupid. You as the host are also the banker. Make your job easier and save money on chip sets by keeping the denominations simple. When I started my game, my 25c/50c game had denoms of 25c/50c/$1/$5/$10/$25/$50/$100... don't do this. Don't be that guy. It's a waste of chips and thus, a waste of money on your initial investment.

3. Plan the chip set around a starting stack of 200 big blinds. The max buy in of my 25c/50c game is $100. Not everyone does this, but some nights everyone does. Your game might not be at that point, but if you want your game to last, you'll need to be prepared to handle growth. Some players are more gamblers than others. Be prepared and have the chips at your disposal. Having the chips will only add more flexibility to your capabilities to host.


Mapping Out A Chip Set For 1 Table Of 10 Players

The following chip counts are meant to be a guide to efficiently map out a chip set, thus saving you money on your total chip purchase. I will cover each stake from 5c/10c to $5/$10. There is great debate over using a $20 or $25 chip. I've mapped this guide out to be as efficient as possible based on the stakes. Some use $20, others $25. You may like different stacks sizes too. Example, my guys like big stacks for my 25c/50c game. My mapping is $100 stacks of 12/17/16 of 25c/$1/$5 chips respectively.

This is meant to be a general guide to help get you started and thinking in the process you need to map out your chip set efficiently. These set guides are written with the considerations of: most places when you order chips require you to order in increments of 25 and I'm not using "odd" denominations that are hard to find, example: a $2.50 chip. They're useful, however a bit harder to track down. These will use the easier to find denominations.

Now, let's get started. These map outs will provide you with 10x starting playable stacks with enough in higher denomination chips to cover color ups, top offs and rebuys with a total bank averaging 3x 200 big blind buy ins per player at the table (600 big blinds total x 10 players). Sure, this might not happen all the time... but when it does, you'll be glad you have the chips.

My motto is always buy once, cry once.


5c/10c Mapping - $20 Max Buy In for 200 Big Blinds

Chip Denominations

5c/25c/$1/$5/$20

Max Buy In Starting Stacks

10x 5c (50c)
18x 25c ($4.50)
15x $1 ($15)

Chips Needed - 500 Total Chips

100x 5c ($5)
200x 25c ($50)
150x $1 ($150)
25x $5 ($125)
25x $20 ($500)


Total Bank: $830

10c/25c Mapping - $50 Max Buy In for 200 Big Blinds

Chip Denominations

5c/25c/$1/$5/$25

Max Buy In Starting Stacks

10x 5c (50c)
14x 25c ($3.50)
11x $1 ($11)
7x $5 ($35)

Chips Needed - 500 Total Chips

100x 5c ($5)
150x 25c ($37.50)
125x $1 ($125)
75x $5 ($375)
50x $25 ($1,250)

Total Bank: $1,792.50


25c/50c Mapping - $100 Max Buy In for 200 Big Blinds

Chip Denominations

25c/$1/$5/$25

Max Buy In Starting Stacks

8x 25c ($2)
18x $1 ($18)
16x $5 ($80)

Chips Needed - 600 Total Chips

100x 25c ($25)
250x $1 ($250)
175x $5 ($875)
75x $25 ($1,875)

Total Bank: $3,025

50c/$1 Mapping - $200 Max Buy In for 200 Big Blinds

Chip Denominations

25c/$1/$5/$25/$100

Max Buy In Starting Stacks

8x 25c ($2)
8x $1 ($8)
13x $5 ($65)
5x $25 ($125)

Chips Needed - 500 Total Chips

100x 25c ($25)
100x $1 ($100)
150x $5 ($150)
50x $25 ($1,250)
50x $100 ($5,000)

Total Bank: $6,525

$1/$2 Mapping - $400 Max Buy In for 200 Big Blinds

Chip Denominations

$1/$5/$25/$100

Max Buy In Starting Stacks

10x $1 ($10)
18X $5 ($90)
8x $25 ($200)
1x $100 ($100)

Chips Needed - 500 Total Chips

100x $1 ($100)
200x $5 ($1000)
100x $25 ($2,500)
100x $100 ($10,000)

Total Bank: $13,600

$2/$5 Mapping - $1,000 Max Buy In for 200 Big Blinds

Chip Denominations

$1/$5/$25/$100/$500

Max Buy In Starting Stacks

5x $1 ($5)
14x $5 ($70)
13x $25 ($325)
1x $100 ($100)
1x $500 ($500)

Chips Needed - 750 Total Chips

50x $1 ($50)
300x $5 ($1,500)
275x $25 ($6,875)
100x $100 ($10,000)
25x $500 ($12,500)

Total Bank: $30,925

$5/$10 Mapping - $2,000 Max Buy In for 200 Big Blinds

Chip Denominations

$5/$25/$100/$500

Max Buy In Starting Stacks

10x $5 ($50)
10x $25 ($250)
7x $100 ($700)
2x $500 ($1000)

Chips Needed - 375 Total Chips

100x $5 ($500)
100x $25 ($2,500)
75x $100 ($7,500)
100x $500 ($50,000)

Total Bank: $60,500



Well that's what I got. If you grow to 2 tables, simply x2 these chips sets and you're covered.

If anyone notices any typos, bad math on my part, etc. please post and I will make changes.

I've proof read this 4 times but I'm still only human.

This is VERY helpful! Thanks so much!
I host a home game for 20 to 50 buy in. 6 person turbo tourney and dealers choice games. I'll be using your formula for sure!

 

[tallsbutler]

That totally changed my perspective. I only ever really took the negative posts as people hacking on my efforts.

Carry on, glad to contribute.

For what its worth @Quad Johnson, I find my self referring to this all the time and still think its one of the best all in one starting points. I appreciate you putting together all those years ago

 

[paulkersey]

Can someone please describe the pros and cons of a $0.25/$0.50 game vs a $0.25/$1 game?

Wouldn't it make sense to simply skip or overlook the $0.50 as a way to minimize the need for fracs?

 

[Colquhoun]

For what its worth @Quad Johnson, I find my self referring to this all the time and still think its one of the best all in one starting points. I appreciate you putting together all those years ago

Agreed. I don't have many bookmarked threads, but this is one of the few.

 

[TX_Golf_N_Poker]

Love a good 10¢/50¢/$2/$10/$50 set

Here ya go! No $50 in this set, but if you can believe it, I have you covered!!! And to make it even more unique, $12 plaques.

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/micro-stake-cash-set-10c-20c-275.120582/

 

[allforcharity]

Can someone please describe the pros and cons of a $0.25/$0.50 game vs a $0.25/$1 game?

Wouldn't it make sense to simply skip or overlook the $0.50 as a way to minimize the need for fracs?

Just play $1/$1. You will save lots of headache and heartache and $$$.

 

[paulkersey]

Just play $1/$1. You will save lots of headache and heartache and $$$.

Fair point. How many players do you think you could comfortably accommodate with 200 x $1's? How about 300?

 

[allforcharity]

Fair point. How many players do you think you could comfortably accommodate with 200 x $1's? How about 300?

200 really covers 10 players. 300 is not unreasonable to have, especially if everyone's tipping a dedicated dealer.

 

[Phoe9x]

I’m working on finalizing a CPC custom set, and am looking to figure out a good set size.

I’m looking to buy ~700 chips. I usually host $0.25/$0.25, and the game is pretty limpy, as I host more I want to test the waters with higher stakes but that is currently how my game plays.

starting stacks are as follows for $50:
12 x $0.25
16 x $1
6 x $5

My initial thought is to have this setup:
120 x $0.25
200 x $1
200 x $5
100 x $25
40 x $100

I also like playing $5 craps with my fiancée on a topper I built. Which is why I wanted to add more $5 chips, and it will help future proof for when I host larger games.

 

[Natskule]

I’m working on finalizing a CPC custom set, and am looking to figure out a good set size.

I’m looking to buy ~700 chips. I usually host $0.25/$0.25, and the game is pretty limpy, as I host more I want to test the waters with higher stakes but that is currently how my game plays.

starting stacks are as follows for $50:
12 x $0.25
16 x $1
6 x $5

My initial thought is to have this setup:
120 x $0.25
200 x $1
200 x $5
100 x $25
40 x $100

I also like playing $5 craps with my fiancée on a topper I built. Which is why I wanted to add more $5 chips, and it will help future proof for when I host larger games.

Just my opinion, but I'd skip $100s, they just in the rack and don't get used. I'd also change the $25s to $20s for your stakes, just easier to use and cash out/buy in with.