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

[NotRealNameNoSir]

I believe in future proofing but I have a feel for our game. We’re not going to the moon.

Presently, I my standard build is a 400 chip set (all I spread are cash games) and laid out as follows:

100 non denoms (play as .25 or .50)
200 $1
100 $5 (could be 80 $5’s and 20 $20’s)

We play .25/.25 and last night had around $500 on the table.

Also, I’m aiming for 10 or so playable sets and rotate each session. We fill a table twice a week.

My first cash set was going to be 1000 chips. What. In. The. Eff?

I’ve learned a lot in my 6 months here.

Don't listen to this man. My cash set is 1200; my 5c/10c players may want to play $1/2 tomorrow, who knows!

 

[merkong]

Don't listen to this man. My cash set is 1200; my 5c/10c players may want to play $1/2 tomorrow, who knows!

Only listen to me when I say “Your Jacks are probably good.”

No, there’s varied opinion out there and you’ve come to the right place. NRNNS is wise. All of our games are different. Know yours.

But seriously, maybe your group can shift stakes like that. Ours doesn’t. I desire several sets to rotate and if suddenly there’s a need for that one set that can cover a big game it’ll be a one off and I’ll mix.

NRNNS, “Your Jacks are probably good.”

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Only listen to me when I say “Your Jacks are probably good.”

No, there’s varied opinion out there and you’ve come to the right place. NRNNS is wise. All of our games are different. Know yours.

But seriously, maybe your group can shift stakes like that. Ours doesn’t. I desire several sets to rotate and if suddenly there’s a need for that one set that can cover a big game it’ll be a one off and I’ll mix.

NRNNS, “Your Jacks are probably good.”

My joke didnt come through well enough; it's ridiculous that I own $100 chips but I do, lol. Eventually I buy a nicer set it'll be pared down violently.

 

[merkong]

My joke didnt come through well enough; it's ridiculous that I own $100 chips but I do, lol. Eventually I buy a nicer set it'll be pared down violently.

The violent pare down… I’ll warm up the Venmobile.

 

[Mediumpace]

Great post. Thanks for the information.

 

[allforcharity]

Hey guys, first post in this forum just to share my chip set mapping and starting stack planning.

I wanted a simple, versatile, futureproof chip set that abides by most of the rules and common wisdom I found on the Internet.

What I've worked out is that with a single 500x chip set, I can run a poker game of any ante (be it $0.25 / $0.5 or $100 / 200) for a table of up to 10 players. The chip set consists of standard denomination chips so that the correlation between denomination and their standard colours remains familiar even when playing at low antes.

• 100x whites ($1)
• 100x reds ($5)
• 100x greens ($25)
• 100x blacks ($100)
• 100x purples ($500)

The only catch: the decimal system. For this to work, chips need to be scaled up/down by multiples of 10 to suit your preferred ante. (For example, $5 chips shall be scaled down/up to $0.05, $0.5, or $50, depending on the preferred ante.)

SB / BB:	$1 / $2 (decimal: 0.1 / 0.2, etc)	$5 / $10 (decimal: 0.5/1, etc)	$25 / $50 (decimal: 0.25 / 0.5, etc)
100BB buy-in:	$200 (decimal: 20, etc)	$1000 (decimal: 100, etc)	$5000 (decimal: 50, etc)
Starting stack for 10-player tables:	10x $1, 8x $5, 6x $25	10x $5, 10x $25, 7x $100	8x $25, 8x $100, 8x $500
Starting stack for 5-player tables:	20x $1, 11x $5, 5x $25	20x $5, 12x $25, 6x $100	20x $25, 10x $100, 7x $500

Multiplying the starting stacks 10-player tables by 10, you really only use 100x $1, 100x $5, 100x $25, 100x $100, 80x $500. The surplus 20x $500 can be reserved for buy-ins for the $25 / $50 games, whereas there'd be plenty of higher denomination chips to be used for buy-ins for the $1 / $2 and $5 / $10 games.

I'm no seasoned host but it has worked well thus far. Hope this is helpful to somebody, and feel free to let me know if you guys have any thoughts or comments on this!

You *can* do this, but most of us don't.

 

[or4nge]

@or4nge What stakes do you play now? and are you planning on playing up to $25/$50 in the future?

Mostly $0.5/$1. Definitely can't see myself ever going any higher than a $5/$10.

But for now, I want only denominated chips with commonly associated colours. Perhaps when $.25 chips get more common and standardised, I'd put 100 of them in place of the purple $500 chips.

I'm not a fan of using the higher denoms, for example $25s as quarters, someone can play the low stakes game and put some 25c ($25) chips in their pocket on the way home, then to come back and cash out a night when the chips are worth $25

We play in small groups, and when we call it quits we simply count the value of the chips on hand and put it in the accounting app.

Thanks for your input though, it lets me see how others may not find it suitable for them. And something for me to be vigilant about!

 

[or4nge]

Presently, I my standard build is a 400 chip set (all I spread are cash games) and laid out as follows:

100 non denoms (play as .25 or .50)
200 $1
100 $5 (could be 80 $5’s and 20 $20’s)

We play .25/.25 and last night had around $500 on the table.

I'm curious, how many SB chips do you distribute per person in your starting stack? Do you give less when there are fewer players?

 

[merkong]

We play .25./.25 and lately we’ve been doing the first 5 players get a full barrel of quarters. Even with a full table (10) that’s plenty. We make change but it is not disruptive at all.

If we were to have a shorter table we’d still get the whole rack of .25 out there right away and just make less change.

 

[Nine_high]

Mostly $0.5/$1. Definitely can't see myself ever going any higher than a $5/$10.

But for now, I want only denominated chips with commonly associated colours. Perhaps when $.25 chips get more common and standardised, I'd put 100 of them in place of the purple $500 chips.

I'm no poker chip historian, but I don't think that quarters are going to get "more standardized".

I'm all about a Vegas color scheme. But I'm also all about having denominations that are actual cash value, not some scalar multiple. You just gotta find a quarter (or 50c) you like that doesn't conflict with the other colors. There are many commonly used choices as it is. Blue, brown, yellow, orange, pink, grey...

 

[or4nge]

I'm no poker chip historian, but I don't think that quarters are going to get "more standardized".

I'm all about a Vegas color scheme. But I'm also all about having denominations that are actual cash value, not some scalar multiple. You just gotta find a quarter (or 50c) you like that doesn't conflict with the other colors. There are many commonly used choices as it is. Blue, brown, yellow, orange, pink, grey...

To be fair my chips (green for example) doesn't actually say $25... just 25. So technically it could mean cents.

OK it's a stretch and I'm understanding the discomfort (Ainton's reply enclosed). But with my system I can play 0.25/0.5 with greens, blacks and purples; and I can play 0.5/1 with red, greens and blacks. If I can't scale my chips it'll be much harder to play something like a 0.5/1 without... getting 50c chips and their x4/x5 denoms.

Would like to hear if I may have missed out on other considerations. I definitely missed Ainton's.

@or4nge What stakes do you play now? and are you planning on playing up to $25/$50 in the future?

I'm not a fan of using the higher denoms, for example $25s as quarters, someone can play the low stakes game and put some 25c ($25) chips in their pocket on the way home, then to come back and cash out a night when the chips are worth $25

 

[Nine_high]

To be fair my chips (green for example) doesn't actually say $25... just 25. So technically it could mean cents.

So your black which says 100 is a buck, etc. right?

OK it's a stretch and I'm understanding the discomfort (Ainton's reply enclosed). But with my system I can play 0.25/0.5 with greens, blacks and purples; and I can play 0.5/1 with red, greens and blacks. If I can't scale my chips it'll be much harder to play something like a 0.5/1 without... getting 50c chips and their x4/x5 denoms.

Would like to hear if I may have missed out on other considerations. I definitely missed Ainton's.

I mean if your blinds are less than a dollar, yeah you'll want a frac. Let's say you get a rack of brown chips with "0.25" printed on them.

You can play 25¢/50¢ using brown, white, red, green.
You can play 50¢/$1 using brown, white, red, green, maybe black.
You can play $1/$2 using white, red, green black.
You can play $5/$5 using red, green, black, purple.

Each chip is the same true cash value no matter which blinds you're playing.

Also if you don't want fracs you can just play $1/$1 and it's basically the same as 50¢/$1.

 

[Beakertwang]

I'm curious, how many SB chips do you distribute per person in your starting stack? Do you give less when there are fewer players?

It would depend on the game. I play regularly in a .25/.25 game, so it thought I'd need more quarters, but most quarters are almost never used post-flop. If I'm expecting 9 players, I'll give the first 4 20 quarters, 20, $1's, and however many $5's to finish their buy-in. Later buy-ins can make change at the table. No one ever complains that there aren't enough quarters. In fact, as soon as a couple people cash out for the night, I'll remove a couple barrels from the table, just to make the stacks less crowded, and cashing out easier.

If I were playing a less aggro .25/.25 or .25/.50 game, with lots of limping and small raises, I might want a few more quarters in play.

 

[merkong]

^^^^^^^^
This.

BT, he is wise.

 

[Beakertwang]

Hey guys, first post in this forum just to share my chip set mapping and starting stack planning.

I wanted a simple, versatile, futureproof chip set that abides by most of the rules and common wisdom I found on the Internet.

What I've worked out is that with a single 500x chip set, I can run a poker game of any ante (be it $0.25 / $0.5 or $100 / 200) for a table of up to 10 players. The chip set consists of standard denomination chips so that the correlation between denomination and their standard colours remains familiar even when playing at low antes.

• 100x whites ($1)
• 100x reds ($5)
• 100x greens ($25)
• 100x blacks ($100)
• 100x purples ($500)

The only catch: the decimal system. For this to work, chips need to be scaled up/down by multiples of 10 to suit your preferred ante. (For example, $5 chips shall be scaled down/up to $0.05, $0.5, or $50, depending on the preferred ante.)

SB / BB:	$1 / $2 (decimal: 0.1 / 0.2, etc)	$5 / $10 (decimal: 0.5/1, etc)	$25 / $50 (decimal: 0.25 / 0.5, etc)
100BB buy-in:	$200 (decimal: 20, etc)	$1000 (decimal: 100, etc)	$5000 (decimal: 50, etc)
Starting stack for 10-player tables:	10x $1, 8x $5, 6x $25	10x $5, 10x $25, 7x $100	8x $25, 8x $100, 8x $500
Starting stack for 5-player tables:	20x $1, 11x $5, 5x $25	20x $5, 12x $25, 6x $100	20x $25, 10x $100, 7x $500

Multiplying the starting stacks 10-player tables by 10, you really only use 100x $1, 100x $5, 100x $25, 100x $100, 80x $500. The surplus 20x $500 can be reserved for buy-ins for the $25 / $50 games, whereas there'd be plenty of higher denomination chips to be used for buy-ins for the $1 / $2 and $5 / $10 games.

I'm no seasoned host but it has worked well thus far. Hope this is helpful to somebody, and feel free to let me know if you guys have any thoughts or comments on this!

For a cash game, only 100 chips of your workhorse denominations makes for inefficient play. For a .25/.50 game, I prefer at least 200 each of 1's and 5's, and maybe 300 of one or the other depending on how big the game plays. I understand what you're going for, but it's not really a great idea. If you're starting at .5/1 or 1/1, get a set that works for that. You can add on later, or if you're moving up to 5/10 later, you should probably have a custom set with some security.

 

[SteveEH]

Telling my players to change dollars to cents is easy math and as far as I go. One of my custom sets was specifically designed this way, and if I was ever to get a CPC rounders set I'd do the same because I'd want to see the same chips on my table that KGB and Mike used. If my friends and I ever wanted play bigger than .25/.50, I'd probably just get a higher denom value chip that would align with $ symbol = cents.

 

[Beakertwang]

^^^^^^^^
This.

BT, he is wise.

So wise.

 

[merkong]

So wise.

Wise guy you…

You actually got me onto the first five guys get a barrel of fracs deal. Works great.

 

[allforcharity]

People have been buying cash sets of $1 $5 $25 and using the $25 as quarters for a long time. I just shrug and do as the Romans do. The math doesn't bother me. I'm also not surprised as fracs are often the most expensive to obtain, create, or repurpose. I consider $1/$2 nosebleed stakes.

 

[springbox]

Don't listen to this man. My cash set is 1200; my 5c/10c players may want to play $1/2 tomorrow, who knows!

What my set should be:
5c x 80
25c x 200
1.00 x 120

What it is:

5c x 100
25c x 200
1.00 x 200
5.00 x 200
25.00 x 80
100 x 20

You never know when we'll jump from $120 in play to $4,000

 

[Beakertwang]

What my set should be:
5c x 80
25c x 200
1.00 x 120

What it is:

5c x 100
25c x 200
1.00 x 200
5.00 x 200
25.00 x 80
100 x 20

You never know when we'll jump from $120 in play to $4,000

Exactly!

What happened with me is I found a group of players who preferred to play the higher stakes. Still play the microstakes game, but recently playing regularly at .25/.25, .25/.50, and 1/1.

 

[merkong]

Still play the microstakes game, but recently playing regularly at .25/.25, .25/.50, and 1/1.

Hey! Who you calling micro? .25/.25 is big time for me. Lol

TGC caters to so many newer players that I don’t
see us taking that next step on a regular basis anytime soon. We are working on an off night session and taking it up a notch for us wannabes.

We have a little over $400 on the table on most nights.

 

[Dodger]

What my set should be:
5c x 80
25c x 200
1.00 x 120

What it is:

5c x 100
25c x 200
1.00 x 200
5.00 x 200
25.00 x 80
100 x 20

You never know when we'll jump from $120 in play to $4,000

 

[or4nge]

For a cash game, only 100 chips of your workhorse denominations makes for inefficient play. For a .25/.50 game, I prefer at least 200 each of 1's and 5's, and maybe 300 of one or the other depending on how big the game plays. I understand what you're going for, but it's not really a great idea. If you're starting at .5/1 or 1/1, get a set that works for that. You can add on later, or if you're moving up to 5/10 later, you should probably have a custom set with some security.

I've just given a whole thread a thoughtful read and will tinker it again to see how many workhorse chips I should have.

I haven't had an obvious issue with my games though. Can someone explain what exactly the issue is if the starting stack workhorse chips is more 10-12 than it is ~20?

After reading, one poster's categorisisation and recommendation of starting stack chips seems to be useful:
1. Small blind chip: 8-12 per pax
2. Workhorse chip: ~20 per pax
3. Top-up/rebuy chip: Until it meets the buy-in amount.

Is the recommendation sound?

So here's how I look at cash breakdowns.



Categorizing chips.



1) Blind/Ante Chips. 10-12 per player are plenty, never more than 20% of the set.

2) Workhorse Chips. Chips typically used for most bets, usually the next one or two denominations above the blind chips. This is where you want to spend your money, these are the chips that will move across the table, go for 60-70% of your set here.

3) High Value Store Chips. These are just there to bulk the bank to cover a very high contingency.



Details.



1) Don't overbuy blind chips. My rule of thumb is 8-12 per player.



These chips are only useful on early streets and become a liability when you have to count stacks (which you do somewhat regularly in no limit.) My first set for .05-.10 had 200 nickels of a total of 600 chips. It was absurd that every player had 1-2 bucks of nickels and made counting almost stupid. I later corrected this down to 125 and filled in some extra quarters and dollars it was a vast improvement. In my most recent set I dropped to 75 and the game is still quite operable, but I'll probably go to 100 next time I do a buy.



2) Limit to 3-4 denominations.



Again, this comes down to the need to count stacks in no-limit. To properly count a stack you need to sum each denomination. The fewer denominations, the easier this is to do mentally. To limit denominations they should be spread out 4x-5x between values. This is the problem with the game @Quad Johnson describes having 25c/50c/1/2/3 chips in play. Having to count 5 similar denominations take so much longer than 3 simple ones.



There is one exception I would make to the 4x-5x rule, I say it's okay to have 50c and 1 chips together so long as 50c is the lowest denom in the game and you don't issue too many. (See point 1 above). If the structure doesn't already require 25c chips, then you don't HAVE to put them in just to satisfy the 4x rule. You can of course if you don't have 50c chips.



3) Invest in the "workhorses"



I think 1-2 barrels per player of at least the lower workhorse (1 in a .25-.50 game, for example) is a good target. More is fine too if your players are good at standardizing stacks in an easy to count fashion. But if the later street bets are more than 20, I guess most players prefer using four fives to a barrel of singles. But I totally concede that may be a matter of personal taste.



4) Use High value chips to bulk to a target



For a single table, I think 3000-4000BB is a pretty good target. I would think 3-4 100 BB buy-ins per player should cover most nights. For every guy that goes in 4 bullets, there's probably a guy stacking chips on the initial buy-in. You don't need too many high value chips, these should really only be used to color up the biggest stacks, but it is nice to know these are in the bank in case the game approaches these crazy limits. It's a small commitment to raise the bank. Just don't go overboard if it means shorting the workhorses.



I'm very pleased with my current breakdown for .25-.50, which is 100 quarters, 275 singles, 200 fives, 25 twenty-fives. Gives me 1925 in the bank (3850 BB.) I think about 800 is the house high score for chips in play. Most nights my set would be fine for .50-1 (1925 BB), but it would be better with more fives and twenty-fives.



But this is my general breakdown advice, hope it helps someone avoid the mistakes I've made.

 

[allforcharity]

I've just given a whole thread a thoughtful read and will tinker it again to see how many workhorse chips I should have.

I haven't had an obvious issue with my games though. Can someone explain what exactly the issue is if the starting stack workhorse chips is more 10-12 than it is ~20?

After reading, one poster's categorisisation and recommendation of starting stack chips seems to be useful:
1. Small blind chip: 8-12 per pax
2. Workhorse chip: ~20 per pax
3. Top-up/rebuy chip: Until it meets the buy-in amount.

Is the recommendation sound?

You'll often see that the "default" recommendation for a single table (10 person) cash set is 600 chips, with 200 each of your 2 workhorse denoms.
For a 0.25/0.50 or 0.50/1, we would usually designate $1 and $5 as workhorse; for 1/2 through 2/5 it often shifts to $5 and $25.

8-max can get away with 500 chips usually. What is an absolute must is enough total bank to cover all the cash on the table on your biggest night, plus a fudge factor (usually double). Some measure of future proofing is a good idea.

 

[or4nge]

Hey guys, first post in this forum just to share my chip set mapping and starting stack planning.

I wanted a simple, versatile, futureproof chip set that abides by most of the rules and common wisdom I found on the Internet.

What I've worked out is that with a single 500x chip set, I can run a poker game of any ante (be it $0.25 / $0.5 or $100 / 200) for a table of up to 10 players. The chip set consists of standard denomination chips so that the correlation between denomination and their standard colours remains familiar even when playing at low antes.

• 100x whites ($1)
• 100x reds ($5)
• 100x greens ($25)
• 100x blacks ($100)
• 100x purples ($500)

The only catch: the decimal system. For this to work, chips need to be scaled up/down by multiples of 10 to suit your preferred ante. (For example, $5 chips shall be scaled down/up to $0.05, $0.5, or $50, depending on the preferred ante.)

SB / BB:	$1 / $2 (decimal: 0.1 / 0.2, etc)	$5 / $10 (decimal: 0.5/1, etc)	$25 / $50 (decimal: 0.25 / 0.5, etc)
100BB buy-in:	$200 (decimal: 20, etc)	$1000 (decimal: 100, etc)	$5000 (decimal: 50, etc)
Starting stack for 10-player tables:	10x $1, 8x $5, 6x $25	10x $5, 10x $25, 7x $100	8x $25, 8x $100, 8x $500
Starting stack for 5-player tables:	20x $1, 11x $5, 5x $25	20x $5, 12x $25, 6x $100	20x $25, 10x $100, 7x $500

Multiplying the starting stacks 10-player tables by 10, you really only use 100x $1, 100x $5, 100x $25, 100x $100, 80x $500. The surplus 20x $500 can be reserved for buy-ins for the $25 / $50 games, whereas there'd be plenty of higher denomination chips to be used for buy-ins for the $1 / $2 and $5 / $10 games.

I'm no seasoned host but it has worked well thus far. Hope this is helpful to somebody, and feel free to let me know if you guys have any thoughts or comments on this!

I've made tweaks to the starting stacks for my 500x chip set depending on the number of players, to maximise the number of workhorse chips and reducing the number of small blind chips:

SB / BB:	$1 / $2 (decimal: 0.1 / 0.2, etc)	$5 / $10 (decimal: 0.5/1, etc)	$25 / $50 (decimal: 0.25 / 0.5, etc)
100BB buy-in:	$200 (decimal: 20, etc)	$1000 (decimal: 100, etc)	$5000 (decimal: 50, etc)
Starting stack for 2-5 players:	10x $1, 18x $5, 4x $25	10x $5, 18x $25, 5x $100	8x $25, 18x $100, 6x $500
Starting stack for 6-7 players:	10x $1, 13x $5, 5x $25	10x $5, 14x $25, 6x $100	8x $25, 13x $100, 7x $500
Starting stack for 8-10 players:	10x $1, 8x $5, 6x $25	10x $5, 10x $25, 7x $100	8x $25, 8x $100, 8x $500

Can someone convince me of the gist of the problem with this mapping? What's the problem with 8x $25, 8x $100, 8x $500, for example? Is it acceptable once it gets to 8x $25, 13x $100, 7x $500?

I could get an additional 300x chip set with 100x each of reds ($5), greens ($25), and blacks ($100) so that everyone gets 18x 'workhorse chips', but I'm still not wholly convinced of why I should beyond 'they're workhorse chips'.

 

[LeLe]

I've made tweaks to the starting stacks for my 500x chip set depending on the number of players, to maximise the number of workhorse chips and reducing the number of small blind chips:

SB / BB:	$1 / $2 (decimal: 0.1 / 0.2, etc)	$5 / $10 (decimal: 0.5/1, etc)	$25 / $50 (decimal: 0.25 / 0.5, etc)
100BB buy-in:	$200 (decimal: 20, etc)	$1000 (decimal: 100, etc)	$5000 (decimal: 50, etc)
Starting stack for 2-5 players:	10x $1, 18x $5, 4x $25	10x $5, 18x $25, 5x $100	8x $25, 18x $100, 6x $500
Starting stack for 6-7 players:	10x $1, 13x $5, 5x $25	10x $5, 14x $25, 6x $100	8x $25, 13x $100, 7x $500
Starting stack for 8-10 players:	10x $1, 8x $5, 6x $25	10x $5, 10x $25, 7x $100	8x $25, 8x $100, 8x $500

Can someone convince me of the gist of the problem with this mapping? What's the problem with 8x $25, 8x $100, 8x $500, for example? Is it acceptable once it gets to 8x $25, 13x $100, 7x $500?

The site is basically a gathering place for chips lover and most of us will love to have more chips in play.

More chips also generate more actions in game as compared to lesser chips even if they have the same cash stack, it makes people splashier and more played more pot when they have more chips in front of them.

Also, another reason for having at least 200 of the pri & sec workhorse chips also reduce the amount of chips exchange and less confusion for the dealer when one could just bet $18 using 3 x $5 & 3 x $1 and not placing a $100 chip and saying $18 all the time.

 

[bigdonkey]

What my set could be:
5c x 80
25c x 200
1.00 x 120

What it is:

5c x 100
25c x 200
1.00 x 200
5.00 x 200
25.00 x 80
100 x 20


What my set should be:
5c x 200
25c x 300
1.00 x 300
5.00 x 500
25.00 x 200
100 x 100
500 x 80
2000 x 20

FYP

 

[Machine]

I've made tweaks to the starting stacks for my 500x chip set depending on the number of players, to maximise the number of workhorse chips and reducing the number of small blind chips:

SB / BB:	$1 / $2 (decimal: 0.1 / 0.2, etc)	$5 / $10 (decimal: 0.5/1, etc)	$25 / $50 (decimal: 0.25 / 0.5, etc)
100BB buy-in:	$200 (decimal: 20, etc)	$1000 (decimal: 100, etc)	$5000 (decimal: 50, etc)
Starting stack for 2-5 players:	10x $1, 18x $5, 4x $25	10x $5, 18x $25, 5x $100	8x $25, 18x $100, 6x $500
Starting stack for 6-7 players:	10x $1, 13x $5, 5x $25	10x $5, 14x $25, 6x $100	8x $25, 13x $100, 7x $500
Starting stack for 8-10 players:	10x $1, 8x $5, 6x $25	10x $5, 10x $25, 7x $100	8x $25, 8x $100, 8x $500

Can someone convince me of the gist of the problem with this mapping? What's the problem with 8x $25, 8x $100, 8x $500, for example? Is it acceptable once it gets to 8x $25, 13x $100, 7x $500?

I could get an additional 300x chip set with 100x each of reds ($5), greens ($25), and blacks ($100) so that everyone gets 18x 'workhorse chips', but I'm still not wholly convinced of why I should beyond 'they're workhorse chips'.

I think this makes it a bit confusing and more effort for others to chime in, I would suggest you post as .1/.2 or .25/.5 and then convert it later. You may even want to post a new thread so that you can get more customized discourse.

 

[Nine_high]

I've made tweaks to the starting stacks for my 500x chip set depending on the number of players, to maximise the number of workhorse chips and reducing the number of small blind chips:

SB / BB:	$1 / $2 (decimal: 0.1 / 0.2, etc)	$5 / $10 (decimal: 0.5/1, etc)	$25 / $50 (decimal: 0.25 / 0.5, etc)
100BB buy-in:	$200 (decimal: 20, etc)	$1000 (decimal: 100, etc)	$5000 (decimal: 50, etc)
Starting stack for 2-5 players:	10x $1, 18x $5, 4x $25	10x $5, 18x $25, 5x $100	8x $25, 18x $100, 6x $500
Starting stack for 6-7 players:	10x $1, 13x $5, 5x $25	10x $5, 14x $25, 6x $100	8x $25, 13x $100, 7x $500
Starting stack for 8-10 players:	10x $1, 8x $5, 6x $25	10x $5, 10x $25, 7x $100	8x $25, 8x $100, 8x $500

Can someone convince me of the gist of the problem with this mapping? What's the problem with 8x $25, 8x $100, 8x $500, for example? Is it acceptable once it gets to 8x $25, 13x $100, 7x $500?

I could get an additional 300x chip set with 100x each of reds ($5), greens ($25), and blacks ($100) so that everyone gets 18x 'workhorse chips', but I'm still not wholly convinced of why I should beyond 'they're workhorse chips'.

It's one thing of you're making do with what you have. But this system isn't generally recommended when building a set, which is the point of this thread.

And now you're talking about going out and adding 300 more chips, why not get 100 fracs and 100 more 1s and 5s? I think you'll be able to spread a decent range of stakes that way, and no chip will need to morph into a scalar multiple of itself.

Can you run a full ring 25c/50c game with only one rack each of quarters, ones, and fives? Yeah, maybe, but it's going to be clumsy. And definitely not if the five is your top denomination. You can cover two $50 rebuys then your bank is done. I guess you could let $25 bills play but why go to that trouble? Seems such a shame since you have a $25 chip already and $25 bills are hard to come by.

If you're building a set you should try to build it with the appropriate denominations. The quoted advice about devoting ~2/3 of the set to workhorses is generally good advice. Most of the bets throughout the night, the sizes of which should be largely driven by the blinds and the overall stack sizes, will be made in units of these chips so they will sort of fly around the table all night. For example in a 25c/50c game where the average stack is between $50-$200, most bets will be in multiples of $1 early on, then multiples of $5 on later streets. Less likely they will be multiples of $25 or $100 very routinely, though this of course will happen at times. Winning players will accumulate large stacks of workhorses, losing players will (re)buy stacks of them. Eventually you (the bank) run out and move to larger value chips, which are then exchanged with one of the previously mentioned winning players for more workhorses and a few blind chips. The game will operate much more smoothly.