Thoughts on this new chipper cash game setup. (1 Viewer)

[Chrisja77]

We had a weekly game night back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s but sadly most of that group has passed on…I still have that old table with all its memories and am in the process of refelting it and plan to start a new game night with friends and family. Most of these will be new or newer players so I want to keep limits low to keep things fun for everyone. 5 draw, 7 stud, and a little Texas hold ‘em is traditionally what we played but that might change with what the beginners enjoy and want to stick with. I am thinking around 6-8 players at the table but want to have room to grow…and I’m thinking nickle dime quarter poker with .50 cent limits and a $20 buyin to keep things cheap to learn with. We will allow additional buyins as the night progresses. After reading on here I am thinking of getting a set of Majestic chips from Apache poker since they have the denominations that we are looking at using and I don’t want to break the bank with chips just yet until this proves viable. The breakdown I am considering is:
100x - 5c
200x - 25c
150x - $1
25x - $5
50x - $10

I am doing $10 chips instead of their $25 chips for the $20 buyin to work smoother.

$20 buyin would give you:
10x - 5c (.50c)
18x - 25c ($4.50)
15x - $1 ($15)

This will be a 525 chip set and should be enough to play 10 people or multiple buyins for a 6 player game. Does the breakdown look ok? I keep seeing it suggested to keep cash games to a 4 denomination chip collection but the above would be $200 worth of buyins to play 10 people at $20 buyins and then extra for additional buyins…unless my math is wrong with is highly likely!

Thanks in advance for the help on getting this setup to make it an enjoyable experience for the players I have wanting to join in.

 

[springbox]

For nickel-dime $10~$20 is a good buy in. Any more than that and why are the blinds 5c/10c. Initial buy in amounts look good.

I'd skip the $10s, and just get more $5s for re-buys. 100 5s would be 25 re-buys which is a good amount for a casual game. Or 75x5 and 25x10 if you must. But having more 10s than 5s is awkward. $20s would be nice, but I don't think there are Majestic $20s.

 

[Eriks]

50-100 x $5s and I would do a $20 rather than a $10

 

[SteveEH]

This may help or give you some ideas:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/sustainable-game-with-friends-that-arent-poker-players.94681/

You mentioned 50c bet limits. If that's the case I'd recommend 50c/$1 fixed limit (the blinds are .25/.50). When I restarted my game we played this. Everyone brought $40 for the night and people were up or down about $20. A few outlier nights saw:

- one player up $40
- one player down $35
- one player down $30

 

[Chrisja77]

50-100 x $5s and I would do a $20 rather than a $10

Majestics come in a $10 or $25, not a $20 is why I was considering this option.

 

[Chrisja77]

This may help or give you some ideas:

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/sustainable-game-with-friends-that-arent-poker-players.94681/

You mentioned 50c bet limits. If that's the case I'd recommend 50c/$1 fixed limit (the blinds are .25/.50). When I restarted my game we played this. Everyone brought $40 for the night and people were up or down about $20. A few outlier nights saw:

- one player up $40
- one player down $35
- one player down $30

I like the flyer you made out. I need to look into something like that maybe! Haha

 

[allforcharity]

Either 100x $5 or
80x $5 and 20x $25
Total 600 chips

good for 10 handed play
can also handle a smaller 0.25/0.25 or 0.25/0.50 game as well

 

[Chrisja77]

I’ve been giving this a little more thought and I’m looking at changing the chips up. Since these will be beginners and younger players for the most part I’m expecting the pots to be very small and friendly (thinking nickels and dimes a lot) and I really want to maximize everyone’s play time for now without feeling like they are just feeding the better players. I don’t think we will need many or any of the larger $5 or $10 chips…what are your thoughts on changing denominations to:

200x 5c
200x 25c
150x $1
50x $5

This should give lots of chips for buyins with a 6-8 person table but still be able to cover a 10 person Texas hold ‘em if that ever pops up. It will also fill up 6 trays pretty nicely for storage and be a solid base to grow with as the players get more confident and the pots grow bigger later on.

As for chips, the Majestic chips from Apache are the nicest ones I’ve found that have the 5c denomination. Are there others you would suggest looking at that I might not have found yet without going a full custom chip right now?

 

[Chrisja77]

I honestly thought about doing a 50/50 split with 100x each of 5c and 10c chips but everything I read says to stay away from chips that close in denomination. This will be a learning experience for me also since back in the day we always just went to a gas station and cashed in a bunch of bills for change and used actual nickles dimes and quarters! Haha

 

[Eriks]

Majestics come in a $10 or $25, not a $20 is why I was considering this option.

Then more $5s instead. Or find a way to go with $10s only. Having both makes little sense. Personally I’d go with $5s and $25s.

 

[Machine]

You’ll never use 200 nickels, just get 100, also get about 20 25s.

Do not get any 10s

For .05/.10 you can actually do $5 or $10 buys and have the fun

 

[allforcharity]

100 nickels definitely enough
200 quarters
200 ones
100 fives
Bank = $755

If you need more bank then sub 20x $5 with 20x $20-25 instead, Bank increases to $1055-1155. 6-handed play at 0.25/0.50 is no problem, even with 500 chips after taking away the nickels.

 

[Chrisja77]

100 nickels definitely enough
200 quarters
200 ones
100 fives
Bank = $755

If you need more bank then sub 20x $5 with 20x $20-25 instead, Bank increases to $1055-1155. 6-handed play at 0.25/0.50 is no problem, even with 500 chips after taking away the nickels.

This might be the way. Lets me play the very low ante limit stud games, and gives me options to grow easily up to a .25/.50 hold ‘em game with the same chip set. I might need more chips later as we get more players but honestly 6-8 will be max player count starting out I feel. I can get behind this, thank you.

 

[LeLe]

100 nickels definitely enough
200 quarters
200 ones
100 fives
Bank = $755

Recommended this breakdown and if you need more bank, get another barrel of $20 or $25

There’s not much pros in getting $10 either

 

[Chrisja77]

I have asked a few different questions in a few different spots over the last few day while trying to narrow down exactly how I wanted to start this journey down the rabbit hole. I want to thank every one of you that has helped me with honest and friendly feedback to a few of my “newb” questions as I’ve been in your shoes on different forums and understand how frustrating it can be answering the same question nuanced different ways 50 times.

Finally made a decision and pulled the trigger. I’ve got a shiny new set of Apache poker Majestic chips headed to the house. Breakdown for my beginner micro stakes cash set is:

100x 5c
200x 25c
200x $1
100x $5
1x Majestic dealer button

Also got a Versa 500 pc Deluxe briefcase coming to house them in that according to posts on here will hold 600 chips easily. And I splurged on my first ever deck of cards that aren’t bicycle brand…a set of Copag Bridge size jumbo index.

Long story short, thank you for spending my money. I definitely spent more than I planned on when I got here but I think it will be worth the investment in the long run and give me exactly what I was hoping for!

 

[upNdown]

This is fine. With a 600 chip set, you should never need a single chip that’s the size of your buyins.
I’d relate it to my .25/.50 game where we buy in from $50 to $100. I’ve never ever come close to needing $100 chips. I have a barrel of them and I got one on the table last game just for fun, but that’s just because I’m a silly chipper.
There’s really no need for a 200 big blind chip in a cash game.

 

[Taxi500]

Don't buy $10 chips. I deeply regret having done it once before. Crowds table and not useful.

 

[springbox]

Sounds like it should be a great setup for you. 100/200/200/100 is popular for a reason, it's a good spread.

 

[upNdown]

And I think you’re fine with 100 nickels, but I wouldn’t have dismissed 200 as quickly as some people did.
I’ve always said a single rack of fracs is plenty for a table, but that’s when the fracs are quarters, not nickels. And I personally think that 120 quarters might be the sweet spot for a 9-handed game. But when you’re using nickels, you should need 25% more of them (since it’s four quarters to a dollar, but five nickels to a quarter) so that might put your sweet spot at 150 right there. And if it’s a friendly limpy game, you’d probably want more anyway.

Long story short, if you play a few games and you feel like you’re short on nickels, don’t hesitate to order some more.

 

[springbox]

And I think you’re fine with 100 nickels, but I wouldn’t have dismissed 200 as quickly as some people did.
I’ve always said a single rack of fracs is plenty for a table, but that’s when the fracs are quarters, not nickels. And I personally think that 120 quarters might be the sweet spot for a 9-handed game. But when you’re using nickels, you should need 25% more of them (since it’s four quarters to a dollar, but five nickels to a quarter) so that might put your sweet spot at 150 right there. And if it’s a friendly limpy game, you’d probably want more anyway.

Long story short, if you play a few games and you feel like you’re short on nickels, don’t hesitate to order some more.

Actually bumped up one of my sets from 120 to 160 nickels because of this. If you're playing nickel/dime, it's often with inexperienced players who just want to see cards and like to limp. Everyone tends to like having more chips too. So starting an 8-handed game giving everyone a barrel of 5c, barrel of 25c, and then $1s to hit the BI amount is nice.

 

[Chrisja77]

Long story short, if you play a few games and you feel like you’re short on nickels, don’t hesitate to order some more.

This was pretty much what I decided and the reason I placed the order I did. In the grand scheme, Majestic chips are cheap and easy to get my hands on so if I need more of one or bought too many of another it’s really not a big issue. I have a tendency to obsess over things so I’ll be able to at least sleep better now that I’ve hit the buy button. Haha!!!

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Baaa, love handing a barrel of nickels to every player and saying its a dollar, easy to understand and gives them lots of chips for $5 or $10.

 

[Chrisja77]

Y’all are gonna have me go in and place a second order for another 100 nickels by the end of today! Hahahahaha

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

Y’all are gonna have me go in and place a second order for another 100 nickels by the end of today! Hahahahaha

Sorry, Im biased. I got cheap chips so I love the idea that my newbies can have barrels of chips to limp with, we dont have serious/optimal games lol

 

[Chrisja77]

Just spoke with Josh at Apache Poker and he was extremely helpful! Let me add another 100 5c chips and 7 chipco trays to my order and combined shipping to save me quite a bit and still said they would be shipped out today. Now that’s what I call customer service! They wont all fit in the case now if i travel but I should be able to squeeze enough in to make for a fun night if someone else decides to host.

 

[ThrowBack]

I have noticed that while a lot of people are on the right track, and this economy with inflation even at the lower stakes a lot of one dollar bills and that getting tossed around because quarters just aren’t worth what they used to be

I know I’m opening up a whole Nother can of worms but I would want to have more dollars available and be somewhat ready for it to play like a $40 game after people get acclimated to playing

 

[Chrisja77]

I have noticed that while a lot of people are on the right track, and this economy with inflation even at the lower stakes a lot of one dollar bills and that getting tossed around because quarters just aren’t worth what they used to be

I know I’m opening up a whole Nother can of worms but I would want to have more dollars available and be somewhat ready for it to play like a $40 game after people get acclimated to playing

I’ll keep an eye on this and if it looks like things are going short after a few games I’ll pick another rack of ones. I’m hoping these 700 chips will be a pretty inclusive set for small stakes and just be able to add some of those sweet $20 plaques that Apache sells if things start to go higher. Either way I believe I’m set up enough to get things started in the right direction!

 

[4SUMERZ]

My home game is $20.00 buy in, top up to $20, or rebuy at $20.
I have 8 players at the table.
.25/.25 blinds
My starting stacks are as follows:
8 - $0.25
16- $0.50
10 - $1.00
My rebuy chips are mostly $1.00 and $5.00
I have 100 -$0.25 chips
150 - $0.50 chips
125 - $1.00 chips
25 - $5.00 chips
Total 400 chips.

My next set will not initially have $0.50 chips, so I will have more $0.25, $1.00 and $5.00
I do plan on eventually adding $0.50 of the same custom chips to my next set, so I will have the same starting stack as before.
We play for 4 hours in our cash game and cash out.
I've yet to run out of chips, but I have extra $5.00 from a previous set if needed.

 

[Chrisja77]

Finally made it home and am able to get my hands on these! Let’s get this unwrapping project started. So far I’m 100% happy with my decision to go with the majestic chips.

 

[NotRealNameNoSir]

So far I’m 100% happy with my decision to go with the majestic chips.

All that matters, enjoy them!