Edit - tldr - I think you don’t need a t25k until you have over a million chips in play, which on average probably means at least a 4-5 table tournament.
This often come up in suggested breakdown and group buy threads - when do you need a T25k chip?
Obviously it depends on tournament size and structure - I usually assume a base T25 structure and stack sizes from 10k to 30k.
I’ve sat at final tables of 100 person 30k tournaments when the only chips in play were T5k and T10k - that’s a problem because the T10k chip is inefficient in that situation, but even then, it works fine until you get down to around heads-up and you each have like 3 racks in front of you.
But I guess I’ll argue that assuming 20k starting stacks, you don’t need a T25k unless you’re playing 5 tables or more (or the equivilent in addons and rebuys.)
If you have 50 runners with 20k stacks, that’s a million chips in play. Toward the end, you’ll still need T5ks for blinds (and maybe T1ks for antes, but that’s another story.). If they’re all T5ks, that’s only two racks of chips in play, and I think that’s fine for heads-up and not nearly enough for a full final table. If you put a barrel of T25ks into play, you’d be down to 120 chips on the table, and I don’t think that’s enough.
So there’s my threshold - I say you don’t need a T25k chip unless you have more than a million chips in play. Which on average is probably around a 5 table tournament. And how many people run tournaments with 5 tables or more?
I know a lot of people use them in much smaller situations. So, when do you think you need them, and I guess the related question is, how many chips per person do you want in play toward the end of a tournament?
This often come up in suggested breakdown and group buy threads - when do you need a T25k chip?
Obviously it depends on tournament size and structure - I usually assume a base T25 structure and stack sizes from 10k to 30k.
I’ve sat at final tables of 100 person 30k tournaments when the only chips in play were T5k and T10k - that’s a problem because the T10k chip is inefficient in that situation, but even then, it works fine until you get down to around heads-up and you each have like 3 racks in front of you.
But I guess I’ll argue that assuming 20k starting stacks, you don’t need a T25k unless you’re playing 5 tables or more (or the equivilent in addons and rebuys.)
If you have 50 runners with 20k stacks, that’s a million chips in play. Toward the end, you’ll still need T5ks for blinds (and maybe T1ks for antes, but that’s another story.). If they’re all T5ks, that’s only two racks of chips in play, and I think that’s fine for heads-up and not nearly enough for a full final table. If you put a barrel of T25ks into play, you’d be down to 120 chips on the table, and I don’t think that’s enough.
So there’s my threshold - I say you don’t need a T25k chip unless you have more than a million chips in play. Which on average is probably around a 5 table tournament. And how many people run tournaments with 5 tables or more?
I know a lot of people use them in much smaller situations. So, when do you think you need them, and I guess the related question is, how many chips per person do you want in play toward the end of a tournament?
