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Cash Game Why so many $5s? (3 Viewers)

Televised poker should never be a gage on how many chips you need. They put massive stacks on the table for dramatic purposes. In a real casino you don’t see anything like that. If a player starts accumulating 6+ barrels of reds or so in a $1/3 game the floor manager will often offer to color them up. You don’t have to but they are hoping you will to declutter the table for the dealer and security
 
Old State said:
Televised poker should never be a gage on how many chips you need. They put massive stacks on the table for dramatic purposes. In a real casino you don’t see anything like that. If a player starts accumulating 6+ barrels of reds or so in a $1/3 game the floor manager will often offer to color them up. You don’t have to but they are hoping you will to declutter the table for the dealer and security
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I’ve never seen this at a casino poker game.
 
Fishman said:
This thread successfully convinced me to increase the 5s to 400x for my next set
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I don’t have enough
IMG_4861.jpeg
 
Old State said:
Televised poker should never be a gage on how many chips you need. They put massive stacks on the table for dramatic purposes. In a real casino you don’t see anything like that. If a player starts accumulating 6+ barrels of reds or so in a $1/3 game the floor manager will often offer to color them up. You don’t have to but they are hoping you will to declutter the table for the dealer and security
Click to expand...
Very little that happens on TV or in casinos should affect our home games. I think most of us have played enough cards to know what works and to know what we like. Seems like lots of guys here actually like massive stacks. I’ll never get it because I know it doesn’t work as well.
 
BGinGA said:
As to your question, a stack size of five barrels (aka a rack) seems totally reasonable for home tournaments.... just not as the starting stack.
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Oh of course.

I am sure we both recognize tournament stack design is necessarily different and we target smaller starting stacks for at least a couple reasons.
1) Denominations change as the blinds progress. This does not happen in cash games.
2) Stacks consolidate as players leave the tournament. There is some of this in cash games, but players can just add more chips (typically of higher denominations only) after reaching the felt.
 
upNdown said:
Very little that happens on TV or in casinos should affect our home games. I think most of us have played enough cards to know what works and to know what we like. Seems like lots of guys here actually like massive stacks. I’ll never get it because I know it doesn’t work as well.
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To your earlier comment I think people like to play with chips as much as play poker. To me nice chips (and cards and table) make the game feel more legit and gives the authentic casino experience. But as someone who hosts more than plays at others games, cashing out tons of chips after a long session (and often many beers) is a taxing experience. Too many denominations is the worst of the worst. When chip stacks start getting knocked over or in the way of dealing the cards I start to get annoyed. I’ll will take stacks off the table and get greens in play.
doublebooyah85 said:
Coloring up initiated by a casino employee. Maybe I’ve just never noticed.
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Disclaimer- I’ve played 98% of my casino poker in AC and almost all of that at Borgata. I’ve seen them ask several people over the years with some refusing. If people start knocking their stack over I’ve seen dealers suggest to the player they could have the floor color them up. Once I saw a guy with a massive stack basically forced to color up. I also most recently saw a guy asked in Boston at the Wynn last fall. He had about 3-4 racks of reds in front of him

That said…They do their best to avoid too many chips in play by cashing you in with limited amounts to begin with. So a player with a mountain of chips is rare. For a $1/3 NL game, if you cash for an even $300-400 you will be given all reds unless you as for something else. They definitely try to limit the amount of $1s on the table. I don’t play a lot of $2/5 but you will always get a barrel of green $25s and the rest in red. $1000 buy in is often with four barrels of $5s and one $100 chip. The dealer will give $1s for change during a hand. These are the stakes where you seem to see the most chips on the table.

Vegas seemed exactly the same.
 
Old State said:
That said…They do their best to avoid too many chips in play by cashing you in with limited amounts to begin with. So a player with a mountain of chips is rare.
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I enjoy having chips so high they risk falling over. This thread has gone on too long without new pics anyway.

1718083449498.jpeg

1718083477742.jpeg
 
Old State said:
Me too View attachment 1342641
Haha…not really my stack.
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What year is this pic from? Cash used to play in Vegas 5/10 and up 20 years ago. I used to really enjoy using bills at the table. Is this just an older pic or does cash still play in AC?

Ok when I get to Vegas tomorrow I’ll ask them to color down all my blacks just to build a mountain of $10s for this thread :wtf:
 
The more I think about it, the more I realize it’s a valid question. I’m brutally efficient with fracs and $1s, but I too want more $5s. And though I only have 320 in my .25/.50 cash set, if I were playing $1/1 or $1/2 or $1/3, I’d want the full 8 racks. Why?
Two reasons I guess.

1) because that’s what I’m used to in the casinos. I don’t play a lot of casino NLHE cash, but when I do, it’s $1/2 or $1/3, and those games are played almost exclusively with fives. So it’s just what I’m used to.

2) they’re red.
 
DirtyTIVA said:
What year is this pic from? Cash used to play in Vegas 5/10 and up 20 years ago. I used to really enjoy using bills at the table. Is this just an older pic or does cash still play in AC?

Ok when I get to Vegas tomorrow I’ll ask them to color down all my blacks just to build a mountain of $10s for this thread :wtf:
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Not sure but probably a few years before Covid. I either saw it here or a friend sent it to me. I never played in a game where people have stacks of bills but cash usually plays if someone wants to stay in the game but doesn’t have time to get chips…unless it changed and I didn’t notice.
When I was in Vegas and Boston last fall I realized they wouldn’t let you cash in at the table. In AC I believe you can still throw bills up and they are good until the dealer gives you chips.
Again I play almost all of my casino poker in AC. Maybe the rules changed and I didn’t realize. I only get there a couple times a year with the kids schedule etc. I’ll be in Brigantine NJ for 10 days in July and likely play a few nights. I’ll pay attention to it.
DirtyTIVA said:
View attachment 1342671

Not inaccurate.
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Nah…those aren’t ridiculous TV poker stacks. I think once you have more than or close two racks of chips they start to become an impediment to the game…especially if it’s a full table. I’m pretty sure if you have a stack that could fall over or collapse…or was taking up too much table space… they will highly suggest or make you color up. I’ve seen it but it is rare in that it natural never seems to happen that much.

This is the stuff I’ve only ever seen on TV. Even with casino tournaments there isn’t massive stacks as they color up after rounds. I really think they may color up some players for dramatic effect at the TV tables of large tournaments …like this.
IMG_0034.jpeg
 
Old State said:
Not sure but probably a few years before Covid. I either saw it here or a friend sent it to me. I never played in a game where people have stacks of bills but cash usually plays if someone wants to stay in the game but doesn’t have time to get chips…unless it changed and I didn’t notice.
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Yes, this has been standard everywhere I have played since 2003. Dealer will call it "chips in transit." They won't put the cash in the pot or anything while awaiting a chip runner. Dealer will announce the amount and then track any debts to the pot should a player with chips in transit make any bets, raises, or calls.

Old State said:
When I was in Vegas and Boston last fall I realized they wouldn’t let you cash in at the table. In AC I believe you can still throw bills up and they are good until the dealer gives you chips.
Click to expand...
I know most places in Vegas got away from doing cash on the table in the late teens. The few dealers I asked mentioned it was a security thing. Bellagio is now 100% banking from dealers' trays and requesting the occasional "fill" from floor personnel. That said, I was downtown about a month ago and hundreds are still allowed to play at the Golden Nugget. (I was playing 1-2 NLHE.)
 
Each game is different and can/will require a different breakdown, only you can determine that.

My experience says that the perfect (goldilocks zone) all-around breakdown for single table cash game from .25c/.50c & up is:
100/200/400/80/20 = 800 chips (bank of $6225). $5's are always gonna be the workhorse for any of my games (400 $5 for 8 players is an avg of 50 $5's per player if they all hit the table and is not too much for any of our group to handle)
with an extra
x/x/100/80/20 = 200 chips (bank of $4500) for bigger games

Anymore than $10K on the table would be well above any stakes I play, and if needed I can add more higher denoms of use a different chipset.
 
JustinInMN said:
Yes, this has been standard everywhere I have played since 2003. Dealer will call it "chips in transit." They won't put the cash in the pot or anything while awaiting a chip runner. Dealer will announce the amount and then track any debts to the pot should a player with chips in transit make any bets, raises, or calls.


I know most places in Vegas got away from doing cash on the table in the late teens. The few dealers I asked mentioned it was a security thing. Bellagio is now 100% banking from dealers' trays and requesting the occasional "fill" from floor personnel. That said, I was downtown about a month ago and hundreds are still allowed to play at the Golden Nugget. (I was playing 1-2 NLHE.)
Click to expand...
Interesting.

Last time I was at Borgata several months ago I took a guys stack and he threw three hundreds on the table and was given chips. I think the dealer gave them to him but it’s possible a floor person got them. Either way I don’t remember him leaving his seat. I also seem to remember people adding to to their stack at the table with bills in AC turned into chips. In Vegas I seem to remember people pulling chips out of their pockets.

For a long time cashing in at the table was what I always did. If I cashed into a $1/2-3 game with say $3-400 the dealer would lay out the bills separately on the table the then count out 20 reds and match that stack. I always loved watching all that! I do that at my home game and push the money into cash box I have in my table…to add to the experience :LOL: :laugh:
 

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