Poker chip selection and use for home games. |
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Posted Mon Feb 23, 2004 8:13 pm GMT by Hank
If there is something I can add or improve please sound off.
Poker chip selection and use for home games.
I have written the following guide based on my personal experiences and what I have read from other posts on this and other message boards. I have used this guide to help me organize my thoughts about making decisions regarding the purchase and use of a poker chip set. I hope others may find this guide useful.
First of all I would like to explain where I am coming from in regards to my advice for home games. My intention for a home poker game is more of a social gathering for friends than a game for poker players to play poker. For my home games, poker is a means to an end, the end of course being socializing.
Some of my friends have SUCKED at poker for years and there is no sign of improvement. The goal for my games is to have every one last the evening without having to do a re-buy. So, even though we have a $20 buy in we generally bet, or raise only a nickel or a dime at a time.
When I want to play poker to take money, I’ll do it in a card room or online. Of course, some of us do not have the luxury of near by card rooms, so I can imagine some players may take their card games quite seriously.
The key word for a home game poker chip collection is “FLEXIBILITY”. Generally my experience with home poker games is that you get a bunch of buddies together and the first thing they want to know is “How much is the buy in?” In my college days five or ten bucks was all us big spenders could afford but now that all my pals have legit jobs, I can tease them into paying for a $20 buy in. And then again, I know some people who would not blink at a fifty dollar buy in. The point is, chip values in home games need to adjust according to player buy in.
I feel the following advice works best for informal low limit ring games. For example, my games generally run with a nickel ante and a max dollar bet with a max three raises. If you are doing things like pot limit betting, no limit betting, and tournament games, your mileage may vary.
Chip values for home ring games
The lowest chip value should be the primary currency for most bets. Additional chip denominations should be used to store value.
If X is the value of lowest denomination chip then the other chip values can be as follows:
2nd lowest: 5(X)
3rd lowest: 10(X) or 20(X)
4th lowest(highest): 20(X) or 40(X)
Five chips are about the maximum an average home poker player can comfortably handle when making bets. Any more chips and the stacks tend to get unwieldy. Also counting out stacks of more than five chips may slow the game play.
Chip denominations for home games
The fewest number of denominations in play is best.
Poker is not a game of making change it is a game of betting. If making change is your idea of fun go play Monopoly.
Chip quantity and distribution for a home collection
The lowest value chip should be in the greatest numbers maybe even half of the total chips in your stock. The second lowest value should be nearly as much as the lowest especially if blinds and antis are progressive. Numbers of other chips should sharply decrease.
For a 300, three color chip set I would recommend:
150 of color X
100 of color Y
50 of color Z
For a 500, three color chip set I would recommend:
200 of color X
200 of color Y
100 of color Z
For a 500, 4 color chip set I would recommend:
200 of color W
150 of color X
100 of color Y
50 of color Z
I feel each player should get about 60 to 80 chips to start play. That’s enough chips to keep the game flowing smoothly without the player stacks becoming too unwieldy. When some players get significantly ahead they can consolidate their stack with the larger chip denominations as the losers make change to continue betting with the lower denominations.
Based on the assumption of 60 to 80 chips per player here is a table comparing the number of players that can play relative to the number of some popular poker chip set quantities. Cost of purchasing poker chips should be a function of chip quality and not based on the quantity of chips. Get enough chips to accommodate the number of players you expect to play with.
Quantity of chips / Number of players
300 / 4
500 / 7
1000 / 12
Having a separate chip for ante and small blinds
If you are doing structured betting limits you may need to set aside a chip for the ante and small blinds that is of a lower value than the “normal” betting chip. My thought here is that you do not need a lot of ante/SB chips because very few are used during a poker round. I would not get any more ante/SB chips than you have for your highest denomination. Of course not having an ante/SB chip is not a problem in my games, most of my buddies would know what pot odds are if it fell on their face and began to wiggle. Every one throws in a nickel to get the game going no matter what the dealer calls.
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Posted Fri Apr 16, 2004 11:23 am GMT by Kid Krow
| Hank wrote: |
If X is the value of lowest denomination chip then the other chip values can be as follows:
2nd lowest: 5(X)
3rd lowest: 10(X) or 20(X)
4th lowest(highest): 20(X) or 40(X)
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Sorry but I don't get the math for all that... Wasn't the bightest tool in the Math class... was more of an art student...
Posted Fri Apr 16, 2004 5:11 pm GMT by Hank
Hey there Kid Krow,
What I was trying to get at with the math stuff is to demonstrate how to distribute your chip values in a way that keeps players using the lowest chip as the primary betting currency. My tendency when I first started hosting poker games was to have nickel, dime, and quarter denominations. The problem with having the dime as my second lowest denomination was that it did not efficiently store any value. From a playability point of view: why call with only one chip when you could have thrown two just as easily? Also from a game hosting point, there will be a lot more chips in play to represent the value of the total table buy in. If you hit a night where you are hosting 7 or 8 guys you may not have enough chips.
Back to the math thing, I play pretty small stakes at my house but others can run home games where the buy in is quite significant. I wanted to generalize the advice so it could be applied to whatever situation is relevant to the reader.
The X represents the lowest chip denomination. The number outside the parenthesis represents the value to multiply X by to get the value of the chip.
For my case I use five cents as my lowest denomination. So my second lowest chip will be 5(5) or 5 times 5 which equals 25 cents. My third lowest denomination will be 10(5) or ten times five which equals 50 cents. I only have three chip colors but if I had a fourth chip it would be 20(5) which amounts to a dollar.
Hope this helps,
Hank
Posted Sun Apr 18, 2004 2:58 pm GMT by Kid Krow
Hank,
Thanks that really does clear up alot of my confusion, and it make a whole hell of alot of sence now... Take it Sleezy, Err, I mean easy...
~ Kid Krow
Posted Sat Nov 06, 2004 6:46 am GMT by Guest
Hank,
Kid Krow Told me you might be able to help me.
My buddys and I have decided to have a Spread Limit poker night, And since I have the House and the table for all 10 of us, I the guy hosting it.
It's a Hold'em "RING" game and we figure that a Min. Buy-in for our game should be $25. From what Kid Krow told me, a three color chip selection should work rather nicely. I was thinking about a set up like this.
Our Spread limit= 1-5
White=1
Red=5
Blue=25
My question would be geared towards chip count, blinds and the limits them selves, and maybe the Denomination. Like I said there is 10 of us and $25 is our min. Buy-in but a few of us will probably buy-in for 50-100 through out the game.
Should I figure all ten of us will buy-in 4 times, and build my set from there or what. then again What do I know. this has been hurting my head for a while.
Please help me like you helped Kid Krow?
Posted Sat Nov 06, 2004 6:38 pm GMT by Jaquen H'gar
| Anonymous wrote: | Our Spread limit= 1-5
White=1
Red=5
Blue=25
My question would be geared towards chip count, blinds and the limits them selves, and maybe the Denomination. Like I said there is 10 of us and $25 is our min. Buy-in but a few of us will probably buy-in for 50-100 through out the game.
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If your spread limit is 1-5, you only need two colors, 1 & 5 since you won't be betting more than $5 a bet. You don't need a $25 chip and I would avoid a 0.50 blind so as to avoid needing a different chip just for the blind.
For HoldEm, play a spread limit 1-5 or just play limit $2-4 with blinds $1 and $2.
For this with ten players, you need 50 whites and 10 reds per player = total of 500 white and 100 red. This is $1000 of buy-in or max of $100/player. If you're going to need more, i.e. rebuys, then consider more reds or now greens/blue ($25) and have the winners (those sitting on all the whites) make change.
Not knowing your rebuys, I would consider 500 W, 200 red, and possibly 50 green/blue. This may seem like a lot of white but you want to avoid having to make change for somebody every other hand. It detracts from the atmosphere. Also, many winners like sitting on pile of chips stroking their ego. Thus, they would rather have 100 whites in front of them instead of 2 greens, 5 red, and 25 whites. It's all about the players' enjoyment at this level. Also, consider the equivalent table of ten players in a low limit casino game has over 800-1200 whites on the table at any one time.
Just my thoughts
Posted Sat Nov 06, 2004 7:33 pm GMT by The Modfather
Nice guide, Hank.
Oh, and not sure if you know it or not, but there is a cardroom reasonably close to yah (if you are still in Sacramento, that is.) On the corner of Greenback and San Juan is the Lucky Derby. They hold No-Limit tourneys on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings. Good fun!
Take care!
Posted Mon Nov 08, 2004 2:35 pm GMT by Hank
Ummm...What Jaquen H'gar said. That is right on the money for any advice that I would give. All I can add is that you might want to have about a 10 percent reserve so your chip stock can handle the inevitable disappearing chips.
Hey there ModFather,
I have heard of the Lucky Derby, I even drove by to check it out. It looks real nice. I have yet to play at a local card room. Some of the card rooms in Sacramento look real rough. If I were ever to overcome my reticence for playing in local card rooms I think the Lucky Derby would be the first place I would try. The LD has a nice little web sight and a $20 buy in bonus for first time customers.
Posted Mon Nov 08, 2004 3:06 pm GMT by The Modfather
| Hank wrote: |
Hey there ModFather,
I have heard of the Lucky Derby, I even drove by to check it out. It looks real nice. I have yet to play at a local card room. Some of the card rooms in Sacramento look real rough. If I were ever to overcome my reticence for playing in local card rooms I think the Lucky Derby would be the first place I would try. The LD has a nice little web sight and a $20 buy in bonus for first time customers. |
I've played there a couple of times in teh Saturday tourneys. Pretty nice place man. Plus they have a little resaurant in teh back and food is really inexpensive there (and not bad either!)
It's a great place to pop your cherry if you've never been to a card room!
I live up Hwy 50 in El Dorado County. There is a little bar up there called The Blacksheep. Apparently they have a little card room in there as well - I haven't checked it out yet. Heard they do a NL tourney every Sunday morning @ 11am. Might like to check that out one of these days 
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