Ordering 600 chips

[RedSoxFox7]

I'm ordering 600 11.5g clay chips in the next couple days, and I'm wondering how many different colors I should get, and how many of each color I should get.

My father, a "rank amateur," says I only need 3 colors, and I should get 100 white, 400 red, 100 green. He seems to think that nobody is going to need more than 10 of the lowest denomination chip to start the game with.

A few other people online have told me to get 4 colors and to get 250 white, 150 red, 100 green, and 100 black with white being the lowest denomination. I've also been told to get 200 white, 200 red, 150 green and 50 black.

My friends and I usually play 6-10 people, tournament style. If we use 3 colors of chips it'll be: $1, $5, $25. If we use 4 colors of chips it'll be: $1, $5, $25, $100.

What would you guys recommend I get for chips? How many colors, and how many of each color?

If it's of any consequence, I've got the choice of Suited, Diamond, or Dice chips to go with. I'm leaning towards the Dice ones based on looks, but I can't help but feel it's a tad ridiculous to have dice on poker chips.

[BeerWench13]

I'm actually purchasing some chips myself. I'm planning on getting 4 colors-200 white, 200 red, 150 green and 50 blue. I also like the style of the dice chips, but my hubby said the same thing about there being dice on poker chips. I personally like the look of the dice chip better than the suited, but since he's against the dice chips I'll probably end up buying the suited ones just to make him happy. By the way, if you only go with 3 colors, I'd get 250 white, 200 red and 50 black or green or blue. Just my opinion of course, but I've found that at the home games I attend, the lowest denomination are the ones that run out first.

[Silencer]

3 colors should be good. Is this for a 10 person single table tournament style game? I have 1000 chips in 3 colors in a ratio of 400/400/200 and it works great. For 600 chips I think that ratio would put you a little short on the main color so I'd probably go with something like 300/200/100. Maybe even something more like 350/175/75 or so. It depends how many people you need though. Personally I think the best way to decide on chip ratios is to figure out what kind of game you will be playing (ie limit, single table tourney....) and then list what your personal ideal starting stack would be for various buy-in amounts for that game. You'll figure out pretty quick how many of each color you need in order to play the most variety of games.

Also, the dice chips are nice. Ok dice may not be poker related but it is certainly gambling and casino related so it still makes sense in my mind. I also think the dice chips are more detailed than the other kinds which compensates for the theme.

http://unrealdev.net/images/temp/pokerchips01.jpg

[Always_Bored]

3 colours would be enough, but personally i like to have at least 4. That way if you run out of low chips you have blacks(or whatever you want) that can be 100 or something else big to spread out the low ones.

[ORGrinder]

not to jack a thread here... but if either of you are on or near the west coast, and wanna help me out... feel free to PM me.

i need 100 black 9gram (super) diamond chips. ording the 100 by themselves would cost me more in shipping than the cost of the chips. with a large order though, the difference in shipping would be negligable.

PM me if you can help me out! i'd be very greatful!

:D

[UnluckyKyle]

hehe, keep in mind you'll still have to pay the shipping costs from their door to yours

back to the topic:
I think that 4 colors is a must if you're playing a tourney. For straight up cash games 3 colors can get you by (.50, $1, $5 depending on your cash level) but its not the same for tourney style.

If you're allowing rebuys its a good idea to have a few extra low chips (whites usually) laying around. If not, then pick up more of the mid range ($5 & $25) chips because you'll be "coloring up" from the lower denoms to the larger as the tourney progresses. Of course, this is just preference but its so much easier to count how much is in the pot and for players to count how much they have when its in only a few stacks versus 100 stacks of small and medium chips.

As a rule of thumb, if you're planning on having a 10+ person tourney... i'd go with 5 colors to keep things neat and tidy.

[mindgame]

The answer to this question always depends on how you want to use the chips--ring game or tourney? If it's a tourney (with a progressive blind structure: blinds going up over time) I lean bigtime toward 5 colors or even 6, so that you have a handful for that first small blind (a color you'll not see again) and a handful for the very highest denomination. It REALLY speeds the game up if you can "color up" the players as the game goes on--a lot less time spent counting chips and a more professional approach to the game structure.

Ring game? 3 or 4 colors are fine.

[ORGrinder]

i only play trny style... and 3 colors works for me. although i AM adding the 4rth color for the purposes of "coloring up" or whatever it's called... towards the end of the game when you have 2 or 3 players left... that many chips becomes quite unweildy.

[UnluckyKyle]

... that many chips becomes quite unweildy.

to say the least... lol. I've played in a 50-60 person tourney that used only 3 colors the whole time, it gets rediculous by the end.

[Silencer]

You can always recycle chip colors. When the low denomination color becomes useless, start trading them in for the high chip values. Once all the low value chips are out of play you can recycle them and make them a new high value chip, using them to color-up again as needed. You should never run out of chips this way.

[UnluckyKyle]

bah, i'm far too simple minded to use that method...

what if you used whites as $1 but they werent split evenly when coloring up? it could be a while before they all got into evenly divisible (when coloring up) stacks.

[supa-t]

I made an Excel sheet to solve this problem when I was ordering my chips.

I'll make it available for download if you want to try it out. I make no guarantees that it will help you, but it may serve as a starting point to make your own.

I would say that it is probably worth a check.

http://www.oddvark.com/ChipSpreadsheet.zip

[UnluckyKyle]

this spreadsheet is great! It pretty much coincides with the same calculations i was doing by hand.

I'd recommend this to anyone looking to host a game for sure.

[SpaceMonkey]

bah, i'm far too simple minded to use that method...

what if you used whites as $1 but they werent split evenly when coloring up? it could be a while before they all got into evenly divisible (when coloring up) stacks.

From homepokertourney.com (I belive):

The lowest denomination of chip in play will be removed from the table when it is no longer needed in the blind or ante structure. All lower-denomination chips that are of sufficient quantity for a new chip will be changed up directly. The method for removal of odd chips is to deal one card to a player for each odd chip possessed. Cards are dealt clockwise starting with the 1-seat, with each player receiving all cards before any cards are dealt to the next player. The player with the highest card by suit gets enough odd chips to exchange for one new chip, the second-highest card gets to exchange for the next chip, and so forth, until all the lower-denomination chips are exchanged. If an odd number of lower-denomination chips are left after this process, the player with the highest card remaining will receive a new chip if he has half or more of the quantity of lower-denomination chips needed, otherwise nothing.

[Capstone]

Although not everyone wants this many chips, for my games I like to have big stacks!! There's no guessing who has the big stack and whos on the bubble that way.

I have 1470 chips; (100).50,(500) $1.00,(300) $5.00,(100) $10.00, (200)$25.00, (160) $100, (100)$500 (10) $1000 denomination chips.

I personally like to use the denominations that are on the actual chips during play when making bets, but since we can't afford the same stakes; I use a 10 to 1 ratio for value. Its easy to "cash out" at the end, but everyone feel like they're in a bigger stake game which is fun. For a 6-10 player game, everyone gets 80-100 chips to start with a $20 buy-in with plenty of chips left for re-buys. By the time it's down to 4 players after a few re-buys, the players can bet with 20 chips stacks just like at a final WPT table. We start racing chips once it gets down to 3 or less players or when the blinds are above a certain chip value. If I can ever get more than 10, I'll still have enough of the higher value chips to have enough for a MTT.

Somewhat OT - For those that might care. There are two commonly used terms for trading chips from the lower denominations into higher ones; In the Poker world, it's called "racing chips" although most casinos recognize "color me out" as the phrase to cash in at a particular table for fewer, higher value chips for easier transport. Nothing new here, but with all the new people entering the "Poker Culture" it nice to share the phases that some already know.

Capstone