2 colour chips vs 5 colours

[starfishblue]

Hi guys, long time lurker, first time writer.

I'm going to buy a 300-poker chip set and they mainly come in 5 colours. In fact all of them do. I know a domestic online company that customises them ~ i'm from Australia and the craze hasn't swept here yet so there's limited stores.

On TV with the 'late night poker' and 'wpt' they generally use 2 colours. That's what I want ~ easier for all i guess.

So:

Q. Why do they have 5 colours then?
Q. What 2 colours are good to use (red & blue?) and at what ratio should I buy it out of the 300 chips (200/100) and at what hypothetical denomination ($25/$100)?

Sorry if the questions were long but I couldn't find the answers in my search. Thanks

[Magra]

5 colors- mostly since the homegames are for more fun, so they seperate the chips for different bets. Also, if they play a big tourny, you can do color ups(where after say the second hour, the get rid of the whites that are worth 5 say and cash them in for blacks, which cost 50 say)

you can use whatever colors you want. I personally like playing with 4 colors(5,10,25,100) but sometimes with 3 colors(5,25,100) if you go with 2 chip colors, probably split them 150/150, maybe the lower denomination get like 160/140


My suggestion is NOT to put denominations, because you may use different denominations, which would only confuse the player. When you do play, put a piece of paper on a wall or something with the amounts of each chip.

All my suggestions, you can use them if youd like

[TomHimself]

if ur only getting 300 chips dont get 5 colors just get 3 colors

[hachkc]

Definitely no more than 3 colors for 300 chips. A set this size should be good for max 7 mabye 8 folks.

The average home game (20 or less folks) doesn't need more than 4 maybe 5 colors.

[TenPercenter]

if ur only getting 300 chips dont get 5 colors just get 3 colors

Agreed. Red, green, black.

Ten

[lwestatbus]

Hey, Fish,

Here's some factors that I'm considering as I upgrade my set:

I think that, in part, your color scheme depends on what you're playing. If you're playing Holdem I agree that you can get away with two colors though three gives you some flexibility. If you're playing a mix of games then you may want more colors (or may not--I only play Holdem but I have seen other posters indicate they like more colors in mixed format games).

Ideally the target number of players, target valuations, and target valuations come out even. For example, I'm considering a ten player game with initial buy in of $100 with 50 x $1 chips and 10 x $5 chips = 60 chips/player = 600 chips = 2 x 300 chip sets. Upping the buy in to $200 can be done with 20 more $5 chips = 2 x 400 chip sets, etc. You can multiply or divide to target your buy in amount if you don't mark denominations on your chips.

If you're playing Holdem there are a couple of things you can do with a third color. First, as a responder pointed out, you can color up. Second, though, you may want to pay attention to your blind structure. If you are playing limit Holdem and have a static blind structure (it doesn't progress with time) your small blind needs its own chip denomination or you need two of your low value chips to equal the small bet amount so one chip can equal the small blind. A limited number of a third color chip can be your small blind amount and your most common chip color can equal the small bet amount. This issue can be constraining with a small set of chips.

On colors, I think that if you are having just two (or three) you are free to let any color equal anything you want. The most common chip will be the smaller denomination. Pick colors that look good together.

One last bit of advice from experience. I know that chips are expensive but you may want to bite the bullet and get the 500 chip set up front.

Oh, another bit of advice. If you have a friend, you can purchase two of the 5-color chip sets and split them up. Give each of you all of two colors from both sets and split the 5th color. I did this with sets I bought for my family as Christmas presents last year.