500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

I order this 500 chip set:

http://www.pokerstars.com/fpp/store/accessories/chips/

I can choose the quantity for each color. What would you recommend?

I think I will order a classic 4/3/2/1.

200 white EPT chips
150 red WCP
100 green Caribbean Adventure
50 black WCOOP

Do you think that the white chips will be grey and dirty with time?

Is it a better idea to balance the quantity with 3/3/2/2?

It's mostly to play NL tournament.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

Here is the chips distibution that I picked for my NL tournament set:

Color Denom Chip Count
Yellow 1000 10
Purple 500 35
Black 100 125
Green 25 180
Red 5 150

You only need enough Reds (lowest denom) to get you through the first few rounds, then they are colored up anyway. The Greens are going to be on the table the longest and are the real work horses because you need enough to start the game and color up the Reds. I'd go with 3/4/2/1.

My starting chip distribution for a T1000 tournament is 15 Red, 17 Green and 5 Black.

If we have a game with 11-16 players, the chips distribution changes to 10 Red, 10 Green, 7 Black. We need to change Reds a little more often, but it's still quite manageable.

By the time you are coloring up the Greens, you can use either Black or Purple to take the Green off the table so you don't need as many.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

That's interesting. 3/4/2/1 instead of 4/3/2/1. That's exactly what I was wondering: why so many low chips that will be color-up after a few rounds?!

So why the 4/3/2/1 structure is known as standard?

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

Any other opinion and experience to help me to choose between 4/3/2/1 and a 3/4/2/1 ?...

I hesitate and now I think it's better with 3/4/2/1 (and the white low denom is not the most beautiful chip!)

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

I would suggest you to check this site before you make your final decision.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

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So why the 4/3/2/1 structure is known as standard?

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Optimally this would mean that players would start with 20 reds and thus practically guarantee that they will never need to make change.

My higher denoms rarely get used because they only come into play in 12-16 player tourneys. But I like being able to use my good chipset beyond 10 players. If I had gone with 4/3/2/1 I wouldn't be able to do that.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

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I would suggest you to check this site before you make your final decision.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what I did, and that's why I was ready to go for a 4/3/2/1 structure.

BTW, Welcome here!

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I would suggest you to check this site before you make your final decision.

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That's what I did, and that's why I was ready to go for a 4/3/2/1 structure.

BTW, Welcome here!

[/ QUOTE ]

That was the first place I looked too when I was in a position to pick my chip distribution.

That site really doesn't explain why 4/3/2/1 is best other than what I mentioned above that it practically guarantees you won't have to make change at the lowest denoms.

I was kinda nervous when I purchased by 3/4/2/1 variation for flexibility in game size. It's not optimal for 11-16 players, but quite manageable.

I haven't regretted it one bit, in fact I'm more than pleased with my distribution. We always use all the Reds and Greens, so I feel that I'm getting maximum value out of my chips.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

I bought a good cash game set some time ago after lots of messing around with cheaper sets. I went for a 3 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 1 / 1 distribution and I'm very happy with it. I didn't really need six colours of course, and the top two don't see a lot of use, but the distribution in the lower denominations works well for me.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

How many chips did you buy? I can see this distibution working better with either more chips (like a 1000 set) or with fewers players in your typical game (maybe 6-8).

What denoms did you use? Do you have 25 & 50 cent chips? The 3/6 jump in denoms has me confused to what they are that makes this disctribution effective.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

No, it's just a 500 chip set, but I see what you mean. And good guess, we normally have 6--8 players in a game.

There are 75 x $1 chips, 150 x $5 chips, 125 x $25 chips, 100 x $100 chips, 25 x $500 chips and 25 x $1000 chips. (The $500 and $1000 chips were really just because they look cool: Paulson Pharaohs.)

I live in the UK and I don't play in games anywhere near big enough to use them at face value. More like $1 = 1 pence in UK money. Which gives us a range of buyin options (sometimes really low with poor students playing). Set also works well enough for tournaments with a T2000 or T5000 stack. Which helps to justify the two big chips.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

For 500 chips, I would go for this:

White - $1
Red - $5
Green - $25
Black - $100

A good tourney is t1000 (or t1500) with 5/10 starting blinds. Chip distribution:

$5 - 10
$25 - 10
$100 - 7
optional $500 - (one white chip as a t500)

For a 10 man tourney, you need ten times the amount, so a reasonable set could have the following:

100 White - $1
150 Red - $5
150 Green - $25
100 Black - $100

You can handle most cash games with white, red and green (as a $0.25 chip).

Or, if you have no interest whatsoever in cash games, then add 50 each to red and green and you can use more starting chips which reduces changing and gives people an impressive stack to start with (for t1000):

$5 - 15
$25 - 15
$100 - 6

Or for t1500:

$5 - 15
$25 - 19
$100 - 10

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I would suggest you to check this site before you make your final decision.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what I did, and that's why I was ready to go for a 4/3/2/1 structure.

BTW, Welcome here!

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds more like a cash game ratio for chips...

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

When I bought my set I started with by defining my starting chip stacks. I like to start with T5000, and break that down into 8x25 8x100 8x500. If find that 24 chips in each players starting stack is enough for them to feel they have a substantial number of chips (its a psychological thing for some) while at the same time limiting the number of chips on the table to a manageable figure so that all-in bets don't take several minutes to count down.

For a 10-person setup, I needed 80 green, 80 black, and 80 purple.

Next I figured out how many extra black chips I would need to color up the greens, which came out to 20. Then I considered rebuys and decided that they should take the form of 10xT500. Allowing for one rebuy per seat, that left me needing another 100 purple chips.

Current tally: 80x25 100x100 180x500 for 360 chips total.

For the remaining 140 chips I went with 50 orange (T1000), 20 white (to use as a bounty chip), and padded out greens (20) and blacks (50) to give me some flexibility in allowing a couple of more players and/or distributing rebuy stacks.

So far this mix has worked out quite well.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

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I like to start with T5000, and break that down into 8x25 8x100 8x500. If find that 24 chips in each players starting stack is enough for them to feel they have a substantial number of chips (its a psychological thing for some) while at the same time limiting the number of chips on the table to a manageable figure so that all-in bets don't take several minutes to count down.

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I am being a nitpick here but for t5000 I would use:

25 - 12
100 - 12
500 - 7

So for a 10 person you could go with:

25 - 150
100 - 200
500 - 100
1000 - 50
bounty chips - 10 nice metal ones

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

Thank you all.

I just ordered my chips. Here is the chip breakdown I have chosen:

150 white
200 red
100 green
50 black

It's 3/4/2/1. Without your help, I was ready to go for 4/3/2/1 and I think it would have been a mistake.
So thank you.

I will post some pics...

It will be the same label for each denom. The PokerStars one. Impossible to get the other labels with the 500 chip set. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

get 250 or 300 of your main chip (ie a $5 chip in a 1/2 NL game)

100 smaller chips ($1)

50 or 100 bigger chips ($25, this helps to play tournaments)

50 big chips ($100)

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Thank you all.

I just ordered my chips. Here is the chip breakdown I have chosen:

150 white
200 red
100 green
50 black

It's 3/4/2/1. Without your help, I was ready to go for 4/3/2/1 and I think it would have been a mistake.
So thank you.

I will post some pics...

It will be the same label for each denom. The PokerStars one. Impossible to get the other labels with the 500 chip set. [img]/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]
Unless you employ the white chips (e.g. 1/2 starting blinds) I don't see how you can run a good tourney with only 50 black chips.

With 5/10 starting blinds, you can only give 10 players 800 starting chips each (and 80BB is not a deep starting stack) unless you deploy the white chip as a 500. Also 100 green chips doesn't leave you many to chip up the reds.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

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Unless you employ the white chips (e.g. 1/2 starting blinds) I don't see how you can run a good tourney with only 50 black chips.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why would you assume that he isn't planning on using the white chips? He ordered them, I'm sure he's using them.

His order sounds good to me for a tourney set.

Also, the chips are labeled, but not denominated. He can still do T1000 tourney if he doesn't follow standrd chip colors (ie. his whites can be 5, red 25, green 100 and black 500).

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

Tere were only 4 colors available. White, red, green, black.

So I will do T200 tournaments if we are 10 players:

15 white(1)
17 red (5)
4 green (25)

Starting blind 1/2. After two rounds, we can color-up the white chips into red ones.

If we are 5 or less players, we can run a T1000 tournament, with 20 red, 16 green and 5 black.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

I'm not really a tournament guy. For those of you who run a lot of home tournaments, how much are large chip denominations part of the fun? Do people just like saying "I raise 3 thousand more", etc.?

The reason I ask is that the T200 setup above, using white chips, looks perfectly reasonable to me, but I get the feeling that such chip distributions get no love in this forum.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

I think you are correct.
People like to play in biiiiig [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img], huge tournaments [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img], with a lot of chips,....

...even if the buy-in is $5 [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

By the way, I could understand that, even if it doesn't change anything, it's the same tourny, with T200, T1000 or T10000.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

I play in several tourneys regularly. One is a t300 with 1/2 starting blinds with a weird chip distribution. We end up keeping the whites until 10/20 blinds because there is a 7/14 blind.

Another tourney I play is a t10,000 with 25/50 starting blinds and lots of chips. We use WSOP blind structure sometimes with antes sometimes without (sometimes there is resistance to the antes).

The buy-in is about the same but the second one feels much more like the tourneys I'm used to whey I go to a casino. The first one feels like a cash game with rising blinds.

Re: 500 chip set: how to choose quantity for each color chip?
 

i do 40 - 80 person tourneys, and issue out 4000 in chips. 8 x 25, 8 x 100, 4 x 500, 1 x 1000. Never have lots of the smallest chips. Its longer to color up later, and people can always make change at the table they are on. Making change isnt a really big deal. it happens at the wsop tournies all the time.

Kirk

(Re: 500 chip set: how to,,,) PokerStars chips received!
 

Pokerchips.com instantly sent the chips when I gave them the chip breakdown I would like to receive. It was a Friday.

I received the box Monday, 3 days later! In Europe! [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

And those chips are just fantastic.
The labels are great: EPT, WCP, Caribbean and WCOOP on one side, and the classic PokerStars label on the other side of the chip.

The wood case? Walnut, and burgundy felt inside. Wow!

The green chip is even better than expected. The edge spot color is a day-glo pink.

Here is what stated on the bill:
Chips: made in USA
Wood case: made in USA
Cards: made in Italy (2 decks of Dal Negro 100% plastic)
Dealer Button: made in... China lol!

Re: (Re: 500 chip set: how to,,,) PokerStars chips received!
 

[ QUOTE ]
Pokerchips.com instantly sent the chips when I gave them the chip breakdown I would like to receive. It was a Friday.

I received the box Monday, 3 days later! In Europe! [img]/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]

And those chips are just fantastic.
The labels are great: EPT, WCP, Caribbean and WCOOP on one side, and the classic PokerStars label on the other side of the chip.

The wood case? Walnut, and burgundy felt inside. Wow!

The green chip is even better than expected. The edge spot color is a day-glo pink.

Here is what stated on the bill:
Chips: made in USA
Wood case: made in USA
Cards: made in Italy (2 decks of Dal Negro 100% plastic)
Dealer Button: made in... China lol!

[/ QUOTE ]
Congratulations. I love getting new chips. Probably have my life set now so boo-hoo for me.