Putting together
a functional poker chip set
When you buy a poker chip set from us, you have 100% flexibility in putting
together your perfect set. You get to chose how many of each denomination
you want so that the poker chip set functions well with the types of games
you play. If you take the time to educate yourself on what makes a functional
poker chip set, this is great news. You don’t get this option at
99% of the places you can buy poker chips. All too often, you get what
they give you, which is usually much better for them than it is for you.
After all, a 500-chip set with 100 each of five different denominations
works about as well as a 200-chip set that’s planned out correctly.
So now that you’ve got the freedom to chose, what should
you choose?
First off, you need to give some thought to the general denominations
that you want to play with. Do you want chips that reflect their real
money cash equivalent (say 25¢, 50¢, $1, $5, and $25 chips),
or do you want to play with fantasy stakes chips ($500, $1000, or $5000
chips) to make it more interesting? Then give some thought to the types
of games you typically play, and plan out the mix of denominations as
we explain below.
Real money value chips for cash games
If you primarily play cash games and are using chips as the real money
equivalent of the money in play, then you’ll want to give some thought
to the size of chip bankroll that you’ll need. It’s a whole
different ballgame to be playing 25¢ and $1 game, than it is to be
playing a $5 and $25 game. When planning a set for a cash game, plan according
to the total bankroll that’s likely to be in play and give your
set plenty of cushion on the high-end to avoid running short.
If you’ve played in casinos a lot, you know that virtually all
of the action happens with only one or maybe two chip denominations at
any given table. So if you want to mimic the casinos, figure out your
core denomination and get a bunch of those. Then have a handful of higher
“value-holding” denominations, and a good amount of lower
denominations which will be used primarily for blinds. For example, if
you’re playing a 2-4 game, make most of your set $1 or $2 chips,
and then get a handful of $25 chips and twenty or so 50¢ chips. Adjust
this general model for the stakes of your game. That will make the most
functional set for cash games.
Fantasy stakes chips
More and more these days, we have people buying the fantasy stakes chips
because of the flexibility it gives them for tournament-style play like
they see on TV. The stakes you are actually playing for is irrelevant
most of the time in tournaments where everybody starts with an equal,
and somewhat arbitrary, amount of chips anyways. It doesn’t matter
whether you’re playing for a $10 buy-in or a $500 buy-in in a tournament
where everyone starts with $5000 in “fantasy stakes” chips.
The correct split of denominations for a tournament set
The critical part of putting together a poker chip set that will be used
for tournaments is to get the ratio of low to high denominations correct.
In general, these ratios work fairly well for cash games as well.
Best Option: Three consecutive denominations, 60/30/10 split
Our standard recommendation is that you stick with three consecutive
denominations, and get a ratio of 60:30:10 from lowest to highest denomination.
That’s 60% in the lowest denomination, 30% in the middle denomination,
and 10% in the highest denomination. A functional set is always heavy-weighted
towards the low denominations. In the casino world, consecutive denominations
jump by a factor of 4 or 5 with each increment (i.e. $1, $5, $25, $100,
etc.).
Next Best Option: Four consecutive denominations, 40/40/10/10
split
Quite frequently, our customers express a desire to have more than three
denominations so they can take better advantage of the full color spectrum
each of our sets offer. With larger sets (in the range of 500, 600, or
more chips), this will work just fine. For a four denomination set, we
recommend a ratio of 40:40:10:10 from lowest to highest denomination,
again heavy-weighting it towards the low denominations.
Or… any option you want
Of course, these recommendations above are merely general guidelines
for you to use if you like. It’s your poker chip set at the end
of the day. Arrange it however you like. You may find it helpful to use
these recommendations as baselines, which you can modify to suit your
particular game. Or, if you know exactly what you need, just order it
exactly how you know it needs to be.
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chip sets
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