Help me pick my poker chip set colors

March 14, 2005 7:04 AM

I am buying a set of 500 poker chips online. I have an option to customize the number of chips of each color and need help please...

The 500 will be made up of sets of 25 of the following colors. White - Red - Blue - Green - Yellow - Black - Grey - Orange - Pink - Purple. I would like to order numbers of each which would be as flexible as possible and would suit NL Texas Holdem - from heads-up to 10 players or even more if possible. What would you advise?

posted by kenaman to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (10 answers total)

Advice on buying poker chips
posted by sad_otter at 7:44 AM on March 14, 2005

I got too many whites and reds when I got mine - mine is:
150 white
200 red
100 green
50 blue

I think I should have instead gotten
100 white
150 red
150 green
100 blue

Or, maybe I'd get even fewer whites and reds and get a couple of other colors too...
posted by soplerfo at 7:51 AM on March 14, 2005

I usually see white, red, blue, & black as the the colors, but YMMV. I'd suggest:

150 White
150 Red
100 Blue
100 Black
posted by stovenator at 7:54 AM on March 14, 2005

First off, are you sure you want to play no-limit hold 'em? That's what everyone wants to play because that's what they show on TV, but limit hold 'em is a more entertaining game (especially for the novice) and it's more likely that more people will get to play for more of the night. In no-limit, it's likely that someone will bust out on the first hand and just have to sulk for the rest of the night. (of course, if you're a shark and not playing with friends, you might not care)

For my semi regular game, the buy-in is $20, we play .50/1 limit hold 'em and we split the chips like this:
$5 in .25: 20 whites
$5 in .50: 10 blues
$10 in 1.00: 10 reds
These proportions seem to work out well, we have enough chips to play with and people don't need to make change often.

So if you were buying 500 chips, that would be 125 reds, 125 blues and 250 whites. This would give you enough chips for 12 people.
posted by Capn at 8:22 AM on March 14, 2005

Response by poster: Capn : I have been playing for a while and like the all-in thrill allowed by NL. I am pretty sure that this is the game I will be playing, but I dont want to find out that I have a bad mix of chips when I make the decision.


Appreciate the advice so far guys.
posted by kenaman at 8:48 AM on March 14, 2005

I'd probably do something like this:
200 white
150 red
100 blue
50 black

Set values like 1, 5 10, 25.

Capn: I've played no limit and limit many times, and I must say that no limit is much more entertaining. But there is always the problem of someone busting out. Simple answer: tournaments. Everyone throws in $20, gets chips, and plays no limit. Either winner takes all, or second place gets their buy-in back.

Tournaments can go faster than you might think. Try to limit the size 8 people. I've been to games where we run through 5 tournaments in one night (5-8 people). Then again, I've been to games where on tournament goes for more than 2 hours.
posted by bh at 9:06 AM on March 14, 2005

Can I hijack the thread for a second and ask you kenaman where exactly you're buying them online? I've been looking to get some myself but haven't found one where you can customize the color/amount of the chips. I'd appreciate it!
posted by Ugh at 2:45 PM on March 14, 2005

Our four-color chip set is a ratio of 4:2:1:1, I believe, which suits us well: the two small sets can be combined and played with as one denomination for different sorts of games than hold 'em (say, if we're having an evening with lots of blackjack or whatnot). (Those two are green and black, which sort of read similarly... or perhaps I've just started associating them.)
posted by RJ Reynolds at 3:20 PM on March 14, 2005

I would get them like this:
100 White
100 Red
100 Blue
100 Green
50 Black
50 Purple

In my weekly game we use:
8 White ($5)
6 Red ($10)
8 Blue ($25)
8 Green (50)
3 Black ($100)

And we would use the purple ($500) if we had them to change the White, Red and Blue when the blinds are 50/100 or over.

I would also like to ask you where you are buying them, because I'm very interested in upgrading mine.
posted by Penks at 5:02 PM on March 14, 2005

Response by poster: Hi Ugh, I didnt mention it in the thread as it was not relevant and I didnt want to be suspected of advertising. Anyway I am in Ireland and getting them from an English company..DrinkStuff they represent the best value for me. They ship to the US if that is where you reside and the Sterling cost for the 500 chips set with case incl. P & P is £64.73 or about $123.7897. Hope this helps..

Anyway to round off this thread my final choice smacks of thinking way too hard - and here it is. Thanks for the advice.

100 x White
125 x Red
125 x Blue
75 x Black
75 x Green
posted by kenaman at 1:12 AM on March 15, 2005