If looking to set up poker chips for a game at home amongst friends, what are the chip values and chip requirements that will be necessary to make sure that everything runs smoothly?
Well, for cash games one will typically only need a couple or 3 different chip values. The value of the chips will also be equal to the stake value.
For example if one is planning on playing a $1/$2 game, Only $1 and $5 chips will be required for the bets.
$0.50 chips for small blinds? For some games it will be agreed that no one wants to bother with a third chip value, in that case both the big blind and the small blind can be pre-set and posted at a $1.00.
If one is deciding to play a $2-$4 game, only $1 and $5 chips will need to be in supply.
For tournaments, one will typically have a need for 4 different color chips for playing these. The chip value ratios will typically be around 4 to 1 or 5 to 1. Poker Chips in Canada will usually be valued at $1, $5, $25, $100 and $5, $25, $100, $500.
It might be the case where one wants for the chips with high value to sit on the side until one has performed a color-up. For really large tournaments one will also want to have an additional 5th chip with higher value.
The total amount of starting chips for each player should be set at around 1,000 - 1,500, that's pretty much what tournament players are used to.
Since most casino style poker chips come with an uneven amount of chips representing chip values, always use the color with the greatest number as the lowest denomination. Who wants to run out of chips half way through a game, enjoy!