Chips are practical, not difficult — but a few choices made right mean nobody recounts, nobody makes change mid-hand, and nobody argues about what the blue one is worth.
How many chips
A 300-chip set is enough for eight or nine players with rebuys. 500 covers two tables or a lot of rebuys. Below 200 it gets tight as soon as someone buys back in.
Count what you actually need: starting stack per player times the number of players, plus one extra starting stack per expected rebuy. What is left in the case is the reserve.
Denominations
Four or five denominations are plenty. Each should be about four to five times the previous one, so change can be made without using the whole table:
| Colour (typical) | Value |
|---|---|
| White | 25 |
| Red | 100 |
| Blue | 500 |
| Green | 1,000 |
| Black | 5,000 |
Colours vary from set to set, and it does not matter — but write the values on a card that stays on the table all night. Printed values on the chips are worth it when you buy a set.
Chip values have nothing to do with the buy-in. A 10,000-chip starting stack is 10,000 chips whether the buy-in is zero or something else. Keep the two things apart, and never let cash and chips share a table.
A starting stack that works
The point of the split is few enough chips that the stack is easy to read, and enough small ones that nobody has to make change in the first level.
10,000 (first blinds 25/50):
| Value | Count | Sum |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | 8 | 200 |
| 100 | 8 | 800 |
| 500 | 6 | 3,000 |
| 1,000 | 6 | 6,000 |
| 28 chips | 10,000 |
20,000 (first blinds 100/200):
| Value | Count | Sum |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 10 | 1,000 |
| 500 | 8 | 4,000 |
| 1,000 | 5 | 5,000 |
| 5,000 | 2 | 10,000 |
| 25 chips | 20,000 |
Stack them up before people arrive. One person counts once; nobody recounts.
Rebuys and add-ons
Keep rebuy stacks pre-counted in their own piles next to the case. Whoever buys back in takes a pile, and you note it. No counting at the table in the middle of a hand.
The add-on at the break works the same way: one ready pile per add-on.
Colouring up
Once the blinds pass 500, the 25-chips are in the way. Colour them up: everyone exchanges their small chips for bigger ones, and the remainder that does not divide is settled with a simple race. Do it at the break, not in the middle of a level.
The same goes for the 100-chips once the blinds pass 2,000.
Back in the case
Sort the chips back by denomination when the night is over. It takes five minutes then and saves twenty next time.
In DealMeIn
Starting stack, rebuy stack and add-on live in the club’s timer setup, and the tournament room shows average stack and total chips in play through the night — so you can see when it is time to colour up. See Set up templates.