home game
Poker chip distribution.
Chip distribution looks like a matter of taste and is not. There is exactly one constraint, it comes from the blinds, and once you apply it the rest of the answer falls out in one step. This page does that step, checks the sums in front of you, and tells you how many chips to own.
the one constraint
The smallest chip is the stack divided by two hundred.
Everyone starts a hundred big blinds deep, because that is the depth the game is written for. So the first big blind is the starting stack divided by a hundred, and the first small blind is half of that: the stack divided by two hundred. Your smallest chip has to pay that small blind, and that is the whole constraint. A 5,000 stack means a first small blind of 25, so the smallest chip is 25. A 200 stack means a smallest chip of 1.
Nothing above the smallest chip is forced, but one ratio is easier than the rest. Three values in a 1 to 4 to 20 relationship, eight of each, comes out to exactly one hundred small chips worth of stack, which is 5,000 when the small chip is 25. Eight of each is also the number that lets a player pay a blind, make a raise and still have something left in every denomination, which is what stops the change making.
three recipes, all checked
| Stack | Colours | Values | Chips each | Total chips | Adds up to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | Three | 25 / 100 / 500 | 8 / 8 / 8 | 24 | 200 + 800 + 4,000 |
| 5,000 | Four | 25 / 100 / 500 / 1,000 | 8 / 8 / 4 / 2 | 22 | 200 + 800 + 2,000 + 2,000 |
| 200 | Three | 1 / 5 / 25 | 10 / 8 / 6 | 24 | 10 + 40 + 150 |
The last column is the arithmetic, not a claim. Every row adds to its stack exactly, so you can hand a player the chips without counting twice.
how many to own
Eight of each colour, per player.
With the three colour recipe the stock question answers itself: eight of each colour per player. Nine players need seventy two of each, so 216 chips in total, which a 300 chip set covers with room for a late arrival. The reserve matters more than it sounds: the chips you do not hand out are the ones that let someone join at level three without the whole table waiting.
| Field | Per colour | Chips handed out |
|---|---|---|
| 6 players | 48 | 144 |
| 9 players | 72 | 216 |
| 10 players | 80 | 240 |
colouring up
Probably do not colour up at all.
A casino retires its small chips because it runs out of table felt and dealer time. A kitchen table has neither problem. Retire a chip only when it can no longer pay any blind left on the schedule, and check that against the schedule before you decide. For a four hour evening built on a 5,000 stack the blinds finish at 750 and 1,500, and a small blind of 750 still needs two 25 chips to be paid exactly, so the 25 chip is working right up to the last hand.
One place the arithmetic genuinely does not fit is a small blind that your smallest chip cannot make. A geometric structure sometimes asks for a small blind of 30 while the smallest chip is 25. The structure page shows exactly where that happens. The fix is always the same: round the small blind down to something the chips can pay and leave the big blind alone, because the big blind is the unit that the whole evening is measured in.
If you would rather have the schedule work itself out around your chips, the blind timer builds one from the players, the stacks and the hours you have and then counts it down. Whatever it produces, the chip rule on this page still applies to the first level, because the first level is the only one the starting stack decides.
Everything on this page assumes a tournament, where chips are units and not money. Before you set up a table where chips represent cash instead, the poker night page covers the payouts and the house rules and the rules on playing for money depend entirely on where you live.
next step
The chips are counted. Now start the clock.
Twenty levels with breaks and antes, the chips in play and the average stack updating as players bust. Leave it running on the nearest screen and the evening runs itself.
chip questions
How do you distribute poker chips for a home game?
Start from the smallest chip, not the biggest. Your smallest chip has to pay the first small blind, and the first small blind is your starting stack divided by two hundred. With a 5,000 stack that is a 25 chip. Then give every player eight chips of each of three colours in a 1 to 4 to 20 ratio, so 8 of 25, 8 of 100 and 8 of 500. That is 5,000 exactly, in twenty four chips.
How many poker chips does each player need?
Between twenty and thirty. Below fifteen someone is making change on every hand, and above forty the stacks become furniture. Twenty four is the number the recipe on this page lands on, and it is comfortable to stack in threes and eights.
What chip values should I use?
The printed number does not matter, the ratio does. Use three values in a 1 to 4 to 20 relationship: 25, 100 and 500, or 1, 5 and 25, or 5, 20 and 100. All three behave identically, because a blind structure only ever cares about the ratio between the chips and the stack.
How many chips do you need for nine players?
Seventy two of each of three colours, so 216 chips in total. A standard 300 chip set covers a nine or ten player game with a reserve for late arrivals. If your set is 200 chips, drop to eight players or use a four colour recipe with fewer chips per player.
When do you colour up chips in a home game?
In a four hour home game, usually never. Colour up when a chip can no longer pay any blind on the remaining schedule, and with a 25 chip against a structure ending at 750 and 1,500 that moment does not arrive: the last small blind of 750 still needs two 25 chips. Colouring up costs ten minutes and produces the one argument the evening did not have yet.
What if a small blind does not divide by my smallest chip?
Round the small blind, never the big blind. A schedule that asks for a small blind of 30 when your smallest chip is 25 should be played at 25, or the level skipped. The big blind is the unit everything else is measured in, so it stays exactly where the schedule put it.