Poker chip values and starting stacks

A chip set doesn't come with values: you choose them. Get them right and the blinds are always easy to post, stacks are quick to count and nobody runs short of change. This guide shows how to pick values, how many chips to hand out, how many your table needs and when to swap the small ones away.

Giving chips values

Three rules make chip values work at the table:

1. The smallest chip pays the first small blind. Every blind in the game should be a whole number of your smallest chip.
2. Each value is a few times the one below, such as 25, 100, 500 and 1,000. Making change stays simple, and a stack never needs more than a handful of any colour.
3. Write the values down. A card on the table saying what each colour is worth ends most arguments before they start.

Chip colours vary between sets, so there's no colour that always means 25 or 100. Choose what suits your set, and give the colour you have most of to the smallest value: it's the one that changes hands most.

Three starting stacks

Each of these adds up exactly, and each matches a structure from our blinds timer, which uses your smallest chip so every blind can be paid. The first blinds are those the timer suggests for 8 players.

Blinds: the first level the timer suggests. Big blinds: the starting stack divided by the first big blind, or how many big blinds each player starts with.

• Short, 1,500: A quick game with two colours of chip.
• Standard, 5,000: A relaxed evening with three colours.
• Deep, 10,000: The timer's default: plenty of play, four colours.

What matters is the stack compared with the blinds, not the number on it. Around 100 big blinds gives plenty of room to play; around 30 makes a faster, pushier game.

Why the smallest chip matters

Take the short stack of 1,500. With 25 as the smallest chip, the timer starts the blinds at 25 / 50, and everyone has 30 big blinds. If your smallest chip were 100, the first blinds would have to be 100 / 200, and the same stack would be only 7.5 big blinds: barely enough for a few hands of real poker.

So a small stack needs small chips. If your set's smallest value is 100, use a bigger stack instead.

How many chips you need

Multiply the chips in one stack by the number of players. Keep a spare stack or two in the bank for late arrivals and rebuys, which in a chips-only game are simply one more starting stack.

Count by colour too, because sets rarely have the same number of each. For 8 players with the 10,000 stack you need 64 of the 25s, 64 of the 100s, 48 of the 500s and 48 of the 1,000s.

Colouring up

As the blinds rise, the small chips stop being needed. Once no blind or ante left in the structure needs them, swap them for larger chips at the next break. This is called colouring up.

With the timer's structures for 8 players:

• 1,500: keep the 25s to the end: the last blinds still need them.
• 5,000: the 25s can go at the first break.
• 10,000: the 25s can go at the first break.

To colour up, each player swaps their small chips for the larger value. Any left over that don't make a whole larger chip are usually rounded: a common way is a chip race, where each player gets one card per leftover chip and the highest cards win the new chips. Agree on it before you start; nobody should be knocked out by a chip race.

Tips for the night

• Count the stacks before you hand them out. Building them in piles of four or five of a colour makes it quick to check.
• Keep a bank. The host holds the spare chips and makes change, so the colours don't run out at the table.
• Play for chips. RankMyHand is for learning and fun: the chips are the score, and the winner takes the bragging rights.

Not sure how the blinds themselves work? Read how poker blinds work, or warm up with Which hand wins? before the game.

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