How To Divide Poker Chips For Ten Players Or Less

Texas Hold’em is one of the most popular Casino games to play at home with family and friends, but most of the time, it's a difficult task to figure out how to divide the chips. If you give everyone too many, the game won't ever end; if you don't give out enough, players are eliminated too easily.

Poker doesn’t have official rules for how many chips you need to host a game, or how the different colors and values are assigned. However, there are rough guidelines for chip division that will ensure every player gets enough to play the game properly. The easiest method to divide the chips is to have a flat rate for the buy in, then give everyone an equal starting stack.

How Many Poker Chips Should Each Player Get?

When hosting a normal game of Texas Hold’em each player should get enough chips in their stack for the equivalent of 50 initial big blinds as a minimum, and 100 as a maximum. Ultimately, it's up to the host, however keeping the chip count high will ensure players won't run out of chips and need to keep trading to get different denominations.

What’s the Total Amount of Chips Needed for a Poker Game?

Depending on the number of people, the total amount of chips needed varies greatly. You need to decide if you're allowing people to rebuy after being eliminated, and if other players will arrive after the start time. Generally, the more chips, the better, it's a good idea to have plenty to spare. As a rough guideline, budget 75 to 100 chips per player, it's a lot more than is required, but having so much extra will ensure you have enough for rebuys, and any unplanned players who decide to come along.

Player To Chip Ratios

Two to three players – Have a total of 200 to 300 chips.
Four to five players – Have a total of 400 to 500 chips.
Five to six players – Have a total of 500 to 600 chips.
Six to eight players – Have a total of 600 to 800 chips.
Eight to ten players – Have a total of 800 to 1000 chips.
More than ten players – Start with 1000 chips and add another 100 for every extra person.

How Many Different Chip Values Will I Need?

Before you start playing your poker game, it's vital to know what each chip is worth, unless you've got higher-end chips, the values won't be marked. It's recommended to keep the variety of denominations relatively low, have about four as a minimum, and eight as a maximum. You should also make sure that there is a minimum of the highest denominations and progressively increase with the majority of the chips are the lowest value.

Example:

If you decide on five different chip values and use the denominations, SC 25, SC 50, SC 100, SC 500 and SC 1000, the blinds could be SC 25 for the small blind and SC 50 for the big. Sticking to the concept of having at least 100 big blinds for each chip stack, you'll need SC 5000 worth of tokens for each player.
This can work out to be: Two – SC 1000
Three – SC 500
Seven – SC 100
Ten – SC 50
Twelve – SC 25

Different Colored Chips

The last thing you decide to decide is what value the various colored chips will represent. Common chip colors are red, white, black, blue and green, and most poker sets will keep to this simple color scheme. Ultimately it doesn't matter what value each color represents; it won't have any effect on the game. Choose whichever makes sense for you, whether that be copying your local Casino, or the ones in Las Vegas.

How Many Chips Will I Need for Different Game Types?

Texas Hold’em has several different game types and variations on the standard rules. Depending on which one you decide to play, you might need more or fewer chips than you would need for a standard game. It's still highly recommended to budget roughly 100 chips per player though, just to ensure you don't run out.

Short Stacked Ring Game

Generally, the blinds don't go up in a short-stacked ring game, which means you don't need to give players as many chips. To play short-stacked, give everyone the equivalent of 40 or less initial big blinds.

Deep Stacked Game

Playing deep-stacked means a lot more chips and a longer game, the blinds will usually go up frequently, typically every five or ten minutes. Every player gets the equivalent of between 150 and 200 initial big blinds.

Rebuy

Most of the time, a rebuy means buying back in after you've been eliminated from the game. Generally, rebuys will cost the same as the initial buy-in, but the chip stack is only half as big, so if you started with stacks the size of 100 big blinds, a rebuy only gets 50.

Add On

An add on allows players to get the equivalent of another starting stack added to their chip pile at the cost of the initial buy-in. So, if you have starting stacks that have roughly 60 big blinds, an add on would be another 60. There is usually a time limit on when you can use an add on.

What Are the Best Poker Chips to Use?

The vast majority of poker sets that are sold will be cheap, mass-produced plastic in a standard color or shade. If you are overly concerned with the aesthetic appeal of your chipset, there are heavier clay or ceramic sets available with the denominations written on them, but they are pricier. When it comes right down to it, the type of chip you use doesn't really matter, they all do the same job, some just look and feel better than others.

Don’t Forget

Regardless of which denominations you decide to use, make sure they are consistent, and ensure everyone knows what each chip is worth. The best way would be to write it all down on something and keep it in a place on the table everyone can see. Marking the chips with the actual numbers is time-consuming and will most likely ruin them.