Best Way To Stack Poker Chips

8/1/20228/1/2022

What is a short stack in poker? A short stack if poker is usually any chip stack that is 40 big blinds or lower. 50 to 100 big blinds is a mid stack, while greater than 100 big blinds is usually called a deep stack. What poker table shape is best for home games? The best poker table shape for a home game varies based on how many players you are. Great article andrew. My level 1 and level 2 of a tourney strategy ive been trying out has been to play 'bad' with 10% of my stack and try to make a big hand and stack a bad player who cant get. Three-Way Pot Creates a Monster Stack 2 days 12 hours ago 'VonSchenken' Drops 'dutchfish81' First Eliminated in the Money 2 days 13 hours ago '3934CAPJON' Catapults into the Lead 2 days 14 hours ago 'GG.22.TH' Takes Down Another Early Pot 2 days 16 hours ago. XL Winter Series #1: $50,000 Opening Event Kicks-Off Today 2 days 19 hours ago.

For a guide to beating short stack poker players, check out the 'Crushing Shortstackers' concept video.

There are always going to be times in your poker career where you will find yourself as the short stack at the table and probably having a smaller stack than the rest of your opponents.

It may be because you are in the middle of a tournament and had a bad run of cards, or because you simply enjoy to buy in to cash games with a short stack.

But for whatever reason you are playing with a relatively small amount of chips, it is good to be able to understand and employ a good short stack strategy.

What is a short stack in no limit Texas Hold'em?

The typical short stack in any cash game or tournament will have 40 Big Blinds or less.

However, there are varying degrees of short stack poker as a 10BB stack will require a slightly different strategy than a 40BB stack, and it is important to be aware of these differences.

You may have noticed that the term ‘short stack’ is determined by the size of your stack relative to the blinds, and not relative to the stack sizes of your opponents. Therefore even if you have 30BB and your opponents have 20BB, you are still considered to have a short stack, and so you should continue to utilize a good short stack strategy.

How to play with a short stack.

Having a short stack means that you have less room to make plays at the poker table. Bluffs and advanced moves (like float plays) are formed from being able to make educated checks, bets, calls and raises on each round of the hand, so having a short stack will reduce and sometimes eliminate any room for special manoeuvres by both you and your opponents.

Furthermore, the general structure of a no limit Texas Holdem game is that the bigger bets will be made on the turn and river, as the preflop and flop rounds are usually set-up rounds that build the pot and prepare the hand for action. The fact that we have a short stack means that we will rarely be making it past the flop in terms of betting as we will not having enough chips to continue.

With a short stack, most (or all) of the action will be taking place on the preflop and flop betting rounds.

Hands to play when short-stacked.

The fact that we have little room for movement and that our betting will cease at the flop means that we should be playing big heavy hitting hands that will make strong hands at the flop, rather than smaller hands that have ‘potential’.

We should avoid hands like suited connectors and small pocket pairs, as these hands are profitable when we have a deep stack, as our implied odds are there to compensate for the likely event that we miss the flop. In general we are best entering pots with are big suited cards that can make top pair or better at the flop, although we should exercise some flexibility in starting hand selection depending on the size of our short stack.

Below is a table of the hands we should be looking to play depending on our situation:

Starting hands chart.

Note: This starting hands chart is designed for tournament games where you are pressured to make more moves as the amount of chips left in your stack decreases. This table is not designed for short stack cash game strategy where you have the option of reloading again and again.

40BB or less.

30BB or less.

20BB or less.

10BB or less.

As you can see, a lot of emphasis has been placed playing big cards that can make top pair or better, which will often be the best hand on the flop. As you should remember it is unlikely that we will make any more bets past the flop betting round, so we should be more than happy to be making a good pair and get our money in on the flop.

You may notice that hands that include aces have been given a lot of weight, especially if you are a very short stack. This is because of the fact that as a extremely short stack, it is more than likely that you will be pushing or calling an all in on the flop regardless if you have caught a piece of it or not. Therefore if we are holding an ace, we will have a better chance of winning with a high card against an opponent in the event that they did not make a pair either.

How to play these hands.

When we are dealt any of the above cards that are within our range depending on the effective stack sizes, we should always be raising when entering the pot. It may seem like a good idea to limp and try and catch a good flop for cheap, but it is more profitable to raise and build the pot for when we hit our hand, which we are more likely to do if we are holding a strong starting hand.

With a stack of 10BB or more we should be looking to raise around 3 or 4BB if we are first to enter the pot. However, if we have 10BB or less, it will not be too bad of a play to push all-in straight away, as any call from a 4BB raise will leave us completely pot-committed anyway. With 10BB or less, you can think about using the stop and go play also.

On the flop we are usually reduced to going all-in or folding as a short stack. The smaller the size of our stack, the more inclined we should be to calling or pushing all-in as we are more likely to be committed to the pot. The shorter the stack, the less the flop will matter to us. However, if we have around 30/40BB, we can be a little more selective because we will not be pot committed and have the opportunity to wait for a better spot.

The shorter your stack, the less post-flop action you are going to deal with. So it's important to have a strong hand that has a good chance of winning after all 5 community cards have been dealt.

Nevertheless, if we are pot committed and will be moving all-in regardless, it is always better to make the all-in bet rather than calling if possible. This is because by betting we are giving our opponent the opportunity to fold the best hand or a potentially winning hand, which is something that is not available to us if we are calling the all-in bet.

Short stack tips overview.
Play simple ABC poker. Avoid attempting to bluff and just bet when you have a strong hand.
Only enter pots with premium hands.
Fold small pocket pairs and suited connectors as you have do not have implied odds.
Make strong 4BB raises before the flop.
Be prepared to move all of your stack in to the middle before or on the flop.
Leave the table if you win a big pot (and intend on playing short-stacked).

Short stack strategy evaluation.

Good short stack strategy is all about pushing every little edge that we have. Just because we have a smaller stack, it does not mean that we have less chance of winning any individual hand, it just means we have to adapt our play a little differently to each situation.

Nevertheless, we will be facing an up hill battle if we are in a tournament as each pot we enter is more likely to involve putting our tournament life on the line. At some poker sites, the structure of the faster tournaments will mean that you will spend the majority of the game as a short stack, which is a good way to learn how to play good short stack poker.

We should always look for the most profitable situations and get our money in when we think we have the best of it, and we should always prepare for luck to play its part in each outcome. Playing a good, sound short stack strategy does not guarantee to save a tournament life or secure a double up, but it will improve your chances of coming out on top in the long run.

In cash games, you cannot expect to win every all-in, but you can still play a profitable game by picking the right situations and trying to get your money in with the best hand.

Go back to the awesome Texas Hold'em Strategy.

Comments

If you are setting up a poker home game and want to know what each chip is worth and how many to give to each person, you have come to the right place. I have been a poker tournament player for over 10 years and can give you solidanswers.

What are the poker chip values for home games?

White or Gray – $1
Red – $5
Blue – $10
Green – $25
Black – $100
Purple – $500
Yellow – $1,000
Pink – $5,000
Orange- $10,000

While these are the traditional values assigned for poker chips, what denominations you use can be tailored for whatever type of game you happen to be playing. The rest of this article will cover everything you need to know about optimizing your poker home game so that your friends will think you are a pro.

What Values for Common Chip Sets?

The traditional chip values for each color were established by casinos to represent real money. In other words, a blue chip at a casino can be traded in for a $10 bill.

Nowadays, this system doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for home games unless you happen to be playing a high stakes cash game.

Most people either play cash games for small amounts of money, where the highest denomination is something like $5. Or, they play a tournament.

Setting Up Cash For Games

In cash games, your chips count as actual money and there is no prize pool. If you run out of chips you are out of the game unless you reload. This format is the easiest to organize and play, since you don’t have to worry about a tournament clock or rising blind levels.

Cash Game Chip Values

If you are using your poker chips to play a home cash game, I recommend just following the traditional rules. White is $1, red is $5, blue is $10, green is $25. This will cover you for games up to $2/$5 blinds.

If you want to play higher stakes, say $5/$10 or $10/$20, you will need black and possibly purple chips. Or, you can just convert the white chips to $100 and red to $500 if your set does not contain black and purple.

How Many Poker Chips Do We Need for Cash Games?

A good rule of thumbs is to figure that you need at least 50 chips for every person in the game.

Mostbudget chipsets come with at least 300 chips with 5 different colors. That usually includes 100 white chips and 50 of the other colors. That is usually enough for up to 5 or 6 people to comfortably play without worrying about having enough chips.

If you have 6 or more players, you will definitely want to invest in a 500 piece set, like this inexpensive one (Click to see Amazon Listing).

If you want to customize the denominations of an individual poker chipset, you will likely need to get a higher-end brand, like my absolute favorite chipset.

How Many Poker Chips per Person? What Do They Start With?

In cash games, poker players may buy in for as much as they want. If you want to set a minimum or a maximum, that is fine. A 20 big blind(bb) minimum and a 100bb maximum are common.

Here are the chip distributions for common stack buy-in sizes:

$1.00/$2.00 Blinds

$2.00/$5.00 Blinds

Best Way To Stack Poker Chips Easy

$5.00/$10.00 Blinds

$10.00/$25.00 Blinds

What If We Want to Play Smaller Stakes?

If you want to play a small friendly game, feel free to play as low as you want. For example, you could make chips worth the following:

White – $0.10
Red – $0.25
Blue – $1.00

Here is a good distribution for playing .10/.25 blinds. For a friendly game, I recommend playing with 40 big blind stacks of $10 each:

$0.10/$0.25 Blinds

By choosing to play 40bb each, no one would be likely to lose more than $50 in a typical night. I included the 100bb distribution if you prefer deeper stacked play.

Tournament Setup & Starting Stack Distributions

Tournaments are actually a fairly recent invention that has grown immensely in popularity since Chris Moneymaker won the World Series of Poker in 2003. Now, it’s the most common poker format played in home games.

The great thing about tournaments is that it’s easy to limit the amount you can lose in a session. If it’s a $10 buy-in that’s all you can lose for the events. Just throw your money in a hat and play.

Tournaments do, however, take a bit more organization and maintaience from the host. You have to:

Setup and decide on the prizes
Manage the rising blind levels
“Color up” the chips as the blinds go up

Poker Tournament Chip Values

If you decide to play a poker tournament and want to be able to play more than 5 or 6 blind levels, then you will need at least 4 chip colors. Most chip sets now come with at least red, white, green, and black.

Here is a simple and flexible chip value system commonly used in live poker tournaments:

Red – $25
White – $100
Green – $500
Black – $1,000
Pink – $5,000

This distribution will work perfectly in most events with less than 30 people.

If you get to the point where $5,000 or $10,000 chips are needed, you can just bring $25 chips back into play and change them to whatever is needed. Or, if you have a 5th color, usually either black or pink, you can designate them as $5,000 or $10,000 chips.

It’s also okay to get creative and find an item laying around the house that can act as a substitute for the higher chips.

How Many Poker Chips Are Needed for Tournaments?

Tournaments tend to require fewer chips per person since the chips are usually worth more each. Even so, a common 300 piece set will still only accommodate up to 6 players. It is definitely worth your while to have at least a 500 piece set for every 9 people that will be playing.

I did some research and found a really good inexpensive 500-piece set (Click for Amazon price). I would suggest getting one of these for every 9-person table you are hosting.

What If My Chip Set Only Comes with Three Colors?

Some of the cheaper chips sets come with three colors. Usually, you get white, red, and blue.

For tournaments, if you only three chip colors you will want to assign them as follows:

How To Stack Poker Chips With One Hand

Red – $25
White – $100
Blue- $500

If you have different colors, use the same values but just assign them to whatever color you want.

How Many Poker Chips per Person?

For most home game tournaments, a solid option is to have each player start with 3,000 chips using the following distribution:

8 Red $25 Chips
8 White $100 Chips
2 Green $500 Chips
1 Black $1,000 Chips

This will have each player starting with 60 big blinds. I find this amount to be a good balance between having enough room to play without having the event take too long.

What If We Want to Play Deeper Stacked?

If you want to play a deeper stacked tournament and have enough chips to go around, I recommend starting with $10,000 chips each with the following distribution:

8 Red $25 Chips
8 White $100 Chips
8 Green $500 Chips
5 Black $1,000 Chips

What blind levels should we play?

Based on the recommended chip distributions, here is a solid blind level schedule:

Helpful hint: If you want a deeper stacked feel to the tournament but don’t have many chips, just play a standard 3,000 stack with longer blind levels. Instead of the usual 15 or 20-minute blind levels, you might play 30 or 45-minute levels.

How Long Should Blind Levels Be?

For most home games, I advocate never having blind levels higher than 20 minutes. 15 minutes is a really popular choice. Even 1 table events will still last a couple of hours using this speed.

If you want a fast event, go with 10-minute levels. In live play, 5 minutes is difficult to maintain and it will only allow 2-3 hands per blind level.

Best Way To Stack Poker Chips At Home

When Should I Color up the Chips?

Here is a good schedule for removing smaller chips and introducing a larger denomination:

What Is a Good Tournament Prize Schedule?

For friendly home poker tournament games, I recommend a fairly wide distribution of prizes. Therefore, I suggest paying out at least 1/3 of the field. Here is an example payout structure:

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, I have given you all the information you need to get set up for your poker home game. If I missed anything please be sure to let me know in the comments and I will get it added.

Also, if you need more help planning your poker event, be sure to check out my article on hosting the perfect poker night. And don’t forget to use high-quality playing cards, they’ll take your game to the next level. Thanks for stopping by!

Related Products

If you want to really add class to your home poker games, here are a few products that I recommend:

How To Stack Poker Chips

Copag Playing Cards– My favorite premium brand of playing cards. Trust me on this, don’t use those cheap Bicycle cards anymore.
Octagon Folding Table– For smaller games with 5 players or less.
Oval Poker Table– For games with 6 or more players.
Heavy Duty Folding Chairs– These will fit any size player up to 600 pounds. I come from a rather “large” family if you catch my drift. Make sure you have good solid chairs to prop them up.

Best Way To Stack Poker Chips Step By Step

How many buy-ins should I take to a poker game? When going to a casino or home game to play poker, it is usually a good idea to take at least 3 buy-ins for the stake you intend to play. However, it is a personal decision as to how many buy-ins you can stand to lose in one session. Limiting the amount of money you can lose in a poker session is known as setting a “stop-loss.”