Denominations or Denominationless?

[MSPatton]

As most know I have been a little part of bringing two custom Chipco
sets to lots of folks here. The Suits with great art and no demoninations
and The Egyptians with great art and traditional denominations.

So here is a hypothetical......

You enter a sweepstakes and win. The prize is a set of 500
True Clay Casino Chips, lets say made by Pokerchips.com.
Here is the question..You have two sets to choose from. They
are identically matched sets except one of them has the demon's
on them and the other does not have the denom's.
The colors, graphics, and quantities are all the same just the
denominations have been removed.

Which do you choose?

[mmbt0ne]

I think with denominations. The suits were a rare chip that I though looked great plain, but would've been absolutely horrendous with any other writing on it. Most chipco chips I've seen are made so that the design includes the denomination and they look great.

There would probably be better results if you gave us an idea of what the chip would look like. A simpler chip, like the suits, I wouldn't want a denomination. But most chips need denominations to look right I think.

[Mojo Tooth]

My preference would be, in order of most preferred to least:

- no denominations
- denominations without currency symbol ($)
- denominations with $


Leaving off the denoms allows so much more flexibility in my tourneys and home games. I can switch what color is worth what based on my chip inventory and the number of players attending, and what I deem to be convenient sizes for stacks.

I can even use chips as non-money symbols. For instance, in my tourneys, each buyin comes with a green chip that you can't bet but must be given to the person that busts you. At the end of the tourney, each "bounty" chip is worth a couple bucks to the person that holds them.

With denoms, these things are still all possible but are vastly more confusing.

If I did have denoms, at least if the dollar sign was missing I could use the same chips for home game and tourneys without the icky feeling of using twenty-five dollar chips as quarters or vice versa.

[Wooderson]

I prefer denominations withour currency symbol, then denominationless, then denom. with currency symbol.

The thing I like about denoms without currency symbol is that I play with a few people that don't speak english, but we all know what the 100 or 25 mean. Although I do really like the flexibility of denominationless chips, there is just something i like about seeing the number on there.

[CaptLego]

Tough call. Although I think the ideal is to have denominations, I ended up voting for no denominations. Here's why:

My current chips have denominations on them. On occasion, we've had to use them for different values than the one printed on them. It works OK, but isn't ideal. Denominations suck if they aren't the correct value for the chip.

I just ordered a bunch (1890) of the Egyptian chips. One reason I ordered so many is because I want the flexibility for a variety of cash and tournament games, and want to play the values printed on the chips. 500 chips with denominations aren't enough to provide that flexibility.

The main reason I voted for no denominations, though, is that there are already lots of good chipsets with denominations. But good clay chips with great graphics and no denominations --- are there any available?

[rlpsjstyle]

I'd prefer without denominations for the flexibility reasons. In the 6 or so home games I've hosted, the chips have never all been worth the same amount.

ITA

[TabascoJRC]

Well obviously I like no denoms, hence the suits design. But the design of the chips is important too. For clay chips it is a tough one getting the inlay to look right without a denom. Just taking the denoms off can really change the look of a design. Would have to see them first /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Fins]

I'm a minority!! /images/graemlins/wink.gif

I like denominations... they just say gambling to me. I can see the "icky" feeling of using $25 as 25¢ but it just doesn't bother me. They'll never be used in a game where they'd be confused for one another. What would bother me is the "now what are the reds again... $500... ok... and the blues?" And though it's not that big a deal it'd be subtly irritating to use reds as $1, , greens as $5, blacks as $25 etc...

How do you non-denom guys use your chips where having denoms is more confusing then remembering what colors worth what? Maybe some examples (that folks actually use regularly) would sway my opinion.

I do like the idea of having denoms on 4-5 chips & 1-2 chips without for the flexibility so my custom 500 set might be 4 & 1.

Who knows if I add more chips maybe I'll do a non-denom though I'd probably opt for a 25¢ chip first so folks wouldn't feel icky;)

- Fins

[warewulf]

If you only have one set of chips, w/o denoms would be ideal for flexibility. Now that I have the suits, I want my next set to have denoms. It is much harder buying chips w/ denoms though because you have to figure out what game they will be used in so you can get the right amounts. As someone already said, if you're only buying 500 denom chips, you're not going to have a lot of flex.

[TenPercenter]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm a minority!! /images/graemlins/wink.gif

I like denominations... they just say gambling to me. I can see the "icky" feeling of using $25 as 25¢ but it just doesn't bother me. They'll never be used in a game where they'd be confused for one another. What would bother me is the "now what are the reds again... $500... ok... and the blues?" And though it's not that big a deal it'd be subtly irritating to use reds as $1, , greens as $5, blacks as $25 etc...

How do you non-denom guys use your chips where having denoms is more confusing then remembering what colors worth what? Maybe some examples (that folks actually use regularly) would sway my opinion.

I do like the idea of having denoms on 4-5 chips & 1-2 chips without for the flexibility so my custom 500 set might be 4 & 1.

Who knows if I add more chips maybe I'll do a non-denom though I'd probably opt for a 25¢ chip first so folks wouldn't feel icky;)

- Fins

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. Assigning denoms for each game and reminding everyone throughout the game is annoying. I did this for years before I got my Egyptians and it was just part of the game. It takes half the night for most people to remember the colors (including me), and then there's the one guy that NEVER remembers them and everyone else starts to get mad at him. (Even when I make out color coded sheets)

I have already used my set (with dollar signs) to play games with actual face value, 1/10th the value, and 1/100th the value. It's very easy, and no one had a problem. Usually I won't need one or two of the largest or smallest demons, depending on the game. If I'm playing a $5 buyin with the family just for fun, the $5 is a nickel, the $25 is a quarter, etc. With that usage I can have pennies, nickels, quarters, dollars, all the way up to $50 with my plaque.

I will have (soon) all these denoms, which should cover all tourneys AND cash games:

25¢
$1
$5
$25
$100
$500
$1000
$5000

can easily be used as:

1¢
5¢
25¢
$1
$5
$10
$50

No one is confused by having a $ sign instead of a ¢ sign. Much easier than remembering denoms. I agree that having a single chip with no denom is a good idea, and provide infinate possibilites even when the rest of the chips have denoms.

Ten

(late thought: The dollar signs on chips make them seem so much more valuable to me. With no denom or with only numbers, they seem like toys)

[MeridianFC]

I gotta say I prefer denominated chips. I have a set of hot stamped Pualsons with my initial and I can't tell you how many times new folks at the game have ask what a chip is worth. While early on it was nice to change the values for ring games and tournament play, I'm now not a big fan of using the same chips for each type of play. The idea of someone taking a chip out of a tournament and bringing it in to the cash game send shivers up my spine. Also in my cash game we've been playing with the same values for 7 years so I don't expect to change anytime sooon. Also if you have chips in standard casino colors and you change the values it really fucks things up. It drives me crazy to have a red chip, with out printed denoms, be something other than $5, becuase that's what it always is when I play in the casino and the vast majority of other home games.

[AZnuts]

I too prefer the denominations and find that my set with $25, $100, $500 are perfect for tourney's with blinds starting at $25-$50, but easily convert to cash games as .$25, $1.00, $5.00 without too many mental hurdles.

However, a 1000 chip set makes that easier to pull off.

[TwinTowers]

I like denomonations. One of the arugements I read about D-less, is inflation will make the set useless in 15-20 years.

Home touneys are pretty hot these days, and I think a T1000 tourney today is going to use the same denoms as a T1000 tourney 20 years from now.

Inflation wont make a $5 or $25 chip outdated.

I play at a game where the cash game is a $25 or $50 buy-in which gets you 1000 chips. Each chip is worth 2.5 or 5 cents respectivly.

[shejk]

I voted no denominations - but after reading I've changed my mind. With denominations would be better, especially if I made sure to get 500 more. The idea someone posted about having one color denominationless was brilliant by the way.

[Mojo Tooth]

I will agree that, given an infinite (or at least WAY WAY more than I would ever need of every color) sized chip set, I would use denominations. But I have 1000 chips and even so I've had to be sorta shifty with my denoms from game to game. Sometimes my home game is dime-bet, sometimes quarter. And sometimes it's five people, sometimes 25. I just don't have enough denoms and enough chips to always have enough for every situation. So, no denoms is better for me.

For limit games, I usually take the trouble to write up a small table tent with the color assignments on them. For my tourneys, the TD software has the ability to show the color assignments on the timer screen. So that helps too.

[tubalkain]

[ QUOTE ]
I too prefer the denominations and find that my set with $25, $100, $500 are perfect for tourney's with blinds starting at $25-$50, but easily convert to cash games as .$25, $1.00, $5.00 without too many mental hurdles.

However, a 1000 chip set makes that easier to pull off.

[/ QUOTE ]

What mix of denoms would you use for a set of 1000 for maximum flex? My possible uses would be T1000 and/or T1500 tourneys for 10-20 players and cash games ranging from 0.05/0.1 NL to $5/10 limit. The highest denom in this chipset is a $1k orange. Lowest is a $1 white, this particular set doesn't have a 0.25 denom chip.

[smoore]

Put a number but not a currency symbol on them. the "5" chips are nickels and the "25" chips are quarters. Everyone gets to use sexy blacks for $1. Your "1000" chips will make fine $10 reload chips.

Or, just do what I do and run a tournament with $25 initial stack. Blinds usually start at 0.25/0.50. We play with a buy-in of anywhere from $10 to $25 (small time, baybee!)

[ncskiier]

I want the set W/DENOMS. I've always thought it just looked better, more authentic. I wouldn't be against a set w/o currency symbols, but I can't imagine one that would look right, not to say it never could.

I've always been really annoyed by games that use reds, greens and blacks for any value other than 5,25,100. That being the case they may as well have those values on them because I would never even consider giving them any other values.

I am however, all for having a chip w/o a denom or with a wild symbol that can fill whatever gap you need. I usually use my blues for this. 50cent small blind for .50/1 nl cash games and $50 for tourneys if I'm short on 25s or 100s.

By the way I always use whites for $500 in tourneys so if I went w/ denoms I would definitely need a $500 or $1000.

So, do I win the set?

[TheBull]

Well, I only have 1000 chips, so I want maximum flexibility.

I run two tournaments a week. Before each one, I bag up the starting chips with a little strip of paper stating what the colors mean. Moves things along OK.

[ky70]

I like the denoms without the dollar sign....just looks cleaner to me