Denominations vs. chip for chip question.

[Galahad]

OK....can someone please give me an explaination for why a home game should use denominations for chips rather than have one chip equal one chip?

I would rather use denominations, but there are like 3 guys that I need to convince that using values is better than one chip = one chip?

Anyone have a good explaination I can give? Thanks.

[jojobinks]

uuuuuhhhh...you don't need so many chips?

deeper stacks in relation to blinds=more skill. if you want to play a tournament where you start with 100 chips and the blinds start at 1-2, you'll need 1000 chips for a single table.

that sucks.

also, at the end of that single table, you'd have 1000 chips between 2 players. that'd suck too.

why don't we just carry pennies around in our pockets instead of different denominations?

[SamIAm]

[ QUOTE ]
why don't we just carry pennies around in our pockets instead of different denominations?

[/ QUOTE ]Because the things we buy are all very different prices. What if we're playing limit? Then everything costs 1 or 2. That wouldn't be so bad, would it?

My cash game allows folk to take money off the table between hands, so there's no big worry about monsterous stacks. If everything costs 1 or 2, just make a "1" chip, and you're all set. You guys and your rainbow of chips are silly.
-Sam

[SamIAm]

Ok. I couldn't keep up that devilish advocacy any longer. I think a rainbow of chips is important. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

For one thing, even at limit, you have bets ranging from a SB to a BigBet. That means you'll need 1 to be the SB, and then FOUR to be the bigger bets. When you raise somebody, it'll mean grabbing EIGHT chips and tossing them in. That gets short-changed even by honest players, and it makes for awkwardly large pots.

My chips are denom-less, so we have one chip for the SB, one for the BigBet (= 4 SB), and one for 10 BigBets (=40 SB) for stack management.

But of course there's no real problem with having monsterous piles of chips in front of you all the time. OH! Unless you want blue = white = red. Ewww.
-Sam

[Galahad]

Besides having a huge cumbersome stack sitting in front of later on in the night. Doesn't playing 1 chip for 1 chip effect your betting more than playing with chip values?

For example, we play NL, if we start out with 50 chips = 50 chips and blinds are 1-2, and I want to raise the big blind the normal 3 times amount (6) I've just commited 12% of my stack. But if we are playing with $1000 value in chips and the blinds are 10-20 and I raise 3 times the big blind (60) I've only commited 6% of my stack.

Plus I think that I would get more calls (which leads to bad beats) with a 6 chip raise than with a 60 chip raise, even though mathmatically the 60 bet is less in relation to your starting stack, but psychologically it seems bigger.

Doesn't the betting work better when playing with values?

[jojobinks]

[ QUOTE ]
Besides having a huge cumbersome stack sitting in front of later on in the night. Doesn't playing 1 chip for 1 chip effect your betting more than playing with chip values?

For example, we play NL, if we start out with 50 chips = 50 chips and blinds are 1-2, and I want to raise the big blind the normal 3 times amount (6) I've just commited 12% of my stack. But if we are playing with $1000 value in chips and the blinds are 10-20 and I raise 3 times the big blind (60) I've only commited 6% of my stack.

Plus I think that I would get more calls (which leads to bad beats) with a 6 chip raise than with a 60 chip raise, even though mathmatically the 60 bet is less in relation to your starting stack, but psychologically it seems bigger.

Doesn't the betting work better when playing with values?

[/ QUOTE ]

huh?

that's a blind in relation to stack question, not a denomination one.

[SamIAm]

[ QUOTE ]
even though mathmatically the 60 bet is less in relation to your starting stack, but psychologically it seems bigger.

[/ QUOTE ]
You should try playing poker with poker players. It's way more fun.
-Sam

[Arsene Lupin III]

Relative pros of one-color method:
It's easier to count stacks, although some argue otherwise, as multiple denominations let you estimate the 'meat' of the stack' faster.
You don't have to buy other colors!

Relative cons of the one-color method:
It's visually unimpressive.
There are way too many chips HU.
You can't start cleaning up the chips early by coloring up.
There are less options for blind sizes.
Harder to split pots, esp 3 way.
Counting bets and matching bets takes longer.

Also, the bellagio doubles the buyin of the event when deciding how many starting chips to use. It makes the big numbers look even more awe-inspiring on tv.