How do you push your chips in?

[NeverFold]

Say you want to bet 1200 chips in a tournament and want to bet all 100s. Do you push in 2 stacks of 5 with 2 on top in the middle or 3 stacks of 4....something different? Just wondering what most casinos prefer.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

A quick lesson on what dealers want, because it is pretty standard and very easy to see/count, thus speeding up the game greatly...

three chips - either a stack of three or fan them out

four chips - two and two or a fanned stack of four

five chips - two, two, and one on top in the middle

six chips - three and three or two, two, two is acceptable for a PLAYER (three-three is standard for a dealer tho)

seven chips - three, three, one on top in middle

eight chips - four and four

nine chips - four, four, one

ten chips - five and five

eleven to fourteen - five, five, rest on top

fifteen - five, five five

sixteen to nineteen - five, five, five, rest on top

twenty or more - tis best to "show" a correct stack of twenty when you push it out, even if it comes from a rack. you can do the ol 'teddy KGB' cut, breaking the stack in half, then in half again, then fanning out five chips. or you can just do five, five, five, five. Anything above twenty just do the extras as I have stated above. For fourty chips, you prove one stack, then stack it back up, then put the next stack right next to it.

When there are two large stacks of chips of the same denomination, it is usually ok to just size up the stacks rather than count, such as when someone goes all-in and you are going to call them.

Different sizes of chips...

say you want to bet $48 with fives and ones. You might do two stacks of four reds, then two stacks of four whites, or maybe nine reds with the four whites off to the side. don't stack multi-colored chips together.

stacks that are messy or not done as I have stated above just slow the game down, because the dealer is going to have to just verify them anyway. Do it right the first time and speed up the game. It would be nice if everyone would just learn to cut chips correctly and quit slowing up the game. DON'T keep them in a rack and count them out one at a time, or drop them one at a time, this is incredibly friggin' annoying and slow, and it shows off your amateur-ness to all....

hope this helps.

al

[PhatCasino]

hey thats real helpful, but can you explain what you mean by fanning, etc.. and also what do you mean by two chips or four chips.. do you mean $200 or $400?
thanks

[Al_Capone_Junior]

fanning is spreading out the stack on the felt so it can be easily seen as having the correct number of chips.

The denominations of the chips are irrelevant. If you want to bet $400, then it's four $100 chips, either two and two, or a stack of four fanned out. Same thing if you want to bet $20, but you would use red chips instead of black.

As an aside, it is sometimes OK to do deviate from these rules, when appropriate. For instance, if you were going to bet $400 using $25 chips, four stacks of four side by side would be appropriate, since a stack of four $25 chips is equal to $100. You might choose to fan out one stack of four, then stack it back up and make sure your other three stacks equal to it. Also, if you are playing 4-8, it's ok to stack everything in stacks of four, as long as the chips are all the same size. A little common sense is of course helpful.

There is also an exception to the chips of different denominations advice... say you are playing 4-8 and want to bet $8, it's ok to put three whites on top of one red, then toss them out so they are fanned, thus making it obvious that there are three whites and one red. The same would apply for using two whites and two reds to bet $12 in a 6-12 game.

The bottom line is you must cut chips in an efficient and clear-cut manner so that it's obvious to all that you have bet the correct amount.

al

[NeverFold]

Thanks Al, that was exteremely informative. I'm gonna print that out and attempt to instill that in my home game as well.

[Photoc]

[ QUOTE ]
If you want to bet $400, then it's four $100 chips, either two and two, or a stack of four fanned out.

[/ QUOTE ]

But but...what if all I have are $25 chips? Dont know if 4 chips will cover a $400 bet. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Al_Capone_Junior]

[ QUOTE ]
But but...what if all I have are $25 chips?

[/ QUOTE ]

Then you need to play better and get more $100 chips. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

al

[r2p]

Thanks, as an online player recently going to B&M the chip/card handling takes some getting used to.

[BigBaitsim (milo)]

Thanks for the chip cutting FAQ, Al. Problem is, I'm having a hard time memorizing it. Can you break it down into a format I can print on an index card to have with me at the table?