Chip denominations and starting stacks
3 min read · Updated 2026-09-26
A chip is worth whatever your group decides. What matters is that everyone agrees before the first hand and that there are enough small chips for the blinds and for making change.
Common colours
There is no official standard, but many sets and card rooms follow roughly this pattern. If your set is different, pick values and say them out loud before the first hand.
| Colour | Typical value |
|---|---|
| White | 1 |
| Red | 5 |
| Green | 25 |
| Black | 100 |
| Purple | 500 |
| Yellow | 1,000 |
Cash-game stacks
Aim for about 40 chips per buy-in, with plenty of the chip used for the small blind. In Poker Night, set the buy-in size to the total below.
| Blinds | Buy-in size | Stack per buy-in | Chips |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 / 2 | 200 | 20 × 1, 16 × 5, 4 × 25 | 40 |
| 5 / 10 | 1,000 | 20 × 5, 16 × 25, 5 × 100 | 41 |
| 25 / 50 | 5,000 | 20 × 25, 25 × 100, 4 × 500 | 49 |
Tip — Keep a bank: Put the spare chips in a box by the host. Rebuys come from the bank, and every one gets a tap in Poker Night straight away.
Tournament stacks
In a tournament everyone starts with the same stack. These match the blind structure templates in this guide.
| Night | Starting stack | Per player | For 8 players |
|---|---|---|---|
| About 2 hours | 5,000 | 8 × 25, 8 × 100, 4 × 500, 2 × 1,000 | 176 chips |
| About 3 hours | 10,000 | 8 × 25, 8 × 100, 6 × 500, 6 × 1,000 | 224 chips |
| About 4 hours | 15,000 | 8 × 25, 8 × 100, 8 × 500, 10 × 1,000 | 272 chips |
Note — Colouring up: Once the blinds are all multiples of 100, the 25 chips aren’t needed. At the next break, swap every four 25s for one 100. Leftover 25s are settled with a chip race: each player with odd chips gets one card per leftover chip, and the highest cards win the new 100s, one each. Nobody is knocked out by a chip race.
How many chips to buy
| Set size | Comfortable for |
|---|---|
| 300 chips | Up to 6 players, with some spare for rebuys |
| 500 chips | 8 to 10 players |
| 1,000 chips | Two tables, or big tournament stacks |
- Check the breakdown of a set before buying: many 500-piece sets have too few small chips.
- Heavier clay or ceramic chips stack better and are easier to count at the end.
- Count the whole set once when it’s new and note the numbers inside the case. It makes the end-of-night count much easier.