The poker chip calculator shares your chip set between the players and tells you what each starting stack is worth. Six players with a 300-chip set of 100 whites, 100 reds, 50 greens and 50 blacks? Everyone gets 16 whites, 16 reds, 8 greens and 8 blacks: 48 chips worth 14,000, with 12 chips left in the case. It’s free, and it works for any colours and values you like.
Poker chip values for a home game
There’s no fixed rule for chip colours, but home games and most cheap sets settle on something like this:
| Colour | Tournament value | Cash game value |
|---|---|---|
| White | 25 | $0.25 |
| Red | 100 | $1 |
| Green | 500 | $5 |
| Black | 1,000 | $25 |
| Blue or purple | 5,000 | $100 |
Whatever you pick, tell everyone before the first hand. The values in the calculator are yours to change.
How to share out poker chips
- Enough small chips. Each player needs 8 to 10 of the smallest chip to post blinds and make change. The calculator warns you if it’s fewer.
- Not too many chips. 40 to 50 per player is comfortable. Past 60 it’s slow to count and stack.
- Start at about 100 big blinds or more. With the big blind at twice the smallest chip, a 14,000 stack is 280 big blinds, which gives plenty of play before the blinds go up. Under 50 makes for a short, all-in game.
The calculator also shows how many chips you get per dollar of buy-in. At a $20 buy-in with a 14,000 stack, that’s 700 chips per dollar, which is handy when someone wants to buy back in halfway through.
What about cash games?
In a cash game, chips are money. Set the values to what each chip is worth in dollars and make the buy-in match the stack: $20 should buy exactly $20 in chips. If the numbers don’t line up, change a colour’s count rather than invent odd values like $0.35.
For tournament prize splits, the ICM calculator works out fair deals. For the odds of a hand, use the poker odds calculator.