Poker chips are the bedrock of the game—they’re what you bet with, and, if play goes your way, they’re what you cash out at the end of the day. But the value of poker chips goes beyond the monetary value that they represent on the table. Check out this article for an in-depth look at poker chip values, from denominations through to their use in poker tournaments and home games.

Understanding Poker Chip Denominations

Scoop up a stack of poker chips and you’ll notice that they all have different colors. These colors typically represent different denominations. In cash games, these translate into dollar values, while in tournaments, chips represent multiples of chips that are used to track the player’s position. 

Typically, the spread of colors in a specific chip set will be proportional to the different denominations. In other words, there will be many more poker chips worth $1 than poker chips worth $1,000. Keep this in mind when working out how many chips you need for home games.

Why Chips Are Used Instead of Money

So why do casinos use chips instead of cash? It’s simply much more convenient to use chips as counters instead of dealing with cash. It’s also more secure, with built-in chip security devices to prevent players from stealing or tampering with chips.

How Much Are Poker Chips Worth?

Paradoxically, real casino poker chips don’t have much cash value in themselves. A 500-piece chip set will set you back anything from $50 to $1,000, depending on the material the chips are made from. In other words, the most a single poker chip is worth is around two bucks. But when you cash them in, those low-value disks can be worth a great deal more, depending on their denominations.

Basic Poker Chip Colors and Values for Cash Games

Traditionally, the different types of poker chips you see in a specific poker chip set will be color-coded according to their nominal value. In cash games, poker chip color values represent monetary values. If you have a green $25 chip in hand, you can cash it in for $25 worth of greenbacks.

Here’s a guide to the colors you’ll find in many casino poker cash games:

• White, Grey: $1
• Red: $5
• Blue, Brown: $10
• Green: $25
• Black: $100
• Purple: $500
• Yellow: $1,000
• Red-white-blue: $5,000
• Red-blue: $25,000
• Grey-orange: $100,000

Value of Poker Tournament Chips

The history of poker chips took an interesting turn with the advent of poker tournaments, because now, poker chip values don’t always have to represent money.

So how much are chips worth in poker tournaments, exactly? It depends. Every player who pays the buy-in for a tournament will get the same starting stack as fellow competitors. Say it’s a $100 tournament with a starting stack of 2,000 chips. Those chips cannot be cashed in, so they’re worth technically nothing unless the player reaches the money stage of the tournament.

Certain chip-related practices are conventional in poker tournaments. In the starting stages, for example, players will have a greater proportion of lower-value chips. That’s because the blind levels increase as the tournament progresses. As a result, forced bets get bigger and bigger, so lower-value chips are removed from play. This is called “coloring up,” as the colors representing high-value chips become more prominent. Players are always stacking poker chips by color value, so it’s interesting to watch the colors change. 

You should know what happens when you run out of poker chips during a poker tournament, as running out doesn’t immediately mean you’re out of the event.

Major Poker Tournament Chip Values

Major poker tournaments tend to have bigger chip values than most events. Here, for example, are the poker chip values for the legacy tournament series that is the World Series of Poker (WSOP):

• Green: 25
• Black: 100
• Blue: 500
• Yellow: 1,000
• Orange: 5,000
• Green: 25,000
• Lavender: 100,000
• Big Red: 500,000
• Big Yellow: 1,000,000
• Big Purple: 5,000,000

Notice that no color has a denomination of  1. That’s because 25 is probably the lowest stake anyone is going to place in a WSOP tournament—the value of a small blind somewhere in the early stages.

Rectangular Chips

In some high-level poker games, you may see some chips that are rectangular in shape. Also known as “plaques,” these chips are typically bigger than round chips and carry much higher denominations. 

Their purpose is to ensure deep-stacked players don’t have to put hundreds of chips in stacks. Because of their shape, rectangular chips are very easy to identify, so players don’t make very expensive mistakes. It’s also a good example of why it matters how poker chips are made.

Home Game Poker Chip Variations

Poker is a game that rewards creativity, and home poker games afford players the opportunity to be creative in more than one sense. When it comes to poker chips, organizers are free to assign chip values to whatever comes to hand. From physical coins to matchsticks, buttons, toothpicks, or paperclips, any material that lends itself to being stacked or piled can serve as a substitute. For a genuine poker atmosphere, though, nothing beats a good quality set of real poker chips.

Casino and Event-Specific Differences

Other differences you may spot from one poker chip set to another are specific to casinos and events. WSOP chips, for example, are instantly recognizable, bearing as they do the unique WSOP brand. In the same way, casinos customize their poker chip sets with logos and branding.

Customizing Chip Values and Colors for Home Games

Keen to make your home poker night stand out from the rest? One way to do so is through customizing your poker chip set. With a 3D printer, for example, you can manufacture a range of ready-made poker designs, with colors and values to suit your needs. If you don’t have the equipment, a quick online search will reveal many service providers willing to design and manufacture a poker chip set on your behalf.

Choosing the Right Denominations

The nominal values of the poker chips you use will depend on the type of game you play. To avoid being too specific in terms of money, you could go for a range of color-coded chips with a standard cash game distribution, as previously described.

Balancing Your Chip Set

It stands to reason that the best poker chip sets are balanced, with not too many high-value chips or too few low-value chips. Again, a good rule of thumb is to go with the same kind of distribution used in standard casino poker cash games.

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