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If there is one thing that defines the game of poker, it is the clicking sound of poker chips you hear when you walk into a poker room.
Since the earliest days, the game has been played with chips similar to the ones used today, and these chips have become an integral part of the poker lore.
Experienced poker players can walk up to a poker table and tell what every player has in chips within seconds, while the different poker color chips and values often dumbfound amateurs.
If you are starting out, we are going to help you figure out what the chips are worth at the next poker tournament you go to, as well as explain how you can use the chip set you have at home to set up a poker game of your own.
When starting a poker game, the organizers need to ensure that the players have access to appropriate chips for the game they will play.
This can mean wildly different things in cash game and tournament poker settings, as cash game chips and tournament chips have different meanings.
Cash game chips act as replacements for real money, and the value depicted on them is the actual monetary value of the chips.
A black $100 chip in a cash game can be exchanged for $100 in cash at the casino cage, making it as valuable as a $100 bill.
Tournament chips, on the other hand, have no real money value. Instead, they are simply tokens to play with until the tournament plays down to a winner.
Once the tournament is over, the tournament chips are returned to the casino to be used in the next tournament, and players are given payout slips instead, which they use to collect the reward.
For this reason, it is important to understand that a $1,000 chip in a tournament is not worth anything and that tournament chips in all casinos are different from cash game chips in both color and markings.
In most live casinos, poker cash games use the same chips that players can use to play pit games like roulette and blackjack.
These chips can be purchased at the casino cage for cash, can be cashed out at any time, and players are allowed to take them home with them and cash them out at a later point.
For all intents and purposes, cash game chips are equal to money, and they are treated as such by the casino staff and most players.
Typically speaking, chips you might encounter at the cash game tables include:
Note that grey, red, green, and black chips are nearly universal in casinos around the world, while some of the higher denomination chips, such as the $1k, $5k, $25k, and $100k chips, only exist in some casinos and poker rooms and are different from venue to venue.
Some popular cash game venues, such as the Aria in Las Vegas, use some of the chip denominations displayed on this list.
Yet, if you get into a game that is high enough to use such chips, make sure to get acquainted with chip denominations before you sit down and play.
Finally, keep in mind that cash game chips always have markings on them that clearly display the value of the chip. For instance, every black chip out there has the number 100 written on it, clearly demonstrating it is a $100 chip.
Tournament chips are different than cash game chips in that they have no cash value and are usually made of softer and cheaper materials.
Since they are produced and circulated by the thousands, tournament chips are often made of plastic instead of clay and come in a variety of colors, varying from one venue to the next.
For that reason, we are going to look at the common chip values at major poker tours in further text after discussing some general concepts related to tournament poker chips.
It is important to understand that tournament chip denominations can vary widely, starting at as low as 25 chips and going up to 1,000,000 chips and even 5,000,000 chips, which may be required for the biggest field tournaments.
Since poker tournaments have escalating blinds and all the chips are in play until the very last player stands, multiple chip-ups must be made during major poker events.
As the number of players dwindles and the blinds go up, smaller chips are removed from circulation and replaced by ever-larger chips.
The chips that players start with are often no longer in play at all during final table play, as thousands of stacks dwindle into just eight.
The next time you play in a poker tournament and run deep, pay attention to the floor people coming into the tournament area during breaks to do color-ups and remove the smallest denomination chips from play on multiple occasions throughout a tournament.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is the biggest live poker festival in the world, and it is played each summer in Las Vegas.
The WSOP brings together many of the world’s best tournament poker players and offers dozens of unique events across many different poker disciplines.
Some of the most common WSOP tournament chips you might see in play include:
Another major poker tour that traverses the globe and offers events in every corner of the planet is the WPT.
WPT offers events at different buyin levels but always uses the same traditional set of poker chips that WPT regulars are used to.
Some of the most popular WPT chips you will encounter in their events at any stop include:
European Poker Tour (EPT) is the biggest poker tour in Europe and is sponsored by PokerStars, one of the biggest international online poker operators.
The EPT has some of the prettiest and most distinguished poker chips out there, and the next time you are seated at an EPT table, you might encounter some of the following:
In some poker games, you may see poker chips that don’t resemble other chips in either shape, color, or size.
These chips are often rectangular or oval in shape and are usually much bigger than all the other chips in play.
As expected, these chips also carry higher denominations on them and are usually used in deep-stacked cash games to ensure players don’t have to stack hundreds of chips in front of them.
While high denomination chips of the same shape and size as other chips can also be used, using oversized and differently shaped chips ensures that everyone at the table can see without any doubt when these chips are put into play.
Since the denominations on plaques can go up to $100,000, these special poker chips ensure that players never make a mistake that could cost them a car or a house simply because they didn’t recognize the color of the chip in play.
Plaques are not very common in lower-stakes games, but you can often see them in various televised games where the stakes being played tend to get very high.
If you are planning on throwing a poker game yourself, you will need to figure out how to make the chips you have work for the games you are planning to organize.
Frequently, home games run with a chipset that is not ideal for the game in question, but remember that you can assign any chip values you like to the chips you have.
For example, let’s imagine you have a set of EPT chips at your disposal that is made up of green chips denominated 25, black chips denominated 100, purple chips denominated 500, red chips denominated 1,000, and yellow chips denominated 5,000.
Your problem is that you want to throw a small-stakes cash game with blinds of $0.25/0.50, but your smallest chip is a 25 chip.
The simple solution to your problem is to convert all the chip values into cents instead of dollars. This would make the green chips worth $0.25, black chips worth $1, purple chips worth $5, red chips worth $10, and yellow chips worth $50.
Of course, this is just the most obvious and simple solution, but you could also make the green chips worth $1, $5, or any other value you want in agreement with other players.
The one thing that will be necessary in such cases is that all players be instructed that the values printed on the chips are not the real values of those chips.
Before you go into any poker game, whether it’s one at the casino or your friend’s house, you should understand some basic etiquette related to poker chips.
The first thing you should know is how to stack your chips, as many amateur players keep their chips in uneven stacks filled with chips of different colors and denominations.
In official poker tournaments, you will be required to stack your chips by color and may even be required to stack your chips in even stacks of 20, 30, or 40.
By keeping your chips evenly stacked, you allow the dealer and other players to quickly come up with an estimated number of chips you have in your stack.
While you may think that keeping “dirty” stacks gives you an advantage by not letting everyone know how many chips you have, this is actually against the rules of the game.
Similarly, keeping your biggest chips in front or on top of all your other chips is another rule that you must abide by.
Hiding your big chips behind other stacks may give you an advantage, but it is an advantage you are not allowed to have.
Thus, make sure to keep your chips evenly stacked in stacks of 20, keep your big chips on top or in front of other chips, and don’t try to hide your chip stack in any other ways.
The etiquette of poker is very clear on these things, and even if you can get away with some things for a while, you should never break etiquette at the poker tables on purpose.
Now that you've learned what are the poker chip colors and values in popular poker tournaments, it's time to assess your overall poker prowess. Take the Pokercode Poker Skill Quiz 2024 to evaluate your knowledge and receive free access to coaching videos and additional resources.
Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, this quiz will help you identify areas for improvement and take your game to the next level.
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