Today, many people play poker online, but for decades, family and friends have sat around a table, enjoyed a few drinks, and played a couple of hands. If you're thinking about hosting an in-person poker game, the first thing you're going to need is a deck of cards. Which you probably already have. The next thing is a set of proper poker chips, which you may or may not have. 

But how many of these do you need to host a game at home?

Learn about the different colors and denominations of poker chips, how many you would need for different sizes of home games, and read through the guidelines on what you'll need or want to have a great poker night without going out.

Standard Poker Chips Values and Colors

The two most important things to play a game of poker are a deck of cards and some poker chips. Poker chips are made using a variety of methods, but regardless of how they're manufactured, you'll most commonly find the following denominations and colors in a set of poker starting chips:

• White: $1.
• Red: $5.
• Blue: $10.
• Green: $25.
• Black: $100.

But these colors may vary depending on which state you play in. Also, there are other poker chips with different denominations and colors, like: 

• Yellow: $2.
• Gray: $20.
• Orange: $50.
• Pink: $250.
• Purple: $500.
• Maroon/Orange/Yellow: $1,000.

These denominations and colors are not set in stone. Different manufacturers may place different values on these less common poker chips.

Players are also free to decide on the value of chips as needed, depending on the stakes of their game.

How Many Poker Chips Do You Start With?

Now that you know what poker chips are available, you're probably wondering how many poker chips you need. At a minimum, poker chip distribution should be 50 chips per person. However, this can also be as high as 100, depending on the value of the chips you want to use and how many you have. 

Here's how many chips you'll need for games with a specific number of players.

How Many Poker Chips for Two Players?

For two-player poker, you'll need between 100 and 200 chips.

How Many Poker Chips for Four Players?

For a game with four poker players, you'll need between 200 and 400 chips.

How Many Poker Chips for Six Players?

For a game with six poker players, you'll need between 300 and 600 chips.

How Many of Each Individual Poker Chip Does a Player Need?

In most games, each person receives a different number of chips, depending on the buy-in and player's preferences. A standard 300-piece poker set comes with 50 red, blue, green, and black poker chips, as well as 100 white chips. 

Here's an example of how you could distribute the chips in a four-player game with low-value small and big blinds:

• 20 $1 White.
• 15 $5 Red.
• 10 $10 Blue.
• 4 $25 Green.
• 1 $100 Black.

This gives each player a total of 50 chips worth $400. However, there are still plenty of spare chips available should you need to break the larger value chips into smaller amounts. 

Ultimately, you can increase the number of chips of each color as long as you have enough spare, depending on what format is being played and the size of the blinds. 

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