Deal a clean, playable stack every time — set your players and chips per colour, get the starting stack and the totals to count out. No account needed.
Give players plenty of the smallest denomination — enough to post the first few blind levels without making change — and fewer big chips, which only matter later. A common home-game starting stack is 50–100 big blinds of the opening level. Keep a colour in reserve so you can colour-up (swap small chips for bigger ones) as the blinds rise and the table needs fewer chips in play.
The right chips in the right amounts is the difference between a game that flows and one that stalls to make change every hand.
Hand every player a random fistful of chips and the game stalls — no one can make change, the blinds don't divide cleanly, and you're colouring-up by level three. A proper distribution gives everyone an identical, playable stack: plenty of small chips for the early blinds, a few big ones for later, and a total that matches the buy-in exactly. Set it once here and the night runs smoothly from the first hand.
The most common home-game mistake is too few low-value chips. Early blind levels are posted in the smallest denomination, so each player needs a healthy stack of them to bet, call and make change without breaking a big chip every hand. The high denominations barely come out until the blinds climb — that's when you colour-up, trading in the small chips for larger ones to keep the table uncluttered. Pair this with the blind timer and your tournament is fully organised.
Set players, enter your chip colours, read the stack and totals.
Tap the stepper to match the number of players sitting down — the tool scales the totals for the whole table.
For every denomination in your set, put in its value and how many each player should start with. Add or remove colours to match the chips you own.
You get each player's starting stack and the total number of chips of each colour you need to count out before the game.
Say you're hosting six players with a standard set. Give each player 8 whites (25), 8 reds (100), 4 blues (500) and 3 blacks (1,000). That's a 6,000-chip starting stack — deep enough for real play — from just 23 chips a person. Across six players you count out 48 whites, 48 reds, 24 blues and 18 blacks: 138 chips total, well inside a 300-piece set. Open the blinds at 25/50 and everyone has 120 big blinds and a pile of small chips to post them with — no change-making, no stalls, a clean deep-stacked start.
Verdict — 6,000 chips a player, 138 chips total, blinds at 25/50 — a clean deep startFix Early blinds are posted in the smallest denomination — give a generous stack of them or players can't bet or make change without breaking a big chip.
Fix Pick a stack that's a round number of big blinds (50–100). A 6,000 stack at 25/50 is a clean 120 BB; an odd total just creates awkward change.
Fix Keep a colour in reserve. You'll need it to colour-up as blinds rise — swapping small chips for big ones keeps the table from drowning in chips.
Fix Every player must start identical. Deal the same distribution to each seat so the tournament is fair and the maths is simple.
Aim for a starting stack worth 50–100 big blinds of your opening level, made up mostly of small denominations. A typical home-game stack is around 5,000–6,000 in chips — deep enough for real post-flop play.
Multiply the per-player count by the number of players. If each of six players gets 8 white chips, you need 48 whites. This tool does that maths for every colour at once.
As blinds rise, the small chips become useless clutter. Colouring-up means removing them from play and giving players the equivalent value in larger chips, so the table stays clean and counting stays fast.
Yes — in a tournament every player must start with an identical stack. Deal the same distribution to each seat. This calculator assumes an equal starting stack for everyone.
Reduce the per-player count of that colour and make up the value with the next size up, or keep the starting stack smaller. The tool shows your total needs so you can check against the set you own before the game.