A 500-chip poker-night setup: stacks, blinds and buy-in records

500 points, not 500 plastic pieces

This is an example for a casual Texas Hold'em game using play chips with no monetary value. “500 chips” often means 500 points of chip value, not 500 separate plastic pieces. Making that distinction first prevents a surprising amount of setup confusion.

Build one stack, then multiply it

For six players, distribute 60 chips worth 1, 48 worth 5, 60 worth 25 and 12 worth 100. That is 180 physical chips with a combined value of 3,000. Keep a separate bank for change and any additional stacks your rules allow.

Check the actual quantities in your set. A box advertised as “300 chips” does not guarantee enough of each denomination for this distribution. You can choose another mix that totals 500, but make sure small blinds and ordinary bets can be paid without constantly breaking large chips.

Assign values to colors once and leave them unchanged during the game. Use the editable chip values in the Fish2Shark home-game display or write a clear reference beside the bank. The colors in your set are a house convention, not a universal rule.

Choose blinds relative to the stack

The starting stack tells you little without a big blind. Divide the stack by the big blind to see its depth:

For this worked plan, use 2/5 with no ante. The 1-value chips allow a small blind of 2; the 5-value chips make the big blind straightforward. A 500-point stack then equals 100 big blinds.

That is a setup choice, not a universal best structure. In particular, copying a timer's 25/50 defaults would turn this same stack into only ten big blinds. Set the numbers deliberately before starting the first hand.

Fixed blinds or rising blinds?

For a relaxed session with an agreed finishing time, keep the blinds at 2/5. You do not need to increase them just because a clock exists. In Fish2Shark's web display, hide the blind timer and make the fixed amounts clear to the group.

For a tournament-style evening, you can instead plan increasing levels. One illustrative sequence is 2/5, 5/10, 10/20, 15/30 and 25/50, with twenty minutes at each level and a separate break if needed. This is not a guaranteed finishing schedule: player count, pace, eliminations and additional stacks all affect duration.

Customize the web timer before play. Editing a configured level stops the clock and returns it to level one. Announce that a new level applies from the next hand, if that is your house rule; do not change the amount owed halfway through a hand.

Treat every extra stack as a new entry

Agree on a standard additional stack, such as another 500, and when people may receive it. A consistent amount simplifies the physical bank and the record. In the current web chip tracker, enter 500 as a player's starting chips, then record a later allocation using that player's Add chips form.

For example, Asha receives 500 initially and another 500 later: two allocations totaling 1,000. Ben receives one allocation of 500. Cara receives 500, then an agreed custom addition of 250: two allocations totaling 750. Count actual entries; dividing Cara's 750 by the standard 500 would not describe what happened.

Keep a correction separate from an extra allocation. If you typed 50 when you issued 500, correct the mistaken entry rather than adding a fictional 450-point top-up. The web tracker exposes entry corrections and an Undo action for recent changes.

Reconcile the night before putting the chips away

Six initial 500-point stacks put 3,000 into play. If two further 500-point stacks were issued, the final player counts should total 4,000. This assumes no chips were removed from play; account for any such change explicitly rather than guessing.

Enter every final count, including zero. If the totals differ, check missed additions and count the physical chips again. Then export the summary and download a backup. The web ledger is stored in that browser and does not automatically sync to training accounts.

Once that setup is ready, the beginner hosting plan takes you from the first open practice hand to the night's final count.