Poker Chip Values – Know the Value of Every Chip

Every poker game consists of three essential parts, the players, the cards, and the poker chips. As an integral part of the game’s structure, poker chips come in standardized values that make the betting process easy and streamlined.

Chips are a communication method, as they allow you to make your intentions known to other players at the felt table.

As such, each type of poker chip comes with a predetermined value represented by an exact amount of money.

But, depending on where you play or what type of poker game you play, the specific poker chip values and the way they’re represented can vary significantly.

Regardless of these specifications, you should always know the value of all poker chips in the game you’re playing. Read on if you want to learn everything important about poker chip values.

Why Are Poker Chips Standardized?

The simple answer to the question of why are all casino poker chips standardized is that this allows casinos to protect themselves from fraudsters who want to steal from the house.

The practice of using standardized betting chips came into practice two hundred years ago, when the Wild West saloons used engraved ivory or clay chips or even pieces of bone to run their in-house games.

These simple chips were easy to copy in the early years, but by the late 1800s, things changed.

Saloons started employing commercial companies to manufacture unique chips for their venues. The chips were harder to forge and opened the door for the modern standardized chips we still use to this day.

Poker chips value

Nowadays, casinos have developed precise requirements for chips to minimize the chances of losing money through fake chip scams. Each gambling venue carefully designs its chips to be of specific weight, design, and texture.

Some casinos even go a step further and embed their high chip values with microchips. All of this makes casino chips almost impossible to counterfeit.

Full Standard Poker Chip Values and Colors

No matter where you play, you’ll notice that a different color represents a separate denomination. So, for example, if you play a game with only a few types of chips, you can expect to encounter:

$1 Chips – White Color
$5 Chips – Red Color
$25 Chips – Green Color
$100 Chips – Black Color

These four poker chip colors and denominations are by far the most common ones you’ll come across when playing. There are little to no exceptions to this, and you should always be able to recognize these four colors and their values regardless of where you play.

Poker chips colors

But, besides these four basic denominations, the expanded list includes much more colors and chip values. Here’s a full rundown of all poker chip values by color:

$1 Chips – White Color
$2 Chips (Very Rarely Used) – Bright Yellow Color
$5 Chips – Red Color
$10 Chips – Blue Color
$20 Chips – Grey Color
$25 Chips – Green Color
$50 Chips – Orange Color
$100 Chips – Black Color
$250 Chips – Pink Color
$500 Chips – Purple Color
$1,000 Chips – Burgundy/Yellow/Gray Color
$2,000 Chips – Light Blue
$5,000 Chips – Brown

The best poker players who have played the game for years have developed a feel to automatically recognize the poker chips’ worth based on their color without even seeing the face value.

That said, if you’re a beginner or casual poker player, just do your best to memorize all of the casino chips value color variations and slowly build up your confidence from there.

Knowing all of the denominations will help you avoid costly mistakes and putting yourself in spots that’ll drain your bankroll.

Keep in mind that the color patterns can vary depending on where you play. For instance, you might come across different colors when playing in Europe and when playing in the US. But, in truth, these differences are often minor as most large casinos worldwide practice the colors and denominations we’ve listed above.

Poker Chips Values for Cash Games

So, you want to host a home game and need to figure the poker chip values before your guests arrive. As home cash games are usually reasonably small in stakes, you can simply remove a zero from the standard value scale we’ve discussed above.

This will keep the game relatively affordable but still very enjoyable. With this in mind, the colors and Texas Hold’em chip values would look like this:

10 Cent Chips – White Color
$1 Chips – Blue Color
$2,5 Chips – Green Color
$5 Chips – Red Color
$10 Chips – Black Color

This is a very simple and intuitive system, especially if you have chips with standard numerations and values, as you’ll merely be removing a zero from all values to get the chip denomination for your game.

Since most standard packs come with four to five chip colors, you’ll be able to set up your game quickly and without much effort.

If you and your friends are ready to play with more significant limits, you can use the poker chip values printed on the chips. That’ll be easy to do if you run a $1/$2 game or even a $2/$5, depending on how big of a bankroll you and your friends have.

Texas Holdem chip values

If you’re playing a cash game in a casino, you might also encounter plaque chips, but only if you’re betting big money. These are usually some of the highest-valued casino chips you can come across. They’re not that common in US casinos and are typically seen in Macau venues and some places in Europe.

Poker Chip Values for Tournaments

Like cash games, each tournament has differently-colored chips to represent different values. When you begin the tournament, you’ll start with a standard number of chips and build upon it as you progress through the competition.

As the blinds and antes increase, smaller chips are taken out of play, and larger chip values are added to make the game more practical and convenient.

Let’s take the World Series of Poker chips as an example of a specific tournament chip denomination. Generally speaking, most WSOP tournaments begin with green ($25) and black ($50) chips.

As the tournament moves on, higher chip values get introduced and replace these two lower ones. Tournament chips in WSOP main events have stayed relatively unchanged for years. Moreover, they use precise shades and designs for every denomination, which look like this:

$25 Chips – Green color with forest green/yellow
$100 Chips – Black color with day blue/dark blue
$500 Chips – Desert flower color with maroon/pink
$1000 Chips – Canary yellow color with plum/sherbet orange
$5000 Chips – Blaze orange color with dark brown/tan
$25,000 Chips – Forest green color with blue/yellow
$50,000 Chips– Hot pink with lime green/dark green
$100,000 Chips– Hawaii flower color with charcoal/metallic silver
$250,000 Chips – Almond color with bronze/butterscotch
$500,000 Chips – Red color with day blue/white

Of course, these can change in some WSOP tournaments, most notably during televised final tables. Moreover, the numbers and denominations will vary depending on whether you’re playing a WSOP tournament or participating at the WPT or EPT.

Poker Chip Values – Key Things to Remember

Knowing each poker chip’s color and assigned value is crucial if you want to enjoy a smooth and successful poker experience. Hopefully, this detailed page has helped you learn the chip values and colors used in poker rooms worldwide.

As you could see from our examples, there can be some slight variations between tournaments and casinos, as the rules aren’t exactly set in stone.

But, when you’ve got the above-listed standard values memorized, you’ll have a much easier time adapting to any slight variations you encounter depending on the venue you’re playing at.

Poker chips values by color

We’ve covered everything you need to know on the topic of poker chip values, regardless if you’re preparing for the world’s biggest poker tournament or just planning an exciting cash game in the privacy of your home.

If you are transitioning from online poker and practicing for a big tournament like the EPT or the WSOP, the best way to go about it is to pick up an original set made according to the specific tournament’s values and colors.

Of course, these often cost a pretty penny, but they’ll undoubtedly be a huge conversation piece when playing with your friends. Plus, you’ll have a much comfortable time playing with them when you eventually move on to real tournaments.

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Ivan Potocki

Ivan played poker professionally for over five years but finally decided to merge his passion for writing with gambling and became one of the leading writers in this industry. Now he covers sports betting, casino & poker world and enjoys playing card games with his friends.

You can connect with Ivan via his LinkedIn profiile and follow him on Twitter.