When playing online poker tournaments, computer software makes life really easy for us. You don’t have to buy poker cards and chips, clear a table, or endure the arduous process of dealing for long hours. But preparing for a home game? That’s a different story.
Most people can easily find a deck of cards to kick off a poker game. But chips aren’t exactly the kind of thing you’ll find lying around the house. So, is it actually possible to play poker without chips? What can you do if you don’t have any? This article is here to solve the problem.
Why Are Chips Used?
Before you look into playing a game without poker chips, it’s helpful to understand why these things are even used. After all, everyone has access to cash. Why don’t people just use real coins and bills instead of fake money?
Well, the main reason is visibility. Imagine a player sitting with a stack of bills of coins in front of them. It’s really hard to tell how much cash they have since the money all looks pretty similar. Understanding the stacks in play is crucial when making informed betting decisions.
But there can be no mistaking the difference between a purple chip and a yellow one, for instance. Counting stacks and pot sizes becomes quick and easy.
In addition, although this is naturally less of a problem at your friendly home game, chips help with security. In a casino, an opportunist thief could easily swipe real money bets from a table and quickly run away. But when you’re playing with worthless tokens like chips, that risk is eliminated.
Poker Chip Alternatives
There are many different types of poker to try. But it’s obvious that all of them are easier and safer to play with clearly marked tokens of uniform size. Does this really require a poker chip set, though? Surely there must be other things you can use?
Well, yes, there are. Here are some convenient alternatives you could use to play poker instead of chips.
Stationery Supplies
If you’re playing in the office after work, there will surely be an abundance of stationery lying around. Sticky notes are especially useful, as these are already uniform in size and usually come in several contrasting colors. Paperclips, tacks, and rubber bands are often colorful too, making them ideal substitutes for chips.
Food
The most obvious potential alternative here would be candy, since it’s usually brightly colored and wrapped, which keeps it clean while playing. But any dried food would do the job just as well. Uncooked pasta shells would work, as could whole nuts in their shells. Even if you don’t have any food lying around the house, a quick trip to the store solves that issue.
Games
If you own the Monopoly board game, you already have an entire bank full of colorful play money that’s already marked with denominations. But lots of other board games have uniform pieces, often inscribed with numerical values. Rummikub, Sorry, and Uno are just a few examples. You could even use other decks of playing cards, assuming they look different from the ones in play.
Tools
Raiding the garage or garden shed is always a good idea when looking for something to stand in for a chip set. It seems likely there will already be plenty of nails, washers, nuts, and bolts lying around that would work pretty well. But you might even find various cable ties, fasteners, and other equipment that could also do the job at the poker table.
Paper
It’s a little bit fiddly at first, but it’s certainly possible to keep a log of bets and raises using a pen and paper. If you’ve played some of the more unique poker games, like open-face Chinese poker, you’ll already be experienced in keeping score on paper anyway. And, if you find tracking stacks in this manner too difficult, you can always rip the paper into small squares and use them as chips.
Loose Change
Since you’re likely planning an amicable home game with friends, there’s no real risk of anyone cheating. That makes it much safer to use actual money. It’s probably not a great idea to start throwing fifty-dollar bills around the place. But you can always use pennies and reassign the values of these coins.
Popsicle Sticks
These are readily available at most craft stores and often come in a variety of bright colors. If you don’t have kids and aren’t really into arts and crafts, you probably won’t have these lying around the house. But it might not be a bad idea to buy some ahead of the next home game, as a cheaper alternative to purchasing expensive clay composite chips.
Clothing
Okay, it’s getting a little desperate now, admittedly. But if you’ve exhausted every other alternative and have literally no other choice, consider using clothing. You can always raid the closet for clean, colorful, and abundant items like socks to use instead of chips.
No Need for Chips at Borgata Online
If none of those suggestions work for you, there’s another option: forget about the home game entirely and play online poker instead.You can always register at Borgata Online to enjoy hundreds of tournaments and cash games, across a wide range of poker formats.