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Quick answer: in most US casinos red poker chips are worth $5, green $25 and black $100. $1 chips are white or blue, $500 chips are usually purple, and $1,000 chips are yellow in Nevada but orange in New Jersey. No single law sets these colours everywhere, so always read the value printed on the chip. For a home game, use the calculator below to split your chip set fairly between players.
Poker chip calculator: how many chips of each colour per player
Enter the buy-in (or starting chips for a tournament), the number of players, your smallest chip and the chips in your set. The calculator gives each colour a value and works out how many of each chip every player gets, so each stack adds up to exactly the buy-in.
| Colour | Worth | Chips each | Value each |
|---|
Chip values start from your smallest chip. With a smallest chip of 1 (or 10, 100 and so on) the calculator uses the common home-game values 1, 5, 10, 25 and 100; otherwise each colour is worth 2 to 5 times the one before. Home games can use any values you agree on: the calculator only suggests a fair split.
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What are the values of poker chip colours?
Red is $5, green is $25 and black is $100 in almost every US casino. The other colours change from state to state and casino to casino. This chart shows the most common values:
| Chip colour | Usual casino value | Where it differs |
|---|---|---|
| White | $1 | Many Nevada casinos use blue or grey for $1 instead |
| Pink | $2.50 | Used in New Jersey and some other casinos |
| Red | $5 | Almost never changes |
| Blue | $1 or $10 | $10 in New Jersey; $1 in many Nevada casinos |
| Yellow | $20 or $1,000 | $20 in New Jersey; $1,000 in Nevada |
| Green | $25 | Almost never changes |
| Black | $100 | Almost never changes |
| Purple | $500 | Usually purple; a few casinos use orange |
| Orange | $1,000 | $1,000 in New Jersey (Nevada uses yellow) |
| Grey | $5,000 | Grey in New Jersey; colours above $1,000 vary most |
Whatever the colour, the value printed on the chip is what counts.
Are poker chip colours the same in every casino?
No. Only some states fix the colours by law:
- New Jersey sets a main colour for every value, from peach 25-cent chips to gold $25,000 chips, and each value must have a colour no other value uses. That is why Atlantic City chips match from casino to casino.
- Nevada sets no colours. Its rules say the value must be shown on both sides of the chip and each value must be easy to tell apart in a stack, even on black-and-white security cameras. That is why a $1 chip can be white in one Las Vegas casino and blue in the next.
Poker chip values for a home game
At home you can give chips any values you like, as long as everyone agrees before the first hand. Home game guides commonly use white $1, red $5, blue $10, green $25 and black $100. For lower stakes, the calculator can start from any smallest chip, such as 25 cents.
Here is what our calculator suggests for three common games with a 500-chip set (150 white, 150 red, 100 blue, 50 green, 50 black) and six players:
| Game | Chip values | Each player gets | Big blinds |
|---|---|---|---|
| $20 cash game, blinds 25c/50c | White 25c, red $1, blue $5 | 20 white, 5 red, 2 blue (27 chips) | 40 |
| $100 cash game, blinds 50c/$1 | White 50c, red $1, blue $5, green $25 | 20 white, 25 red, 8 blue, 1 green (54 chips) | 100 |
| Tournament, 10,000 chips, blinds 25/50 | White 25, red 100, blue 500, green 1,000 | 24 white, 24 red, 8 blue, 3 green (59 chips) | 200 |
How many chips does each player need?
Guides disagree, but most suggest about 25 to 60 chips per player. Fewer chips are easier to handle in a casual game, and more give room for a long tournament. Two more rules of thumb:
- Stack size: a buy-in of 100 big blinds is the usual standard, so a game with $1 big blinds has a $100 buy-in.
- Set size: a 300-chip set covers about 4 to 8 players, depending on who you ask, and a 500-chip set goes further. Retail 300-chip sets often come as 100 white plus 50 each of red, blue, green and black, and 500-chip sets as 150 white, 150 red, 100 blue, 50 green and 50 black, but every brand differs, so count yours.
Colouring up and the chip race
In a tournament the blinds keep rising, so the smallest chips stop being useful. "Colouring up" means swapping them for bigger chips. Any chips left over that don't make a full bigger chip go into a chip race: each player gets one card per odd chip, and the highest cards win the new chips. Under the Poker TDA rules, the race starts in seat 1, nobody gets more than one chip from it, and nobody can be knocked out by it.
Poker chip sizes, weights and materials
| Feature | Casino chips | Home sets |
|---|---|---|
| Diameter | About 39 mm (Nevada 39.4 mm, New Jersey 39.7 mm). Some high-value chips are larger, about 43 mm. | Usually 39 mm |
| Weight | About 8.5 to 10.5 grams | Often sold as 11.5 g or 13.5 g |
| Material | "Clay" (really a pressed mix of clay, sand, chalk and other materials) or ceramic | Plastic (ABS) on cheap sets; composite or ceramic on better ones |
Ceramic chips can be printed across the whole face, which suits custom designs. Heavier is not better: real casino chips are lighter than many home sets.
A short history of poker chips
Early players bet with ivory, bone, wood and paper. Clay-composition chips made just for gambling first appeared in the 1880s. The phrase "blue chip", for a top-value company, comes from the poker table and dates back to 1873.
New to the game itself? Start with how to play Texas Hold'em and the poker hand rankings. Our pot odds calculator and poker maths guide help once the chips are on the table. Playing for real money? Set a limit first with the gambling budget calculator, and check your local laws before you play.
Poker Chip Values FAQ
What is the most valuable poker chip colour?
There is no fixed answer. Among common chips, purple ($500) and yellow or orange ($1,000) are the highest. Casinos use other colours for $5,000 and up, and those vary the most.
What colour is a $1 poker chip?
Usually white. In Nevada, white and blue are about equally common for $1, and some casinos use grey. New Jersey law makes $1 chips white.
How much is a black poker chip worth?
$100 in almost every US casino. In a home game it is worth whatever the players agree, often $100 in a tournament set or the highest chip in a low-stakes cash game.
How many poker chips do you need for 6 players?
A 300-chip set works for a casual six-player game, giving about 50 chips each. A 500-chip set gives more room for change and rebuys. Use the calculator above to see the exact split.
Why are poker chips different colours?
So dealers, players and security cameras can tell values apart at a glance. Nevada's rules require each value to be easy to tell apart in a stack, even on black-and-white camera footage.
How we checked this
- Casino chip colours and values: Las Vegas Advisor, PokerListings and Casino.org.
- Laws: New Jersey N.J.A.C. 13:69E-1.3 (also on nj.gov) and Nevada Gaming Commission Regulation 12, cross-checked with Wikipedia.
- Sizes, weights and materials: the two regulations above, CustomMadeCasino, PokerListings and Wikipedia.
- Home games, set sizes and stack sizes: Chiplab, HomePokerTourney, PokerListings and DeucesCracked, plus retail set listings from PoolDawg, Abt and Sharper Image.
- Colouring up and the chip race: Poker TDA rules and PokerListings. History: Wikipedia and Las Vegas Advisor.
- The calculator and the three example games are our own sums: every stack adds up exactly to the buy-in.
Last checked: 6 November 2026, when we ran the chip calculator through eight test splits on 360 px and 390 px phone screens and checked every colour and value against at least two independent sources.
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