Colour up in poker means to exchange smaller chip denominations for larger ones. This
helps to prevent players from having📉 overly large chip stacks containing low value
chips. Since this doesn’t affect the overall amount of big blinds in chip📉 stack,
players may colour up at any time.
In this guide we’ll learn the following -
Why Do
Poker Players Colour Up?
Colouring📉 up prevents players having overly large chip stacks
containing lots of low value chip denominations. This might happen after a📉 big cash
game winning streak or towards the later stages of a tournament where there are less
players remaining.
How Does📉 Colouring Up Work in Tournaments?
As the field gets smaller
the average chip stack gets larger. The blinds and antes also📉 increase towards the
later stages of a poker tournament. Colouring up occurs at regular intervals (often at
the start of📉 a break) in order to ensure there are no overly small chip denominations
in play. The smallest wager required in📉 any game is the size of the ante, so it doesn’t
make sense to have any chip denominations smaller than📉 this.
What Would Happen if a
Poker Player Never Coloured Up?
The game would still proceed as normal, but in a
tournament📉 context players might find themselves using handfuls of chips simply to pay
the blinds and antes. It also might be📉 difficult to easily see how many chips an
opponent is playing if the large numbers of small denomination chips started📉 to conceal
some of the larger value chips. Either way, there would be a lot of extra chips to keep
📉 track of which could hinder the smooth flow of gameplay.
What is the Difference Between
Colouring up and Cashing Out?
Colouring up📉 should not be confused with cashing out
which means to remove chips from play. When a player colours up, the📉 value of his stack
in big blind remains exactly the same, he is simply replacing a selection of low value
📉 chips with a smaller number of high value chips. Cashing out a partial amount of the
chip stack is usually📉 against the rules of most games anyway.
When Can Poker Players
Colour Up?
Since colouring up doesn’t affect the number of big📉 blinds in a player’s
stack, colouring up can be done at any time simply by asking the floor. Making such
📉 requests might often be unnecessary in tournaments however since the entire tournament
will be requested to colour up at set📉 intervals as the blinds and antes increase.
Final
Thoughts
Colouring up in poker is a standard part of the game. It’s designed📉 to make
things easier on the players and doesn’t carry any special strategic significance. Why
not improve your knowledge of📉 poker chips with this complete guide to poker chip values
and colours?
