Allocate poker chips optimally with mixed-integer nonlinear programming
Every time I play a casual cash poker game with friends, we spend the first several minutes struggling to figure out chip denominations. I built this to automate that process. Try it out here (the submitted link goes to the GitHub repo): https://jstrieb.github.io/poker-chipper/ It turns out that picking chip denominations optimally—such that as many chips are distributed as possible, and such that the denominations are nice—is hard (in the computational complexity sense). Upon reflection, the problem seemed to be a perfect fit for constrained optimization. I first got a…
In plain words
This tool automates the process of determining optimal poker chip denominations for casual games. It uses mixed-integer nonlinear programming to calculate denominations that maximize the number of chips distributed while keeping values practical and easy to use. The application runs in the browser by cross-compiling a solver to WebAssembly, eliminating time spent debating chip setups before gameplay begins. It is designed for players organizing informal poker games with friends.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Every time I play a casual cash poker game with friends, we spend the first several minutes struggling to figure out chip denominations. I built this to automate that process. Try it out here (the submitted link goes to the GitHub repo): https://jstrieb.github.io/poker-chipper/ It turns out that picking chip denominations optimally—such that as many chips are distributed as possible, and such that the denominations are nice—is hard (in the computational complexity sense). Upon reflection, the problem seemed to be a perfect fit for constrained optimization. I first got a CLI prototype working with Z3 (an SMT solver with optimization capabilities https://github.com/Z3Prover/z3) in Python. Then, I cross-compiled SCIP (https://www.scipopt.org/) to web assembly, and ported my code to use SCIP instead of Z3 so it could run in the browser. The web interface is designed to be fast and easy to use on desktop and mobile. I would love to answer questions and discuss design choices. I'm also open to feedback and bug reports. Thanks for taking a look!
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