What is Color Up in Poker?
1 minute
Last Updated: December 28, 2023
Coloring up in poker is exchanging chips with smaller denominations for those with a bigger value. This can happen when a player is on a winning streak and has accumulated a sizable stack of chips. It also frequently happens in later tournament stages, when there are fewer players and the blinds and antes increase.
Color Up Poker Example:
You’re playing a poker tournament, and have four full stacks of $25 chips, meaning you have 80 chips in total, or $2,000. At this point of the tournament, the blinds have reached $100/$200, so using $25 chips is inconvenient and complicates the game.
To streamline betting, you will color up and receive your $2,000 in higher denomination chips, for instance, 20 chips valued at $100 each.
