If I were asked to deal a home game, I would have several questions before I could determine how may chips I would bring:

1. 7-Stud, Holdem, Omaha, or Dealers Choice? Hold'em needs the least, Omaha/8 needs the most, with 7-Stud and Choice needing nearly as many as Omaha/8.

2. What are the stakes? A standard $10/$20 game would use one basic denomination, usually $5.00 denomination "red" chips. For Stud, and Choice, you need ante chips, usually "white" $1.00 chips. If the game is raked, you need more $1.00 chips as well. There is not really a need for larger denomination chips, but a supply of "green" $25 chips is not a bad idea if you don't want any cash on the table.

For your average home game, I would bring 20 "white" chips per player.

I would bring between 40 and 80 "big bets" for each player, so 6 players playing 10/20 with "red" chips would require 900 - 1800 chips, or 9 to 18 racks to play comfortably. Most people start with a rack ($500 for a $10/$20 game).

If you wanted to use "green" chips, you could drop the requirements to maybe 20-40 big bets per player, or maybe 7 to 10 racks total.