Pros & Cons of Chip Rack on Tourney Tables

[Poker Jack]

Hi there,

just looking for some opinions on using chip racks on poker tables. In cash games, chip racks are common because the dealer must be able to give out the chips for a rebuy etc.
In tourneys, however, I've seen some tables that do not have chip racks at all. In some places, they have them because the dealer is adviced to constantly color-up chips, or make change when splitting pots etc.

What's your opinion? Chip racks on tourney tables/ cash game tables - yes/no?

Not using chip racks:

Pros:
- dealer has more space in front of him to shuffle and keep the muck directly in front of him.
- no-one can reach into the rack and take out chips
- you don't need to lock up the chip rack when players are on break because you don't have a chip rack

Cons:
- if the dealer has to make change (split pots, lack/shortage of small denom chips in a stack etc.), he must rely on the chips of other players
- when a big-stack player is moved, the percentage of small denom chips can decrease drastically when the moved player had a lot of them in his stack making it hard for the dealer to make change
- when it's time to color up, additional higher denom chips have to be brought to the table to be exchanged for the smaller ones

[Martini]

I think the term "chip tray" is what you're looking for. Chip racks usually refer to the portable plastic holders which fit five rows of 20 chips whereas chip trays usually refer to the large multi-column holder built into tables at casinos.

I prefer without. If you have a dedicated dealer that doesn't play (if so, congratulations) then I can see the use for a tray but otherwise it just gets in the way. It's easy enough to get change from the table if necessary. If you don't have enough small denom chips then there should probably be a re-examination of the starting stacks.