2 Feb 10

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Casino personnel frequently refer to chips as "cheques," which has its origins in France. In reality, there’s a difference between a chip and a cheque. A cheque is just a chip with a denomination imprinted on it and is forever worth the value of the written value. Chips, on the other hand, don’t have denominations printed on them and any color can be worth any amount as defined by the croupier. For instance, at a poker tournament, the casino might value white chips as one dollar and blue chips as $10; at the same time, in a roulette game, the croupier might value white chips as 25 cents and blue chips as $2. A different example, the inexpensive red, white, and blue poker chips you buy at the department store for your Friday-night poker game are referred to as "chips" due to the fact that they do not have values imprinted on them.

When you put your cash down on the table and hear the dealer say, "Cheque change only," he’s merely informing the boxman that a new player wants to change cash for cheques, and that the cash sitting on the table isn’t in play. Money plays in most casinos, so if you place a 5 dollar bill down on the Pass Line just prior to the shooter rolls the ivories and the dealer does not change your money for chips, your money is "live" and "in play."

In reality, in live craps games, we play with cheques, and not chips. Sometimes, an individual will approach the table, drop a one hundred dollar cheque, and inform the croupier, "Cheque change." It is amusing to pretend to be a new player and ask the croupier, "Hey, I am new to this game, what’s a cheque?" Most of the time, their wacky responses will amuse you.


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