Casino staff usually allude to chips as "cheques," which is of French origin. In reality, there’s a difference between a chip and a cheque. A cheque is just a chip with a value printed on it and is always worth the value of the written value. Chips, however, don’t have values printed on them and any color can be worth any amount as determined by the croupier. For example, at a poker tournament, the dealer may define white chips as $1 and blue chips as $10; whereas, at a roulette game, the casino might define white chips as $0.25 and blue chips at two dollars. A different example, the cheap red, white, and blue poker chips you buy at Wal-Mart for your Friday-night poker game are called "chips" because they do not have values written on them.
When you put your cash down on the table and hear the dealer say, "Cheque change only," he’s just informing the boxman that a new player wants to change money for chips, and that the money sitting on the table isn’t in play. Cash plays in many casinos, so if you place a five dollar bill on the Pass Line just prior to the shooter tosses the pair of dice and the croupier does not exchange your money for chips, your money is "live" and "in play."
In reality, in actual craps games, we wager with with cheques, and not chips. Sometimes, an individual will approach the table, put down a one hundred dollar cheque, and instruct the croupier, "Cheque change." It’s fun to act like a newbie and ask the dealer, "Hey, I’m new to this game, what’s a cheque?" Frequently, their wacky responses will amuse you.
February 4th, 2010
Bernard
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