Casino workers usually refer to chips as "cheques," which is of French origin. In reality, there is a difference between a cheque and a chip. A cheque is a chip with a value written on it and is always worth the amount of the printed denomination. Chips, on the other hand, don’t have values written on them and any color can be worth any amount as defined by the dealer. For example, in a poker tournament, the croupier might value white chips as one dollar and blue chips as ten dollars; at the same time, in a roulette game, the casino might value white chips as $0.25 and blue chips at $2. Another example, the inexpensive red, white, and blue plastic chips you buy at Wal-Mart for your weekly poker game are referred to as "chips" because they do not have denominations written on them.
When you put your money down and hear the croupier say, "Cheque change only," he’s merely informing the boxman that a new player wish to change money for chips, and that the money sitting on the table is not in play. Money plays in many betting houses, so if you put a $5 bill on the Pass Line just prior to the player rolls the dice and the dealer doesn’t exchange your money for chips, your money is "live" and "in play."
Technically, in live craps games, we wager with with cheques, not chips. Occasionally, a player will approach the table, drop a one hundred dollar cheque, and instruct the dealer, "Cheque change." It’s amusing to pretend to be a newbie and ask the dealer, "Hey, I’m new to this game, what is a cheque?" Most of the time, their comical responses will entertain you.
This entry was posted on January 24, 2010, 4:22 pm and is filed under Craps. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.