Casino personnel normally refer to chips as "cheques," which is of French origin. Technically, there is a difference amidst a chip and a cheque. A cheque is a chip with a denomination written on its face and is always valued at the value of the written amount. Chips, however, don’t have denominations written on them and any colour can be valued at any cash amount as determined by the table. For example, in a poker tournament, the casino may define white chips as one dollar and blue chips as $10; while, in a game of roulette, the house may define white chips as 25 cents and blue chips as two dollars. A different instance, the cheap red, white, and blue plastic chips you buy at K-Mart for your Friday-night poker game are referred to as "chips" because they don’t have values printed on them.
When you plop your $$$$ down on the craps table and hear the croupier announce, "Cheque change only," she’s simply advising the box man that a new individual wishes to exchange money for chips (cheques), and that the $$$$$ on the craps table is not in play. Cash plays in a majority of casinos, so if you put a five dollar bill on the Pass Line just prior to the hurler throwing the dice and the dealer does not exchange your $$$$$ for cheques, your $$$$$ is "part of the action." When the dealer indicates, "Cheque change only," the boxman understands that your cash isn’t in play.
Technically, in live craps games, we bet with cheques, not chips. Every now and then, a gambler will approach the craps table, put down a $100 cheque, and tell the dealer, "Cheque change." It is entertaining to act like a newbie and say to the dealer, "Hey, I’m new to this game, what’s a cheque?" Generally, their crazy answers will amuse you.
This entry was posted on March 12, 2010, 6:21 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.