Discover How to Play Craps – Tips and Tactics: Chips Or Cheques?
Casino employees usually allude 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 printed on it and is always worth the amount of the imprinted value. Chips, however, do not have values written on them and the value is determined by the casino. For instance, at a poker tournament, the croupier might value white chips as $1 and blue chips as $10; whereas, at a roulette game, the dealer might define white chips as $0.25 and blue chips at $2. Another example, the cheap 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 values imprinted on them.
When you put your money down on the table and hear the dealer say, "Cheque change only," he’s basically informing the boxman that a new player wants to change money for cheques, and that the cash on the table is not in play. Cash plays in most casinos, so if you put a 5 dollar bill down on the Pass Line just before the shooter rolls the pair of dice and the dealer does not change your cash for chips, your cash is "live" and "in play."
In reality, in actual craps games, we play with cheques, not chips. Every now and then, a player will walk up to the the table, put down a 100 dollar cheque, and inform the dealer, "Cheque change." It’s amusing to pretend to be a new player and ask the dealer, "Hey, I’m a beginner to this game, what’s a cheque?" Most of the time, their comical answers will entertain you.