Craps

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Casino personnel usually refer to chips as "cheques," which is of French ancestry. Technically, there’s a difference between a chip and a cheque. A cheque is just a chip with a denomination printed on it and is forever worth the value of the written value. Chips, however, don’t have denominations written on them and the value is defined by the dealer. For example, in a poker tournament, the croupier might value white chips as $1 and blue chips as ten dollars; at the same time, in a roulette game, the croupier may value white chips as twenty-five cents and blue chips at two dollars. A different example, the inexpensive red, white, and blue poker chips you purchase at the department store for your weekly poker game are referred to as "chips" because they don’t have denominations written on them.

When you put your money down on the table and hear the dealer announce, "Cheque change only," he’s just informing the boxman that a new bettor wish to exchange cash for chips or more correctly cheques, and that the cash sitting on the table isn’t in play. Money plays in most betting houses, so if you place a 5 dollar bill down on the Pass Line just before the shooter rolls the pair of dice and the croupier doesn’t change your cash for chips, your cash is "live" and "in play."

Technically, in live craps games, we compete with with cheques, not chips. Sometimes, a player will approach the table, put down a $100 cheque, and tell the croupier, "Cheque change." It is a blast to pretend to be a newbie and ask the croupier, "Hey, I’m new to this game, what’s a cheque?" Frequently, their crazy answers will entertain you.