Discover How to Play Craps – Tricks and Schemes: Chips Or Cheques?
Casino personnel frequently 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 always worth the value of the printed denomination. Chips, however, don’t have values printed on them and the value is determined by the table. For instance, in a poker tournament, the dealer might value white chips as one dollar and blue chips as 10 dollars; at the same time, in a roulette game, the casino may value white chips as twenty-five cents and blue chips as $2. Another example, the cheap red, white, and blue plastic chips you purchase at the department store for your Friday-night poker game are referred to as "chips" because they do not have values written on them.
When you put your money down and hear the dealer announce, "Cheque change only," he’s merely informing the boxman that a new bettor wish to exchange money for cheques, and that the cash sitting on the table isn’t in play. Money plays in most casinos, so if you place a 5 dollar bill down on the Pass Line just prior to the player rolls the pair of dice and the dealer doesn’t exchange your cash for chips, your cash is "live" and "in play."
Technically, in live craps games, we compete with with cheques, and not chips. Occasionally, a player will walk up to the the table, drop a 100 dollar cheque, and tell the dealer, "Cheque change." It’s a blast to act like a new player and ask the dealer, "Hey, I am a brand-new to this game, what is a cheque?" Generally, their crazy responses will entertain you.