Learn to Compete in Craps – Tricks and Strategies: Casino Chips or Casino Cheques?

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Casino workers 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 a chip with a amount printed on it and is forever valued at the amount of the printed denomination. Chips, although, don’t have values printed on them and any color can be worth any dollar value as defined by the casino. For instance, in a poker tournament, the croupier may value white chips as 1 dollar and blue chips as ten dollars; at the same time, in a game of roulette, the dealer may define white chips as 25 cents and blue chips as two dollars. Another instance, the inexpensive red, white, and blue poker chips you buy at Target for your weekly poker game are considered "chips" because they do not have values imprinted on them.

When you plop your $$$$ down on the craps table and hear the dealer say, "Cheque change only," he’s merely telling the box man that a new patron wants to trade $$$$$$ for chips (cheques), and that the $$$$$ on the table isn’t part of the action. Cash plays in most casinos, so if you put a five dollar bill on the Pass Line just before the player tosses the dice and the croupier does not trade your $$$$$$ for chips, your $$$$$$ is "in play." When the croupier indicates, "Cheque change only," the boxman knows that your money is not in play.

In reality, in live craps rounds, we wager with cheques, and not chips. Ever so often, a gambler will walk up to the the table, put down a one hundred dollar cheque, and say to the croupier, "Cheque change." It is entertaining to pretend to be a novice and say to the croupier, "Hey, I am new to Craps, what is a cheque?" Generally, their comical responses will amuse you.