Craps Tips

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Casino employees normally refer to chips as "cheques," being of French ancestry. Technically, there is a difference amidst a chip and a cheque. A cheque is a chip with a amount imprinted on its face and is forever valued at the value of the written amount. Chips, however, do not have values written on them and any color can be valued at any cash amount as determined by the casino. For instance, in a poker tournament, the casino might state that white chips as one dollar and blue chips as $10; while, in a roulette game, the dealer may value white chips as twenty-five cents and blue chips as two dollars. A further example, the inexpensive red, white, and blue poker chips you can get at Wal-Mart for your weekend poker game are referred to as "chips" owing to the fact that they don’t have denominations imprinted on them.

When you plop your $$$$ down on the craps table and hear the croupier say, "Cheque change only," he is merely advising the box man that a new gambler wishes to change money for chips (cheques), and that the $$$$$$ on the table is not part of the action. Cash plays in most casinos, so if you lay a 5 dollar bill on the Pass Line just before the hurler rolls the dice and the croupier doesn’t change your $$$$$ for chips, your $$$$$ is "part of the action." When the croupier says, "Cheque change only," the boxman understands that your money is not part of the action.

In reality, in live craps rounds, we play with cheques, not chips. Occasionally, a player will approach the table, put down a one hundred dollar cheque, and inform the croupier, "Cheque change." It is entertaining to act like a newbie and say to the croupier, "Hey, I’m new to this game, what is a cheque?" Frequently, their wacky responses will amuse you.