Craps Tricks

Read more about the
Las Vegas 2024 Super
Bowl Streaker!

Casino personnel usually refer to chips as "cheques," being of French ancestry. Technically, there’s a distinction between a chip and a cheque. A cheque is a chip with a value imprinted on its face and is forever valued at the value of the imprinted amount. Chips, however, do not have denominations written on them and any color can be valued at any dollar value as defined by the croupier. For instance, in a poker tournament, the dealer might define white chips as 1 dollar and blue chips as ten dollars; while, in a game of roulette, the dealer might value white chips as twenty-five cents and blue chips as $2. A further example, the cheap red, white, and blue plastic chips you purchase at the department store for your weekend poker get together are known as "chips" owing to the fact that they do not have values imprinted on them.

When you plop your $$$$$ down on the table and hear the dealer announce, "Cheque change only," she’s just advising the boxman that a new gambler wishes to change $$$$$ for chips (cheques), and that the $$$$$$ on the craps table is not part of the action. Cash plays in a majority of betting houses, so if you lay a $5 bill on the Pass Line just before the hurler throws the dice and the croupier doesn’t exchange your $$$$$ for cheques, your cash is "part of the action." When the dealer states, "Cheque change only," the boxman knows that your $$$$$ isn’t part of the action.

In reality, in land based craps games, we play with cheques, and not chips. Every once in a while, 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 amusing to act like a novice and ask the croupier, "Hey, I am new to this game, what’s a cheque?" Frequently, their crazy responses will entertain you.