Poker chips, also known as tokens or checks, are commonly used in lieu of cash in even the lowest stakes home games. These small, easy-to-handle discs make the game flow at a faster rate. Most cardrooms no longer allow cash on the table except in higher stakes games where players are permitted to keep $100 bills alongside their chips.

The weight of chips used in casinos is between 10 – 14 grams. The weight of a good clay chip will be around 10 grams. There are five basic poker chip colors, with the black chips holding the greatest denomination at $100, followed by Green with $25, Blue with $10, Red with $5, and the white chips which are worth only a dollar. For the complete color scheme available in poker chip sets, however, there is the brown chip which is worth a whopping $5000, followed.

Custom chips are a worthy expense that will not only reduce the liability of someone counterfeiting, or ‘running chips into the game,’ but will also improve the overall quality of any homegame. There are several factors to consider when purchasing a set of poker chips.

Quantity of Poker Chips

Poker chips can be purchased in sets (100 up to 1000 are common) or per chip. Regardless of whether you buy a set or individual chips, you will need a general idea of how many chips to order. You want enough chips to cover the number of players. If you are running tournaments, you will want to order what is equivalent to one chip stack per player up to the maximum players permitted, plus a few extra replacement stacks.

Here is a sample calculation:

Maximum 30 player tournament order at least 33 stacks of chips. If that equates to 20 chips in various denominations per player, then 33 x 20 = 660 chips, so you know you want to go with no less than a 700 chip set. Keep in mind, rebuy/add-on tournaments will require additional stacks or some higher denomination chips that can be “colored up”.

When calculating how many chips to buy for a live action poker game, you will need to overestimate a bit. You never know if your game will suddenly escalate to higher stakes one night. You do not want to run the risk of running out of chips, so it is better to overestimate the number of chips you will need for your poker game. Ordering will be based on the stakes of the game and the number of poker players expected. On average you should have at least 100 chips per player, with the majority of your poker chips comprised of the two lowest denominations. I recommend purchasing at least 20 high denomination chips to ensure you do not run out during a heated poker game.

Type of Poker Chips

There are four common types of chips: plastic, composite, ceramic, and clay chips.

Plastic Poker Chips

There are really two types of common plastic poker chips available. The cheapest is the set commonly found in a round carrier. If you are playing friendly ‘kitchen table’ poker, these plastic chips, which can be purchased in any major chainstore will suffice. The second is Diamond chips that are made of plastic, but standard casino size and are a bit heavier than the cheaper plastic chips. These chips are solid in color and perfect for friendly poker games.

Composite Poker Chips

This is the most common poker chip purchased and used in regular homegames. They can also be found in chain stores and often come with a dealer button, deck of cards and a cut card. These chips are often adorned with dice, diamonds, or card suits on the edges of the chips. They are colored to match industry standards. They typically weigh 11.5 grams due to a metal insert. These chips work fine for a small stakes poker game or tournament where the risk of someone ‘running in chips’ is minimal. The most common complaint about these chips is they are slippery.

Customized composite chips with the metal insert are a common option for serious homegames. These are by far the most popular chips ordered on the internet. There are thousands of design options available for these chips. The designs can be put on label stickers, hot stamped, or engraved into the chip. The most popular weight is 11.5 grams. There is also a softer variation of this chip that does not have a metal insert for those players who do not like the ring of a metal inserted chip.

Ceramic Poker Chips

These chips have a smooth porcelain feel to them and are used in many casinos. The biggest benefit to these chips is they can be graphically designed with detail you cannot reproduce on other types of chips. They are also highly durable and will stand the test of time. There is a higher cost for these beautifully decorated poker chips, but they’ll look great in any serious home game – so if you can afford them then it’s probably worth the extra cost.

Clay Poker Chips

Clay chips, used mostly in casinos, are the most expensive type of chips available and generally are regarded as the best quality chips. These chips are made using a compression molding process where unique designs can be molded right into the chip. Clay chips are easiest to handle, stack, and do chip tricks with, making the $1+ per chip price tag seem worthy. Contrary to the popular belief that the heaviest chips are the best quality, clay casino chips usually weigh between 8 and 9 grams.

Color of the Poker Chips

Try to maintain the industry standard when selecting the color of your chips. This helps reduce confusion among players who are used to betting five dollars when they toss a red chip into the pot and one hundred dollars when they bet a black chip. You will need about four different colored chips to play in a standard poker game and the two lowest valued chips will compromise the largest percentage of your set.

• $1 White Chip
• $5 Red Chip
• $10 Blue Chip
• $25 Green Chip
• $100 Black Chip
• $500 Purple Chip
• $1000 Orange Chip

After selecting the dominant color of each chip, you will also have the option of selecting a secondary or tertiary accent color, which is usually around the edge of the chip. Each additional color adds to the price of the chip. Be sure to select accent colors that completely differ from the accent colors on the other chip denominations. Chip denominations can get easily mixed when stacking them if the accent colors are too similar.

Weight of the Poker Chips

If you decide against expensive clay chips, the weight of all other poker chips is one of the most important factors to consider. Lightweight chips are typically cheaper, but heavier chips are more durable. If you plan on hosting frequent poker games, you will be better off in the long run investing money in chips that will not need to be constantly replaced. In addition, players prefer to play with heavier chips which are easier to maneuver and riffle.

Common Poker Chip Weights:

• 7.5 grams
• 8.5 grams
• 9.0 grams
• 11.5 grams
• 13.0 grams
• 13.5 grams
• 14 grams

Poker Chip Design

There are various different chip designs. Let’s examine your options.

Standard Designs

Chip manufacturers offer numerous designs that can be printed on the face of any poker chip. You can buy them pre-designed or for a higher price you can provide a picture or graphic artwork for customization.

Stickers

You can purchase round stickers in almost any design to place on the poker chips you choose. You can even buy blank chip stickers and customize them yourself on your own computer. If you go this route, consider buying chips with a recessed center so the stickers are easier to place and harder for players to damage.

Chip stickers make it easy to replace a chip that has been battered on the face, but keep in mind they are just stickers, so they will be easier to batter in the first place. If you decide on using stickers to mark your chips, be sure to stick to the common color denominations rather than one chip color with different labels. Otherwise, someone could sneak chips out and replace the stickers with higher denominations and sneak them back later and scam you out of money.

Gold or Silver Foil Stamping

Chips can be hot stamped with gold or silver lettering, usually only on chips with a solid colored center. It is common to use initials or dollar denominations. Keep in mind if you choose to have the dollar value stamped on the face, you lose the flexibility to change the value of the chips. Also, be aware that the gold & silver sometimes flakes off the chip with wear, especially with low quality manufacturing.

Engraved Poker Chips

Engraving your chips will make it less likely for someone to sneak chips into your game or counterfeit your chips. Manufacturers will allow you to engrave anything you want on the chips for a set price per chip. It is common to have your name, initials or place of business engraved on the face of the chip. You have to pay double if you want both sides engraved. If you really want a customized chip that will make counterfeiting difficult, scan your signature and have it engraved on the chips.

There are a lot of factors to consider when ordering a poker chip set. If after reviewing the above information you still cannot decide on what fits your needs, order a sample set. Most reputable chip suppliers now offer a sample of one of each type of chip they offer for a price of less than $10.00. Clay chip samples run closer to $20 per sample set. This will give you a chance to feel each chip and closely inspect the design work on each style so that you will find the perfect set for your game.

By Kelli Mix

Kelli is the author of the 'Game Day Poker Almanac - Official Rules of Poker'. She lives in Carrollton, Georgia, where she is the state director for the Poker Players Alliance.

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Casino tokens (also known as casino or gaming chips, checks, or cheques) are small discs used in lieu of currency in casinos. Colored metal, injection-molded plastic or compression molded clay tokens of various denominations are used primarily in table games, as opposed to metal token coins, used primarily in slot machines. Casino tokens are also widely used as play money in casual or tournament games.

Some casinos also use rectangular gaming plaques for high-stakes table games ($25,000 and above). Plaques differ from chips in that they are larger, usually rectangular in shape and contain serial numbers.

• 3Construction

Use[edit]

Money is exchanged for tokens in a casino at the casino cage, at the gaming tables, or at a cashier station. The tokens are interchangeable with money at the casino. Generally they have no value outside of the casino, but certain businesses (such as taxis or waiters—especially for tips) in gambling towns may honor them informally.

Tokens are employed for several reasons. Because of the uniform size, shape, and patterns of stacks of chips, they are easier to tally compared to currency. This attribute also enables the pit boss or security to quickly verify the amount being paid, reducing the chance that a dealer might incorrectly pay a customer. The uniform weight of the casino's official tokens allows them to weigh great stacks or heaps of chips rather than tally them (though aids such as chip trays are far more common.) Furthermore, it is observed that consumers gamble more freely with replacement currencies than with cash.^{[citation needed]} A more pragmatic reason for casinos using chips in place of cash at table games is to discourage players from grabbing back their bet and attempting to flee should their bet not win, because chips, unlike cash, must be redeemed at the casino cashier and have no value outside the casino in question. Lastly, the chips are considered to be an integral part of the casino environment, and replacing them with some alternate currency would be unpopular^[dubious].

Many casinos have eliminated the use of metal tokens (and coins) in their slot machines, in favor of paper receipts or pre-paid cards, which, while requiring heavy infrastructure costs to install, eliminate the coin handling expenses, jamming problems encountered in machines which took coins or tokens and can allow more game-specific technology in the space of a machine which would usually be dedicated to coin mechanisms. While some casinos (such as the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas) which installed the receipt system had kept the $1 tokens around for use as $1 chips, most other casinos using the receipts had simply scrapped the tokens entirely. Most casinos using receipts have automated machines at which customers may redeem receipts, eliminating the need for coin counting windows and decreasing labor costs.

Casino chip collecting is a part of numismatics, more specifically as specialized exonumia collecting. This hobby has become increasingly popular with the Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club formed in 1988. Some collectors may value certain casino tokens up to $100,000, which are typically traded on online auction websites like eBay. Several casinos sell custom-made sets of chips and one or two decks of cards stamped with the name of the casino on them. Each set is contained in a small briefcase or box.

History[edit]

The ancestors of the modern casino token were the counters used to keep score in the card games Ombre and Quadrille. In 1752, French Quadrille sets contained a number of different counters, known as jetons, fiches and mils. Unlike modern poker chips, they were colored differently only to determine player ownership for purposes of settling payments at the end of the game, with different denominations differentiated by different shapes that each counter type had.^[1]

In the early history of Poker during the 19th century, players seemed to use any small valuable object imaginable. Early poker players sometimes used jagged gold pieces, gold nuggets, gold dust, or coins as well as 'chips' primarily made of ivory, bone, wood, paper, and a composition made from clay and shellac. Several companies between the 1880s and the late 1930s made clay composition poker chips. There were over 1000 designs from which to choose. Most chips were white, red, blue, and yellow, but they could be made in almost any color desired.

Construction[edit]

The vast majority of authentic casino chips are 'clay' chips but can be more accurately described as compression molded chips. Contrary to popular belief, no gaming chip going as far back as the 1950s has been 100% clay. Modern clay chips are a composition of materials more durable than clay alone. At least some percentage of the chips is of an earthen material such as sand, chalk, and clay similar to that found in cat litter. The process used to make these chips is a trade secret, and varies slightly by manufacturer, most being relatively expensive and time-consuming per chip. The edge spots, or inserts, are not painted on; to achieve this effect, this area of the clay is removed and then replaced with clay of a different color; this can be done to each chip individually or a strip can be taken out of a cylindrical block of material and replaced with the alternate color before the block is cut into chips. Then each chip receives a mid-inlay if desired, and is placed in a special mold that heats and compresses the chip at approximately 10,000 psi (70 MPa) at 300 °F (150 °C), hence the term compression molded chips.

The printed graphics on clay chips is called an inlay. Inlays are typically made of paper and are then clad with a plastic film applied to the chip prior to the compression molding process. During the molding process the inlay becomes permanently fastened to the chip and can not be removed from the chip without destroying the inlay.

Ceramic chips were introduced in the mid 1980s as alternative to clay chips, and are also used in casinos, as well as being readily available to the home market. The ability to print lettering and graphics on the entire surface of the chip, instead of just the inlay, made them popular. Ceramic chips are sometimes also referred to as clay or clay composite, but they are in fact an injection-molded chip made with a special plastic or resin formula that approximates the feel and sound of ceramic or porcelain. There are less expensive chips for the home market, made from various forms of plastic and plastic covered metal slugs as well.

The chips used in North American casinos typically weigh about 10 grams, but are usually between 8 and 10.5 g. Companies that manufacture chips for actual casinos include Gaming Partners International (whose subdivisions include Paulson, Bud Jones, and B&G), Classic Poker Chips, Palm Gaming International, Game On Chip Company and GTI Gaming.

Colors[edit]

There is no universally standardized color scheme for poker chip values, and schemes not only vary nationally and regionally, but even from venue to venue, or by event type within a single venue.

Chip colors found in home sets typically include red, white, blue, and sometimes green and black; however, more recently a wide assortment of colors have become readily available, particularly in lower-cost ABS plastic chips. Common additional colors are pink, purple, yellow, orange, and grey. Newer designs in home chips include three-color designs where a three-step molding process creates a chip with unique base, secondary, and detail colors. As chip sets are tailored to the buyer, the values of various colors vary widely, with less traditional colors either used as very high values such as $500, $1,000, $5,000, and so forth, common in tournaments, or as special 'fractional' values such as $2 or $0.50, common in low-limit games.

In casinos, uniform chip colors and sizes are sometimes specified by the local gaming control board for consistency. For example, regulations in New Jersey^[2] and Illinois^[3] specify similar uniform colors. Notably, Nevada has no regulations regarding color, which is why Nevada casinos may use white, blue, or gray as $1, though $5 and greater are almost always consistently colored. All US states where gambling is legal require that casino chips have a unique combination of edge spots for identification, the name and location of the casino and the chip's value, if any, impressed, printed, or molded onto the obverse and reverse of the token.

In 19th-century America, there was enough of a tradition of using blue chips for higher values that 'blue chip' in noun and adjective senses signaling high-value chips and high-value property are attested since 1873 and 1894, respectively.^[4] This established connotation was first extended to the sense of a blue-chip stock in the 1920s.^[5]

$2.50 chips (colloquially referred to as 'snappers' by chip collectors) are mostly used for blackjack tables, since a 'natural' (a 21 on the first two cards dealt to a player) typically pays 3:2 and most wagers are in increments of $5. However, the Tropicana Casino and Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and others, have used $2.50 (pink) chips in $7.50 to $15 and $10 to $20 poker games.

$20 chips are used mostly at baccarat and pai gow poker because a 5% commission charged for all winning banker wagers at baccarat and winning wagers at pai gow converts evenly. Bets of $20 are not uncommon in traditional table games such as craps and roulette; a $20 chip, for example, places a $5 bet on each of the 'hard ways' in craps and is preferable to passing a stack of chips or making change.

How Much Do Casino Poker Chips Weigh

Because eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture, chips denominated 8, 88, and 888 (e.g., $8 in the US) are common in casinos catering to a Chinese clientele, often as a promotion for the Chinese Lunar New Year. They will sometimes contain an image of the animal associated with the year and are issued in a variety of colors.

Low-denomination yellow chips vary in value: $20 in Atlantic City and Illinois (which also uses 'mustard yellow' $0.50 chips); $5 at most Southern California poker rooms; $2 at Foxwoods' poker room in Ledyard, Connecticut; Running Aces Harness Park and Canterbury Park, both in Minnesota; and at Casino del Sol in Tucson, Arizona; and $0.50 at Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Blue chips are occasionally used for $10, most notably in Atlantic City. In Las Vegas and California, most casinos use blue or white for $1 chips, though many Las Vegas casinos now use $1 metal tokens in lieu of chips.

Chips are also available in denominations of $1000 or more, depending on the wagering limits of the casino. Such chips are often yellow or orange.^{[clarification needed]}. Casinos in Nevada, Atlantic City, and other areas that permit high wagers typically have chips available in $5000, $10,000, $25,000, and more; the colors for these vary widely.

Denominations above $5000 are almost never encountered by the general public; their use is usually limited to 'high limit rooms' where bet sizes are much greater than on the main floor. Casinos often use gaming plaques for these denominations: These plaques are about the size of a playing card, and must be marked with serial numbers. The greatest value placed on a plaque to date is $10 million, used at the London Club in Las Vegas.^[6]

Televised poker tournaments and cash games sometimes use bundled paper bills for high denominations, though the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour use round chips exclusively with denominations up to $250,000; tournament chips, however, are not redeemable for cash.

European casinos use a similar scheme, though certain venues, such as the Aviation Club de France, use pink for €2 and blue for €10. European casinos also use plaques rather than chips for high denominations, usually in the €1000 and higher range.

Security[edit]

Each casino has a unique set of chips, even if the casino is part of a greater company. This distinguishes a casino's chips from others, since each chip and token on the gaming floor has to be backed up with the appropriate amount of cash. In addition, with the exception of Nevada, casinos are not permitted to honor another casino's chips.

The security features of casino chips are numerous. Artwork is of a very high resolution or of photographic quality. Custom color combinations on the chip edge (edge spots) are usually distinctive to a particular casino. UV markings can be made on the inlay. Certain chips incorporate RFID technology, such as those at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas. Also, makers' marks are difficult to reproduce. Also being used by one manufacturer, Palm Gaming, is an audible taggant incorporated into the ceramic chip blank. A simple handheld reader will beep if the gaming chip is authentic. Palm Gaming is even manufacturing custom made molds for their ceramic gaming chips- adding yet another high level of security to its gaming chip.

How Much Does A Rack Of Poker Chips Weigh

Counterfeit chips are rare. High levels of surveillance, along with staff familiarity with chip design and coloring, make passing fake chips difficult. Casinos, though, are prepared for this situation. All states require that casinos have a set of chips in reserve with alternate markings,^{[citation needed]} though they may not be required to have exactly the same number of reserve chips as they do on the floor. The most notable instance of counterfeiting chips was broken up in 2005, when two men were caught falsely converting $1 chips into higher denominations.^[7]

Casino chips used in tournaments are usually much cheaper and of much simpler design. Because the chips have no cash value, usually chips are designed with a single color (usually differing in shade or tone from the version on the casino floor), a smaller breadth, and a basic mark on the interior to distinguish denominations; however, at certain events (such as the World Series of Poker or other televised poker), chips approach quality levels of chips on the floor.

How Much Does A Poker Chip Weigh

Variations[edit]

Several casinos, such as the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, issue 'limited edition' varied-designed chips, commemorating various events, though retaining a common color scheme. This encourages customers to keep them for souvenirs, at a profit to the casino.

In certain casinos, such as the Wynn and Encore Casinos in Las Vegas, chips are embedded with RFID tags to help casinos keep better track of them, determine gamblers' average bet sizes, and to make them harder for counterfeiters to reproduce. However, this technique is costly and considered by many to be unnecessary to profit. Also, this technology provides minimal benefits in games with layouts that do not provide gamblers with their own designated betting areas, such as craps.

In television[edit]

The first game show to use them, Duel, had a variation in which the contestants answer questions using oversized casino tokens. The World Series of Poker at one time actually used its casino tokens for the poker tournaments, but in more recent years has had special Paulson WSOP clay sets made for the tournaments.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^David Parlett. 'Quadrille and Médiateur: Courtly ladies' game of 18th-century France'. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
2. ^'New Jersey Casino Control Commission – Chapter 46. Gaming Equipment'. state.nj.us. 2006-07-30. Archived from the original on 2006-07-30. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
3. ^'Section 3000.625 Chip Specifications'. ilga.gov. 2017-01-23. Archived from the original on 2017-01-23. Retrieved 2019-09-18.
4. ^Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, Merriam-Webster.
5. ^Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster.
6. ^'The London Club's $10 Million Gaming 'Plaque' Raises the Bar for Las Vegas'. Business Wire. 2000-08-14. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014.
7. ^'Counterfeit Chip Ring Broken Up in Vegas'. Vegas Tripping.

How Much Do Professional Poker Chips Weigh