Chips are one of the most important elements of the many games that cumulatively refer to as poker. Poker chips normally represent money used within the game. Although they can also be used to simply keep score in non-wagering online poker tournaments. Despite the popularity of poker games, though, very few people know much about poker chips or their standard denominations.
Types
Some people play poker using such items as coins, buttons or other small things as their poker chips. In most instances, however, poker chips are standardized colored discs. The size, weight and material of these poker chips can vary, as can the color. The different colors used to determine the denominations of each individual poker chip.
Function
Using differently valued chips, poker players can quickly and efficiently wager money without having to use cluttering currency. Each chip takes on a certain dollar value agreed upon by all of the players or decided upon by the casino. During the online poker real money game, the chips are played exactly as if they were money, and in fact during cash games the chips can be taken out of play between hands and exchanged for cash. During a tournament, however, the chips may not actually relate to the cash used to purchase them but instead simply indicate a player’s standing within the tournament.
Casino Tokens
Casino tokens (also known as chips, checks or cheques) are small discs in lieu of currency in casinos. Colored metal, injection moulded plastic or compression moulded clay tokens of various denominations used primarily in table games, as opposed to metal token coins, used primarily in slot machines. Casino tokens also widely used as play money in casual or tournament games. Some casinos also use gaming plaques for high stakes table games. Plaques differ from chips in that they are larger, usually rectangular in shape and contain serial numbers.
Colors
Chip colors typically found in home sets include red, white, blue, and sometimes green and black; however, more recently a wide assortment of colors have become readily available. Common additional colors are pink, purple, yellow, orange and grey. Newer designs in home chips include “tri-color” designs where a three-step moulding 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 or as special “in-between” values.
Misconceptions
Though many people believe that best online poker chips standardized in denomination, this is untrue. Certain jurisdictions that allow playing may legally regulate what colour chips used to denote certain amounts of money, but there is no one system that dictates chip values in all areas.
Happy playing!