Chip colors
I recently noticed that some casinos, particularly those in California, use chip colors that are non-standard. At least, non-standard to me.
I've been to a lot of East Coast and Las Vegas casinos. All I've ever seen are Black $100, Green $25, Red $5, and White $1, although in Vegas I've also seen Light Blue and Grey for $1.
But the vlogs from the California card rooms use colors that forces me to try to evaluate the action and commentary to figure out the values. Sometimes there's a shot of the player's stack, usually towards the end when they rack up to head to the cage.
So I gotta ask, what colors do you consider standard?
Here's a couple screen shots.
Commerce Casino. White $100, Purple $25, Yellow $5.
Lucky Chances. White $100, Black $20 ($20?), Red $5.
They don't.Quote: AlanMendelsonWhy do they have to be "standard"?
It just strikes me as odd that they're not - particularly since ALL of the casinos I've visited tend to use the same colors for the $5, $25, and $100 chips, and most use the same for the $1 chips too. And there also seems to be standardization of colors used for the higher value chips too.
For the record, this includes casinos in NJ, NY, CT, FL, NV, IN, NC, Bahamas, day cruises out of FL, SC, and extended cruises out of NJ and FL.
All of the casino poker tournaments I've played at use non-vale tourney chips that are similar colors to their regular chips.
Confusing? Only briefly.Quote: ChumpChangeThat's non-standard and confusing, unless you only go to standard casinos and never set foot in the non-standard casinos, or vice versa.
Note: many years ago, I regularly played poker in multiple leagues which use chips that have no numbers on them, and there was no standardization among the leagues. It was very little effort to remember the colors and values of the multiple leagues.
Other than $1 and $2.50 chips, I don't think I've seen anything but red, green, and black. I don't recall handling any bigger chips.
Having different colors for denominations could be part of their plan.
Quote: DJTeddyBearI've been to a lot of East Coast and Las Vegas casinos. All I've ever seen are Black $100, Green $25, Red $5, and White $1, although in Vegas I've also seen Light Blue and Grey for $1.
But the vlogs from the California card rooms use colors that forces me to try to evaluate the action and commentary to figure out the values. Sometimes there's a shot of the player's stack, usually towards the end when they rack up to head to the cage.
So I gotta ask, what colors do you consider standard?
I go with the "obvious ones" - red 5, green 25, black 100, purple 500.
In addition to white and blue for $1, the one time I saw a Rampart $1 chip, I think it was something like tan.
Quote: billryanIf I were running a casino, I would make my chips as extravagant as I could and do all in my power to get my customers to take them home with them.
... except for the denominations where the value exceeds the cost of the chip. Those are plain and boring.
Edit: cost of the chip exceeds the value.
I knew what I meant to say.
Not sure what you mean.Quote: gordonm888Of course, poker chips are often different colors -because the chip value does not correlate to a reimbursable cash amount.
Tournament chips tend to use the same colors as the casino’s cash chips. Just different edge patters so they can’t be confused.
Poker room cash games use the same chips as are used in the rest of the casino.
And, yeah, sometimes you’ll see oddball denominations in poker cash game chips, they are absolutely reimbursable.
$1: Usually white, but I've seen grey and blue.
$2.50: Pink. You don't see the $2.50 chips in Vegas much. I think they are more popular in California.
$5: Red
$25: Green
$100: Black
$500: Purple
$1000: Yellow
$5000: Brown
I think above $5000, there are no standards.
Quote: DJTeddyBearNot sure what you mean.
Tournament chips tend to use the same colors as the casino’s cash chips. Just different edge patters so they can’t be confused.
Poker room cash games use the same chips as are used in the rest of the casino.
And, yeah, sometimes you’ll see oddball denominations in poker cash game chips, they are absolutely reimbursable.
I was referring to tournament poker.
Quote: DJTeddyBearNot sure what you mean.
Tournament chips tend to use the same colors as the casino’s cash chips. Just different edge patters so they can’t be confused.
Poker room cash games use the same chips as are used in the rest of the casino.
And, yeah, sometimes you’ll see oddball denominations in poker cash game chips, they are absolutely reimbursable.
I was referring to tournament poker chips, which are not reimbursable. You often pay an entry fee of, say, $100 for a 10,000 chip stack for a tournament.
Also, large/high-roller tournaments can have $500K chips, and some even use plaques - rectangular markers with a designated value ( I think they are often $1M or larger.)
What's worse is that at some smaller California poker tournaments the chips have colors only with no imprinted denomination.
Then... if you really want a confusing situation... certain California poker casinos have several DIFFERENT sets of tournament chips. The Bicycle Casino used different sets for the smaller daytime tournaments so that players would not buy into the cheaper daytime tourneys and sneak those chips into the pricey nighttime tournaments. Hence... $1000 $500 and $100 chips were different colors in different sets.
And yes... changing the design was not enough. Changing colors is better protection.
Changing colors between tournament and live action chips is always better protection than changing designs alone.
5 – red
25 – green
100 – black
500 – purple
1000 – yellow yellow
However at Resorts World the new 100 and 500 chips are somewhat similar as the 500 chips include streaks of black mixed in with the mostly purple.
Where there is a lot of discrepancy, is in chip denominations above 1000. For example the 5000 chips vary wildly. At the Golden Nugget, they were (I assume still are) red white and blue, and referred to as “flags.” At Bellagio the 5K chips have been mostly white over the years.
Cosmopolitan too, 5K chips are white.
Treasure Island, 5K chips, mostly white
with some blue and pink.
But at Venetian, 5K are brown, chocolates:
GVR also, pretty much brown, chocolate, but their 5K chip looks pretty flimsy almost fake, with a cartoonesque font used for the $5000:
At Circa, their 5K chips are bright orange:
and they don’t even have 25K much, these are called plaques and are rarely out.
25K chips vary wildly too.
At Bellagio they used to be melon colored and referred to as melons, more recently more orangish and referred to as pumpkins.
At Cosmo, 25K are orange
At Venetian 25K chips are a sort of brownish orange. Resorts World also brownish. Wynn brown.
100K chips at most places are a sort of grey, or steel blue (Bellagio – over the years these have been steel blue, Venetian grayish).
But, Fluorescent orange 100K at Resorts World.
Still, whatever color they are, whoever invented gambling was smart but whoever invented chips, was a genius. People come up to the high limit tables constantly with cash that is shoved into the drop box that they would probably hesitate to throw down in such quantities on bets were it not first converted to chips.
One thing that makes me feel better is winning stacks and towers of checks I can't even see over.
The lamer for a million dollar marker at Caesars Palace is a white bathroom square tile with "1,000,000" painted in black.
No dollar sign, by the way.
Wow. I’ve never run into that. But it makes sense. I stand corrected.Quote: AlanMendelsonThen... if you really want a confusing situation... certain California poker casinos have several DIFFERENT sets of tournament chips. The Bicycle Casino used different sets for the smaller daytime tournaments so that players would not buy into the cheaper daytime tourneys and sneak those chips into the pricey nighttime tournaments. Hence... $1000 $500 and $100 chips were different colors in different sets.
Quote: AlanMendelsonMdawg since you use high limit markers here's one for you:
The lamer for a million dollar marker at Caesars Palace is a white bathroom square tile with "1,000,000" painted in black.
No dollar sign, by the way.
Nice. And thanks.
All the casinos use lammers for markers but Circa is one of the only ones I've seen where they use actual negotiable chips to track Baccarat Bank commission in the tray. And silver too (quarters and fifty cent pieces) - most high limit rooms casinos don't both to calculate commission to within even the exact dollar let alone fraction of a dollar (although Treasure Island, too, calculates commission using silver coins). This seems odd to me - and when I pay off my commission at Circa I am careful to make sure the dealer sees the chip tossed in there lest it gets mixed up with the commission.
One day at Circa I put a hundred and fifty for me on the tie and ten dollars and a quarter I had received as change for commission on the tie for the dealer. When I put the quarter on top of the dealer's two red chips I said, "for luck." The tie hit, and I received my 1200, but the dealer got only 80. I kept saying, give the dealer her two dollars (0.25 x 8) but the pit boss said, we don't calculate tie payoffs on quarters. Pit boss did let the dealer have the quarter though.
At Circa I keep thinking that I'll hold on to those fifty cent pieces they send my way occasionally as change for commission payoffs, but I always end up placing them as part of dealer side bets. I don't play enough at Circa anyway to remember to keep the silver.
Quote: MDawgOne thing that makes me feel better is winning stacks and towers of checks I can't even see over.
Outstanding post, MDawg!
As to your final line there, I accuse you of not paying proper attribution to Rounders. Your punishment will be to suffer through a barrage of Rounders trivia, should we meet again.
I think I'm going to make an Ask the Wizard question out of this. Here is what I have so far. Feel free to make corrections or additions.
Also, is it fair to say most places start to jump up in size at the $1,000 chip? Do they jump up again at the $25,000 level?
| Casino | $5,000 | $25,000 | $100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resorts World | Brown | Orange | |
| Cosmopolitan | White | Orange | |
| Treasure Island | White | ||
| Palazzo/Venetian | Brown | Brown | |
| Green Valley Ranch | Brown | ||
| Circa | Orange | ||
| Wynn | Brown | ||
| Bellagio | White | Orange | |
| Golden Nugget | Red, white and blue |
I will have to watch Rounders yet again before we meet and have that trivia quiz!
Your chart is accurate, with the following additions/changes:
Palazzo/Venetian
25K Orangish
100K gray with brown center
Wynn
5K white (with red blue trim)
Bellagio
100K steel blue (BUT I haven’t seen one in a while, will have to check on this again may have changed)
I will have to check on that 5K chip at Resorts World next time I am there. Somehow I missed that one.
Chip sizes - Baccarat chips in general, at casinos where they have different chips for Baccarat, are larger than chips used at other tables games, although their colors and values are the same.
I will have to look more closely at whether the highest denomination Baccarat chips are larger in diameter than the others. I believe that is the case, yes, with some 25K or higher chips, at some casinos, but this larger chip size phenomena is not present at all casinos.
I recall that at Harrah's Tahoe the 5K Baccarat chips had visible metal in them and were quite different from any lower denomination chips.
| Casino | $5,000 | $25,000 | $100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Resorts World | Brown | Orange | |
| Cosmopolitan | White | Orange | |
| Treasure Island | White | ||
| Palazzo/Venetian | Brown | Orange | Grey/brown |
| Green Valley Ranch | Brown | ||
| Circa | Orange | ||
| Wynn | White/red | Brown | |
| Bellagio | White | Orange | Steel blue |
| Golden Nugget | Red, white and blue |
I was gonna say something but thought better of it. HiQuote: Wizard… As to your final line there, I accuse you of not paying proper attribution to Rounders. Your punishment will be to suffer through a barrage of Rounders trivia, should we meet again.
But can I play too?
For the record I have one Rounders question that most people can’t answer.
Typical poker scenes in TV or movies tend to include stupid errors like incorrect raise sizing and/or string bets, etc. Rounders gets accolades for having realistic games without those sort of errors - this, dispute the glaring rule violation of one man on a hand at the judges game.
But there is one string bet in Rounders that people tend to overlook. Do you know which scene and who did it?
Hint: I’m not talking about Teddy KGB. His string bet in the final hand was more obvious and allowed.
Quote: DJTeddyBearI was gonna say something but thought better of it. Hi
But can I play too?
For the record I have one Rounders question that most people can’t answer.
Typical poker scenes in TV or movies tend to include stupid errors like incorrect raise sizing and/or string bets, etc. Rounders gets accolades for having realistic games without those sort of errors - this, dispute the glaring rule violation of one man on a hand at the judges game.
But there is one string bet in Rounders that people tend to overlook. Do you know which scene and who did it?
Hint: it wasn’t Teddy KGB. His string bet in the final hand was more obvious and allowed.
That sounds like a movie that I should probably watch.
because subsequently he brings out another stack and then declares that he is betting "fifteen thousand."
Also, I've always wondered about whether KGB ends up with the hundred dollar chip they leave on the table even after everything is swept away, or if Matt Damon pockets it.
Or maybe it was just what we call in theater an "accident" - something unplanned, where in this case the director didn't want to reshoot the scene just because of the chip's being left behind.
Anyway, is that string betting? I mean KGB doesn't get all his bet into the pot in one motion, and he doesn't declare immediately that he is betting fifteen thousand, just says, "Byet."
I know what string betting is - believe me - in a Baccarat tournament I was in, on one round I had the fortune to have only one other player against me: it was a heads up between me and another player and the player picked up a stack of chips and dropped one chip only on the tie while hovering the entire stack over the tie spot. After much back and forth and the player's family even stepping up and saying that this player couldn't speak English and shouldn't be held to the string bet rule, the player was forced to bet the max on the tie bet, and...it hit. Couldn't catch up after that. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.
Three are "Grand Opening" chips, the green $25. is some sort of Chinese New Year memorabilia one that somehow looked cool to me when I came across it, and the $5 chip was given to me by a Player who declared that it would bring me luck.
Initially the only one I kept was the Cosmo one which led to a dealer commenting that as long as I held on to it that I would never be broke, but while I just laughed good naturedly at the comment really I was thinking that if I ever got to where the difference between being broke or not was a hundred dollars that I would be in real trouble.
When my wife saw the chips the other day, she said, "Are they really worth 100 each?" and then wondered why I would hold on to them at all without cashing them. I can see her point. I explained that they were somehow special, and then she just said, "Okay, I understand" but I am not sure that she did.
Quote: MDawg
Also, I've always wondered about whether KGB ends up with the hundred dollar chip they leave on the table even after everything is swept away, or if Matt Damon pockets it.
That is a good question and something I have wondered about. I file it under "character error," but am not sure. My second choice would be it was some pity "bus fare" money for Mike. My third choice is a tip for the club staff. It's easy to argue against that one, since they dealt the cards themselves and not much in the way of staff that I can tell. Clutching at straws here.
Quote: MDawg
Where there is a lot of discrepancy, is in chip denominations above 1000. For example the 5000 chips vary wildly.
And the award for #chipporn of the year goes to MDawg! Those pics are glorious. Nothing cooler than seeing rare $100,000 chips.
Mike McDermott would never take that chip, unless Teddy told him to take it. There’s an honor in poker. Stealing chips only happens when a bluff is successful. And then it’s the pot that’s stolen, not chips from a player’s stack. You can leave thousands on the table when you take a break and not worry about it.Quote: WizardQuote: MDawg
Also, I've always wondered about whether KGB ends up with the hundred dollar chip they leave on the table even after everything is swept away, or if Matt Damon pockets it.
That is a good question and something I have wondered about. I file it under "character error," but am not sure. My second choice would be it was some pity "bus fare" money for Mike. My third choice is a tip for the club staff. It's easy to argue against that one, since they dealt the cards themselves and not much in the way of staff that I can tell. Clutching at straws here.
Yeah, that KGB move you mention could be a string bet. But I’m referring to the classic “I see your bet and raise…” type of string. And to clear things up a bit, Teddy isn’t involved.
Quote: DJTeddyBearYeah, that KGB move you mention could be a string bet. But I’m referring to the classic “I see your bet and raise…” type of string. And to clear things up a bit, Teddy isn’t involved.
I have a feeling it was in the police game. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in friendly games like that, where everyone knows each other, there are not stringent rules on string bets. I've had many poker games at my house and I don't recall anyone ever getting upset over a string bet and there tends to be a lot of table banter.
I agree in friendly games, things happen and are ignored. But this wasn’t exactly a friendly game. A string bet ruling could have been made if anyone said something. And it bothers me that nobody did.Quote: WizardI have a feeling it was in the police game. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in friendly games like that, where everyone knows each other, there are not stringent rules on string bets. I've had many poker games at my house and I don't recall anyone ever getting upset over a string bet and there tends to be a lot of table banter.
Anyway…
Here's the answer to my Rounders question about string bets.
They're playing stud and using cash instead of chips. Mike makes a bet of a few hundred dollars.
The opponent puts in the cash to call while saying something like, "$___? OK, I see your bet, and,..." He turns to one of his buddies. "Hey Smalls. How much is in the pot? About $2000?" He then turns back to Mike, puts in a large amount of uncounted cash, saying, "I bet the pot."
That's the string bet.
Mike momentarily looks like he's gonna call, gives the other player a good stare, then folds.
Worm then grabs Mike saying it's time to move on.
While many people will remember that sequence, but only after being reminded about it, few people forget what the other player said next:
Quote: billryanEl Cortez used to have a chocolate $25 chip that blended in well with some casino's $100 ones.
Other than $1 and $2.50 chips, I don't think I've seen anything but red, green, and black. I don't recall handling any bigger chips.
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Pompsie has a video of him playing blackjack at the El Cortez, and shows a $500 chip which, while it has a purple insert, has a white edge.
Video (it opens a new tab to YouTube)
Quote: ThatDonGuy
Pompsie has a video of him playing blackjack at the El Cortez, and shows a $500 chip which, while it has a purple insert, has a white edge.
The Orleans similarly has a white $500 chip.
Quote: stonethehustlerYes, sometimes it bothers me when they change the designs of the chips... I once almost make a big mistake betting more money than I planned xD
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I've heard a story about a poker player who once accidentally tipped a valet parker a white $5000 chip thinking it was a $1 chip. And he did not get it back.
Quote: MDawgThe 5, 25, 100, 500, and 1000 chips seem to be pretty standard. Many casinos, at least at the high limit tables, don’t even have the 1 chips and I haven’t seen 2.50 chips much since I stopped playing in Tahoe, although I assume they are around in many casinos.
5 – red
25 – green
100 – black
500 – purple
1000 – yellow yellow
However at Resorts World the new 100 and 500 chips are somewhat similar as the 500 chips include streaks of black mixed in with the mostly purple.
Where there is a lot of discrepancy, is in chip denominations above 1000. For example the 5000 chips vary wildly. At the Golden Nugget, they were (I assume still are) red white and blue, and referred to as “flags.” At Bellagio the 5K chips have been mostly white over the years.
Cosmopolitan too, 5K chips are white.
Treasure Island, 5K chips, mostly white
with some blue and pink.
But at Venetian, 5K are brown, chocolates:
GVR also, pretty much brown, chocolate, but their 5K chip looks pretty flimsy almost fake, with a cartoonesque font used for the $5000:
At Circa, their 5K chips are bright orange:
and they don’t even have 25K much, these are called plaques and are rarely out.
25K chips vary wildly too.
At Bellagio they used to be melon colored and referred to as melons, more recently more orangish and referred to as pumpkins.
At Cosmo, 25K are orange
At Venetian 25K chips are a sort of brownish orange. Resorts World also brownish. Wynn brown.
100K chips at most places are a sort of grey, or steel blue (Bellagio – over the years these have been steel blue, Venetian grayish).
But, Fluorescent orange 100K at Resorts World.
Still, whatever color they are, whoever invented gambling was smart but whoever invented chips, was a genius. People come up to the high limit tables constantly with cash that is shoved into the drop box that they would probably hesitate to throw down in such quantities on bets were it not first converted to chips.
One thing that makes me feel better is winning stacks and towers of checks I can't even see over.
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And here are the 25K chips from Red Rock, which are bright blue!
Quote: DJTeddyBear
So I gotta ask, what colors do you consider standard?
$1 - white/light blue
$2.50 - pink
$5 - red
$25 - green
$100 - black
$500 - purple
$1000 - yellow
$5000 - brown
Anything higher than that I personally don't consider to have a "standard" color. Even the $5000s are probably on the fence. Honestly, the $500s and up I'm okay with varying colors, but the Holy Chip Trinity of red, green, and black I consider to be inviolable and it just feels totally wrong when casinos use different colors.
Brown (chocolates) are the $5K at Venetian, Caesars and at GVR, but many of the rest of the casinos use entirely different colors, such as grayish blue (Resorts World), orange (Circa), mostly white (Bellagio, Cosmopolitan, Wynn, Treasure Island, Golden Nugget).
Quote: MDawgTigerWu, you are right including up to the yellows, but above that there is quite a discrepancy, as noted in my post above.
Brown (chocolates) are the $5K at Venetian, Caesars and at GVR, but many of the rest of the casinos use entirely different colors, such as grayish blue (Resorts World), orange (Circa), mostly white (Bellagio, Cosmopolitan, Wynn, Treasure Island, Golden Nugget).
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Very true. Depending on the casino, $5k chips can be chocolates, pumpkins or flags (white with the red and blue stripes). Never seen a $5k chip at RW.
MDawg, Aria is in the flags camp.
