Category: Gambling and Casinos

They may not look like one, but they certainly represent money. They may seem like good old plastic chips designed to be used as toys for children, but they really worth millions.

That is what poker chips are all about. They may appear synthetic or even look dazzling with the different colors, but the main idea of the item is that they are actually money.

In a casino, these brightly colored chips are actually illustrative representation of money, each having its own distinctive amount.

Generally, poker chips are constructed with complex “edge spot patterns” and diagrammatic illustrations so that they will be difficult to forged or imitate. The exact procedure in making these checks, other name of poker chips, is an absolute “trade secret.” Besides, it uses relatively expensive machines.

In the U.S., the most common colors used in poker chips are white, pink, red, blue, green, black, and purple. Each color represents a particular denomination. For instance, purple represents the highest denomination in the world of casinos, $500. However, there are some casinos like in Las Vegas, has larger denominations, $1,000, and this is represented by the yellow or the orange-colored chips. They also have higher denomination like $5,000 up to $25,000 but the colors for these chips may vary from time to time.

How to Buy Chips

Poker chips had revolutionized from the time it was first manufactured. Before, poker chips are made of clay materials. It was during the 60s and the 70s that the brittle chips were used.

Today, poker chips are made of different quality materials intended to be used for a longer time. These chips now have various kinds and colors. Hence, it is important to know the buying tips in choosing poker chips so that you only get the best.

Here’s how:

1. Decide on the kind of material chips you want to buy

If you are not so much after the kind of quality most of the casinos have, then it is best that you get the lightweight plastics. They are actually available at your local “big box store.” The best thing about these kinds of poker chips is that they are cheaper and they are also durable.

2. Contemplate on the design

Poker chip designs may vary depending on the color used. There are poker chips that are solid in color. There are those that have 2 to 3 colors. There are also poker chips that have designs on them.

Whatever design you choose, it is important to know that these poker chips should last as long as you want them.

3. The number of chips that you should buy

If you are considering to buy poker chips, you can either choose whether you would buy 500 chips or the 300. There are also sets of 1,000. If you want more customized numbers, you can buy sets of 200, 650, 400, and 700.

The number of chips that you should buy will depend on the kind of poker you will play. For instance, if you will play Texas Hold ‘Em Poker with more than 7 players, it is best that you buy sets of 500 chips.

The idea here is that 1 player should have a minimum of 35 poker chips and a maximum of 100 for better games.

So now you know what to look for when buying poker chips. It is relatively easy to shop for more if you wish to upgrade the number of chips that you have. Just keep in mind that as your players increase, it is best that you have more poker chips than the usual.

Many players have learned how to successfully cheat at the game of poker. One such cheating method is mastering the art of stacking the deck. To master this skill one has to be good with sleight of hand. This is done by a special way of holding the deck of cards that allows the deck to be manipulated, or stacked, one of these special ways is called the Mechanic’s Grip.

To help you better understand this cheat, pick up a deck of cards as if you were getting ready to deal. You will probably be holding the deck in the palm of your hand, with your thumb on top of the cards, and your other four fingers on the side of the deck. When dealing cards, you use your thumb to push one card onto the tips of your other four fingers. The thumb is then used to hold this card in place, until your thumb and pointer finger of the opposite hand grabs it and deals the card out. Many poker players deal this way, even though they probably have not noticed it or put much thought into it.

To form the Mechanic’s Grip, move your pointer finger and middle fingers to the short side of the deck, farthest away from yourself. With this grip, more of the deck is covered by your hand, making it harder for the other players to see what you are doing. This grip is the basis for many cheats, such as peeking (the dealer will either push one corner, or side of the top card, away from the rest of the deck so that he can see the top card), bottom dealing (dealing the from the bottom of the deck instead of the top), and second dealing (dealing the second card in the deck instead of the top card, usually when the dealer wants the top card for his own hand). By using the peek, the dealer will be able to keep track of what cards each player gets, he can also setup his own hand by combining the peek with second dealing. Knowing what cards the other player has in his hand gives the dealer an advantage when playing his own hand, because he will know what cards he needs to beat the hands of the other players.

In another version of the Mechanic’s Grip, the deck is held with the thumb on the top, the pointer finger around the front edge, the pinky around the back edge, and the two middle fingers under the bottom of the deck.

Using this cheat can be very effective for the dealer, as it can definitely help him stack the cards in his favor.

As the world of poker players continues to gain members everyday, more and more players are looking for easy ways to win the game. For cheaters, many feel that rather than take the time to hone their skills, they would prefer to master the skill of cheating.

Some players have learned how to mark cards as a way to help them win the game. Depending on the skill level of the cheater, marked cards can be obvious, or unnoticeable.

Sometimes the dealer will use his own deck of cards, or will get one prior to game play. Many cheaters have learned how to mark their cards during game play. To avoid having the marked cards noticed by other players, the cheater will usually make his marks so that they do not go all the way thru the card, because it would let light be seen through the card, thereby showing the mark.

Cheaters card markings are usually just small changes to the back of the cards. They may be scratches, change in design of the card, or possibly a bend in one corner of the card.

Marking the cards gives cheaters an advantage to their game play. They will most always mark all the high cards, or any other they card they think is crucial to the game.

Some cheaters prefer to mark their cards by using what is called shading. They will use a very fine ink to change part of the design on the back of the card. It requires the cheater to be very precise with his markings, but if he does a good job, no one but him will ever notice the marking.

Another technique many cheaters use is called daubing. Daubing uses a special form of ink and a small dauber. The cheat daubs the ink onto the back of the card, and the ink is invisible to the naked eye. Special sunglasses are required to see the markings. The kit to do this with can be purchased at magic or novelty stores.

Corner crimping is a method that many cheaters will use to mark their cards with. The cheater will see a card that he wants to mark and will then move that card away from the other cards and use his thumb or pointer finger to bend the corner of the card ever so slightly. He will be able to spot the marking during the game, and remember the card. Some cheaters when dealing can shuffle a number of cards to the bottom of the deck, and crimp the corners on all of them at one time.

Still other cheaters prefer to use thumbnail marking on their cards. The cheat will see a card he wants to mark, and then drive the end of his nail into the back of that particular card. Players who aren’t trained to look for these marks will not notice them, while the player will be able to spot them for the duration of the game.

Poker cheats come in all shapes and sizes, from the business professional to the much loved grandmother. Poker cheaters are also always coming up with new and innovative ways to try and cheat players out of their money.

One of the ways cheaters try to win is with a move called clipping the pot. This sleight of hand cheat does not involve manipulating the cards at all. Clipping the pot is when the cheater either makes a bet with too little money, or takes too much money out of the pot.

The only way to safeguard against is for the players to monitor all monies flowing into or out of the pot. Some of the friendly get together type poker games allow for players to make change from the pot. This is prime time for a player to clip the pot while his comrades are looking to their cards or are engaged in conversation. Although it may seem something that isn’t done at a friendly game, this is expressly the prime time for the cheater to use this tactic. The cheater knows he is trusted among friends and that no one would suspect or accuse another friend of clipping the pot. Even if caught, the cheater could plead that he simply miscounted, and did not intend to intentionally clip the pot.

The Stacked Deck is perhaps one of the first poker cheats one thinks of when the subject is raised. The stacked deck is an easy to do cheat. It can only be used once in a game, as the deck would be shuffled before the next game. The stacked deck is prepared before hand and can be used to start, or even used in the middle of game play.

The cheater’s deck will consist of a certain number of cards inserted by the cheater into the right places before the deal. It is often used by the cheater who claims that the deck has already been shuffled. It’s also common to substitute a stacked deck after the real deck has been shuffled, or passed among cohorts in the game for their deal. This is of course called collusion, when two or more players team up to cheat the others.

A stacked deck may also consist of something as simple as turning certain cards in the opposite direction when cards that have non symmetric backs on them are used. The target cards are turned as to be upside down from the other cards, marking them for the cheater.