Betfair Official Blog

The Canadian Poker Chip Scam

WHAT does a poker chip look like to you?

It's not a trick question, and, no, there's no GSCE in Chipology for answers of between 200-300 words. Discuss.

It's just that the Poker Anorak has just spotted a 20-year-old Canadian visiting her local bank.
In her hand she holds a roll of chips.

We should note that in Canada there exists the two-dollar coin, the Twonie.

The name is a cunning blend of the number "two" with the name of the Loonie, Canada's one-dollar coin.

We should not mock. In the UK, the two pound coin has yet to earn a nickname. Suggestions on a postcard as to what it should be called.

Back to the woman in the bank. She hands the teller the coins and makes off with the equivalent in cash, about $100.

Clever stuff.

Only she then tries the same trick again in the same bank and is collared.

Who has not be so defrauded by chips or tokens? Is there any gambler who has not sifted through their fruit machine winnings and found a Kenyan Schilling, a washer or a homemade piece of metal?

We can recall those halcyon days of 50pence parking meters, which could - we are told, yer honour - be triggered by wrapping a bent matchstick around a 10pence piece.

The question is not so much one of honesty but if poker chips have any intrinsic value, other than the number the casino has ascribed them.

What is a chip worth, and can a chip ever be worth as much as money?

Discuss.

• Poker
• Poker Anorak