Chip colors

Although casino chips vary greatly in design and can be quite colorful, their primary colors are generally fairly standard by denomination across casinos.

Standard US colors

 * $1: white ; blue (more common in Las Vegas and much of the Western and Midwestern US)
 * $2.50: pink (rarely used for poker; however, see Pink chip game and as a 3:2 payoff in blackjack
 * $5: red
 * $25: green ; yellow
 * $50: blue
 * $100: black; white.

Atlantic City uses the Munsel Color Code system, largely based on these primary colors; in addition they include $10 blues and $20 yellows. You'll find $10 and $20 chips in Las Vegas as well - notably at Bellagio, Mirage, and Wynn - but they are multicolored or non-standard. Foxwoods' Poker room uses $2 yellow chips that cannot be used in the rest of the casino. Mohegan Sun uses Pink $2.50 chips for the HORSE game at $7.50/15 stakes.

California colors

 * $1: usually blue but can vary. For example see Lucky Chances (white)
 * $2: green
 * $3: red
 * $5: yellow
 * $10: brown
 * $20: black
 * $25: purple
 * $100: white (sometimes oversize)
 * $500: brown, gray (often oversize)

Colors of California chips are not set by law, but have gravitated towards certain standards over the years and are now the same in nearly all of the casinos throughout the state.

Generally, California cardrooms use chips of a single denomination in a single game. For example, the $9/18 limit game originated by the Commerce uses $3 chips, so that small and large bets are in increments of precisely three and six chips, respectively. In contrast, other sites such as those in Las Vegas or Atlantic City would generally play a game like $6/12 with a mix of $1 and $5 chips, and instead of $9/18 would be much more likely to play $10/20 with $5 chips.

California anecdote: I was playing $9/18 at Lucky Chances in Colma, CA. That game uses $3 chips. As the table makeup changed we agreed to change the limit to $6/12. I assumed we would continue to use $3 chips for a 2-chip/4-chip structure. Instead, they brought over racks of $2 chips and gave us a color change. They love 3-chip/6-chip structures there, apparently because it promotes greater action, thus larger pots. Since regular 6/12 games there are run with $2 chips, they wanted to make sure players (and dealers!) knew what game was being spread by using the usual chips.

Wynn Las Vegas colors
In Las Vegas, the poker room at Wynn has introduced some new colors and chip denominations not found in other Vegas rooms.


 * $2: brown
 * $3: peach

The $2 chips are used at the 8/16 limit and the $3 chips are used for 1/3 blind no-limit and the 6/12 Omaha/8 game

References and Sources

 * Rec.gambling.misc FAQ
 * also the fact that AC's colors were set by law is also referred on this Two Plus Two thread
 * 2+2 Chip discussions