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When I took the plunge, and decided to hit the tournament circuit a few years back, I was like every other poker player who thought they had what it takes.

I put in my time studying online, and I patiently applied those skills in the live setting, all while hoping to catch that elusive “good run” at the right time. And at the risk of tooting my own horn, I did better than the average amateur turned aspiring poker pro. Made a few final tables, pocketed decent prize money, and even had a chance to win a World Series of Poker Circuit ring before losing a long, heads-up match.

Alas, it was not meant to be in the end. I discovered that what truly separates the pros from the rest of us isn’t knowledge of the game, but dedication to the grind. I just didn’t have it in me, and after a year or so spent traveling from casino to casino, I tucked my tail and returned to the “real world.”

And when I did, I realized that I’d acquired a new hobby along the way – collecting casino chips.

I’m not talking about the chips I tried to win at the tournament tables, as taking those home is a crime punishable by property-wide bans if caught. No, I began pocketing the standard casino chips used at in cash poker or in table games like blackjack and craps.

Whenever I entered a casino for the first time, I wound up playing cash game poker or hitting the table game pit, and invariably I’d keep a single $1 chip as my own before leaving town. At first, I was simply seeking a memento from the new experience. Eventually, though, I realized that every casino used slightly different, and singularly unique, chip designs.

And from there, I was hooked.

These chips are yours once you purchase them from the cashier’s cage – or better yet, win them – at the tables. Indeed, casinos are more than happy to let you take home chips as a souvenir. The house has already collected cash in exchange, and with the chip safely stashed away in your shoebox somewhere, they never have to settle up.

Based on an inventory of my burgeoning chip collection, I’ve visited at least 60 casinos during my travels. Those include megaresorts like the Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip to a dusty little cardroom called Bucky’s in Prescott, Arizona. A few of my chips aren’t even issued by a proper casino, as most of the “underground” card clubs and private games etch their branding on a stock chip.

In any event, this collection provides me with a window back in time, and a tangible connection to my many poker memories. One look at any of them instantly reminds me of a place and time – a smoky room at Harrah’s Cherokee casino in North Carolina, a huge bad beat jackpot hit at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, or a bachelor party at Atlantic City’s crown jewel, the Borgata.

In light of the enjoyment I’ve found collecting chips, I’d like to introduce readers to this fun new hobby. I’ll begin with a basic rundown of my approach to collecting, before providing you with a few handy tips to make the most of your casino chips.

Red, White, and Blue

The first aspect of your collecting style to decide on concerns the denomination of each chip.

Every casino uses a standard system of chip denominations, beginning with the $1 unit. These “singles” are almost always colored in white or blue shades, and they’re obviously the cheapest way to get in the game.

Chips also come in $5 units, and these are invariably colored red. Beyond that, you may find $10 chips at a few casinos, especially in the poker room, but these aren’t always available. And moving up the ladder, you’ll find $25 chips (usually green), and $100 chips (usually black) to play with.

Personally, I collect the humble $1 chips purely as a cost-cutting mechanism. Remember, you’ll need to pay the cash equivalent to obtain a chip from the cashier’s cage – and the money spent essentially becomes a sunk cost. In other words, once you part ways with cash in exchange for a collectable chip, you won’t be seeing those funds again.

Sticking to the $1 chips keeps my accounting simple and easy too. When I count my casino chip stash and see 60 of them, I know I’ve spent just $60 on a hobby that has spanned several years. Moving up to $5 chips multiplies the cost of collecting in kind, and I’m just not sure I’d enjoy spending $300 on the same hobby.

Deciding which chip denomination to base your collection around is a matter of personal preference, and depending on your financial situation, you may prefer to up the ante with $5 or $25 chips.

I enjoy the variety found in $1 chips, however, as these tend to be updated with new designs over the years.

Many casinos even appeal to the collectors out there with specially themed $1 chip designs. You’ll find chips commemorating the holiday season, the venue’s headlining show, or a casino’s 20-year anniversary in business.

For the most part, these specially designed chips are limited to the $1 denomination, while $5 chips and up stick to a stock design. I enjoy grabbing a handful of white or blue $1 chips and examining their various themed designs, before selecting the one which speaks to me most.

Set the Ground Rules

This aspect of chip collecting is purely optional, but I find it offers a bit of structure to the whole thing.

Basically, my ground rules for adding a new chip to the collection revolve around actual play. Simply stepping foot inside a new casino isn’t enough to warrant adding that venue’s chip to my collection. Instead, I must place at least one wager somewhere on the floor to make it “count.”

Originally, I began collecting chips from any casino where I played poker, but that constraint proved to be more trouble than it was worth. I realized many casinos don’t even offer a poker room, and in the case of Las Vegas mainstays like Monte Carlo, the Luxor, and Hard Rock, venues have closed their poker rooms down in recent years.

With this in mind, I expanded my ground rules to include any sort of bet. Typically, if the place is a poker-free zone, I’ll hit the blackjack tables and try to grind out a winning session. I also dabble in craps and roulette when I’m in the mood for pure gambling. In any case, I always make sure to get change for a $5 chip, before keeping two $1 chips (the cleanest of the bunch) off to the side.

If the session goes poorly and I lose my stake, I have two $1 chips left in hand – one to toke the dealer with, and one to bring home with me.

Depending on the situation, however, I’ve been known to slap a $10 bill down on the roulette table felt and bet $9 on single number wagers. If lady luck smiles on me that day, I hit the buffet with my $30 or so in profit. And if she’s not in the mood, I still have a lone $1 chip to pocket and polish later on.

Keep ‘Em Clean

Why would I polish my casino chips, you ask?

In a 2009 op-ed penned for PokerNews, tournament reporter and author Paul McGuire posed a simple question: can touching poker chips make you sick?

McGuire had a good reason to ask too. As a roving tournament blogger, assigned to interact with poker players for 14 hours per day during the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, he was on the front lines of poker’s germ warfare.

Within the op-ed, McGuire asked his local physician, Dr. Charles Stillman, whether exposure to poker chips might increase his odds of contracting an illness.

“You can get sick from poker chips. It’s actually been studied across multiple casinos.

The most common infection is Staph (Staphylococcus aureus). The real scary one is MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) because it’s just that — resistant to the main antibiotic used to treat it.”

One of the studies Dr. Stillman mentioned was conducted in 2007 by biologist Brian Hedlund and his research team at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV). Commissioned by Bluff magazine, Dr. Hedlund’s study involved analyzing chips obtained from five casinos on The Strip.

According to Hedlund’s findings, a single casino chip is home to thousands of microorganisms, including the staph and MRSA germs.

Now, before you abandon the idea

Are Casino Chips Worth Money