Ask the dealer to colour up and your stack is counted and swapped for higher denominations. It is a courtesy to the table, since low-value chips are the ones the game needs in circulation.
It also makes leaving cleaner: fewer chips to carry, and a stack that is easier to count accurately at the cage.
One thing worth knowing is that colouring up is when a floor supervisor most often records your final position, so it can affect a rating.
There is one thing to watch. When a stack does not divide evenly into the larger denomination, the dealer resolves the remainder, and house policy on rounding varies. At most properties an odd chip is handled in the player's favour or paid separately, but it is worth watching the count rather than assuming, particularly on a large stack of low-value chips.
Related terms in casino floor
- Commission — A percentage charged on winning bets that would otherwise favour the player.
- Push — A tie in which the bet neither wins nor loses and the stake is returned.
- Natural — A hand that wins immediately on the first cards dealt.
- Shoe — The box holding several shuffled decks from which cards are dealt.
- Cut card — A coloured plastic card placed in the shoe to mark where dealing stops.
- Penetration — The proportion of a shoe dealt before the reshuffle.
Where an entry quotes a number, that figure comes from the computed sections of this site rather than from another glossary, so the definition and the derivation cannot drift apart. Each entry links to the page where the number is worked out.