Whether you enjoy the glitz and glamour of visiting a casino, or simply enjoy playing cards at home, an important part of the game are the poker chips you will use. Despite being an integral part of enjoying a bet, poker chips are usually the focus of very little attention, but they have a history all of their own, before they ever reach the betting table.

While most at-home card players will be familiar with the colorful plastic chips that are typically part of the gaming sets you might pick up in your local store, the chips that are used in casinos are far more elaborate. And understandably so, as these chips usually have a face value that can be worth a considerable sum; thus security is a key issue in the production of many chips. Casinos will usually have a house design with which they will decorate their chips to render them more distinguishable - in fact, many businesses have taken this idea to a whole new level simply by using poker chips as advertising tools. Brightly colored chips combined with a particular logo are used by many businesses as innovative discount or business cards. Poker chips are even used as invitations to special occasions, such as weddings or birthday celebrations.

But back in the casino, the chips have a practical purpose. As well as including the casino's particular logo and color scheme, poker chips usually include an indented design achieved through the use of molds, thus making the copying of chips more difficult. For this reason, casino type poker chips, called 'clay' chips are usually made of a composition of materials that is suitable for molding, rather than plastic or some other substance; this also makes the chips more suitable for the heavy handling they are subjected to in the casino environment. But though this material is tough and durable, the average life span of a casino poker chips is only three to six months. Those little chips live fast and die young!

Jeff Lakie is the founder of Poker Chip Information a website providing information on Playing Poker