Poker chips are the
basis of a number of English expressions. To chip in, or to 'share
expenses," derives from the practice of players putting up their ante of chips
at the start of the card game and chipping in with each bet. To cash in
one's chips, or hand, that is, "to die," comes from the conclusion of
a poker game, when players turn in their chips to the cashier for money. In
the chips, another way of saying affluent, refers to having a lot of poker
chips, and the chips are down, signifying a situation of urgency, means
literally that all bets are in the pot, the hand is over and the cards now have
to be shown to determine the winning hand. All of these expressions date back
to the nineteenth century, when poker became our national card game. The same
origin applies to a blue-chip stock - a high-priced common stock that
pays high dividends consistently over a long period - which derives from poker's
highest valued blue chips.