At the 2005 World Series of Poker (WSOP), phony $100 chips were introduced into circulation by cheaters who purchased these chips at the Rio souvenir shop. While these chips were missing the red engraving signifying an official WSOP chip, it is difficult to tell the difference when the chips are stacked on top of one another. You can read more about it by clicking here.

When organizing a home game, note that some poker cheats will try to gain an advantage by introducing phony chips or stolen chips into their stack. Here are a couple of ways that it could happen:

• A player brings his own chips to the game and introduces these chips into his stack during gameplay. This is not an unlikely scenario, considering the popularity of today's 11.5-gram chips in a suited or diced format. Many poker players are carrying the same kinds of chips in the same colors these days.

• A poker cheat takes chips that are left accessible for all players. Either out of trust or because the host is busy organizing a large game, the chips might not always be protected under lock and key. Chips left accessible might be picked up and introduced into the game's circulation.
  
  Here are some suggestions for fighting this type of poker cheating:

• Do not adhere to standard color denominations. Many players like to stick to the way that casino chips are colored. As the home game's host, you decide what colors mean what denominations, and the less reason to it, the better. This way, a player who brings 10 of his own black chips to the game may be surprised to learn that black chips aren't being used or that they represent a small amount as opposed to the typical $100 denomination.

• Buy unique chips, particularly if you are hosting a large-scale tournament. If you have a type of chip that nobody else has, they will not be able to introduce phony ones into the game.

• Keep any poker chips in your house guarded as though they were currency. Keep them close to yourself or else ensure that there is a very small number of people that you trust who have authority to be handling the chips. Those of you who host large tournaments, but who participate in the tournament as a player, will find it difficult to manage all aspects of the game while playing. Delegate some responsibility to a select few, and ensure nobody but them are handling the chips.

• Zero tolerance. Make it clear that phony chips introduced into the game will result in an immediate expulsion of the player from the game. The caution with this advice is that some poker cheats may be motivated by the challenge.