Bathroom Break - Leave chips on table?

I'm very new to Blackjack, but have never seen this addressed in any forum.
What do you do with your chips when you have to go pee (assuming none of the players at the table are your friends). Please let me know if there is a standardly accepted or proper-etiquette way for this.

I was playing at a table for a couple of hours, most of the other players had been there for at least an hour. I had to go to the bathroom, so I picked up my chips to leave. The dealer asked me to color up. I asked, "Do I have to, because I'm coming right back?" He (the dealer) and a couple other players said, just leave your chips there and come right back. Nobody's gonna mess with them.

Well, I had about $150 in chips and even though I didn't like the idea of just leaving my chips there, I did. (You can bet your @ss that I made a quick pee and came back quick). My chips were still there and all was ok.

However, is this how it's normally done? It would've been different if I had a friend at the table playing. This was on a cruise, and a couple of the players I had played with before. I just felt uncomfortable walking away with my chips (money) on the table. What's to stop anyone from just picking them up and walking off? I wouldn't walk away from any other table and just leave $150 and expect it to be there when I return.

I want to go to Vegas and realize that ya do gotta go pee sometime.
So, what do you do with your chips when you go?
Take 'em with you and hope your seat is still open when you return, or
leave 'em and hope the chips are still there when you return.


Thanks for helping a newbie with a simple situation.

Leaving your chips is perfectly acceptable in my experience. Just ask the dealer to hold your spot and leave the chips. Between the dealer, the pit, and the eye in the sky, they are probably safer there than in your pocket in the bathroom.

I agree with Jester. Just make sure you mention you'll be back to the dealer and they'll keep and eye on your chips. I've left $300 in chips at the table and never once worried about them.

Heck, I've even left chips at the table when I went and had supper. As long as it's not busy they've never had a problem with me being gone that long.

At the casino I go to, if you ask for a "Hold", the dealer will put a Hold button in your spot and you can be gone for 15-20 min before they give your spot to someone else. If I am comfortable with the other players, I usually leave my chips at the table. Otherwise I take them with me. It's not a big deal if you colour up your chips anyway if you do want to take them with you. So far I haven't seen anyone take anyone elses chips and many leave their chips on the table when they go for a break. But if it's a dinner break, I would take my chips since you probably will be gone for about 45 min.

I've always left them on the table for a bathroom break....never a problem. Everyone else did also. If I were leaving to eat I would cash out and find another spot when I returned.

THANKS TO ALL for the advice.
Popular opinion seems to be just leave your chips and let the dealer know you are coming right back.

The other big benefit of leaving your chips is that it saves your seat if you're only gonna be gone for a short time.

While it's true that 99.9% of the time, leaving your chips at the table is a safe thing to do, they are YOUR chips (YOUR MONEY). If you do not feel comfortable leaving them, DON'T! There is no one you can legitimately blame should the worst case happen and someone does steal you chips. They have the cameras but it could be a hit and run case and the even though they were caught on camera, they could be long gone before anyone knew they grabbed them.

One suggestion if you do decide to leave them....stack them so that the lowest denomination is on top and the highest denomination is on bottom. It's a lot easier to steal the top chips in a stack!

I have always felt pretty secure in leaving chips on the table when leaving for a short while. I may occasionally take my higher denomination chips with me and just leave my reds but that is as much for the opportunity to stash a couple of those chips as it is a security issue.

I guess I should have mentioned earlier that this is what I do- pocket any high value chips (which is usually VERY few :sad: ) and leave the lower ones there, with the cheapest on top...


:joker:

I've been told by dealers that the casino is not liable for chips stolen when left by players at the table. You are basically relying on the dealers, pit or eye to "watch" your money for you. If they don't catch it you can't hold the casino liable for the money you've lost.

Just putting in my two cents on the matter.
i could be the part of the world im from or it could be the case every where.

but i feel the casino Etiquette in blackjack is 2nd to none. One tuesday night i was playing the $25 table and an old man next to me left $6k in chips on the table to go to the bathroom.

I cant recall ever really leaving my chips at a table and coming back. but the thought wouldnt worry me in the slightest. Is the same way of thinking when people see a huge amount of chips of the "big wheel" board for example and say "how do i know somebody wont take my chips if i win and theres 40 people standing around. It just dosent happen because
1) you and the person standing next to you are both there to get money from the casino not each other
2) people who can afford to gamble on blackjack generally arnt the type who would steal or are desperate for money.
3) the biggest factor of all. The amount of cameras in sky

matt syd/oz

I've noticed this also. Sort of like "honor among thieves" <LOL> I've seen low-lifes who do their best to cheat the house who wouldn't consider ripping off a fellow player.

Actually, I take a sort of pride in the integrity of table players in casinos. Yet, I do not want to overly tempt my fellow players, so if I have high denomination chips in my stack, I'll usually pocket them with no real attempt to hide the fact that I'm doing it. I'll pull them out if I need them later.