Newbie Question - what is a barrel? (1 Viewer)

Magnusbob

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I’ve seen the term “barrel” used on this form, but I’ve never heard that before. How many chips is that?
 
A photo of 5 "barrels" of poker chips, with extras on top...

1610980575132.png
 
There's been a few threads here where people have noted that "barrel" is a bit of jargon that only we chip enthusiasts use. People in the "real world" i.e. casino employees don't use that term.

But yes. Around here a barrel is twenty chips. Five barrels make a rack, i.e. 100 chips. Casino employees will talk about a rack of chips, because that's a physical object in common use:

1610999678989.png


Note that vintage chip trays, especially for sets sold for home use, will have four slots holding twenty-five chips each (which is still 100 chips) instead of the modern standard of five slots holding twenty chips each. You can still find racks like that made today, but they're not as common.

1610999810699.png
 
A sailor on a Navy ship had been out to sea for weeks, and was beginning to go through sex withdrawals. Fed up with the lack of sex, he asked one of his shipmates what he did when the pressure was too much to take.

"Well, there's a barrel with a hole in it near the mop storage. When it gets to be too much for us, we use that."

So the sailor went over to the barrel and decided to give it a go. Finding it was better than he'd expected, he began using it regularly, and his problems seemed to vanish.

After a couple of weeks, his commanding officer began to take notice, and said, "You seem to be a lot more relaxed. What's your secret?"

The sailor, embarrassed to give a straight answer, simply said he'd been getting better rest.

"Well good, sailor. You're going to need it," replied the officer. "Today's your turn in the barrel."
 
There's been a few threads here where people have noted that "barrel" is a bit of jargon that only we chip enthusiasts use. People in the "real world" i.e.

I am quite sure I have heard chip runners and poker dealers use this term before PCF. I used to call 20 chips a "stack" before I heard this term.
 

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