There isn't a specified weight for any casino chips, but there are other official specifications, determined by the Nevada Gaming Control Board. This is to ensure uniformity throughout Nevada and to aid casinos in spotting counterfeits, since any minor physical variation will tend to stand out in a stack of chips.
For example, poker chips must be disc-shaped, 1.55 inches in diameter, and 0.13 inches thick, while baccarat chips can measure either 1.55 or 1.6875 inches. Sometimes a casino will apply for a special dispensation from the Gaming Control Board with regard to very high denomination chips, in order to make them easily distinguishable.
For example, when the high-limit London Club opened at the Aladdin in 2000, it produced a record-breaking $10 million chip or "plaque," which was black and white, shaped like an enlarged playing card, and inlaid with mother-of-pearl, as well as featuring the words "London Club" and "$10 million" in gold leaf. But the majority of modern casino chips are small, round, and fabricated from a far less romantic synthetic polymer-acrylic composite. (The Aladdin informed us that the $10 million chip no longer exists.)
Although there isn't a standard weight for poker chips, most online sites that sell them specify 11.5 grams as "casino weight." However, an informal survey that we discovered online, conducted by another poker-chip-trick performer, found that the average weight of a $1 chip in various Las Vegas poker rooms varied from approximately 9 to 10 grams. This particular performer believed that 11.5 grams was the optimal weight for doing tricks.
If you hunt around online, you'll find a number of instructional videos, DVDs, and helpful Web sites out there, should you want to learn how to shuffle, twirl, flip, and knuckle-roll your chips like the pros on the World Poker Tour.
