Why are you coloring up?

Simple inquiry:

Why do players color up their $2 chips for $100 chips in an 8-16 game?

Initially, one may think it’s because this player intends to leave the card room with “x” amount of money, and these black chips represent that number.  When he loses all his “in-play” yellow chips, he’ll be out the door! 

However, since we live in the real world of compulsive gamblers, we know this is an overwhelmingly rare occurence.  What happens far more often is that this player loses all of his yellow chips, but must color a $100 chip to call a few additional bets on any particular hand.  But hey, when that hand’s over and he’s lost, lo and behold, he has another $70 in $2 chips in front of him!  Game on!

I’m sorry, I just don’t understand the purpose of coloring up your chips WHILE in a poker game.  If you’re planning to leave right away, sure, make your trip to the cage incrementally easier.  But we don’t use black chips in an 8-16 game.  All you end up accomplishing is a slow down of the game, making the dealer give you yellow chips for the black chips you recently purchased with… yellow chips.

If I’m overlooking a more reasonable purpose to coloring up your chips, PLEASE, enlighten me!