As long as I’ve played poker I’ve never really bothered to learn any nifty tricks til much later on in my career.  Think it was out of boredom and fascination of the hand dexterity of these chip magicians that finally peaked my interest.  I also have to admit it was done in the pursuit of being flashy and cool.  Style points count in impressing fellow players and ladies in the card rooms ya know! 😉

One of the more basic ones is the chip riffle or shuffle.  We’ll bypass this one as most probably already know how to do it.  Although, there are some cool variations on this.  Here’s some fairly well known tricks and ones that would make you do a double take.  If you’re like me who’s in awe of such devilry on the tables, practice a bit and you’ll be attracting all the fishies like a deep sea angler with an illuminescent bait. Muahahahah!

Poker Chip Tricks

Lets get started!

THE CHIP TWIRL.  

This was the first one I learned after watching numerous seasons of WPT.  As Mike Sexton commentated, “if you see somebody doing this with both hands, run very far from the table.”  That always stuck with me.  So I was determined to master this with both hands.  Like twirling a pencil it didn’t take long before I got a feel of it.  I can’t say I’m a pro yet, but depending on the type of chip and weight some are easier to handle.  This is a must learn for the regular grinders.

Poker Chip Twirl and Variation Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_EqXrpqHD4

THE THUMB FLICK 

Probably one of the more common tricks.  Great to do while tanking.  Strangely I’ve never bothered to learn this one.  The Bond villain Le Chiffre made this one popular in Casino Royale for the newer generation of poker players.  I once played in Calgary and this player would do this incredibly loud snap with the chips using his thumbs.  I then realized this was his tell.  Go figure.

Thumb Flick Tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI9V8uTX-Gk

THE BUTTERFLY

The first time I saw this was way back in season 1 of WPT with Gus Hansen.  This is where I also learned that any two cards was playable as long as you had the ballz to three barrel it and even ship it.  The original LAG.  Not only did he have the command of the table with his ultra aggressive style, he also entertained with his chip handling skills.

The Butterfly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WyYT3TRPpM

THE ROLL DOWN

It was none other than the “Magician” himself, Antonio Esfandiari who incorporated the butterfly and roll down that boggled my mind.  This was back in 2005 when I first got into Texas Holdem. Personally I thought it was wayyy too advanced for me to learn.  I needed to focus on getting the grasp of the card game first.  Only after a decade later am I now only starting to learn how to do these tricks.

Roll Down: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaQeESmdO8s

ANTI GRAVITY PLUS

This is a combination of a poker chip and magic trick.  I’ve often seen magicians do this with coins and now I’ve finally learned how to do it.  Definitely a crowd pleaser.  Now I just gotta learn how to ricochet it against my chip stack into my hand too.

Anti Gravity PLUS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td3T7p5cC_g

SPINNING & BOUNCING POKER CHIP TRICK 

Finally, this is one most probably havn’t seen.  Needless to say you’ll be getting some double takes here.

Best spinning & bouncing poker chip trick tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAnBqAjrTZE

Hope you learned a new chip trick or two and we’ll see you at the felts!

~ JJJ ~