Poker Chip Tricks

Poker Chip Tricks

Here are a few poker chip tricks to impress your friends when you’re playing in home games…

Pullover

Place the chips in a single stack on the table. Place your fingers around the stack so that your thumb and index finger are on one side of the stack and your other three fingers are on the opposite side.

Lift half of the stack up with all of your fingers, moving it to the side held by the middle, ring, and pinky fingers. As you drop it onto the table, reach back to what’s left of the original stack with your thumb and index finger. Pick up this stack with the two fingers and place it on top of the stack that was moved. Repeat the process over and over.

Sweep

Place the chips flat on a table and in a straight line so that about half of each chip is laying on the previous one.

Whichever hand you will be using to do the trick is the side that should have the chip on top of this line. As an example I do the trick with my right hand, so the line of chips starts with the chip on the left being flat on the table and the remaining chips lined up against it going to the right.

Hold your hand so that your fingers are bent as if you are holding onto a Coke bottle. Place a chip flat against your bent index finger, holding it there with your thumb. About 1/4 to 1/2 of the chip should be sticking out past the knuckles.

Starting at the end of the line of chips which has the chip on top, run the chip in your hand along the line so that it gently brushes each chip. You should be able to hear it “clicking” along the line. Once you reach the end of the line keep the motion going in that direction for an inch or two past the chips. As you bring back your hand, use the chip to dig underneath the chip that is lying flat on the table. When you do this, the chips will all start to stand up because of a domino-like effect. As they stand up and you continue to sweep your hand along the table, the chips will collect in the palm of your hand because you have been holding your fingers as if there was a Coke bottle in them.

Finger Flip

Set up the trick by holding the edges of the three chips with your thumb and index finger. Your grip should be slightly above the equator of the chips, which means you’ll need to apply a bit more pressure to have a firm hold on them.

To get started, raise your ring finger so that it is just under the index finger. Pull the middle finger back out of the way for now. With the ring finger, ease the inner two chips down and away from the index finger. Keep holding the remaining chip with the thumb and index finger. As the two chips get halfway past the single chip, the middle finger comes in where the two groups of chips meet.

If your middle finger is in the correct position, you could actually hold all three chips in place with nothing but the thumb and middle finger. This will also help you to get a sense for the amount of pressure that needs to be applied with the middle finger.

The index finger should almost be at the top of the single chip at this point. Pull the index finger over the top of the other two chips and the chip will follow. As the chip falls, use the index finger to guide it into position.

To help out, position the pinky finger in the gap between the thumb and ring finger. This will prevent the single chip from falling out past the other two.

Thumb Flip

Set up the trick by placing the chips in between your index and ring fingers in a perpendicular fashion. The middle finger is used as a backstop to prevent the chips from falling. Apply pressure to the chips with your index and ring fingers so that the chips do not fall over.

This trick is also commonly done by holding the chips in between the middle and pinky fingers, using the ring finger as the backstop. This variation should be more difficult for most people because the pinky is the weakest finger of the hand, which makes it hard to apply pressure to the line of chips.

To get started, place your thumb near the bottom of the chip closest to the tips of your fingers. Loosen this chip by pulling it towards your body and away from the ring finger. Keep holding the remaining chips tightly with the index and ring fingers.

With your thumb, roll the loosened chip up onto the index finger. Once the chip is 1/2 to 3/4 of the way above the line of chips, slide your thumb towards your palm and the chip should follow so that it is now perpendicular to the other chips and on top of them. The thumb should be on the top side of the chip at this point.

Pull your thumb down, letting the chip fall behind the line of chips and into place. During this phase, the pressure applied to the line of chips by the index and ring fingers must be enough to keep them from falling over, but not so much that the chip cannot fall into place. When the chip is on the way down and into place, the thumb is actually nothing more than a guide because gravity takes over.