Poker Chip Tricks
Chip Tricks: When, Why and How
By Kathleen K. Watterson (Courtesy of BluffMagazine.com)
What are chip tricks, and when should you use them? As important, how difficult is it to learn them?
First, chips tricks aren’t cheating. They’re not sleight-of-hand cons, but dexterous manual stunts involving chips. Two impressive examples are the chip shuffle and the chip twirl. Both have many variations. Other chip tricks include the knuckle roll, the bounce, and the chip roll to name a few. Mastery is a matter of precise coordination and lots of practice.
Should you use chip tricks? The answer hinges on the image you want to convey:
If you want to look like a pro and get instant respect for your bets and raises, chip tricks can work wonders. You’ll look like you’ve been playing for years, so other players will tend to back off when you’re in the pot. The tradeoff is that you may get less action.
On the other hand, when you’re the new kid in town, you might be better off looking like a goofy greenhorn. To set traps as a shark while looking like a fish, feign clumsiness as you stack and cut out your chips, and avoid chip tricks.
Since they’re showy and look so difficult to execute, chip tricks intimidate inexperienced players. Pros use them mainly to put amateurs at a psychological disadvantage. And guess what — it works! Dutch Boyd, of the World Poker Tour, says he frequently uses chip tricks to put weaker opponents off a hand.
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There are other reasons for knowing chip tricks. The feel of stack sizes in your fingers is an inconspicuous way to count chips. You can also pretend to focus on your shuffle or twirl, while secretly studying your opponents.
Clay Chips vs. Plastic Imports
Before you learn to do chip tricks you’ll need to acquire some practice chips, and your first decision is going to be what type of chips to get. Those cheap, flyweight plastic chips you can find at any K-Mart or drugstore won’t fill the bill. They won’t do anything for the prestige of your home game either. ‘Nuff said!
Clay chips, sometimes called “American Clay,” are the most expensive — often a dollar or more each after shipping and personalization costs are added. Usually weighing 8.5 or 9 grams, they’re actually not real clay at all, but a composite material that’s superheated and compression-molded. Often used in casinos, these chips have a softer feel and gentler sound than plastic imports. They’re also far less slippery. That means they “grab” better when you stack them. This type of chip is available at www.all-inchips.com.
A more modern matte-finished alternative, for about the same price, is the Pro-Tech chip made by CHIPCO International. It weighs 10 grams.
Finally, there are the plastic imports — though they’re frequently advertised as “clay composite”— flowing out of places like China and Southeast Asia. At 11.5 grams, they’re quite heavy. That’s because they have a metal insert surrounded by plastic.
Some players dislike them because they’re also quite slippery and hard to stack. However, at just a quarter or a third of the price of clay or Pro-Tech chips, they’re hard to ignore.
Confused by the description of an advertised chip? Just note the weight — it will put the chip in one of the three categories above. If it weighs 11.5 grams, it’s probably a plastic import rather than clay.
One of the most common tricks involving poker chips is The Shuffle
Trick. We talk about it a lot in the forums on 21Ace.com. Shuffling
chips can be frustrating at first, but it becomes second nature with
enough practice.
When learning this trick, it is easier to practice on a
soft surface like a pillow or a couch. When you first start learning the
trick, only used 4 or 5 chips on each side. If you are right handed,
position your fingers such that the index finger and the middle finger
are on the left stack while the ring finger and the pinky are on the
right stack.
The thumb starts out on the left side of the right stack,
lifting it slightly as the stacks are pushed together. Once the lift
has been initiated, the thumb slides over to the right side of the
right stack to help push the two stacks together.
On a soft surface, the thumb can stay on the right side of the right stack the
entire time because the initial lift can occur by simply pushing the
two stacks together.
This trick courtesy of www.21Ace.com
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