How to Master Chip Tricks and Look Cool at the Tables

When it comes to sitting down and playing at the poker tables, there’s an enormous amount of psychological warfare involved. You must read the physical and emotional tells of your opponents, all while exuding confidence yourself to convince other players to fold better hands and rake in uncontested pots.

One of the subtlest ways to project confidence and experience at the poker table is through the art of chip tricks. These cool moves aren’t just designed to demonstrate your dexterity. They can also serve as a powerful tool to intimidate opponents, creating a table image of a seasoned, composed poker player. That’s the biggest difference between classic card games and competitive video games like Fortnite where it’s impossible to exude confidence behind a computer screen.

If you’re something of a novice at poker, but you plan to increase your time at the felt soon, mastering chip tricks could be a clever way to hide your inexperience. Read on as we explore the most common poker tricks to learn and keep under your hat.

The Chip Shuffle

The Chip Shuffle, also known as the Riffle Chip Trick, is arguably the best-known chip trick among the poker community. It’s the one you’ll see most poker professionals use when mulling over bet decisions. It involves shuffling two small stacks of chips into one using a fluid, riffle-like motion.

Start by placing your thumb and index finger on the outside of the left chip stack. Then position your fourth and little fingers on the outside of the right chip stack. Make sure you develop a firm enough grip to pick up the chips in one move. Your middle finger should help to stabilise the grip in the middle. Then use your middle finger to gently lift the chip stack upwards, with the fingers gently pushing the chip stacks together in a shuffling motion.

The Knuckle Roll

The Knuckle Roll is one of the more elegant chip tricks to pull off. The best thing is, you only need to use one poker chip at a time. Essentially, the skill involves rolling a poker chip across all four knuckles of your hand in one, fluid motion. It’s certainly one of the go-to chip tricks players go for when they mean business at the tables.

Start by balancing the poker chip flat on your thumb. Begin by sliding it upwards and landing it between the rear two knuckles of your first finger. To roll the chip from knuckle to knuckle, you raise the next finger above the chip to pivot it over the top onto the next knuckle and so on. On the final finger, there’s no knuckle for it to pivot over, so your job is then to catch it with your thumb to complete the trick.

The Thumb Roll

The Thumb Roll, also known as the Thumb Flip, is one of the easier yet visually impressive chip tricks you can master. Essentially, it involves flipping a chip from one finger to another. You need a stack of three poker chips to get things started.

Place all three chips in between your thumb and third finger. Cradle the chips so that your first three fingers are underneath them, in total control. Start by practicing using your thumb to pivot the first chip all the way to the top and, when it gets there, let it fall to the back of the mini-stack. There’s nothing else to it. It looks far more complex than it is in practice.

Whichever chip trick you try first, it’s important to start slow and practice your move using only one or two chips at a time. Only once you’re confident with your finger movements should you start to add more chips into the equation.

As with most things requiring first-class coordination, repetition is everything. It’s all about building sufficient muscle memory so that your fingers will pull off these tricks subconsciously over time.

With patience and persistence, you can make chip tricks a new and effective dimension to your persona at the felt, with the potential for players to take you and your bets more seriously.