Twirl
Poker amateurs may have first seen this trick when Gus Hansen performed it on an episode of the World Poker Tour. Dutch Boyd and countless others have also done it during World Series of Poker episodes. It is one of the hardest tricks to learn, but one of the most fun to do. Other popular names for the twirl are “chip spin” or “chip twirl.”
Before you begin
Trick Difficulty - 3
Chips needed - 3
There are variations that use more than 3 chips, which I’ll discuss later.
Tutorial
Start by holding 3 chips between the index and ring fingers (perpendicular to the fingers), with the middle finger bracing the back of the chips. The grip is exactly the same as when you start the thumb flip. The chips shouldn’t be any closer to the finger tips than a half an inch.
Using the thumb, loosen the two outer chips. Only the middle chip is still held firmly with the index and ring fingers. Once loose, pull these two outer chips up with your thumb so that they are held by the thumb and index finger.
You can also view this as pulling the single chip down and out with the ring finger.
This next section is different from the way that you will see most people do the twirl, but I believe it’s easier this way. I’ll discuss the other variation at the end of the tutorial.
As the ring finger pulls away and the chip rolls along the index finger, bring up the pinky to grab the bottom of the chip. Once you have a firm hold, remove the ring finger from the chip.
Place your middle and ring fingers on the edge of the chip held by the index finger and pinky. Bend these two fingers in towards the palm, spinning the chip 180 degrees in the process by using the index finger and pinky as axis points.
By using two fingers to spin the chip, you have more control.
Once the chip is perpendicular to the fingers, carefully pull the middle and ring fingers out. With your pinky roll the chip along the index finger and back up. At the same time, the thumb helps to bring the outer chips down so that the single chip gets inserted back in between the two.
This trick has several hard parts. Seperating the outside chips from the middle chip can be difficult the first few times you try. Spinning the chip, but keeping it in place between your fingers can get extremely frustrating at times. Stay patient, keep practicing, and you’ll catch on.
Variations
After pulling out the middle chip, a lot of people like to keep it between the ring and index fingers. They then spin it with only the middle finger. I’ve found this method to be more difficult. By bringing up the pinky and using it as an axis, you are able to get more distance between the two groups of chips, making it easier to complete the spin. I’ve also found it to be more stable to spin the chip with two fingers instead of one and this would not be possible if you didn’t use the pinky as an axis.
Once you can easily spin the middle chip, try using a total of 4 chips. Pull the two inside chips out and spin them both before inserting them back in the between the outer chips. Or take 5 chips, only pulling out one and spinning it.
Comment #88 by Grayson
June 1st, 2006 @ 2:01 PM
This trick was very easy to learn it only took me about 45 mins to learn it, i know this trick and the butterfly
Comment #87 by Sean Archer
May 1st, 2006 @ 11:37 AM
I cant seem to do the tricks at all, is there a certain official chip weight I should use thats official or certain chips you find the best that I should buy?
Comment #86 by Nick
April 21st, 2006 @ 1:00 PM
I just spent about 30-40 mins on this trick and i can do it 1/5 times! it’s defo not worth the difficulty rating 3 but i love it
Comment #85 by Mal-2
March 11th, 2006 @ 11:48 PM
Another variant that uses the skills used in this trick is as follows:
Drop the front chip of the three (instead of the middle one), do the twirl, and put the twirled chip in the back. This sort of makes a hybrid of the front-to-back and the twirl, and makes a new trick in its own right. But if you know how to do the twirl cleanly, you should have very little difficulty adding this to your repertoire.
I also like to do a four-chip variant of that — drop the front chip and the third chip, twirl them together, and mash them back into the stack any way you can. It’s possible but difficult to put them back first-and-third, more likely they’ll end up both in front or both in back.
To me, the best part about tricks like the twirl and front-to-back is that you don’t need to look (unless you drop one) and they are simple enough to do without conscious effort after a while. This means you can use them as a timing device when you play, which eliminates the fear of giving off “timing tells”. (This includes online play — I’m playing with chips while playing online! It’s not usually to practice the tricks, it’s to keep my timing in check.)
Another thing you can do against people who think they are better than they actually are is to drop a chip or otherwise screw up a trick after you have made a large bet. They may think you are nervous, therefore bluffing, and make a call they otherwise would not make. Of course, this generally only works once on any person. And if you ARE bluffing, DON’T SPEED UP OR STOP YOUR TWIRL!
That guy with the dark glasses is looking at three things primarily (and if you’re talking, he’s listening):
* Your eyes. Even dark glasses don’t completely conceal this, as it pulls the skin around the eyes if you make large motions.
* Your hands. If you are confident and consistent enough in your chip tricks, you can negate this one completely.
* Your breathing. Try yoga.
Also, watching Esfandiari’s “how to” segments reminds me — stage magicians practice their handwork in front of mirrors. Maybe you should too.
Comment #84 by john
February 14th, 2006 @ 11:25 AM
i was learning this trick with some crappy £2 plastic chips and was finding it almost impossible, then my nice heavy clay chips arrived and it was the easiest trick ever(anyone having trouble should try changing to heavier less slippery chips especially if you’re having trouble putting the middle chip back in place).
thanks for creating the site nick and showing me how to do my new favourite trick
Comment #83 by ray
February 4th, 2006 @ 9:08 PM
i finnal can do this trick !!!!!!!!! but watch out there are meny different varriations of this trick so just do the one recommended by this site i found it the easyeast way, i hope you can get it to i use it to intimidate my freinds while playing texas hold’um
Comment #82 by matthew
January 28th, 2006 @ 5:29 PM
After about 6hrs off and on I SOMEWHAT got it. I can do the twirl some of the time, but have problems putting it back in the middle. I love this trick tho
Comment #81 by Mal-2
January 23rd, 2006 @ 4:40 AM
I don’t see why this is considered a 3 either… four days ago I got the chance to watch closely as someone did this trick repeatedly. Now I’ve got it pretty much nailed. I just want to get it fluid in both hands, then maybe both at once, before considering it another trick in the bag. I actually think the hardest part was figuring out to lift the “bread” chips while leaving the “meat” chip behind. This allows better control than dropping the chip, and the position on the last two fingers is almost automatic this way.
Try it this way — start with all your fingertips (except maybe the pinky) around all three chips, then use a flick of the thumb upward and forward to lift the first and last chips in the stack. The middle chip should sort of just sit there, not really drop. When the thumb goes up, so does the pinky, giving you the twirling pivot point (along with the inside of the index finger). With the outer chips out of the way, twirl the remaining chip, then lower the thumb to put the bread back on the sandwich.
It’s the repeatablitily of the middle chip placement that makes this so easy. You never drop it, so you’re not worried about how it lands — I can do it with eyes closed or looking away just as easily as when I look. I just like to watch because it looks cool.
Optional twist: when you put the outer chips back down, you can put them both in front of or both behind the twirl chip, so with repetition/alternation you are also moving chips front to back. This looks snappy with two or three different colored chips. (Put the twirl chip in front once, in back the next time, always taking the middle chip to twirl. Do this quickly and you have flashing chips.) Skip the twirling entirely and go for speed if all you want is the high-speed blinking effect.
To do a color change effect on the twirl, have two different colored chips as the “meat” in a 4-chip sandwich and twirl them together as if they were one really thick chip. This also works with the “Mexican Jumping Chip” trick — flip two chips instead of one so the color appears to change on impact.
To get the hang of treating two chips as one, you can cheat and wet the faces a bit so they stick together. If you’re at the table, we just ask that you not use saliva.