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For those who want to show off with poker chips, Rich Ferguson’s Official Poker Chip Tricks DVD offers a comprehensive collection of stunts that you can learn and perform. Throughout, Ferguson does an excellent job of demonstrating his techniques. And whether you want to twirl, stack, shuffle or roll poker chips, Ferguson’s first rate DVD shows you how.
The DVD comes with a good variety of moves of varying difficulties. The “Chip Shuffle,” where you separate a stack of chips into two piles and interlace them, is particularly impressive. There are also various twirls, flips and spreads that offer flashy ways to handle chips. Some of these stunts you perform as you hold chips in your hands, while others are executed during the course of a game and on a table.
The fun “Bounce Stack” offers a way to literally bounce a chip off the table and have it leap to the top of a stack of chips. A cool roll lets you roll several chips across a table, one after the other. “Hidden Chip Bet” offers a sneaky method to make a chip appear under some cards. This way, you can look as if you’re going to fold, but then, surprisingly, raise your bet.
Many of the stunts are based on well known coin flourishes. The “Butterfly” is a chip-based variation on a coin rollout. “Knuckle Rolls” are standard coin rolls that magicians often perform. The “Production” offers a variation on a Down’s palm and production. I find this one to be a bit angle-sensitive for close-up work, but useable in certain situations. Ferguson also teaches the muscle pass, which he calls “Anti-Gravity.”
The DVD features professional production values, and Ferguson does a great job of explaining and teaching each stunt. Some of the twirl and flip techniques could be adapted to coin work. Personally, compared to working with coins, I found chips difficult to handle because they lack the milled edges of silver and half dollars. Even though I regularly perform rollouts using coins, I couldn’t begin to perform them with chips.
If you have a gambling routine, you may find the flourishes useful. And if you’re a poker player, you may have fun showing off to your friends during games. In any event, if you want to learn and perform fun flourishes and stunts with chips, turn to the “Official Poker Chip Tricks DVD.”
www.chiptricksonline.com
$29.95
-Wayne N. Kawamoto
