Sometimes you have to be lucky to be good.  This phrased is used a lot.  I hear it at the poker table and throughout my daily life.  Now I don’t believe in luck.  As a poker player I am constantly calculating odds and probabilities and sometimes they definitely work in my favor.  Recently I had the situation where the odds turned in my favor early which allowed me the opportunity be good later.  I was playing on-line in a No-Limit Holdem ring game and I am in the big blind.  It is still pretty early in the table for me and I get dealt K-8 offsuit, which I know is a hand you should never play.  It folds around to the cut off who raises to three times the big blind, everyone folds to me.  I mentioned before you should never play a hand like this because it is the type of hand that even if you hit on the flop you feel vulnerable.  On this particular occasion I decided to protect my blind and call the raise, which I often do, especially against someone in late position that could be trying to steal.  The Flop comes K-4-5.  As I was saying earlier I hit the flop and still feel weak as my kicker is garbage.  I check my top pair to the pre-flop raiser who does a standard half pot bet.  I am not a big fan of my hand but decide to go aggressive anyway and raise to about 4 times his bet.  At this point he raises all in which isn’t a whole lot more then we already have in the pot, looking at the situation I was pot committed and was attempting to dodge a bigger King as with the way he played the hand there was no way he had pocket bullets.  Being pot committed I call and he turns over Big Slick.  Now I am just hoping to suckout with an 8 for my 2 pair and take it down, what happens is even worse.  The turn comes a 6 and the river is a 7 for my straight!!!  Runner-Runner. 

When the cards were turned up I was thinking “early exit” but instead I was able to stay alive and fight some more.  I was able to change gears at this point and not be such a donkey.  The result was I finished my night with 4 times my buy-in.    Although I don’t believe in luck sometimes thing go against the odds and in your favor.  The trick is to not get caught up in it and learn to change gears to keep the other players on their toes.  I am sure this early hand gave me the table image of a loose fish looking to just call things down.  Not always the best approach but if you are able to change after and play rock solid, your strong hands won’t get much respect and players will empty their pockets thinking you are just staying to see what you can get.

This poker chip trick is Dutch Boyd’s signature trick.  He originally did it at the 2003 World Series of Poker.  This again is an easy one and is just a slight variation on the trick we previously.

Start by holding three poker chips between your thumb and index fingers. Put your fingers just above the middle point of the poker chips.

Put your ring finger just below your index finger, while simultaneously moving your middle finger out of the way.

With your ring finger, loosen the two poker chips closest to your palm.  Glide them down and away from the front poker chip.  Move the chips down until they are halfway below the front chip. As you let the chips drop, shift your middle finger forward and position it on the side where the poker chips meet. If your fingers are in the correct position you can hold all the chips using only your thumb and middle finger.

With your index finger, draw back on the front chip.  Glide it over the other two poker chips allowing it to fall right behind them.

Bring your pinky up to support the chips as the moving chip glides down behind the other two poker chips.

Let’s start with one of the easiest poker chip tricks to learn, the Thumb Flip.  It involves flipping a poker chip over a small stack of chips using your thumb so it lands behind the other poker chips.

Begin by putting a few poker chips in a stack.  Turn the stack on its side and position it along the length of your middle finger.  Place your ring and index fingers on the sides of the poker chips for support.  Your middle finger will keep the stack from falling backwards.

Place your thumb at the base of the first poker chip and roll it on its edge up onto your index finger.  Apply force to the sides of the chip stack with your index and ring fingers to keep them in place.

When the poker chip is roughly half way above the other chips, start sliding it back in the direction of your palm.

Gravity will take over as the chip slides over the top of the other poker chips.

Your thumb is just guiding the poker chip at this point.  Use your index and ring fingers to increase the pressure on the chip stack so that the chips don’t fall while sliding the poker chip down behind the rest of the stack.

After the poker chip is behind the rest of the stack, use your thumb to push the poker chips forward and repeat the process.  When you are able to build up momentum the trick will become much easier.  This poker chip trick is hard to do slowly.  It becomes easier when are able to build up speed.  Ultimately you will be able to do more than a hundred repetitions without fail.