This one got tricky. I have previously held the record for “most poker chips balanced on one finger” when I balanced 100 poker chips for over 5 seconds on my right index finger. This time I had to beat the current mark of 132.

You only have 10 minutes to prepare the stack and you can only use one hand plus the finger you’re going to balance the chips on. It gets tricky because when I stack over about 120 poker chips in a single stack on a perfectly level surface, it falls over on its own. I have to keep my right index finger on the stack past 120 chips while I’m reaching for more to put on. And then to keep it balanced, you can’t simply have a perfectly still finger, or they’ll still fall over…

Keeping this stack balanced requires positive feedback, and I don’t mean the kind that makes you feel good inside. I mean micro-movements that are quick, small, and fluid. Each movement sends a shock-wave through the chip that’s amplified as it goes up the stack. Just a slight movement is enough to send the chips falling so I had to kneel on the floor for more stability and even then it was extremely difficult. I can keep a pool cue balanced for over 4 hours on one finger since it’s rigid and all you have to do is keep the finger under the object. For this one, you have to move the finger almost before you can see which way the stack is going to lean before it leans. After years of balancing practice plus more for this attempt, it took over an hour and a half of official tries to finally complete a 5-second run. I had one attempt that lastest 4.99 seconds after frame-by-frame analysis and a couple of others over 4.5 seconds. The final run was 150 chips balanced for over 7 seconds for a new Guinness World Records Title.

I went for a half-hour at noon and then came back and tried for another hour at 4.