Memory Techniques for poker

[Sark79]

Part3
Because a playing card is similar to a number, it is very difficult for our minds to remember it after only seeing it briefly. For example if someone tells you to imagine the number 302748383635897, it is almost impossible for the average person in the street to be able to recall this after only seeing it once. I know I couldn’t even get the first five of these numbers correct.  In the same way that a series of playing cards are also difficult to remember. If I were to show you 15 random playing cards in sequence unless each card held an associated image in your mind you would find this extremely difficult to do. This is where memory techniques can help us. In order for our minds to remember something, it is important to associate the thing we wish to remember with something we already know. So in order for us to be able to memorize 52 random playing cards we must first learn 52 tangible items to connect them to. You now know these 52 points with which I am refering to ( Remember the journey?) and you also know 52 items ( Remember the playing card images above?).

Ok, below I will show you how to link each of these. By using these two memory processes together, you will be able to memorize a randomly shuffled deck of cards. Ok, read through this with me and refer back to the technique 1 and technique 2 sections to see where my images originate from.


1. King of Hearts -  1st stage of journey and image for King of Hearts = The king is getting chased  by a massive bright red heart and in order to escape he tries to break down my homes front door. “ Let me in, Let me in”

2. 3 of Diamonds -  2nd  stage of journey and image for the 3 of diamonds = My tree in my garden being dragged through a molehill. The moles are all wearing expensive diamonds

4. 4 of diamonds - 3rd stage of journey and image of the 4 of diamonds =  My next door neighbor has been transformed into a massive diamond and is eating dinner while sitting at his wooden post box.

4. 3 of Clubs - 4th stage of journey and image of the 3 of clubs =  A large group of moles have gathered to play a round of golf. But instead of using golf clubs, they are holding huge STOP signs in their hands.

5. J of clubs - 5th stage of journey and image of the J of clubs = Jackie Steward revving his F1 car outside my mates dads place. He looks out the window and waves a golf club at Jackie.

6. 2 of clubs - 6th stage of journey and the image for the 2 of clubs =  A crazed swan is making phone calls from my Uncles phone museum trying to find out if his team won while swinging a golf club at all his guests “ who won the game,  I had money on it”..

7. Q of diamonds - 7th stage of journey and the image for the Q of diamonds = The local paper shop is filled with pictures of the Queen . However this Queen is covered from head to toe in real diamonds.

8. 2 of hearts - 8th stage of journey and the image for the 2 of hearts = A huge white swan is holding a banner outside a butchers shop and campaigning for animal rights “ have some heart, don’t kill animals” In this image I made the swan wear a T-shirt similar to the Give Blood types. On his banner there was a massive red heart drawn.

9.6 of spades - 9th stage of journey and the image for the 6 of spades = A golfer is desperately trying to shovel salt all over the  road because of the icy conditions. But whenever he try’s to teach the salt box he falls over and drops his golf trolley which if full of different sized spades. ( watch out with this one- it may be easy to confuse the images for Spades and the Club suit as I used golf as a memory image)  Change yours to something else

10. 10 of diamonds - 10th stage of journey and the image for the 10 of diamonds = A cricket player is playing cricket with a doughnut instead of a cricket ball. Every time he hit’s the doughnut it turns into a diamond.

11. 2 of spades - 11th stage of journey and the image for the 2 of spades =  A giant oak tree and a swan are both digging a massive hole in the road. However every time the swan put his spade into the earth he hit’s the oak trees roots  “ ahhhh, watch it….my roots”.   Really see the image and feel it in your mind.

12. King of Clubs - 12th stage of journey and the image for the king of clubs = A unsteady old wall is swaying in the wind. Every time it sways it blows loose rubble over onto the kings palace. The king looks on and shakes his head in an angry fashion. “ damm builders, they can’t build anything these days.”  While he says this, a massive gust of wind blows over the wall which knocks down his palace made of millions of golf clubs.

13. 9 of hearts - 13th stage of journey and the image for the 9 of hearts = A row of massive red hearts are sitting in a church. Instead of singing the usual hymns, they are singing the national anthem. The  priest who looks on says “ long live Great Britain” while waving a Union Jack.

14. 9 of diamonds - 14th stage of journey and the image for the 9 of diamonds = A massive diamond coated flag is attempting to make a phone call at the local phone box. However angry racist thugs throw rocks at it and smile wildly.

15. J of diamonds - 15th stage of journey and the image for the J of diamonds = Jack Nicholson is wearing his diamond suit and the local minister comes out of the manse and  criticizes his fashion sense. “ trinny and Susana wouldn’t like that one Jack”.

16. 7 of Clubs - 16th stage of journey and the image for the 7 of clubs = A group of  O.A.P’s are sick of having to climb a cliff every time they want to go out. So they organize an action group and beat the cliff down using millions of clubs.

17. 8 of clubs - 17th stage of journey and the image for the 8 of clubs = A violent snowman is banging on the door of an abandoned pub. He is shouting “ open up, I need a beer”. As he is doing this, he swings wildly with a club in his hands.

18. 10 of spades - 18th stage of journey and the image for the 10 of spades = A barber is using his scissors to hit baseballs with instead of cutting hair. Sticking out of the top of his front pocket is a handle of a spade which says “ barber of the year”.

19. 10 of clubs - 19th stage of journey and the image for the 10 of clubs = Players are trying to play pool at my local pub. However a giant black hole is approaching and  as it does it is shooting out millions of golf clubs in the direction of the pub.

20. Q of spades - 20th stage of journey and the image for the Q of spades = The queens goes into my local Chinese takeaway and demands free food. The head cook comes out and hands her two workman’s spades     “ if you want free food lady,  you are going to dance for me” ( yes it is true….I am very strange  ).


Do you see now?..   It is easy. Just run your mind through your chosen route and see the images you created for each playing card. The advantage of using the journey together with the shape images is - you will be able to know instantly where each card is located. For example if someone said to me “ where is the 8 of clubs placed in the deck”. Well I know that the 8 of clubs is represented by  a violent snowman with a club in his hands. When I think of this this automatically takes me to the abandoned Pub. As I know my journey in my mind very clearly and can  tell you  exactly where each point rests. I can tell you that the abandoned pub is the 17th stop on my journey.   I SEE THE IMAGE IN MY MIND

Ok, I hope you get the idea from the above. I did the above while at my friends house . Unfortunately he hates cards and  the only ones he had were  mini Garfield  comedy cards, playboy and classic cars .As each deck had cards missing, I had to mix and match these three packs to get a compete pack. After working my way through the shuffled deck, I asked my friend to time me.  These were the results using the above techniques I have laid out for you.

[Sark79]

Part4
At my friends house -  1 pack of cards -  1 minute 46 seconds ( 2 errors)

When I went home I tried this several more times with my own deck of cards and in a quiet room.

Attempt  1 - 1 pack of cards - 1 minute 24 seconds( no errors)
Attempt 2 - 1 pack of cards - 1 minute 27 seconds ( 3 errors)
Attempt 3 - 1 pack of cards - 63 seconds  ( no errors)
Attempt 4 - 1 Pack of cards - 1 minute 42 seconds ( 4 errors)
Attempt 5 - 1 pack of cards - 59 seconds ( no errors)
Attempt 6 - 1 pack of cards - 64 seconds ( 1 error)
Attempt 7 - 1 pack of cards - 1 minute 12 seconds ( no errors)

As you practice, you will become more confident and faster. I have not tried this for 6 months or so. I used to be able to do it in around 48 seconds. I will again soon and I hope to be faster. Practice it yourself and remember have fun.

I am in no way an expert at memory techniques. But I have given you the techniques which allows me to be able to memorize a random pack of cards easily and I think is a lot of fun. Of course memorizing 1 deck and memorizing several decks are very different. However it is important to learn one thing at a time. Remember the images you make to associate the playing cards to the journey location should be bright and bold. If possible make the images have color, movement and  exaggerated. It does not matter if your images have no place in reality. This is an advantage, for example a talking post box or a laughing road sign sticks in your mind far better than a static sign or post box. The images have to jump out at you when you  go through the stages of you mental journey.

Each of our minds works in a different way. Some people may think in images more, some may think in smells and others may think in sounds. One way to determine this is by paying attention to your use of language. Have you ever noticed some people use statements such as “ I smelled something fishy “, or “ I didn’t like the look of things, it just didn’t feel right” or possibly “ I smelt a rat”. This can give us clues as to how our minds prefer to process information. Of course this is not always accurate, but when I make mental images I prefer to make mine bright and with lots of movement.

If you don’t like my technique for remembering cards it is ok. Everyone is different. I however have found  this to be the only way to remember something such as playing cards. Give something that has no tangible meaning an image which you are already familiar with and it becomes much easier to recall.  The memorizing of playing cards is only a tiny thing you can do once familiar with memory techniques. I have given a list of sites and books which  give practical techniques for many other areas of daily life.

The above are my own images. For better results have fun and try and create your own Journey and Images.  This will be much more meaningful to you. As I learned these techniques from books , it is possible I have accidentally used someone else’s ideas or images. If that is the case, I must  apologize. I am almost certain that in that event, the ideas originated from two sources. These are Tony Buzan and Harry Lorayne. I have listed their books below. Think of them as the Doyle and T.J of memory training.

In order to have success at memorizing a deck of cards as I did above. You must first learn both lists of 52 points.( or your own similar lists). Only then will you be able to do this. It should feel natural. When you see the King of clubs - you should also see  a king with a castle made out of golf clubs. It should be instantaneous.  When I  was memorizing the decks of cards, I spend no more than a couple of seconds creating the images in my mind before moving onto the next card.

This may seem like a difficult or an impossible task. However you already know the journey. Everyone travels along a path to work or moves through the stages of a computer game which have 52 points every day. In the case of the images, we can all make silly images to represent the playing cards in our minds. Have fun and do it. Don’t feel daft for making such images. Remember nobody can see inside the four walls of your mind. This is your private space where you can let your imagination run wild.






These are some records to aim towards


Speed Record : A Single Pack
The record is for the fastest time to memorize a single pack of 52 shuffled playing cards with no errors.

49 s   Dominic O'Brien (Great Britain)   1991
125 s   Jonathan Hancock (Great Britain)   1991
55.62 s   Dominic O'Brien (Great Britain)   1992
44.62 s   Mamoon Tariq Khan (Pakistan)
   1993
43.59 s   Dominic O'Brien (Great Britain)   1994
42.01 s   Tom Groves (Great Britain)   1994
38.29 s
   Dominic O'Brien (Great Britain)   1996
34.03 s   Andi Bell (Great Britain)   1998
32.9 s
   Andi Bell (Great Britain)   2004
32.13 s
   Ben Pridmore (Great Britain)   2005


 

Good books on memory training

Tony Buzan - Use Your Memory
Dominic O’Brian - Learn To Remember
Harry Lorayne- The Complete Guide to Memory Mastery
Harry Lorayne  - Improve Exam Results In 30 Days
Paul R Scheele - Photo reading ( Don’t buy the whole course as I did - This book is all you need. I have seen it at Amazon and Borders. This outlines how to develop a photographic memory )

Good Sites

http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/memory.html#cards-speed

http://www.happychild.org.uk/acc/tpr/mem/0599card.htm
http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/M/mindcontrol/subtle/memories.html

http://www.pokerpages.com/articles/archives/santella29.htm

http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/memory.html

http://www.academictips.org/memory/remcard.html

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTIM_05.htm

This site is brilliant and gives lots of memory tips

http://www.worldmemorychampionship.com/tools_&_techniques.asp

This site allows you to test your improving card memory skills


Hope this helps some people...have fun

Sark

[Nem]

Thank you very much Sark.  

[Sark79]

I would be interested to read but some paragraphs please.

Where did you get your login name? sark69. Anyhting to do with the channel island?

No, I got my name from my favorite character from the TV show ALIAS and my birth year 1979.

[Sark79]

If you get any errors, this is not a problem. This is caused mainly by failing to produce a detailed enough image in your mind. Remember make the images as ridiculous as possible. It is best to practice in a quiet place to begin with. Don't worry about time, just have fun trying it. After a while you wont make mistakes. When I tried it recently, I was slightly rusty and made alot more mistakes than I used to . Soon I am sure everyone will be able to do this while listening to the radio or watching TV.

I saw something about memory training on Breakfast TV a few months ago. There was a leading psychologist being interviewd. He suggested that if everyone regularly practiced exercises like the one above, our mental capacity would last long into old age.

[ifm]

I thought you'd forgotten about this

[Sark79]

lol. No I tried to put it on the other day, but when I pressed Post it disappeared and I had to re-type it. Sorry for the delay.

[b4matt]

GREAT POST- thankyou for devoting so much time and effort to it all

[Cybertim]

I thought you'd forgotten about this

lol. No I tried to put it on the other day, but when I pressed Post it disappeared and I had to re-type it. Sorry for the delay


LOL Brilliant....   

[Sark79]

Its ok b4matt, If it helps anyone then I am happy.

[Graham C]

wow, what a post, thanks Sark, I'll give it a go over the weekend I think.

Thanks again and Great work

[SKIPPYSKIP]

Well done Sark am coming back to this post tomorrow when im not tired.

1 Shepp 2 Sheep 3 Sheep  ...

[Sark79]

Thanks Skippy and Silo for your comments.

[bundle]

I thought you'd forgotten about this

He can't remember everything. with all them kings running around in diamonds up mole hills and Queens sailing off in there row boats. I'm suprized the guy can remember where he lives


Ps  great Job Sark. I did this about a year ago, But it was only 20 items on a shopping list ..Funny how i forget my own tel Number, But could give you the list in any order a week after i had done it...