Memory Techniques for poker

[Sark79]

Over the last few days I have been learning to play 7 Card Stud.

 I have been doing this by using a combination of books, sites, World Championship Poker(PS2) and various online free-table 7 Card Stud games.

 World Championship poker is not the best game in the world I admit, but you are able to have some fun creating dodgy looking characters to play as. My character is a cross between Pete from Big Brother and someone from a Village People reunion tour. My mates comments upon seeing it was " why the hell did you make him look like that, have you got some some latent desire for a guy out of the village people". I promise, no desires, although maybey Martina Hingis...but thats another story.

Anyway back to memory.

 One thing that becomes apparent about 7 Card Stud straight away is the need to recall cards which have been previously folded by your opponents. In contrast to Hold-Em ( well at the levels I currently play $1/2) there is alot more going on that must be considered at 7 card stud. I know at higher limit Hold-Em played by pro's and even some players on Blonde there is alot to consider and probably as much as there is at 7 Card Stud. I have decided not to play 7 Card Stud for 'Real Money' untill I know the ins and outs of the game.

When I was about 16 or 17, I became interested in memory techniques. I used to spend hours practicing to memorise lists of numbers, vocab and cards. Up untill about 6 months ago I was able to recall 17 decks of randomly shuffled cards(884 cards) in sequence after seeing them once.

 But like everything else, if you stop practicing the ability disapears. After trying to do this with a single deck this morning, I couldn't even recall 12 cards without losing concentration. So back to the drawing board.  So I searched around online for a few hours reminding myself how to do this. Some of you may have seen Derren Brown succesfully win at blackjack on one of his TV shows filmed at a London casino.

He was able to do this by using a similar technique that I used to be able to do with ease( In a few weeks I will again be able to do this...I have a damaged ego right now because I can't do it easily). If anyone wants to learn to remember cards to improve their poker game, I will happily write a post explaining this in more detail. Let me know.

[matt674]

too many words in such a small space for monkey memory to comprehend..... plus i saw the words "7-card stud" somewhere and brain switched off!! Sorry

There are good 7 card stud sections within Super systems and a 7 card stud hi/lo section in super systems 2 - but i'm a hold'em monkey who dabbles only very very occasionally into the stud world so never really put what i read in there to practice.

as for memory techniques - i forget what i do to help improve my memory.........

[Dingdell]

Over the last few days I have been learning to play 7 Card Stud. I have been doing this by using a combination of books, sites, World Championship Poker(PS2) and various online free-table 7 Card Stud games. World Championship poker is not the best game in the world I admit, but you are able to have some fun creating dodgy looking characters to play as. My character is a cross between Pete from Big Brother and someone from a Village People reunion tour. My mates comments upon seeing it was " why the hell did you make him look like that, have you got some some latent desire for a guy out of the village people". I promise, no desires, although maybey Martina Hingis...but thats another story. Anyway back to memory. One thing that becomes apparent about 7 Card Stud straight away is the need to recall cards which have been previously folded by your opponents. In contrast to Hold-Em ( well at the levels I currently play $1/2) there is alot more going on that must be considered at 7 card stud. I know at higher limit Hold-Em played by pro's and even some players on Blonde there is alot to consider and probably as much as there is at 7 Card Stud. I have decided not to play 7 Card Stud for 'Real Money' untill I know the ins and outs of the game. When I was about 16 or 17, I became interested in memory techniques. I used to spend hours practicing to memorise lists of numbers, vocab and cards. Up untill about 6 months ago I was able to recall 17 decks of randomly shuffled cards(884 cards) in sequence after seeing them once. But like everything else, if you stop practicing the ability disapears. After trying to do this with a single deck this morning, I couldn't even recall 12 cards without losing concentration. So back to the drawing board.  So I searched around online for a few hours reminding myself how to do this. Some of you may have seen Derren Brown succesfully win at blackjack on one of his TV shows filmed at a London casino. He was able to do this by using a similar technique that I used to be able to do with ease( In a few weeks I will again be able to do this...I have a damaged ego right now because I can't do it easily). If anyone wants to learn to remember cards to improve their poker game, I will happily write a post explaining this in more detail. Let me know.

I'd love to learn some techniques - can you just put some paragraphs in?!  Seriously lets have some tips....

[Robert HM]

Agrre with both requests, please 

[ACE2M]

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?

[TightEnd]

I put some paragraphs in

I have a photographic memory.

The best technique I know for those without this is to recall via use of stories

First letter of each word is the trigger to remembering the sequence


I can do all sorts of silly lists anyway, but learna  story and it becomes much easier

[Sark79]

Sorry, I can't do paragraphs..lol.  That is way to complicated. ok, give me a day or so. I will write a post explaining this. No problem.

[Nem]

ok, give me a day or so. I will write a post explaining this. No problem.

That would be great. Thanks

[Robert HM]

Ta Muchly

[patman]

that would be great but can someone pm me as i`ll forget about the post in a half an hour

[jezza777]

I would be interested in this as well my memory is poor.

[Dewi_cool]

what was the question again?  >:?

[Sark79]

Sorry, I had trouble adding this in one go. So I have had to do it in 4 posts. If you have any questions or criticisms, please feel free to say so.

[Sark79]

Part 1
Before we start, I apologize in advance. I am terrible at using correct grammar, spelling, structure, punctuation and paragraphs. At Uni, I just leave all that kind of stuff to the computer or take a 10% drop in essay marks.( Thanks Tightend for the amendments  J )

OK, here goes.

As I said in my post, I feel it is of obvious benefit to a player to have a developed memory. Everyone is born with a great memory but not everyone knows how to use it properly. Hopefully by the end of this you will all be able to remember a pack of shuffled cards after seeing them only once.  Or you will be more confused. If you are, it is my teaching ability which is at fault and not your memory.

In a game like 7 card stud, it is an obvious advantage to be able to recall which cards have been played during the hand in progress. This means knowing the cards that were held by players no longer involved in the hand. By automatically knowing the up-cards of your opponents still active in the hand this saves the effort of looking round the table at each opponent. After practicing these techniques for a dew days you will be able to remember their cards instantly without even thinking about it. I am not an expert on live casino play, but I would imagine that this would prevent giving away tells and would be a massive advantage to you. As I only play online poker at the moment this aspect doesn’t really apply to me. But if it applies to you, well that is another string to your bow.

There are quite a few different techniques for memorizing playing cards. I will attempt to outline the  most common one used by magicians and card players. This involves planning a route in your mind which contains 52 points. On these points, a playing card will be placed or associated with whatever it is you choose to make as part of your route. By doing this we will be able to recall all 52 cards in a pack of cards with ease.
The most important thing to remember while learning any type of memory technique is that in order for you to remember something new. We must first associate it to something that we are familiar with. This is where this technique comes into play.

Technique 1

Take a few moments to think about a route that you know well. This can be a layout of a street plan, the route from your front door to the bus stop, your daily route to the local A.T.M  machine. Really think about it and visualize as many things about the route as possible. Remember to make the route contain 52 stages as these are the stages which we will be placing the random playing cards on. Still with me?. Ok, now run the route through your mind several times for the next 10 minutes or until you are completely sure you know the route like the back of your hand. I will give you my route which I use to memorize a pack of cards below incase anyone is already lost (don’t worry, remember it is the teacher who is to blame and not the student). Just read through my list and hopefully this should clear any confusion up in your minds.

If for any reason you are unable to think of a 52 stage journey in your minds. It is ok, don’t worry.  Instead make up an imaginary journey in your mind. This may be the platform of your favorite computer game or you may even choose to use a layout of a house. Below I have set out my 52 points of my journey which allows me to memorize a deck of cards easily. This is the street layout of the village where I spent much of my childhood. It is probably best if you choose somewhere that is familiar to you.

1. My front door
2. Large tree in my garden
3. Neighbors wooden post box
4. STOP sign
5. Best friend from school’s fathers business headquarters
6. Uncles telephone museum
7. Paper shop
8. Butchers shop
9. Road salt box
10. Bakery
11. Large Oak tree
12. Broken down wall
13. Church
14. Phone Box
15. Manse
16. O.A.P housing block
17. Abandoned pub
18. Barbers shop
19. Pub/Pool
20. Chinese Takeaway
21. Video Shop
22. Library
23. Bookies
24. Post Office
25. Chinese Takeaway
26. Spar Shop
27. Car Garage
28. Fish and Chip Shop
29. Surf Board/Sports shop
30. Woman’s hair salon
31. Pub
32. Sandwich shop
33. Indian Takeaway
34. Abandoned Co-Op
35. War monument
36. Bus Terminal
37. Printers
38. Chemist
39. Salmonella shop ( Dodgy food poisoning place)
40. Florists
41. Indian Takeaway
42. Off License
43. Hairdressers
44. General Store
45. Pet Shop
46. Ice Cream store
47. Pub
48. Dentist
49. Ex-girlfriends house
50. Grumpy rich mans house
51. Welcome Sign to village
52. 30 M.P.H sign

[Sark79]

Part2
We are now ready to start the fun part.  In order to remember our random pack of playing cards we must first allocate each playing card an easy to remember image. I will give you the most commonly used technique for this. This method is  known by many academics interested in memory training as the Number-Shape Method. This involves changing numbers into things which are shaped like the number concerned.  Here is my list below

Technique 2

0. Black hole
1. Paintbrush
2. Swan
3. Mole Hill or Breasts ( forgive me I am male  ) ….. (don’t make your image a heart )
4.Table ( a table has 4 legs doesn’t it )
5.Hook
6.golf club
7.Cliff
8.Snowman
9.Flag
10. Bat and Ball
 
If you don’t like my list that is fine. Just think of something which looks similar to the number concerned. Another example for the number one may be a pencil, or a pole or a toe tam pole. Just let your imagination run wild. The number 4 could be a sailboat. Its ok if the number and the shape don’t look exactly the same, this is just a way for your mind to associate the two things quickly. After a while you will not even think about it. You will be running through your own lists or using my list of shapes and be able to think 6 is the golf club or 8 is snowman in no time at all. If possible use colors or exaggeration to make the image stick in your mind even firmer. So make it a huge bright white snowman for the number 8. A massive flag with the brightest colors you have ever seen before for the number 9. IT MUST REALLY STICK IN YOUR MIND…..  Run through the list for five or ten minutes until you know them all without having to stop and think about it. It should be natural.

Another thing to consider is the use of exaggeration. I have already mentioned this above. But here I will touch on it in more detail. In all books on memory this is one of the key things which the authors try to hammer home. Exaggeration, Exaggeration, Exaggeration. Make the images BIG, BRIGHT AND BOLD. Exaggerate the colors,  Exaggerate the sizes ( this should not be a problem for some of the guys, you are probably used to exaggerating sizes…lol)…. And as this is called the Number-Shape System it is probably good if you also Exaggerate  your chosen shapes as well. Don’t just make it a smooth edge to the cliff for the number 7, make it a jaggy, rough aggressive looking cliff that sticks out for all to see, Really use your imagination.



Don’t get freaked out if I start talking about - talking swans or violent snowmen,  I haven’t gone mad, this should all make sense soon. I hope. If not, call the men in the white coats.


Hearts

Ace- massive paintbrush being held by a heart and painting a beautiful picture
2 - A huge white swan with a big bright red heart painted on its side like a logo on a football shirt ( please note- I don’t advocate animal cruelty and use this merely as an example)
3- Mole Hills which beat up and down like a heart
4-Instead of the surface of a table, it has a giant heart which is still beating as its tabletop
5-A heart holding a big meat hook chasing everyone around
6- A  man holding a golf club on the putting green hitting hearts into the holes
7- A cliff has a big heart which beats loudly
8- A snowman with a bright heart which beats loudly
9- A smiling big heart holding the Union Jack and singing the national anthem
10- In your chest there is a black hole instead of a heart
J- Jack  from your local Takeaway drawing love hearts all over the menu’s
Q - The queen receiving millions of Valentines cards which trap her in her palace
K- The King ( I know we don’t have one) getting chased through his castle by a massive bright red heart


Clubs

Ace- paintbrush being used as a club to beat a burglar with
2- Swan who is celebrating after just joining his favorite football Club
3- Mole Hills all cheering that they have new golf clubs
4- 4 Massive clubs sitting at a table playing poker
5- A club trying to hook a fishing line
6- A golf club using a man to hit golf balls with
7- A massive cliff is swinging clubs trying to hit passers by
8- A violent snowman is trying to hit everyone with a club
9- 9 Clubs are alive and are attempting to kill a flag by clubbing it
10- A black hole is firing out millions of clubs and trying to hit ships
J -  Jackie Stewart driving his F1 car round a golf club
Q-  A really aggressive Queen beating up a passer by with a golf club
K- A king who has a castle made from millions of golf clubs

Diamonds

Ace- Thousands of diamonds are being sacked into a black hole
1- A diamond is using a paintbrush to draw a nice picture
2- A swan is wearing a diamond ring
3- Mole Hills covered in shiny diamonds
4- A table is made out of a massive diamond
5- Fishing hooks that are made from diamonds
6- A diamond is playing a round of golf
7- A cliff is made out of a giant diamond
8- A snowman is wearing a diamond necklace
9- A diamond coated flag is waving in the wind with a big smile on its face
10- Bat hitting a diamond instead of a ball
J-  Jack Nicholson wearing a diamond suit and earrings
Q- The queens is made out of diamonds and shines beautifully in the sunshine ( I don’t think this at all….infact the opposite)
K- The King is a diamond smuggler who has a massive stash of illegal diamonds in his palace


Spades

Ace- Millions of people are digging with oversized spades to make a black hole
1- painting with spades instead of paintbrushes
2- a swan is digging a hole in the road with a giant spade
3- Mole Hills - moles digging there holes with massive spades
4- A table with the 4 legs as spades
5- A spade with ears and hooks as earrings
6- A man playing golf with a spade
7- A spade rock climbing on a cliff
8- A snowman using a spade
9- A spade waving a Union Jack
10- A spade hitting a ball like a baseball player would
J- Jack Palance is digging for Gold using a tiny spoon sized spade and singing a nursery rhyme
Q-  The queen is Scottish dancing on top of a couple of workman’s spades
K-  The king is trying to eat porridge with a  massive spade and getting it all over his beard and clothes