Derren Brown's Card Memory

[Sark79]

Did anyone just see Derren Brown's memory trick with the deck of cards.   I need to know how he did that.  Even Dominic O'brien couldn't do that one. 

[londonpokergirl]

Did anyone just see Derren Brown's memory trick with the deck of cards.   I need to know how he did that.  Even Dominic O'brien couldn't do that one. 

dunno but i'd love to play poker against him  
that and along with when he was blindfolded and walked about 20 feet in the air going only on the blokes voice to assertain if he was bluffing or not  

[TightEnd]

Did anyone just see Derren Brown's memory trick with the deck of cards.   I need to know how he did that.  Even Dominic O'brien couldn't do that one. 

Nicole, he uses the standard memory trick of learning ther sequence of cards by telling himself a story...each word of story signifies a card...he having pre learnt the relevant words

[gatso]

dunno but i'd love to play poker against him  

Poker Player magazine challenged him to a game back in October offering to put up 'a substantial cash prize' if he'd play their sit 'n go

Don't think he ever replied

[londonpokergirl]

dunno but i'd love to play poker against him  

Poker Player magazine challenged him to a game back in October offering to put up 'a substantial cash prize' if he'd play their sit 'n go

Don't think he ever replied

somebody get onto his agents  

[Sark79]

Did anyone just see Derren Brown's memory trick with the deck of cards.   I need to know how he did that.  Even Dominic O'brien couldn't do that one. 

Nicole, he uses the standard memory trick of learning ther sequence of cards by telling himself a story...each word of story signifies a card...he having pre learnt the relevant words

Nicole....lol

Yea, I can do that ok. But the speed he did it was amazing

[HarlemShuffle]

He did reply in the end but turned them down. He told them he was a rubbish poker player.

[AndrewT]

He did reply in the end but turned them down. He told them he was a rubbish poker player.

Indeed. On the DVD commentary of his first series, he mentions how he used to be a card counter, and made about £35,000 from blackjack in a couple of years before the casinos banned him. Just about everyone says to him 'you should play poker - you'd be brilliant' but he says that he's just never been any good at it - he doesn't know why.

[redsimon]

Didn't see the trick. The only one I know is where you ascribe a number 1-13 14-26 etc to the ranks and suits and you can work out the one card missing from a deck. Jesus Ferguson showed it on one of those ESPN WSOP shows.

[Nakor]

There has been a thread on here before explaining how to do it - cant find the bloody thing though.

Can any one dig it out for Sark?

[Sark79]

I can do the card memory thing. I just can't figure out how he does it so fast.  The World Memory Champion can memorise a deck in about 30 seconds last time I checked.

There is a great book by Tony Buzan on mental world records.   This is a great site below.   There are some crazy and amazing world records.   

http://www.psywww.com/mtsite/memory.html


http://www.msoworld.com/2004/memory.html

I know Derren Brown did it far faster than any of the world records.  I also know there is a good chance he isn't as good as the real memory experts.  So it must be a trick. 

[Swordpoker]

Oh yes, Derren really is a memory expert! He has also memorised the London A to Z and if you give him a grid reference he will tell you what's in it!

[Sark79]

I know the guy has an amazing memory. I am a big fan of his shows ( espsecially the one in the library where he photoread the dictionary ). 

But the pro memory experts practice those kind of skills for 8 hrs a day.  They are really amazing.  If he is that good and it isn't a trick, then he could win the Card Memory World Title at the next championships. Don't get me wrong, he is brilliant, but he is also an entertainer. If it was genuine, every memory participant must have been shaking in their boots last night after seeing it.

I would like to see the Chris Ferguson trick that was mentioned.

Check out Derren Browns art work on his site. 

[Swordpoker]

If Derren is using a 'trick'. Then it is that he has learned how to accelerate his learning ability. Hypnosis is a wonderful tool. I believe he has programmed himself to memorise and recall stuff subconsciously. i.e. He doesn't have to think about doing it, it just comes naturally. Has he practiced for 8 hours a day? Yes, I think that's a conservative estimate.

P.S. Don't tell any poker players, but I dabble in a bit of hypnosis.

[Sark79]

If Derren is using a 'trick'. Then it is that he has learned how to accelerate his learning ability. Hypnosis is a wonderful tool. I believe he has programmed himself to memorise and recall stuff subconsciously. i.e. He doesn't have to think about doing it, it just comes naturally. Has he practiced for 8 hours a day? Yes, I think that's a conservative estimate.

P.S. Don't tell any poker players, but I dabble in a bit of hypnosis.

You are probably right mate. He does seem like an obsessive kind of person.  I read an interview and he stated that he used to practice card magic for 12 hours a day when he first got interseted in this kind of stuff.  There is a set of techniques under the title ' accelerated learning' that I know he uses.  They were developed by an American called Paul R Schelle.  Photoreading is one of these techniques.

http://www.photoreading.com/

It is a great course. But it retails at about £170.  The book is £5 and does just as good a job. Check amazon.