How To Remember Playing Cards

Are you ready for your new life as a Memory Master? All right then. Get comfortable with the idea of gambling fortune.

Simplify Your System. If you try to remember the names and faces of every card, you can get bogged down or confused. You need to shorten the information into a simplistic combination. That way you'll be more successful in remembering the cards and you won't be trying to remember too many words—like "Jack of Diamonds" or "Six of hearts." So how do you do this? The card-counting experts say to reduce cards to alpha-numeric forms. Use the fist letter of their suit rather than the full word. That way, if a player lays down a Six of Diamonds, you remember "6D." The Ace of Spades would be "1S" and the Three of Hearts would be "3H." A face card would be King of Hearts, "KH." Try a few practice hands by yourself.

Fill Up a Filing Cabinet. Using an alpha- numeric system will be a great help for you. Now comes a filing system that will help even more. This great mental trick is another act of imagination that helps you visualize what cards have been used. Imagine a typical office filing cabinet. When you open the drawer, it has four file folders, one for each suit. Each time the dealer lays down a card, pick it up in your imagination and "file" it in the correct folder. You will build up the files as time goes on and you'll remember which cards have been used. Conversely, you'll know which cards are likely to be played next.

Practice! Practice! Practice! Sorry. Even these great memory techniques don't come easily at first. You will have to practice. A lot. Recruit a friend to play with. Play blackjack with your friend, all the while imagining that filing cabinet as the dealer throws in each new card. Ask yourself which cards are left. What's coming up?

Get Serious. Learn the Laws of Probability. Probability governs most gaming situations. You will become an effective card player by combining your memory of the cards with understanding probability. Buy or borrow some books on probability and gaming. Learn the formulae that determine which cards are most likely to show up on the table next. And of course, recruit those friends to practice your new knowledge of statistics and probability.

Memory function, gaming theory, and card playing go together like love and marriage. The more you play, the better your memory techniques become. The more you understand probability, the better your judgement becomes. All three bring you closer to the serious money.