Tips for keeping track of the cards that are out

[lunchmeat]

I'm learning stud and I'm having some trouble keeping track of the cards that have been played. Anyone have any tips or drills that will help?

I've been dealing out 7 cards from a deck and then trying to remember them. I'm pretty good at this, but I find it difficult to keep up with the speed of an actual game.

[SevenStuda]

Try to remember the cards sequentially, from largest to smallest, or vice versa.

-Dimitri

[dandy_don]

There was a poster here by the name of something like Doc AZ (maybe?) from a couple of years back that had some good information on memorization exercises and such specifically geared towards stud playing.

I have recently attempted to find these in the archives again but haven't had any luck finding them. Anyone remember these? Is that the correct name of the poster?

I wish I could help better, but maybe this post will trigger some thoughts on some older posts from the archives.

[g_evans]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm learning stud and I'm having some trouble keeping track of the cards that have been played. Anyone have any tips or drills that will help?


[/ QUOTE ]

Here are a few things you can do. I picked these up from playing (haven't read any books) so I don't know if they're 'wrong' or 'bad'.

-Focus on the cards that have been folded instead of every card.
-Only worry about the suits that are in your hand that have been folded and keep a rough estimate of other suits (to begin)

To keep up with the speed you can keep a running order of the cards like say A, 7, 3, 9 are folded then rearrage that to A, 3, 7, 9.

I've never thought about this, but looking at it, I seperate the card values and suits as two different things.

Hope that helps.

G.

[Michael Emery]

Its funny someone else thought of his post from years ago as well in regards to this question. Mr.Evans I know the exact post which your talking about. You have the posters name correct and it was posted on Friday, 1st Febuary 2002 by Doc Az. I dont know how to locate it in the Archives. The only reason I know is because I made a printed copy of it when he posted it because I thought it was so interesting. I would type it all out but I am such a slooowww typer and that post that I have here is 4 pages long! Can someone pull it up with that date I've given?

Mike Emery

[nef]

My Good Stud friends,
I sincerely feel that this is a very important topic. But to do it justice it will take some detail to explain. If you just want the key points of this post, you may want to fast forward to the end of the post where I have summarized the key points. Doc.
Keith I am going to go over you question in detail, but to try and help other forum members I am going to review the entire topic. It should take 3 posts. don't forget to read posts 2 and 3.

Dear Keith,

You raise a couple of critical questions. I’m going to take this opportunity to review some basic concepts on card memory, as well as discussing progressive memory loss that occurs in EVERY human as he matures.

Topic number one: How to enhance your ability to remember your opponents exposed cards by rank, in the sequence that they were dealt.

Example number one

Charlie’s opponents door cards as they were dealt by rank are 3,6,2,Ace,Queen,and 7.
How does Charlie's brain remember the sequence of those ranks?

Answer: As Charlie’s mentally reads to him self the ranks of the exposed cards the neurons (located in Charlie’s memory center) lay down a very thin peptide chain (collection of amino acids) This chain is the start of memory. Each time Charlie reviews the ranks of the cards that peptide chain gets thicker and his memory of this sequence becomes more permanent.

2. Why is it easier for Charlie to remember ABCDEFG than it is 3,6,2,Ace, Queen, 7

Answer: Because Charlie has laid down the ABCD sequence so many thousands of times, that it’s peptide chain is so thick, that it has become a permanent part of Charlie’s consciousness.

3 What can Charlie do to temporarily improve his ability to remember his opponents door cards?

Answer; If Charlie breaks his opponent’s door cards into two groups of three, and then silently repeats them to himself, in the sequences that they came out 4 times. He can prolong the length of time that he remembers that particular rank sequence.

Example: Silently say 6,3,2 Ace mentally 4 times to your self.

632Ace, 632Ace 632 ace, 632 Ace. Now ask your self “what door card rank did the player located between the player with a 6 and the player with a 2 in the door have? Answer 3 of course.

By breaking the card rank’s into the sequences that you want to remember into groups of 3 or 4 and then silently repeating them 4 times, you have made the peptide chain of that sequence in your brain thicker.

It may be only thick enough to remember them for 3 minutes, but that is all the time that you need.

4 What is a memory technique that you can use to remember the sequence of cards as they were dealt on fourth fifth and sixth street?

Answer: In your mind mentally verbalize an imaginary occurrence.

Try this experiment, as a hand is being played mentally pretend that you are an ESPN announcer calling a stud hand play by play, to a national audience, for the world championship at the WSOP (world series of poker)

Research has shown that the more vividly you make the imaginary experience the easier it is to remember.

First change the names of the players to the rank of their door cards. For example Joe, Marry, and Sam will now have different names.

Joe’s name is now 6, Mary now is 3, Sam’s name will now have been changed to 2.

So your mental commentary might sound something like this;

“Door 6 catches a dangerous suited connector 7! Poor 3 caught a partially dead Ace, the bring in player 2 just paired his door card!”

“Watch out folks, Suited connectors and paired door cards can be dangerous. 2’s paired door card may not be as dangerous because 2 was the forced bring in.”

“ Hitting Aces are always a risk but it may not be as much in 3’s case since there already was one Ace out when players Ace, Queen, and 7 folded.”

(Note to my friends, if this technique is starting to sound a lot like the way that I dictate my hand analysis's, its because, this IS the technique I use. And once you have done it 100,000 times it becomes automatic)

5. When you have free time mentally play imaginary hands out card by card. Mentally play each possible strategy and counter strategy. In your mind ACTUALLY SEE THE CARDS as they are dealt. Repeat the hand over and over again, so that when you encounter it at the Casino your moves become almost automatic.

Ok so we have reviewed several techniques that you can use to keep track of the exposed stud cards. Now lets talk about memory enhancement in normal humans.

There are 3 major techniques and 4 minor techniques that we can use to enhance both or short term and long term memories.

No 1. Aerobic exercise. This has a major impact on memory. Chess playing became an obsession in the Soviet Union, and since Chess brought the USSR quite a bit of international prestige they had their scientist go to some lengths to find ways to enhance both memory and strategic analysis.

They divided their beginner Chess players into two groups and started one group on MILD aerobic exercise.

I.e. Walking or slow swimming, and what they found was that there was a profound increase by the exercises in both memory and strategic logic

(This is especially true for the first 4 hours after you exercise.) Try this experiment do a mild hour of aerobic exercise and then go directly to your poker room and see how you feel.

Answer: You will feel strong, sharp, and alert. Usualy for the first 3 or 4 hours.

When NASA started having our pilots do aerobic exercises they documented the same findings.

This is the end of post number one. But we still have some very exciting materials to cover. That I will cover in posts numbers 2 and 3.

And I’ll bet that before we are done, we will have taken your card memory capabilities to levels that you have never reached before.

That is if I can just remember those other 7 techniques that are!

One final important step!!!

Since card memory is so critical to playing advanced stud well. I would like you to take your copy of Seven-Card Stud for Advanced Players, and go to the blank pages in front of the table of contents. Or you can use the page in the back after the index.

Now write abbreviated summaries of the topics that we have covered.

1. Rank sequence memory technique: break ranks cards into groups of 3 or 4 and then mentally repeat each group, in the sequence that they were dealt 4 times each. (You may need to repeat this during the hand)

2 During a hand mentally change your opponents names to the rank of their door cards. I.e. Change Joe’s name to 6, Mary becomes 3, Tom becomes 2.

3.As each following street’s exposed cards are dealt, mentally imagine yourself as a commentator announcing the hand. I.e. “ Look 6 just caught a dangerous suited connector 7!

4 Mentally vividly conceptualize imaginary hands and mentally play them over and over again card by card. Using every possible strategies and counter strategies.

5 Work up to doing an hour’s worth of aerobic exercises a day. Try exercising and then going directly to the card room. You should be much sharper for 4 hours.

Thank you for raising this topic which I feel is vital to playing stud well.

Most Sincerely,
DocAZ

[AdamK]

Great post..
I'll read it all when I'm (more) sober [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Now - can you tell me how to remember the remaining 3 decks of cards after dealing 3 decks of 6 deck blackjack?

Sorry - I don't mean to be facetious, but when I've mastered this I'm gonna stop playing 3/6 stud.

BTW i think this is achievable given enough practise - hell, i should start now instead of goin to the dogs!

[Minnow]

This is very interesting. I've always been able to remember sequences of numbers fairly well, like phone numbers or whatever, and usually it's by repeating them a number of times to myself but I never related that to the thickness of a peptide chain and the more repeats the thicker the chain and the longer it will last. I have noticed when playing stud online that it's important to focus first on the 3 or 4 cards after the bringin because if they all happen to have checked the fold button those upcards will be gone in a flash. Up to this point because I know how quickly they can disappear I just take quick panicky glances at the cards and never am able to remember them all.

[dandy_don]

Hey Nef, do you have the URL saved? I'd like to find it again if you have it.

[nef]

no, i dont.
just go to the sidebar on twoplustwo main page and click archives. then click on "here" where it says newer archives can be found here. then click on stud. then go to drop down menu at bottom left and set it to "all posts" or whatever. then look towards the beginning of the posts like page 100 or so, until you see dates slightly after the post date a guy above said. then youll find it.