Actually Memorizing the Cards Played

D

dlow-

New Member
Hi all,

I've never played blackjack at a casino, but recently episodes of Malcolm in the Middle and Monk have showed the main characters actually memorizing all the cards drawn and basically cleaning up, which is very appealing to me. I believe that with a little bit of practice (couple of weeks, probably) I could also remember which cards have been played and which remain in the shoe.

What I'm wondering is if being able to remember the cards drawn would really be such an asset. I don't know much about counting systems, but I would imagine that they are advanced enough to approximate the same thing with considerably less work. Is it worth spending some time to organize my memory such that I can remember all the cards played, or is it better to try to learn a good counting system (or not bother with blackjack at all?)? Does anyone here use the system of memorizing the cards played?

Thanks a lot for your opinion.
 
Brutus

Brutus

Well-Known Member
An old friend could memorize all the cards, so that he knew the last card in a deck. good blackjack player too.

If you could get 100% deck penetration that would be something worth trying. but, no casinos do that. read up in this forum about the different methods, maybe even buy some books here.
 
supercoolmancool

supercoolmancool

Well-Known Member
I am not an expert but I think I remember a similar question asked and someone said that your advantage would be insignificant compared to just normal card counting.
 
zengrifter

zengrifter

Banned
supercoolmancool said:
I am not an expert but I think I remember a similar question asked and someone said that your advantage would be insignificant compared to just normal card counting.
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Correct. zg
 
D

dlow-

New Member
Thanks for the help! I should be more wary and not let TV shows get my hopes up on such things.:laugh:
 
Sonny

Sonny

Well-Known Member
dlow- said:
Thanks for the help! I should be more wary and not let TV shows get my hopes up on such things.:laugh:
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The good news is that card counting is MUCH easier than memorizing cards, and it is very effective. Just don't believe the Rain Man story that you have to be a genius or that "nobody can count a six deck shoe." :rolleyes:

-Sonny-
 
C

Cass

Well-Known Member
dlow- said:
Hi all,

I've never played blackjack at a casino, but recently episodes of Malcolm in the Middle and Monk have showed the main characters actually memorizing all the cards drawn and basically cleaning up, which is very appealing to me. I believe that with a little bit of practice (couple of weeks, probably) I could also remember which cards have been played and which remain in the shoe.

What I'm wondering is if being able to remember the cards drawn would really be such an asset. I don't know much about counting systems, but I would imagine that they are advanced enough to approximate the same thing with considerably less work. Is it worth spending some time to organize my memory such that I can remember all the cards played, or is it better to try to learn a good counting system (or not bother with blackjack at all?)? Does anyone here use the system of memorizing the cards played?

Thanks a lot for your opinion.
Click to expand...
I honestly dont believe anyone could memorize all the cards played out. Maybe on a single deck game. If you had a different basic strategy for each card that was played out so you would always be making the highest percentage play, i think it would be very profitable. To me this seems impossible.
 
Mikeaber

Mikeaber

Well-Known Member
Sonny said:
The good news is that card counting is MUCH easier than memorizing cards, and it is very effective. Just don't believe the Rain Man story that you have to be a genius or that "nobody can count a six deck shoe." :rolleyes:

-Sonny-
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know you can't count a 6D shoe . I tried this morning and hate to say that I only doubled a $100 buy in on a $3 table in 3 one hour sessions using a $3 unit and with a 1:10 spread. This is at a casino where more than one dealer has assured that counting a 6D shoe is impossible. Granted, this is far above the expected hourly profit, but, it was "honest". I mean, no large bets that were not on high counts and straight BS with the Preferred KO indices.
 
zengrifter

zengrifter

Banned
Mikeaber said:
Yeah, I know you can't count a 6D shoe . I tried this morning and hate to say that I only doubled a $100 buy in on a $3 table in 3 one hour sessions using a $3 unit and with a 1:10 spread.
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You MUST exit at -1 or lower! zg
 
Sonny

Sonny

Well-Known Member
Remembering is easy, playing is hard

Cass said:
I honestly dont believe anyone could memorize all the cards played out. Maybe on a single deck game.
Click to expand...
Back in 1993 the memory expert Doninic O'Brein memorized 2080 cards (40 decks!) and was able to recite them with only 1 error. The current world record for number of cards memorized is 2808 (54 decks!:eek: ), although Dominic did make 8 mistakes that time. Still, that’s pretty f%&@ing amazing…:)

Cass said:
If you had a different basic strategy for each card that was played out so you would always be making the highest percentage play, i think it would be very profitable.
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Memorizing the cards is not the hard part. The hard part is knowing what to do with that information. Check out the bottom of this article for a fun story about Snyder’s Folly:

http://www.blackjackforumonline.com/content/sdcnt.htm

-Sonny-
 
Mikeaber

Mikeaber

Well-Known Member
zengrifter said:
You MUST exit at -1 or lower! zg
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I would be much more ahead had I Wonged. I actually did Wong in on a shoe at Isle of Capri in KC this morning. Hit it with quarter bets right at the end of the shoe and came out $125 ahead. I saw my wife and told them I had to color up and leave. No sweat. It will not be that easy here. There are several tables, but only one pit upstairs and then there are two pits downstairs. I'll be giving them a shot.

ZG....I told them that I had severe back problems and was doped on hydrocodone. Actuentated that by sitting down on an ashtray and "zoning out" a couple of times. They never gave it a thought when I scattered bets up to $30. The back problems were not a farce, but the drugs were. I had them counting my hand for me <LOL>.
 
zengrifter

zengrifter

Banned
Mikeaber said:
I would be much more ahead had I Wonged. I actually did Wong in on a shoe at Isle of Capri in KC this morning. Hit it with quarter bets right at the end of the shoe and came out $125 ahead. I saw my wife and told them I had to color up and leave. No sweat. It will not be that easy here. There are several tables, but only one pit upstairs and then there are two pits downstairs. I'll be giving them a shot.

ZG....I told them that I had severe back problems and was doped on hydrocodone. Actuentated that by sitting down on an ashtray and "zoning out" a couple of times. They never gave it a thought when I scattered bets up to $30. The back problems were not a farce, but the drugs were. I had them counting my hand for me <LOL>.
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You don't neeed to leave the table - just don't place a bet at -1 or lower. zg
 
D

dlow-

New Member
Cass said:
I honestly dont believe anyone could memorize all the cards played out. Maybe on a single deck game. If you had a different basic strategy for each card that was played out so you would always be making the highest percentage play, i think it would be very profitable. To me this seems impossible.
Click to expand...
Memorizing the cards one after the other, sequentially, would likely be impossible for me; some people are capable of that, most of them fully aware of it early on (i.e. that skill likely can't be trained). Conceptualizing a stack for each type of card though (and since this is blackjack, memorizing suits is not necessary) and remembering the value for each stack is comparatively quite simple and I'd imagine there a lot of people here who could memorize them in that fashion with a bit of training. It's not about what data is memorized, but how it is organized mentally to be conducive to retention for the needed amount of time.

Kind of a moot point though, given the responses of the thread. Off to read the stickied links I go!
 
Sonny

Sonny

Well-Known Member
Memorizing cards is actually pretty easy. A lot of players who use ace sequencing have to remember several sequences of 3-4 cards in each shoe. The easiest way is to give a different “name” to each card, then imagine a story or image using those names.

For example, the four of clubs could be “Fork” (the word "four" with a hard "k" sound at the end for clubs) the Jack of spades could be “Jazz” (Jack + the "s" sound of Spades) and the six of diamonds could be “Sid” (You probably get it by now :p ) To remember those cards, just picture Sid holding a fork and dancing like Bill Cosby and you’ll remember the cards!

It can be hard to come up with good names for every card, but there are lost of lists out there. The MIT kids used the same keywords that memory expert (and former world record holder) Sal Piacente used, although I use a modified version of these lists:

http://www.thememorypage.net/how-to-count-cards/
http://www.ludism.org/mentat/PlayingCardSystems

-Sonny-
 
G

Gregory

Well-Known Member
Sonny said:
Memorizing cards is actually pretty easy. A lot of players who use ace sequencing have to remember several sequences of 3-4 cards in each shoe. The easiest way is to give a different “name” to each card, then imagine a story or image using those names.

For example, the four of clubs could be “Fork” (the word "four" with a hard "k" sound at the end for clubs) the Jack of spades could be “Jazz” (Jack + the "s" sound of Spades) and the six of diamonds could be “Sid” (You probably get it by now :p ) To remember those cards, just picture Sid holding a fork and dancing like Bill Cosby and you’ll remember the cards!

It can be hard to come up with good names for every card, but there are lost of lists out there. The MIT kids used the same keywords that memory expert (and former world record holder) Sal Piacente used, although I use a modified version of these lists:

http://www.thememorypage.net/how-to-count-cards/
http://www.ludism.org/mentat/PlayingCardSystems

-Sonny-
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Jesus. I can barely remember my cat's name. :eek:
 
Sonny

Sonny

Well-Known Member
jimbiggs said:
My cat's name is Cat.
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In that case, you could think of your cat every time you saw the ace of clubs! :) Also, your dog would be the seven of diamonds, your hen would be the two of hearts, your hog would be the seven of hearts, and your cock (I assume they mean the animal!) would be the seven of clubs. If you lived on a farm you would have already memorized most of the cards! :laugh:

-Sonny-
 
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