The Poker Memory Training begins

The next day I was so excited about my new memory recall I ferociously read everything I could about the brain, recall and how memories are stored. I also was determined to perfect the methods used to see which cards have been played and which ones haven't.

I worked on my speed every night until after about a week I was satisfied with the results. I then progressed to try to remember a deck in sequence. That required more research and other programs. I ordered every book I could and even some audio memory programs and finally came up with a system that I could easily remember a deck in sequence and retain it for as long as I wanted. In fact I became so good at retaining it I would sometimes get mixed up from the night before.

One late afternoon after work I was with some buddies having drinks. The one buddy was skeptical about my memory abilities and I challenged him to a bet - which he eagerly accepted.

$100 on whether I could memorize a shuffled deck in sequence and recite it 24 hours later after one viewing!

It wasn't really fair, not only did I recite all 52 cards he asked me what card number 28 was and I would instantly reply with the correct answer.

I went on to learn all 50 states in alphabetical order, their nicknames and their capitals, Super Bowl winners losers, even all the best pictures from 1928 till today.

My wife can give me entire shopping lists and I can recite them in order and never have to write them down. This indeed was an incredible skill.

What was really crazy was that I was just a normal guy with what I thought was an OK memory. I didn't know that your memory could be trained. It made me angry that I wasn't exposed to this in high school. I could have aced all my subjects and had plenty of time to do other things.

Still as good as I thought I was there were memory champions that made me look like I was playing in a sandbox. Ben Pridmore memorized a deck in 24 seconds. It takes me about 9 minutes on a good day.

For about 2 months I had studied memory techniques and never really made the connection to poker.

Then one day it hit me. I remembered reading a book about Stu Ungar and how he had an eidetic memory and how he used it to win tournaments.

I then started looking for memory poker books. Poker memory books, any type of book with memory and poker. None existed.

Could it be that I was the first one to connect the two?

I remember thinking there has to be a way to use this to my advantage at the poker table.

But how?

My next post A poker memory system is born!

Bennett Onika