Dear Followers,
I have been putting some thought into the promotion of my book over the last few days. Although I am fairly satisfied with my follower growth over the last 2 months, and extremely happy with the re tweets and previews posted out there, I thought I would try something a little bolder when it came to promoting my book.
After all, I have met some truly awesome people through twitter, people whom I never would have met without social networking. I am in the process of sending advanced reading copies to other poker authors and some of my early blogger followers, but I really wanted to get connected to people across North America through this idea.
I want to personally train 5 people in the art of poker memory - for free. Well nothing is free, but the point is I do not want to take any money from these followers. I would accept in exchange a blog written about their current memory power, grades in high school/college and a published memory test of cards before they start their training, and a short article on their memory training each week they are in the program. I would aim to have the training done in 8 weeks although I reserve the right to make the training longer or shorter as I have never done this before. The training would be done through video chat once a week and we would cover the major memory training exercises in the book, with 7 days in between to practise the techniques and build those connections between neurons.
I would ask that these blogs not publish how the techniques are done, but their feelings, trials tribulations of going through the process and whether they feel that their memory is trainable and how much it has improved from the start of the program. I am confident the 5 followers that are chosen will train themselves to do remarkable things with their memories and in the end learn a skill that I wish I had learned in grade school. My life would have been a lot easier. Should this be the case, I would also ask that if I have benefited you at all through my training, promote and talk about my book as if it were your own. It would be the best form of payment an author could have.
The training would begin the 3rd weekend in January, most likely Saturday afternoons and most likely be a 1 hour session, depending on the module we are doing. If you are interested in this, I would ask that you be absolutely committed to the process from start to finish - no quitting half way through.
I have one candidate who has agreed and another whom I would like to enrol, there are 4 possible spots left but most likely 3. If you can make the commitment, and you are interested in developing your mind, I would like you to answer the questions below in the comment section below and leave your twitter handle. I will choose 3 people based on the comments they leave.
Also this competition is not open to anyone in Winnipeg as I want my followers to know that any blogs written are truly unbiased. These will be followers I met through twitter in other cities.
1. Can you go through a shuffled deck of cards one by one and tell me what the the last card in the deck is after 51 cards have been played. I would like you to physically try it and comment on it.
2. Can you memorise a shuffled deck in sequence. Physically try and write a comment about it.
3. Below you will see the top 30 ranked hands in a full table of hold em, and the top 30 ranked hands heads up. You have one hour to memorise them in order. Can you do it? Try it and write your comments.
FT HU
1 AA 1 AA
2 KK 2 KK
3 QQ 3 QQ
4 JJ 4 JJ
5 AKS 5 TT
6 AQS 6 99
7 TT 7 88
8 KQS 8 AKS
9 AJS 9 77
10 AK 10 AQS
11 KJS 11 AJS
12 ATS 12 AK
13 QJS 13 ATS
14 KTS 14 AQ
15 AQ 15 AJ
16 99 16 KQS
17 QTS 17 66
18 JTS 18 A9S
19 KQ 19 AT
20 A9S 20 KJS
21 AJ 21 A8S
22 K9S 22 KTS
23 88 23 KQ
24 KJ 24 A7S
25 A8S 25 A9
26 Q9S 26 KJ
27 T9S 27 55
28 QJ 28 QJS
29 J9S 29 K9S
30 AT 30 A5S
4. Where are you from and tell me why you want to train your memory?
5. Name the poker champion that was said to have an eidetic memory and what his best game was.
I look forward to your comments. My 5 followers will be listed in the 2nd week of January which is approximately one month from now. Good luck and may the best followers win!
Bennett Onika.
Hello Bennett,
ReplyDeleteI thought I'd take the time and try for the shot at being trained. I haven't yet bought your book, which last I checked still wasn't available on Kindle, but I also see Amazon says it hasn't been released yet... anyway, here's to trying for the memory training.
1. I have tried to do this, and taken a couple of different approaches to it. First, I tried to memorize each card 4 times, and figure out which I had to remember I hadn't seen yet, I get pretty confused or mentally tired, with more practice that model might work for me. Second way I tried was to remember each card of a suit, this was less successful as 13 cards per suit was more difficult.
2. No chance of this, maybe 11 cards I could get right, but thats only by trying to remember the 11 cards.
3. through many hours of studying I know I could do it, I know most of the top ranked hands, in general order through using Pokerstove a lot, but with time I know I could devise a convention that will help with this.
4. I'm from Sherwood Park Alberta, we've talked a bit on Twitter in the past, and you've seen my blog postings. This year I'm more focused on completely some mental training rather than focus on poker. I have some help with the ABCs of poker, which I have proven time and time again that I can succeed at, but over the long run, I take mental hits and blow out my known working game, and substitute tilt for winning. So far, I know my emotional control is my downfall. I've bought Jared Tendler's book (who I see you've been talking to on Twitter as well ;)) and that book has given me the awareness of a lot of my leaks. your concepts of Training Memory seems like a logical step.
5. You might be asking for Stu Ungar, who I've read up on, and seen the movie based on his life... Now its also said that Chris Ferguson has a photographic memory as well, so could be either guy.
Hope this is kind of what you're looking for.
Thank you for the consideration.
Damien
@damienvince
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNew goals, new year by @damienvince
ReplyDeleteWell folks, to those who have read my blog in the past, you know that its been a long time since my last post. I was using the blog for some sort of sanity as well as the ability to document the progress of my poker playing. I had a goal that may or may not have been realistic, but in the end I'm where I am because of it.
I truly believe that my 'poker' skill has improved over the last couple of years, I'm no longer always playing cards, but trying to make sense of play and decisions, as well as making decisions as I go based on logic. Though I still have a ways to go to becoming a significant winning poker player, 2012 will be different. I spent a lot of time last year evaluating myself, and trying to realize what has gone wrong with my game. I know now, that a lot of it is me, not my poker skills. Tilt is my #1 enemy. I don't tilt easily anymore, as the more I've learned over the past couple of years, helps me understand why things happen. I spent some time reading a book by Jared Tendler and Barry Carter, The Mental Game of Poker, I recommend this to anyone who plays, as well as anyone who has emotional problems in any aspect of your life.
The next step on my journey came apon me without me looking. Bennett Onika from Winnepeg started following me on twitter, I followed back which then got a conversation going. He wrote a book on the memory aspect of poker, this intrigued me. This followed my new path, no longer focussing on poker strategy, but getting more tools for the toolbox that helps me use higher level thinking to get better. Anyway, we got talking and recently offered to train some of his poker followers in exchange for writing about it. I'm in... no matter what it takes, I'm in.
Bennett contacted me yesterday and gave me the good news that I had been accepted. His book comes out in April, I'm going to be putting in as many hours as I need to under Bennett's supervision, and I'll document the progress here.
Thanks for following
D
Jan 21, 2012 7:49:14 PM | Games
First challenges by @damienvince
ReplyDeleteBennett has asked me to shuffle 1 full deck of cards, take out 10 random cards and see if I can figure out which ones by going through the deck.
7:50pm shuffled deck, took 10 out
2d, 3d, As, 4s, Ac, 5H, Kh, Js, 6d, Jd
7:55pm finished as best I figured by the cards listed above.
5 minutes to figure out 10 cards, probably not a great time, but I changed strategies half way through, originally I started going through each number, whoops, that would take 13 tries, then I went the suits route, by the time I got to the Spades, I was already remembering which I hadn't seen, so was a quick check to make sure those cards and then the diamonds, and good to go. Now I'll check the 10 cards:
I got 1 wrong, somehow thought I was missing the As, but it was the Ac, If i had of reviewed my work, I probably would have gotten that one ;)
Second challenge
also want you to test your memory and try to remember 20 cards shuffled in sequence:
8:00pm
8:05pm holy crap. I ignored the suits after the first 6 cards... of which I got them, but was having a rough time, I consistently got through 14 cards correctly (without suits) and the last 6 were a blur.
A couple minutes later, I reviewed the cards one time, and went through them 18/20... still without suits.
Jan 21, 2012 8:07:14 PM | Games
Hi Bennett and readers, I am going to embark on Bennett's path using his methods toward improving memory at poker. Clearly, it's not the only thing that needs improving in my poker game but I am happy to improve what I can. Do I think it will work? Because there's plenty room for improvement, I'm sure it will work to some extent. Will I be able to increase my memory in a way that is truly awesome? I am not quite so sure about that, but I'm willing to keep an open mind. I can have trouble remembering people's names that I've played poker with dozens of times, so any help in memory enhancement is appreciated. I'm very curious though - how can an enhanced memory help me at poker. It's not like I'm counting cards.... what is this benefit that I may gain through developing these skills. Curious, yes I am.
ReplyDeleteSo I've completed my initial baselines and the results were pretty bad! The first task I came close. I identified the six of spades but no, the missing card was the four of diamonds. The next task I was able to successfully memorize 18 cards!! but was pretty worn out after that and decided to let that be my result. I moved on to the next task last night and took a break that lasted till this morning. It finally did me in. What a challenge. The good news is that it was so difficult to remember two lists of 30 two-card hands, that I ended up cleaning the bathroom, a chore I only do when the alternative is even more challenging. So, thank you Bennett, that bathroom's clean now. And, I can see the value of those 30 hands per type. I took more detailed notes, but for now, this is my story.
ReplyDeleteI've now had two sessions with Bennett and I am amazed. As I prepare for my next session I find that my confidence in being able to memorize huge quantities of information has soared. After the first session I began learning to connect the images and cards with each other. I still find myself occaisionally counting up my body to get the the right number and racking my memory of the image by going through the vowels. It was good that Bennett told me that making the card/image connection is the hardest part. I agree and I still struggle however it's moving along as well. When I was able to remember 20 cards in order correctly and without too much hesitation (about 10 minutes), that was very cool and I think the moment when the confidence engine did a little roar. So I've got my 10 loci now memorized and, because I don't have that many rooms, I've included a wide variety of locations including Foxwoods Casino cash room, the pool at the club and my car! Hope that works.
ReplyDeleteI was up early this morning and decided it was a perfect time to memorize my deck of cards. I checked the time...4am ....i got down to business. I had a few fill my coffeecup breaks, but continued my journey thru my apartment, to th gym, the pool, my car, Foxwoods casino, my office lobby and finally my office... I forgot to remember 2 final places and was a little surprised to find the 2 remaining cards, but that didnt last long....I noted card 51 and thought, hey I wonder if I can figure out what the 52nd card was and low & be hold, I did it, I guessed right. Then i went back and in order named all 52 cards ( ok I missed one) but once I realized I'd only named 4 items in the bathroom I got that card right too. I checked the clock 4:55am! I bet I could still run the cards thru right now @ 7 pm.. Wow, amazing. It is quite cool ... this loci thing works. Bennett is a very good teacher. When he gets too busy to take on students, maybe I could teach this too.!..yep, that's what happens when you get up before most of north America! It's me Mary of Pondering Poker! From my iPad.
ReplyDeleteJust finished talking with Bennett. Another great session filled with value packed information! This could actually make me a better player... I love it! So I have a couple of lists to memorize and then put to use some real work at the poker tables when I play this weekend. Can't wait to test this out. VPIP - voluntarily put money into the pot.... memory technique that offers an easy way to calculate the percentage. Then later, make better decisions using this information coupled with my hand info... good stuff. Thanks Bennett!
ReplyDelete