@DavidSmith First attempt at Memory Test

This is Day 1 of my poker memory journey: I was asked by Bennett Onika to blog my progress and one of the first things he wanted me to do is go through a series of questions so we can figure out my baseline of memory.

Question #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.

On my first try I got the answer wrong. For the second try I tried to keep track of which cards came by saying 1 Ace, 2 Ace, 1 King, 1 Nine, etc. This last card was a Nine Club, I guest 4 Club. The third try I did the same thing and ended 7 hr, the last card was 3 club. After the fourth attempt I guest Ace of spades correctly.

Question #2: Can you memorize a shuffled deck in sequence. Physically try and write a comment about it.

I am at the beginner stage of memorization so I timed myself to see how long it would take for me to memorize a shuffled deck in sequence. It took me approximately 1 hour 5 minutes and 42 seconds to go through the entire deck of cards and only have 3 errors! For my first time, that’s not bad at all.

Question #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 memorize 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

Instead of learning all 60 hands (30 FT, 30 HU) I combined to two columns into one. This gave me a total of 38 combinations instead of 60. I broke the combinations down to 4 different sections and I ended up with 10, 10,10,8 which totaled up to 38. I also put a melody together to help memorize the combinations as well. Unfortunately I did not finish in the allotted time so I will again tomorrow.

Question #4: Where are you from and tell me why you want to train your memory?

My name is Michael Smith and I currently reside in Atlanta, GA. I want to train my memory because I believe I will be able to use this knowledge not only in poker but also in other aspects of my life as well. My goal is to be the best at whatever I do, so if enhancing my memory will help me reach my goal, then so be it.

Question #5: Name the poker champion that was said to have an eidetic memory and what his best game was. Stu Ungar and his favorite game was Gin Rummy

It took me 3 hours to go through all of the questions. With daily practice, I will have that time down in the single digits.