• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 05:47
CEST 11:47
KST 18:47
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Rough Waters10[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Siren's Call8[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Summer's End9Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2915Serral wins Maestros of the Game 244
Community News
StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon58Weekly Cups (Aug 30-Sep 7): herO thrives amid growing schism10Official StarCraft website teases new content ahead of BlizzCon?168Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20)9Weekly Cups (August 24-30): Patches' balance mod takes over3
StarCraft 2
General
StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon How do you feel about the StarCraft shooter announcement at BlizzCon 2026? Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16) Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners Weekly Cups (Aug 30-Sep 7): herO thrives amid growing schism
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 KSL Week #92 IntoTheTV X SOOP SC2 League : Weekly & Monthly 2026 GSTL Announcement
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
Mutation # 542 The Ascended Mutation # 541 Binary Choice The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 540 Dodge This
Brood War
General
Official StarCraft website teases new content ahead of BlizzCon? BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Broodwar Prediction Market Practice Partners (Official) [D] Brainstorming a balance patch for Brood war
Tourneys
[ASL22] Ro16 Group B [ASL22] Ro16 Group A Escore Tournament - Season 3 Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Replay Review Process - What do you do? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation Game Theory for Starcraft
Other Games
General Games
Diablo IV EVE Corporation Nintendo Switch Thread [Maplestory Hardcore] Let's Play~!! General RTS Discussion Thread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish TSM pausing esports and CLG Dead
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Trading/Investing Thread UK Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The Creator Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Diablo Animated Series on Netflix Movie Discussion!
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Northern Ireland Global Starcraft
Blogs
Virtual Romance, Real-Life C…
TrAiDoS
Regacy Esports:Our Goa…
regacyesports
Dreaming of BW patches (mod…
c3rberUs
LOCKPICKING NOOB
LUCKY_NOOB
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 7645 users

[G]: Memorizing a Deck of Cards

Blogs > rad301
Post a Reply
Normal
rad301
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Canada196 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-15 00:37:35
June 30 2011 16:00 GMT
#1
Unimportant:
+ Show Spoiler +

It's been a damn long time since I've made a post on Teamliquid. After I stopped playing Broodwar, it seemed silly to keep posting here. Regardless, I've frequented this website for almost 3 years now, and I think it's time I did my best to give you all something you'll love, (at least I hope).


Important:
Yes, this is a guide for exactly what the title says. Hopefully this will answer the next few questions that pop into your head:

-Yes, any regular deck, any order, no silly little tricks
-No, you won't be memorizing some rhyme or mnemonic
-No, it doesn't take a great memory. Mine sucks, although it's gotten better since I've done this trick.
-Yes, you will actually be able to recite each card of the deck, in order, backwards or forwards, be able to tell someone what the 18th card is, and more.
-Yes, it is absolutely possible to recite a deck of cards as such. Dave Farrow recited 52 ecks* in order.
-Yes, Just like most other things, you will need to put a decent number of hours in to become good at this.

I hope that clarifies things a bit. If you are curious about how much time it would take to be able to memorize the deck at a decent speed, don't be alarmed. As you'll see, it's not that part which takes a huge amount of time but the preliminaries, at least in my case.

Here's the basic steps which you will need to complete. I'll explain each one later:
1. Create a list of Peg Characters
2. Create a memory map/memory palace/whatever you feel like calling it
3. Start memorizing/reciting 10-20 cards, then move up
4. Practice memorizing the deck faster

A few more things to note:
The techniques which we will employ are gathered from authors and mentalists such as Dominic O'Brien and Derren Brown, two people whom I very much look up to. You will be using a combination of the Memory Palace or Memory Map method, and a peg system which links people or characters you are familiar with to a specific card. This allows you to indirectly memorize the exact order of a deck, granted that you have 52 unique locations on your memory map, and each card is linked to the appropriate peg. I'll help you out with creating the peg system as well as the memory map later. Please keep in mind that while I've pilfered these techniques from others, I may add in a few things here and there that helped me.

Let's begin:
1. Create a list of peg characters/people
I found this to be the most time consuming task, but thankfully for you I've done most of the hard work. I'll tell you how I made my list, then you can pick and choose from my suggestions if you get stumped.
Here's how to find the people you want:
1 - A
2 - B
3 - C
4 - D
5 - E
6 - S
7 - T
8 - H
9 - N
0 - O

The above is a labeling scheme which will help you think of people. The next step is pretty obvious
D - Diamonds
C - Clubs
S - Spades
H - Hearts

Combining the two, we get the following:
6 of Diamonds = DS
10 of Hearts = HO (teehee)

Yes, it's that simple. Here's where you've got to start writing things down. On a piece of paper or in notepad, make a list of each card in the deck separated by suit. You can include face cards, but I'll talk about them later. It should look something like:

H1
H2
H3
...
D1
D2
D3
... etc.

Once you've got your list down, it's time to start populating it. Let's start with the Ace of Hearts. When you translate the card into it's initials, you get HA (the A comes from 1 - A). Who's the first person that you can think of, fictitious or otherwise, associated with HA? Perhaps it's someone with the initials H.A., or perhaps you're like me and you instantly pictured Nelson from the Simpsons, with his trade mark laugh. Either way, what sticks in your mind is what's important.

Now the fun part. Do that for every card. Sometimes the letters form a sound like the above example, or sometimes they form initials. Either way, this can become a very time consuming process, so be prepared to spend a while on it. Believe me, it's worth it in the end.

To speed along the process, here's a list of suggestions. Some will be blank since they will be personal to me, or too obscure for most to understand

H1 Nelson (simpsons)
H2 Obscure
H3 Jesus (Holy Christ!)
H4 Obscure
H5 Herman Li (It doesn't have to be exact initials, so I went with H.E., for Herman)
H6 Howard Stern
H7 High Templar
H8 Hulk Hogan
H9 Obscure
H10 (perhaps a very friendly and open male or female you know of, or perhaps paris hilton.)

S1 Personal
S2 Steve Ballmer (Microsoft CEO)
S3 Steve Carell
S4 Seline Dion (Yes, I know it's spelled Celine. If all else fails use this)
S5 obscure
S6 Sarah Silverman (This one is lame, since I'm not a fan of her.)
S7 Steven Tyler (Aerosmith)
S8 Stephen Hawking (Naturally)
S9 Steve Nash (Basketball player)
S10 Obscure

D1 Dalai Lama (I say Dalai Lama, but I picture Gandhi from Clone high. as long as I make that association, it still works fine.)
D2 Derren Brown (mentalist), Doyle Brunson (for poker fans)
D3 Don Cherry (More of a Canadian thing.)
D4 Danny Devito (Angry short man)
D5 Obscure (This one is really damn hard, as far as I was concerned)
D6 David Spade (funny man)
D7 Dark Templar
D8 David hasslehoff
D9 Day Nine (Duh), Daniel Negreanu (Poker Pro)
D10 Homer Simpson (comes from DO, Doh)

C1 Chris Angel (I don't like him, but his antics work well for memory)
C2 Chris Berman (football dude, funny voice)
C3 Charlie Chaplain (the comedy guy with the hitler stash)
C4 Cameron Diaz (I had a lot of trouble with this one as well, but she works fine)
C5 Clint Eastwood (badass)
C6 Charlie Sheen (this one got easier to remember as of late, I wonder why?)
C7 Chris Tucker (Black guy with the high voice)
C8 Chris Hansen (Would you take a seat over there?)
C9 Chuck Norris (Yeah)
C10 Colon Powell (Another tough one. Military General)

Now comes the face cards. The face cards aren't particularly difficult, if you follow the scheme presented by Dominic O'brien. For each suit, pick a theme for the face cards. The schemem I use is: Diamonds - Rich people, Hearts - Sex symbols or people with lots of 'heart', Clubs - Voilent people, Spades - people with black hair. For example, my king of diamonds is Bill Gates, and my Queen of clubs is a friend of mine who happens to be a small yet violent korean girl. Be creative, and try to use what comes to mind first.

We're almost done the first step, but there is one last piece of the puzzle. Once your list is completely populated, you'll need to create an action appropriate for each card peg. For example, Chuck Norris' action is roundhouse kicking someone/something, Day9's action is the trumpet dance, and Howard stern blows fire out of his asshole. This is a very important step, so don't skip it.

How to practice: I don't expect you to memorize each card peg within a short period of time, as I didn't. Here's how I practiced memorizing which card is attached to which character. Start with one suit, and sort it out of the deck. Now start going through the cards you have one by one, attempting to guess what the character is for the card. First off, the above system will give you a starting point. Let's say you chose spades, and the first card is the 8 of spades. First, you translate the card into a the two letters. 8 of spades = SH. Thinking for a bit, you should arrive at Stephen Hawking, or whatever you chose. If you get completely stumped, which even happens to me at times, have your list handy. It took me about 5 runs through each suit to have a decent success rate, and when you are confident enough, shuffle the suits together and do this for the whole deck. I'd expect to put in about 1-3 hours to get good at this.

2 - Create a memory palace/map/I just call it a mind map.

Alright, if you've followed the previous steps, then you are now able to associate each card with a "card peg", which makes memorization a breeze in comparison. Now comes the second step.

Think of an area you know quite well. Perhaps a walk/bike ride/drive to work/school, or perhaps your workplace/school. You may also use your house, but keep in mind that this mind map must have 52 unique locations if you wish to remember the entire deck, and if you live in a house like mine, that isn't really an option. The mind map I use for cards is of my high school. I know the layout through and through, and there are more than enough unique locations for each card peg to reside. Once you have an area in mind, I recommend grabbing a piece of paper, and making a rough diagram (very rough is fine, you just need the dimensions really) of the area. Place little markers for each of the locations on the diagram. This helps to make your route more concrete in your head. NOTE!!!!!: You must always travel through this area in the same pattern every time. This is how you retain the order of the cards.

This is another pretty big step. If you wish, start with a smaller number of locations in the area for practice. I started with about 10, and moved up in tens from there. It took quite a while before I had the my route set up with exactly 52 locations.

Here's another thing to note. A school is by far one of the best choices, as remembering which card peg is where becomes far easier when they can interact with the location. By using a school full of teachers you know, even to a small degree, allows the card peg to interact with that teacher/person. For example, in one of my locations there is a teacher who is very spiteful and sarcastic, and acts as such towards whatever card peg I place in his room at the time. Interaction is very important.

3 - Combining the steps;memorizing the deck

You've made your card pegs, and you have your mind map set up. Now you can finally test out your memory capabilities. I'll start you off with the steps I go through for memorizing a deck, or even just a few cards. Note: Dominic O'Brien recommends going through your mind map and imagining it completely devoid of any pegs before starting on the deck, to sort of refresh it from prior attempts. I don't really do this, but try it and see if it helps.

Alright, I've shuffled the deck, and I reach for the first card. I'm actually doing this right now btw. I see the 2 of clubs, which translates to CB, or Chris Berman. Chris Berman is a football announcer, who was made internet famous by having a meltdown on his show. As you can probably guess, his action is freaking out. My first location happens to be my homeroom, which also happens to be a computer lab. After I've deduced that it's Chris Berman, I imagine him freaking out at my homeroom teacher. Interaction is the key, so have them banter back and forth, and involve the location with the card peg. Unfortunately this is where long hours of practice come in handy. At this point, it takes me anywhere from 5-20 seconds to imagine this little event taking place. This means that it can take me over 10 minutes to memorize a deck of cards, but fear not. Dominic can apparently do this in less than a second at times. His record is like 56 seconds for a whole deck or something.

Alright, it's time to move to the next location, where the aforementioned process simply repeats itself until I finished the whole deck. It shouldn't take you a huge amount of time to get an entire deck perfect, which is a plus. Also keep in mind that every time you do this trick it will get easier and faster, and if you stick with it for a while then you should start to reap some of the benefits that I have, including a better memory in general.

-----------------------------------------------------------

If you've read this far, then I applaud you. If you've completed one or more of the steps I've laid out successfully, then I thank you for making my time well worth it. If one person can succesfully perform this trick by reading my post, then I will be very happy.

To make things further easier, here's a list of tips and tricks you can use:
-Try to involve as many senses as possible with each interaction between the card peg and the location. When I use Howard stern, he's often shooting fire onto the teacher in the room he's in, so I imagine the stench of burning hair and farts.
-Use sex, violence, comedy, entropy, irregularity, or anything else you can think of to make things easier. A number of my card pegs have actions based on exactly these things.
-If you have a lot of trouble with a particular card, consider changing the corresponding peg. Certain people may have obvious actions attributed to them, but these actions need to be vivid and unique. Doyle Brunson sitting in a corner playing hold'em with 10 2 may be alright, but Doyle Brunson with a ridiculously large cowboy hat walking into a classroom filled with people makes for a great scene.
-Take your time when reciting the cards after you've memorized them. 90% of my errors come from trying to go to fast and messing up the translation from the card peg back to the card itself. You want to be quick memorizing the cards, but there isn't such a time factor when reciting them. It actually seems cooler when you take it slow.
-A card peg doesn't necessarily have to follow the formula I mentioned above. My 10 of spades has absolutely no relation to the letters SO, but for some odd reason I don't even need to translate it.
-With enough practice, you won't need to translate any of the cards. I'm not at that point yet though.

Other neat tricks:
I pulled this one out of my ass at one family dinner. I grabbed a deck, shuffled it, threw out 5 cards, then flipped threw the deck paying attention only to the card peg. When I was done, I systematically went threw my list of pegs in my head, and I could quite easily figure out if one of them wasn't a card that I saw when I went threw the deck. I only managed to get 3 of them, but considering the performance was 100% ad lib, I was still happy with the result.

My brother and I (him more so) are into Hold'em, and we thought it would be cool to memorize a deck, then let a round play out, and predict which hand would win, and with what cards. Neither of us have gotten around to attempting this, but it from what I've seen it wouldn't be too difficult, but it would take a lot of thought.

Afterthoughts:
I am no expert on this subject, it's simply a hobby of mine. As such, there may be methods or ways of teaching methods simpler than the ones I have laid out. The reality is the methods I've showed you are exactly how I learned. Unfortunately for me, I didn't have as much guidance as I hope you will have. If you have any questions whatsoever, please ask. I will do my best to help.

To the people who will say "Why would you waste your time with this?": Aside from the benefit of a better memory in general, a certain man by the name of Dave Farrow, who specializes in this type of thing, is apparently able to retain mass quantities of information in short periods of time, and has used this ability to become an expert on a variety of subjects. While I can't verify that his methods are linked to the methods I've shown you, I can with confidence say that an ability of this nature could spawn from a similar method that I've shown you. Once my finals are over, I'll begin working on something of this nature myself.

Thank you TL, for being hands-down the best damn website on the internet (for most things anyway .

P.s. I'll be updating the peg list with the list used in Dominic O'Brien's book later on. It's definately directed more towards an old movie buff or someone from the U.K. (Dominic is English). I'll also get my brother to write out his list, since I think it's full of Poker people.

Update: Unfortunately, I've decided against adding Dominic O'Brien's peg list. This is for three reasons. For starters, although a large majority of the material I wrote about is paraphrased from his works more or less, he didn't invent the principles behind it, whereas his list was created by him. Secondly, as I mentioned before, his list contains a very large number of people who would likely be rather unfamiliar to TL's demographic, and thus quite useless in my opinion. Finally, the ebook with the list on it is apparently on a different hard drive back at my parent's place (I just moved out) so it would be quite irritating to get ahold of, and not really worth my time to bother with.

However, when my brother get's home from work I'll get him to write down his list, and I'll post it here later. His list is largely based on poker players, but it should offer some insights.

Also, for anyone interested, I wrote a small console application when I was taking C++ last year, which functions as a substitue for anyone without a real deck of cards. The program is supposed to ask for the number of cards you want to memorize, display each card one by one, then get you to recite them in order back to the computer. You have to guess correctly to advance to the next card. It's a downright awful program (I'm no programmer), but it gets the job done, and it doesn't seem to have any errors. Feel free to edit it any way you want.
+ Show Spoiler +

#include <iostream>
#include <algorithm>
#include <cassert>
#include <functional>
#include <ctime>
using namespace std;
int a[52];
int cardnum;
void carddisplay(void);
void cardrecite(void);
int main()
{
cout<<"How many cards would you like to recite? (Maximum 52).\n";
bool cont;
do
{
cin>>cardnum;
if (cardnum>52)
{
cout<<"Try again\n";
cont = false;
}
else
cont = true;
}
while (cont==false);
srand(time(0));

int i;
for (i = 0; i < 52; ++i)
a[i] = i;
random_shuffle(&a[0], &a[52]);
carddisplay();
cout<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl<<endl;
cout<<"NOTE: To rectify me writing another 100 lines of code, the cards must be re \nentered into the program in numerical form.\n";
cout<<"Assuming Aces are equal to 1, the values follow the format: \nHearts {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13}";
cout<<"\nDaimonds {14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26}";
cout<<"\nSpades {27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39}";
cout<<"\nClubs {40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52}"<<endl;
cout<<"You will have to guess the correct card before you may proceed.\n";
cardrecite();
cout<<"Congradulations, you have recited the whole deck. gg.\n";
int ppause;
cin>>ppause;
return 0;
}

void carddisplay(void)
{
int x;
int d = cardnum;
for (x=0;x<d;x++)

{
cout<<"The card is "<<endl;
if (a[x]==1)
cout<<"1H\n";
else if (a[x]==2)
cout<<"2H\n";
else if (a[x]==3)
cout<<"3H\n";
else if (a[x]==4)
cout<<"4H\n";
else if (a[x]==5)
cout<<"5H\n";
else if (a[x]==6)
cout<<"6H\n";
else if (a[x]==7)
cout<<"7H\n";
else if (a[x]==8)
cout<<"8H\n";
else if (a[x]==9)
cout<<"9H\n";
else if (a[x]==10)
cout<<"10H\n";
else if (a[x]==11)
cout<<"JH\n";
else if (a[x]==12)
cout<<"QH\n";
else if (a[x]==13)
cout<<"KH\n";
else if (a[x]==14)
cout<<"1D\n";
else if (a[x]==15)
cout<<"2D\n";
else if (a[x]==16)
cout<<"3D\n";
else if (a[x]==17)
cout<<"4D\n";
else if (a[x]==18)
cout<<"5D\n";
else if (a[x]==19)
cout<<"6D\n";
else if (a[x]==20)
cout<<"7D\n";
else if (a[x]==21)
cout<<"8D\n";
else if (a[x]==22)
cout<<"9D\n";
else if (a[x]==23)
cout<<"10D\n";
else if (a[x]==24)
cout<<"JD\n";
else if (a[x]==25)
cout<<"QD\n";
else if (a[x]==26)
cout<<"KD\n";
else if (a[x]==27)
cout<<"1S\n";
else if (a[x]==28)
cout<<"2S\n";
else if (a[x]==29)
cout<<"3S\n";
else if (a[x]==30)
cout<<"4S\n";
else if (a[x]==31)
cout<<"5S\n";
else if (a[x]==32)
cout<<"6S\n";
else if (a[x]==33)
cout<<"7S\n";
else if (a[x]==34)
cout<<"8S\n";
else if (a[x]==35)
cout<<"9S\n";
else if (a[x]==36)
cout<<"10S\n";
else if (a[x]==37)
cout<<"JS\n";
else if (a[x]==38)
cout<<"QS\n";
else if (a[x]==39)
cout<<"KS\n";
else if (a[x]==40)
cout<<"1C\n";
else if (a[x]==41)
cout<<"2C\n";
else if (a[x]==42)
cout<<"3C\n";
else if (a[x]==43)
cout<<"4C\n";
else if (a[x]==44)
cout<<"5C\n";
else if (a[x]==45)
cout<<"6C\n";
else if (a[x]==46)
cout<<"7C\n";
else if (a[x]==47)
cout<<"8C\n";
else if (a[x]==48)
cout<<"9C\n";
else if (a[x]==49)
cout<<"10C\n";
else if (a[x]==50)
cout<<"JC\n";
else if (a[x]==51)
cout<<"QC\n";
else if (a[x]==52)
cout<<"KC\n";
system("PAUSE");
}
return ;
}
void cardrecite(void)
{
bool correct;
int b;
int c;
int f = cardnum;
for (b=0;b<f;b++)
{
do
{
cout<<"What is card #"<<(b+1)<<"?\n";
cin>>c;
if (c==a[b])
correct=true;
else
correct=false;
}
while (correct==false);
}
return ;
}


Unfortunately you'll need to know how to compile from source code, but hopefully that's something you can figure out via google.

****
"Winning shows us how hard we've trained, losing shows us we need to train harder."
lolsixtynine
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States600 Posts
June 30 2011 16:09 GMT
#2
This is awesome! I just skimmed over this and it definitely seems like it'd work based on what I've studied of psychology, memory, and learning. I'll give it a try for sure. Thanks for putting in so much time for this.
fearus
Profile Blog Joined December 2003
China2164 Posts
June 30 2011 16:12 GMT
#3
Great post, 5 stars.

I was just wondering how long of practicing did it take you to be able to reasonably remember a deck of card from the time you decided you wants to learn to completion?

Sorry if you mentioned this some where.
bisu fanboy
mordek
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States12705 Posts
June 30 2011 16:14 GMT
#4
A lot of effort put into this, thanks! I wonder if I'd be able (willing) to put in the time.

Anyways thanks for sharing
It is vanity to love what passes quickly and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides. Tiberius77 | Mordek #1881 "I took a mint!"
rad301
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Canada196 Posts
June 30 2011 16:19 GMT
#5
@lolsixtynine
Thanks for the compliment , and I can guarantee it works.

@fearus
It's a difficult question to answer, since I didn't practice as consistently as I should've. Interestingly enough, before using this system I used a different one which I made up, but it was prone to a few errors now and then. I'd say that if you practice a little bit here and there like I did, no more than two weeks to a month. If you manage to get your peg list done quickly, and you already have a good place for a memory map, then you can easily do it in under two weeks. Keep in mind that is with the most ideal conditions, i.e. you aren't a procrastinator like me.
"Winning shows us how hard we've trained, losing shows us we need to train harder."
Toboe
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States276 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-06-30 17:42:27
June 30 2011 17:06 GMT
#6
Great write-up! And these really insightful tricks can be generalized to so many other real-world applications. For any collection of elements, you just have to create a similar mapping that resonates in your memory using these tools.


Edit - I'll put this in a spoiler so it doesn't derail the blog
+ Show Spoiler +
I must admit though, the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the blog topic was



(skip to 11:42 if youtube doesn't do it for you)

But your method is less magic and more science
Immortals are your friend, you can tell by the way they waddle at you
rad301
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Canada196 Posts
June 30 2011 17:12 GMT
#7
Lol that guy is awful, although he did do whatever technique he used quite quickly.

Yeah I wanted to emphasize that there is no bullshit involved with the trick. That's what makes it amazing to me. I think later on after a few people have made some progress, I'll do a second part. We'll see.
"Winning shows us how hard we've trained, losing shows us we need to train harder."
ComaDose
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Canada10357 Posts
June 30 2011 17:44 GMT
#8
This is a neat description of a good way to memorize anything.
Thanks for the cool read.
BW pros training sc2 is like kiss making a dub step album.
Armathai
Profile Joined October 2007
1023 Posts
June 30 2011 18:26 GMT
#9
Wow quite an amazing blog post!

I have to bookmark this and try it out when I have a little time soon =)

Great effort, TL always has the best stuff on it, yours included!
Looking for ArcticCerebrate formerly from @USEast
EsX_Raptor
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
United States2802 Posts
June 30 2011 18:28 GMT
#10
A while ago, I gave this a try on a totally different context.

To this day, I can still remember the things I was trying to memorize; the technique is superb!
lac29
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
United States1485 Posts
June 30 2011 18:45 GMT
#11
Cool guide, thanks.
drooL
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United Kingdom2108 Posts
June 30 2011 19:00 GMT
#12
this is amazing. thank you for the effort. spotlight incoming :D
@nowSimon
Ravencruiser
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
Canada519 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-06-30 19:41:52
June 30 2011 19:39 GMT
#13
Going to try this with GF today. Should be challenging and fill up a good chunk of my spare time. Thanks.
"Yah, free will is a bitch" - Drone
Ravencruiser
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
Canada519 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-06-30 19:40:59
June 30 2011 19:40 GMT
#14
edit: reading fail. sorry.
"Yah, free will is a bitch" - Drone
JeeJee
Profile Blog Joined July 2003
Canada5652 Posts
June 30 2011 20:22 GMT
#15
Yep method of loci combined with PAO (person-action-object) (or PA in your version) is very very strong. For those that doubt whether this actually works.. it does! It's quite amazing actually. I used a loci + PAO method for solving rubik's cube blindfolded. You get really quick at imagining particular scenes, and the routes you use become engraved in your mind as well. It's really quite something.

I guess the major downside is the initial time investment. It took me quite a while to nail down my system as I liked, but it morphs over time and becomes natural, you don't even have to think "oh I see this, okay what does this correspond to in my system.." you just instantly see it.

Good post, 5/5!
(\o/)  If you want it, you find a way. Otherwise you find excuses. No exceptions.
 /_\   aka Shinbi (requesting a name change since 27/05/09 ☺)
MisterD
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
Germany1338 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-06-30 21:39:09
June 30 2011 21:38 GMT
#16
memorizing a deck of cards is easy .. theres 4 7's, 8's, 9's, 10's, J's, Q's, K's, Aces and 3 Jokers.

/troll :p
Gold isn't everything in life... you need wood, too!
rad301
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Canada196 Posts
July 01 2011 05:14 GMT
#17
I'm glad everyone seems to be enjoying the guide. Please ask me any questions concerning it, since I want to make sure your practice goes far smoother than mine did.
"Winning shows us how hard we've trained, losing shows us we need to train harder."
Torte de Lini
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Germany38463 Posts
July 01 2011 06:42 GMT
#18


Reminds me of this.
https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
OneOther
Profile Blog Joined August 2004
United States10774 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-01 08:58:31
July 01 2011 06:56 GMT
#19
Went with Hot_Bid for HB. His action is interviewing someone

Great guide. I like to think that I have a good memory, but I wanna see what I can do with with this systematic approach. Thanks man!

Porn Star Hannah Hilton for H0 lol
Empyrean
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
17082 Posts
July 01 2011 07:02 GMT
#20
Oh dear.
Moderator
Earll
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Norway847 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-01 08:31:18
July 01 2011 08:04 GMT
#21
Would you recommend against just imagining J-A are 11--14 (k l m n)? I guess to me it would just seem more natural\easier to follow the same labeling all the way through, i might be wrong here though, might decide to try to get this down as i think its interesting to learn new cool things. Already know how to solve a rubiks cube so maybe i should apply this to learn to solve it blind folded =p

Edit: Oh, hmm, I see you have gone a b c d e as 1-5 and then inserted your own letters, I started out just going abcdefghijklm. hmm. hmmmmmm.
Wat
Hynda
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
Sweden2226 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-01 12:15:54
July 01 2011 12:15 GMT
#22
Rinrun
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada3509 Posts
July 01 2011 16:02 GMT
#23
Wooh- just read through the post and I am intrigued. I am definitely going to try this out.
MBC/Liquid/TSM always.
JeeJee
Profile Blog Joined July 2003
Canada5652 Posts
July 01 2011 19:35 GMT
#24
On July 01 2011 15:42 Torte de Lini wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-xl7_hdWZo

Reminds me of this.


Yep, andi bell does use something similar. His method afaik is just a bit more advanced -- instead of having a person for each card like in the OP, he follows the full PAO method. i.e each card has a person, an action, and an object associated with it. Obviously the full system is therefore 3 times as large as the one suggested in the OP, but here's why it works better:

Instead of imagining 52 people in 52 places, all you need to do is imagine 17 scenes in 17 places. Each scene being composed of a *person* doing an *action* on an *object*

i.e. say you have the following PAO associations:
Kd: Warren Buffet, firing, money
7h: jesus, descending from heaven, heaven
As: rekrul, gambling, cards

and the cards come Kd 7h As, then you'd take:
-person from Kd
-action from 7h
-object from As
and have warren buffet descending from heaven on a bunch of cards as a flying carpet (for example.. that's just how I would picture it).
So in one place, you have a single scene which crams the information of 3 things in it. Since you always memorize in PAO order, you will never get confused as to which comes first.

In other words, if it came as 7h As Kd, you'd instead see Jesus gambling with money -- a totally different scene.

In fact, that video is not entirely correct, because it implies there's only an object-card association for each card. What if it came pineapple-bear-saw? How could you tell the difference when all you have in your mind is bear sawing a pineapple? But actually, the "person" is the teddy bear (winni the pooh perhaps or just a generic alive teddy bear), the action is "sawing" and the object is "pineapple". If they came in a different order, the scene wouldn't involve teddy bears, pineapples, or saws at all since each card has three different associations, despite what the video implies.

Naturally, starting with a full PAO system is entirely overwhelming. I can't comment on memorizing a deck of cards since my PAO system only grew for rubik's cube purposes which has (in my system) 24 objects instead of 52. But I started off with an O system, then switched to PA, then eventually re-added O's for a full PAO system some time down the line.

On July 01 2011 17:04 Earll wrote:
Would you recommend against just imagining J-A are 11--14 (k l m n)? I guess to me it would just seem more natural\easier to follow the same labeling all the way through, i might be wrong here though, might decide to try to get this down as i think its interesting to learn new cool things. Already know how to solve a rubiks cube so maybe i should apply this to learn to solve it blind folded =p

Edit: Oh, hmm, I see you have gone a b c d e as 1-5 and then inserted your own letters, I started out just going abcdefghijklm. hmm. hmmmmmm.


It actually doesn't matter. I think he picked those letters because associations are easier to come by with certain letters as compared to others. But if you can make your associations, and they make sense to you, that's all that matters.
(\o/)  If you want it, you find a way. Otherwise you find excuses. No exceptions.
 /_\   aka Shinbi (requesting a name change since 27/05/09 ☺)
rad301
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Canada196 Posts
July 01 2011 23:39 GMT
#25
@Earll
Try whatever you wish. The only defining factor is that you associate the the peg with the card; how you arrive at the peg is completely up to you.

@JeeJee
Yep, you were spot on. I think I mentioned somewhere in the guide about a shortcut (or maybe I deleted that part), but that was the shortcut technique, i.e. only needing 26 locations instead of 52. Regardless, I found the characters interacted much better with their environment when they had an action to follow. Imagining Day9 standing on my Calculus' teachers desk doing the trumpet dance is much easier than him just sitting there like a good student.
"Winning shows us how hard we've trained, losing shows us we need to train harder."
Earll
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Norway847 Posts
July 03 2011 05:19 GMT
#26
Wow, this works like fuck. I consider myself a person with pretty bad memory at least when it comes to some things (names directions etc.) And i started this 2 days ago, and managed to perfectly recite a deck of cards today, basically on my first try after putting together the PAO list, decided to use a PAO list because i figuered adding actions and objects would be easier than creating a path of 52 notable locations.

took me like 20~25 minutes to learn the deck (I Basically started with 1 character/action/object, and then for each one I added I would go back from the start and think my way through the path) and then like 5 minutes to recite my way through the deck. I don't fully remember all my Cards->pegs though, so had to look on my list a few times when memorizing the deck. Did not need the list when reciting the cards though a lot easier to go that way i guess, but should be no problem as i learn my pegs better with some practice n_n
Wat
rad301
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Canada196 Posts
July 03 2011 17:25 GMT
#27
Well done! Unfortunately yes, when you start out it takes an annoyingly long time to remember the deck, but that get's better with time and practice. If you can do it in under 10 minutes then you are doing good. I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but Dominic O'Brien could/can memorize a deck in under a minute (it was like 55 seconds). He must be pretty damn fast with his hands as well as his brain.
"Winning shows us how hard we've trained, losing shows us we need to train harder."
mel_ee
Profile Blog Joined August 2003
2450 Posts
July 03 2011 19:33 GMT
#28
im starting up my list now...hopefully i can fill it up with relevant things to me. I wish I can use some of your lists but I dont even know their faces! haha..

anywho... have you applied this same technique to memorizing something else? I would like to know if when u applied this technique, was it faster to learn since u already have the basics or just the same amount of time memorizing what something was?
Behold the bold soldier, control the globe slowly proceeds to blow swingin swords like Shinobi
rad301
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Canada196 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-03 23:15:46
July 03 2011 23:07 GMT
#29
I've applied techniques using the memory map quite often for things such as history class and the like. I'd say it definitely helped and made things easier to retain in a shorter time frame, however the more complicated the input, the trickier it is to memorize things exactly. Dates, names, locations, and simple snippets of info are quite easy. So easy in fact that I'll show you how:

Let's assume you've got to remember a list of the major leaders of WWI. If you've got a small memory map in mind, perhaps your house, then you can use that. I recommend creating different maps for different subjects, i.e. one for cards, one for facts, one for etc... Once you've got that, start with a person.

Kaiser Willhelm II comes to mind first off. At the first location on my memory map, I've got an over sized Kaiser bun sitting on the ground with one of those spiked German helmets, and he makes the "Willhelm scream" sound effect (google the Wilhelm scream if you don't understand the reference). Then I just repeat the process for the rest of the leaders, and come test day I run through the list in my head, after which I bend the test over and dry fist it with my knowledge.

Using common sense the possibilities are quite endless. I remember using this for the order of events which took place before WW2, i.e. Hitler's rise and the breaking of the Treaty of Versailles.

In answer to your second question, yes it was certainly easier to do the above with my experience with the card trick. After a few goes, you start to figure out what things make it easier to remember the symbols, such as incorporating other senses and emotions into them. You'll also get much faster at doing this.

Sorry, my answers always seem to get wordy :/, I can't help it.

Edit:
I figured I'll just add this on rather than making a new post. For those people currently working on their lists, I encourage you to post any cards that you are stuck on here. I'll do my best to give you some ideas, and also I'm sure the rest of TL will be able to help as well. Some of the cards took me a week to think of, so don't be concerned if this happens to you.
"Winning shows us how hard we've trained, losing shows us we need to train harder."
Earll
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Norway847 Posts
July 06 2011 02:01 GMT
#30
So managed to remember it without looking at my list 2nd time now and timed myself, used 10 minutes and a few seconds to memorize the deck, woop woop.

Any tips on how to increase efficiency so to speak? I know i have a lot of way to go with linkin my cards into PAO, still get stuck on some cards every now and then, and guess I just need practice for that. Should I completely stop thinking back though?

First time I memorized the deck I would start at the first PAO, then go to 2nd location and add 2nd PAO and then think my way through first and 2nd, and add third, then think my way through the first 3 etcetc, which makes it easier to remember i guess but takes a lot more time, so trying to think a lot less back now but still do it quite a bit or i think i will forget it =p
Wat
rad301
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Canada196 Posts
July 07 2011 18:24 GMT
#31
Good job! It sounds like you are progressing much faster than I did. As with most things, unfortunately efficiency comes with lots of practice, however there are certain ways to make things easier. As Dominic O'Brien recommends, and as I found out to be true, one of the best ways to make things easier to remember is to incorporate emotional and sensational stimulus into the action which takes place. Albeit gruesome, whenever I imagine my 7 of diamonds, the Dark Templar, I imagine the person he's interacting with getting cut in half, and I get splattered with the blood. I actually imagine the feeling of getting covered in blood (this doesn't happen with all my pegs ), and it becomes easier to remember. Experiment with this principle, and you should figure it out.

Reviewing is very important, but you should only need to do it once or twice. I know the feeling you speak of, where you feel like you'll have trouble if you don't review, but give it a shot with one review half way and you should be surprised how easy it is still. If it isn't, you need to work on either the pegs or their interaction with the environment.

Keep the questions coming!
"Winning shows us how hard we've trained, losing shows us we need to train harder."
Normal
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 13m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Trap 42
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 2999
PianO 804
firebathero 459
Larva 366
Sharp 147
Pusan 134
Dewaltoss 112
Shinee 64
Aegong 41
Hm[arnc] 36
[ Show more ]
yabsab 23
NaDa 20
Mong 17
ajuk12(nOOB) 15
Stork 11
JulyZerg 9
Dota 2
XcaliburYe518
ODPixel464
Fuzer 134
Counter-Strike
edward39
Other Games
summit1g16040
mouzStarbuck436
KnowMe135
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV218
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 25
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 86
• LUISG 51
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos1783
• Stunt325
Upcoming Events
Sparkling Tuna Cup
13m
WardiTV Invitational
1h 13m
ByuN vs Percival
Cure vs Classic
Shopify Rebellion Sundays
5h 13m
Spirit vs Mixu
Clem vs TBD
RSL Revival
6h 13m
Serral vs Rogue
BlizzCon
8h 43m
IdrA vs MC
Replay Cast
14h 13m
Afreeca Starleague
1d
Light vs JyJ
Soulkey vs hero
WardiTV Weekly
1d 1h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 6h
Afreeca Starleague
2 days
Snow vs Shinee
Shine vs EffOrt
[ Show More ]
GSL
2 days
PiGosaur Cup
2 days
The PondCast
3 days
Kung Fu Cup
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
KCM Race Survival
4 days
IntoTheTV X SOOP
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
IntoTheTV X SOOP
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
GSL
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #5 - TRS
PiG Sty Festival 8.0
Big Dog Cup 2026 Div 1

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
K-JUNGMAN
ASL Season 22
Super Anchor Qualifying S3
CSL 2026 AUTUMN (S22)
Acropolis #5
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
RSL Revival: Season 6
Calamity Invitational
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026

Upcoming

Acropolis #5 - GSA
Acropolis #5 - GSB
Acropolis #5 - GSC
SC4ALL II: Brood War
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.