“Yes, my grandfather was a gambler, and he died at a very
early age.”
"Gosh, that’s too bad.
How did it happen?”
“He died of five aces!”
SINCE I want you all to stay healthy, the memory feats in
this lesson utilize a regular deck of cards; not with five, but with the usual
four Aces. Truthfully, although this chapter is devoted entirely to remembering
playing cards, I am stressing the demonstrations
you can do with a deck of cards and your
trained memory. The systems, however, can be applied to many card games. Please
don’t think that after you’ve mastered these you can always win at cards. Keep in mind that you can’t beat a man at his own game. I will leave the applications of the
systems up to you; I use them for demonstration purposes Only.
The late Damon Runyon used the following in one of his
stories: “ ‘Son,’ the old guy says, ‘no matter how far you travel, or how smart
you get, always remember this; Someday,
somewhere, a guy is going to come to you and seal is never broken, and this guy
is going to offer to bet you that the Jack of Spades will jump out of this deck
and squirt cider in your ear.’
“ ‘But, son,’ the old
guy says, ‘do not bet him, for as sure as you do you are going to get an ear
full of cider.’
The memory stunts you will do with cards after studying
these methods will seem almost as
amazing to your friends. Aside from that, they are also wonderful memory
exercises. I suggest that you read and learn the contents of this chapter
whether or not you indulge in card playing.
Cards, of course, are difficult to picture, just as number
were before you started reading this
book. In order to make them mean something;
something that you can picture in
your mind. Some years ago I read an article in a popular magazine about a
professor who was trying some sort of experiment. He was attempting to teach
people how to memorize the order of a shuffled deck of cards. The article mentioned
the fact that he had accomplished his
goal. After sic months of training, his students were able to look at a
mixed deck for twenty minutes or more,
with seeing the cards actually laid out in
order, in the take you more than
a day or two at the most to learn my
system. When you have mastered it, it
won’t take twenty minutes to memorize a shuffled deck of cards. It might
you’ll cut it down to five minutes!
There are actually two things t hat you must know in order
to remember cards. First is a list of at least fifty-two peg words for the
numbers 1 to 52; these you already know. You also have to know a peg word for
every card in a deck of cards. These
card peg words are not chosen at random. As with the number pegs, they are
selected because they are easy to picture, and because they follow a definite
systems. Here it is, in a nutshell:-
Barring a few exceptions
which will be discussed later, every card peg word will begin with the
initial letter of the card suit. That is, all the words for the Spade suit will
begin with the letter, “S”; all the words for the Diamond suit will begin with
the letter, “D”; the Club suit-with “C”; and the heart suit with “H.” each word
will end with a consonant sound; this sound will represent the numerical value
of the card, according to our phonetic alphabet .
You can see, then, that the word you use must represent only
one particular card. The first letter will give me give you some examples:- the
peg word for the two of clubs must begin with
letter will give you the suit, the last sound , which represents 2. Of
course, there are many words that would
fall into this category; cone, coin, can, cane, etc. I’ve selected the word,
“can.” “Can” will always represent the
two of clubs! Which card would the card. It begins with “H,” therefore it’s a Heart; it ends with the hard “g” sound, which represents
#7-“hog” is the peg word for the seven
of Hearts. Can you think of a word for the Six of Diamonds.
Here are all fifty-two card peg words. Look them over
carefully, and I assure you that you can know and retain them with no more than
perhaps twenty minutes to a half hour of
study. Look them over once, then read on for the explanation of the exceptions,
and how to picture some of the words. Towards the end of this chapter I’ll give
you a method to enable you to learn these words thoroughly.
CLUBS
|
HEARTS
|
SPADES
|
DIAMONDS
|
AC-cat
|
AH-hat
|
AS-suit
|
AD-date
|
2C-can
|
2H-hone
|
2S-sun
|
2D-date
|
3C-comb
|
3H-hem
|
3S-sum
|
3D-dam
|
4C-core
|
4H-hare
|
4S-sore
|
4D-door
|
5C-coal
|
5H-hail
|
5S-sail
|
5D-doll
|
6C-cash
|
6H-hash
|
6S-sash
|
6D-dash
|
7C-cock
|
7H-hog
|
7S-sock
|
7D-dock
|
8C-cuff
|
8H-hoof
|
8S-safe
|
8D-dive
|
9C-cap
|
9H-hub
|
9S-soap
|
9D-deb
|
10C-case
|
10H-hose
|
10S-suds
|
10Ddose
|
JC-club
|
JH-heart
|
JS-spade
|
JD-diamond
|
QC-cream
|
QH-queen
|
QS-steam
|
QD-dream
|
KC-king
|
KH-hinge
|
KS-sing
|
KD-drink
|
Don’t let these exceptions throw you, they’ll stick in your
mind because of the fact that they are exceptions.
If you have looked at the list of card pegs, you have looked
at the list of card pegs, you have undoubtedly recognized some of them as being
the same as your number words. This will not create any confusion since the
duplications only occur with words over #52 in your pegs. Since there are only
fifty-two cards in a deck, the words will never conflict.
You are to do the same with the card
words as you did with the number pegs. Select a certain mind picture for each
word, and use that picture all the time. For the word “core,” you might picture
the core of an apple. For “cuff,” picture a pair of trousers, or just the cuff of the trousers. For the
King of Clubs, picture the item to be associated as sitting on a throne, being
the “King.” The same goes for the Queen
of Hearts-be sure that in your pictures for “king” and “queen” you have
something to distinguish one from the other. (Picturing “queen” in a long flowing you had to remember
that the king of Clubs was the 19th card; you could picture a “tub” (19) sitting on a throne, wearing a crown, and being a “king.” Another
idea, of course, would be to see a king wearing a tub instead of a crown.
Either picture is a good one.
For
the word “hoof,” it’s best to picture a
horseshoe; for “hose” you can see either
a garden hose, or ladies’ hose; for “hinge,” picture the associated item
being hinged. If you wanted to remember that the Two of Spades was the (29)
instead of the “sun” (2S) shining in the sky with a tremendous brilliance. For “sum,”
picture a sheet of paper covered with numbers; or, an adding machine. For
the word “sore,” I usually picture the associated item with a large bandage, as if it had a
wound or sore. “Sash”-picture a window
sash. “Steam”-picture a radiator. For “sing,” you can picture a sheet of music,
or you can see the associated. “Dash”-picture the associated item running the
100 yard dash. “Dive”-picture the item
diving into a body of water. “Deb”-is the abbreviation of debutante. For “dose” it is best to
picture a spoonful of medicine.
The
few suggestions above, are just that-suggestion. You must decide which
picture you will “see” for each card word, just as you did with the number
words. After you’ve decided, use that picture only. Use any picture that the
word brings to mind; but be sure that
the mental picture for any card word does not conflict with the mental picture
of any of your number pegs from 1 to 52.
You
now have all you need to memorize a complete deck of cards. Since each card is
represented by an object you simply use the Peg system as if you were memorizing a list of fifty-two
objects! That’s all there is to it. If the first card is the Five of Spades,
you might see a large tie (1) acting as
a sail on a boat; or you’re wearing a sailboat instead of a tie.
If
the second card were the Eight of Diamonds, you could see Noah (2) diving into
the water. Third card-two of Spades-see your ma (3) in the sky instead of the
sun Fourth card-Queen of Diamonds-see a bottle of rye(4) sleeping and dreaming;
or, you are dreaming of a bottle of rye.
Fifth card-three of clubs-see a gigantic comb walking the beat like a
cop(law-5), or a policeman is arresting
a comb, and so on.
When you are demonstrating this for a friend, have the peg word for #1
in your mind before he starts calling the cards. As soon as you hear the first
one, associate the card word for that particular card with the peg word, “tie.”
Then
immediately get the peg word for #2 in your mind, etc. when you’ve memorized
the entire deck in this fashion, call the cards off in order, from one to fifty-two You can have your friend call any number and you tell him the card
at that position, or, have him call any card and you tell him at which number it is in the deck.
Of
course, you don’t have to memorize the entire deck to impress your friends. If
you with to present a faster demonstration, you can remember half the deck.
This is just as effective, because it is just about impossible for anyone with
an untrained memory to remember twenty-six cards, in and out of order.
However, if it is a fast demonstration you want, the one that follows is
the fastest, most impressive, and yet, the easiest of them all This is called
the “missing card” stunt. You have anyone remove, say, five or six cards from
a complete deck, and have them put them
in a pocket. Now, let your friend call the remaining cards to you at a fairly
rapid pace. After he has called all of them, you tell him the names of the five
or six missing cards!!
I told you that this was easy
to accomplish, and it is .
Here
is all you have to do:- As soon as a
card is called, transpose it to the representative card peg word, and explain.
Assume that the Four of Hearts is called-just “see” a picture of hare with no ears. If the Five or Diamonds is called, see a doll
with an arm or leg missing. If you hear the King of Diamonds, see a spilled
drink. That’s all you have to do. Don’t linger over your associations, just see
the picture for the merest fraction of a second, and you’re ready for the next
card.
This
can be done quickly because you are cutting out one mental calisthenic, so to
speak. You’re not using your number pegs
at all. Of course. The speed with which the cards can be called is just a
matter of practice. I can assure you that after a while, you will practically
“see” the picture in your mind, before
your friend is through naming the card!
Now-after all the card
have been called, go over the words for the cards, in your mind. The best way to do this is to go
from Ace to King of one suit at a time. When you come to an object that is not mutilated or broken in any way, that
must be one of the missing cards!.. for
example, you start down your list
of words for the Club cards: cat- you had
pictured the cat without a tail. Can-you had seen a tin can that was
crushed. Comb-you had pictured a comb with all its teeth missing or broken.
Core-you do not recall anything wrong with the core, therefore, the Four of
Clubs is one of the missing cards. The unmitigated words will stand out in your mind like a sore
thumb as soon as you come to them. You need only try it once, to be convinced.
I suggest that you
always use the same suit order when
going over your card words mentally. It doesn’t matter which order you use, as long as you can remember it easily. I
use, clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds because it’s easy to remember. Just
think of the word-CHaSeD. If you wanted to use Hearts, Spades, Diamonds and
Clubs order, you could remember that by
thinking of the phrase-HiS DeCk.
Incidentally, if you wanted
to demonstrate your bridge-playing technique, you could do the missing-cards
stunt with thirteen missing cards. The amount of cards taken from the deck
before the deck is called to you doesn’t make any difference. You could even
have half the deck called, and then name all the cards in the other half!
After my own
performances, I think that the thing my
audiences talk about the most people, whether or not they play cards.
I’m sure that most of you
have read this far without actually learning the card words. Now that you see
the things you can do with them, I hope you will learn them. Bu the way, do any
of you see how you can apply the missing-card idea to games like Gin Rummy,
Bridge, Pinochle, Casino, or for that matter,
to any game where it is to your advantage to know which cards have or haven’t
been played? I will leave that to you.
In a later chapter, you
will find some more stunts and ideas with cards. However, one more thought before close this chapter-if you wanted to
remember a deck of card in order only, you could do it quickly by using the Link method alone! You wouldn’t know them out of sequence with this method.
I keep telling you to
have the card called off to you; but it’s just as good to look at the
cards to remember them. It just adds a
little to the effect upon your
spectators, if you do not look at them.
After going over the
card words mentally, a few times you can use a deck of cards to help you
proactive. Shuffle the deck, turn the cards face up, one at a time, calling out
or thinking of the peg word for each one. when
you can go through the entire deck at a fairly brisk pace without hesitating, then you know your card words.
And when you do, would
you try your new found ability on test #4 in Chapter #3? I think you will be
pleased at the difference in your scores.
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