How much do the experts remember

[MattHH]

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Being able to remember the cards that have shown is essential for true expert play.

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Now, I realize that remembering every card isnt required for the low limits. However, I am curious of the methods that high stakes players use because I aspire to someday play there.

Specifically, do they always keep track of rank and suit of dead cards, or does it depend on their starting cards?

I have trouble keeping track of both, I can do one or the other. One thing I thought of doing was getting a deck of cards and start out remembering 5 cards that I show to myself for a split second, then 10 cards and so on. If anybody would like to share any other tricks, it would be greatly appreciated.
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[jester710]

You need to try to track all the cards because knowing what's dead could allow you to limit your opponent's range or better estimate his chances. For example, if your opponent's betting out with a 3-flush showing and you know that a lot of that suit is dead, it's less likely he has the flush. Whereas if the suit was very live, you could probably save your money.

One trick to remembering cards is that you only need to remember what's been folded. And for the time being, if you can remember either rank or suit pretty well, I'd go with remembering rank and just trying to get a good estimate of suit.

[RustyBrooks]

I just started playing stud games recently and I have a lot of trouble with this. The method that works for me for razz sucks for stud/8. For razz I just remember the cards in order, like AA2699KQ although usually I lop off anything above 9.

For stud this actually is not that helpful because I don't "parse" that very well. When I'm looking at a hand and trying to figure out how many pair outs, straight outs, etc, that I have, I have to think "I need a 7. How many 7s are there. OK. Now, I need a T also. How many Ts are there". Remembering suits isn't really a problem for me so far, but I really only take note on 3rd if I see more than 2 of a suit, and after that I look at the board.

Just remembering folded cards is nice but I need to get them all before the first guy starts folding and then I lose track of who's folded what. Can I forget that 7 because he's still in the hand or was it a different 7 who folded. I just hope it comes with time.

I try to remember, every hand, and I'd say my success rate is something like 20%. But I figure as long as I keep trying it'll get better. Half the time by 5th I've totally forgotten, or forgotten enough that it isn't even really helpful.

I do try to reinforce any cards that I need or that I suspect my opponent needs.

[MattHH]

Cool, I'm thinking about having my dad whos a programmer help me write a program to practice card memory.

If I do, I'll be sharing it with y'all.

[RustyBrooks]

Ooh. It would be cool to have a program that flashes the upcards for like 10s, then asks you like a 5th st poker quiz given the action and hands up to that point.

[MattHH]

Ya, I was thinking something along the lines of a program that can flash a configurable amount of card images. For example you could set it to show you 10 cards, 1 at a time in 1 second intervals and then you have to pick which cards they were from a display of all 52 cards and you get scored on how many you get right. Or, you could set it to show you bundles of cards in 5 second intervals, etc.

[Andy B]

There were a couple of excellent posts by DocAZ on this subject a number of years ago. Unfortunately, the links in the FAQ are broken. 2+2 is changing its software in a couple of weeks, and once they do that, I'll see what I can do about fixing the links.

I organize the cards by suit in my mind. I am more successful in remembering cards than I used to be, and I usually have a very good idea of whether or not the cards I or my opponent need are live, even if I don't specifically remember every individual card.

[Ray Zee]

the first round of upcards are the most important and you only get to see them quickly. on later streets you get all the time you need to remember them before you act.

no one needs a computer program to memorize cards. what has happened to this world. just take a deck and flip up a few cards and see if you can remember them. work your way up from there till you get good.