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How to Remember a Pack of Cards

You may have been in the situation where you have been dazzled by the extraordinary "memory" of someone who can appear to memorize a whole deck of cards and even count cards in a casino. In truth, it is perfectly simple to memorize a deck of cards, presuming the deck has previously been arranged in such a way that you can apply a couple of simple mantras to keeping track of the cards. Once you have perfected that, you too can be in a position to dazzle people with your amazing "memory."

Instructions

    • 1

      Memorize this mantra (also called a mnemonic): "Eight kings threatened to save ninety-five queens for one sick knave." This represents the order the cards' ranks will be placed in through your deck. So the deck will run 8-King-3-10-2-7-9-5-Queen-4-Ace-6-Jack.

    • 2

      Remember the word "chased." As with step one, this is a shortcut to help you memorize something important, this time the suit. Remove the vowels, and you have the first letters of Clubs, Hearts, Spades and Diamonds --- the order in which the four suits will fall.

    • 3

      Set up your deck using this method. Start with the Eight of Clubs, followed by the King of Hearts, then the Three of Spades and so on, following the pattern.

    • 4

      Rotate into the next master suit once you have gone through the first 13 cards. Thus you start the next 13 cards with the H in "chased." The next rotation begins with the Eight of Hearts, King of Spades, Three of Diamonds and so on. Keep moving through the master suits until you have progressed through each set of 13.

    • 5

      Astound your friends and family with tricks that require a prearranged deck, or simply amaze them with your feat of "memory" as you successfully predict every single card, one after the other.

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