How to Memorize a Deck of Cards

Whether you are wowing kids at a carnival with sleight of hand or grifting your buddies at poker night, it might serve you well to memorize a deck of cards. It seems like an impossible task only manageable by prodigies, but with these steps you might just be able to pull it off.

Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Deck of cards
• Marker

1. Create a stack of cards to memorize. Arrange the cards in an order that will serve you best for whatever trick you'll be doing. Number them 1 through 52.

2. Divide the deck into four sets of 13.

3. Memorize cards 1 through 13. Go through them face down and try to recall what card is on the other side. Go through them backwards, forwards and shuffled.

4. Memorize cards 14 through 26. Do the same thing you did with the last set.

5. Combine the last two sets. Memorize all 26 of these cards, shuffled and in order.

6. Memorize the next cards 27 through 39. After you memorize them, add them to the last set of 26 and memorize those.

7. Memorize the last cards. Memorize cards 40 through 52.

8. Combine all the cards. Memorize them the way you did each set.

Tips & Warnings

• After you memorize the cards, set up an identical stacked deck without the numbers on the back. Now, try to count into the deck at random and identify which card you end up on.

• This can be a good way to deal out specific hands during a game, or know which card someone is going to pick.

• Counting cards in casinos can get you kicked out without being able to cash in your chips.