Train My Poker Memory Brain

Getting into the swing of it….. 

May 4th 2012

I’m now into my fourth week of memory training and despite not being able to give it the time it deserves I feel that great progress has been made. If you were to say to me a month ago that I could learn to memorize a shuffled deck of cards in less than 20 minutes and recite them to you in order then I would have been have been very sceptical to say the least. That is however what I can do now and get it right to about a 95% success rate. I still make small errors but that’s to do with me mixing up a few things, not with the system itself. This was possible after just three training sessions with Bennett.

We have moved on as a class to start tracking the VPIP (Voluntary Put Into Pot) percentages of players either live or sometimes as practice online without the use of a HUD. The claims that Bennett had made prior to beginning this training that we could become human poker trackers in six weeks looks more and more achievable as each day goes by.

I’ve been extraordinarily busy lately which is a great thing and I’m not complaining. I have however fallen a little behind but I want to ensure that I have the basics of Bennett’s systems embedded in my brain before moving on to more complicated tasks and failing them. So far, so good! I’m more than happy with my progress with what I have learned so far and again I stress to anyone out there reading this that everything promised in the book is achievable by all… no exceptions. All it takes is a little commitment and belief in the system.

I’ve a few more group sessions to go and plenty more to learn I guess and I’ll keep you all updated in a week or so. Until then have fun!

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Baby Steps......
16th April 2012

Today we had our first one hour memory training session with Bennett. After the introductions, and a nice bunch of peeps too might I add, we got stuck into our first exercise. From reading the first couple of chapters of the book I had a good idea what was to come but what I was amazed with was the actual ability to see the concept in action. 

I guess the key word was visualisation. It's hard to remember words but images are a little less taxing on the brain. The more vivid the image is the easier it is to remember them. So with Bennetts help I am now converting each card in the pack with an image that I can recall and associate with that card. 

In the first excerise we were asked to remember ten cards. I still can, well, not exactly but I can definitely recall the ten images associated with these cards, all I need to do is learn by heart the cards that relate to the image. So this is definite progress. Bennett then asked one of the other students to peel off 42 cards from the pack and by using images we were able to derive what cards had not been exposed. 

All I can say is that these techniques work, of that I have no doubt! I am already looking forward to next weeks session!


Raiser

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A little bit of history…..

April 14th 2012

This weekend marks a new chapter in my poker life as it will be the one where I begin to learn how to turn my brain into a human poker tracker! How is this possible? Well it’s possible with a lot of time and hard work and the help of a brilliant author by the name of Bennett Onika.

I first heard of Bennett in the Fall of 2011 while surfing the net about poker books and came across a book that was yet to be released entitled ‘Unleash Your Hidden Poker Memory’. It was claimed that by applying some memory training techniques the brain could be trained to remember such facts as how active each player was at the live table, remember hands played in specific positions at the table and instantly recall your win rate for your hand versus any random hole cards your opponent has based on how loosely or tightly they play. In other words, how to turn your brain into a human HUD.

From the get-go I was extremely interested. I got in touch with the author after finding him on Twitter and to my surprise he offered to send me a copy of the pre-release version for review.

A new chapter……

The book arrived in the post on Christmas week last year and it was an early present for me. I immediately got stuck in and was amazed with the way the book gets you to instantly forget the way you try to remember…. if that makes sense. In short it teaches a whole new way of learning and everyone can learn how to do this so give it a try, you’ll be glad you did.

Keeping touch with Bennett via social media proved to be of a great benefit to me as I found out that he was recruiting students for a 6 week training program over the internet to enhance the experience of the book. I immediately put my name up for it and the first session starts this Sunday, I can’t wait. 

I will keep this blog updated with my progress over the weeks ahead and in the mean time I encourage you to pick up a copy of the book or get in touch with Bennett via Twitter on @bennettonika he would be delighted to hear from you, just say Raiser sent you.

ISeriesLive - Feel The Rush!

Many of the critics said it would never work but last night's inaugural ISeriesLive.com event can only be described as a mega success story!

Bet on a live market while watching the live stream which shows ALL the hole cards and chip stacks of the players as the game progresses? Crazy as it seems this is exactly what happened and I thoroughly enjoyed it for many many reasons.

Not being biased or anything but I am Irish and the event was being streamed live from Dublin city so that was a big plus for me. Also the fact that it was Paddy Power bookmakers that provided the betting market was a bonus as I find them to be a very efficient and trustworthy site.

Now Easter holiday weekend is usually hectic in Dublin anyway but it is also the weekend when it becomes the center of the poker Universe with many of the World's top players jetting into the city for the Irish Poker Open.  The event is the oldest European poker tournament and is held in the illustrious Burlington Hotel every year. The ISeriesLive event was a warm-up game for some of the pro's and if last night is anything to go by we are in for a great weekend.

If this was a Hollywood movie then it would have been an all-star cast! Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, Maria Ho, Eoghan O'Dea, Dave 'Devilfish' Ulliott to name but a few. The action kicked-off at 6pm local time and straight away Carlos Mortensen took a big hit so I put a few euro on him to be first eliminated. That was a mistake as the guy really impressed with the way he managed his stack. It was Phil 'Pokerbrat' Hellmuth that was first to be sent to the rail. Known for his blow-ups I watched his body language as he left the table and for a fleeting moment I thought I could see a ticking time bomb about to explode but again I was wrong. Phil showed great sportsmanship by wishing the table good luck and joining the commentators in the booth to add his insight into the night's proceedings. Daniel 'kidpoker' Negreanu also was an early casualty and he too joined in the chat in the booth.

Back to the markets and I was starting to have fun betting if there would be a Pocket Pair or 'Ace in the Hole' dealt to anyone in the next hand. One of the features I really liked on the ISeriesLive.com website was that you could click on an instant hand history button  and up popped a new tab with the full breakdown of each hand played. It was so easy to keep track of your bets as Paddy Power have a 'Your Bets' slip on their page, impossible to lose track.

At the break I watched the pre-recorded player interviews and was amused by Hellmuth's statement that he would love to win on the continent of Ireland. I know it's a great country Phil but no need for the promotion. Our government struggles to manage a tiny island so I'd shudder to think how they would handle a whole continent! It was the interview with James Dempsey that really got my attention where he stated that he was comfortable with the structure and had success with it in the past. I took a look at his chip stack and then it became clear to me that this guy could win this. I quickly got my Euros on him and winner winner chicken dinner he went and took it down! After over 8 hours of play he defeated the wily Dave 'devilfish' Ulliott to become the inaugural ISeriesLive.com champ and ship the winner takes all €100,000 prize! Well played James!

Now there's only one burning question....... when is the next one?

Raiser