How to memorize a deck of cards

The Best Way to Memorize Playing Cards

The best way to memorize playing cards combines 3 different techniques:

• The Major System used to memorize numbers
• The Person Action Object (PAO) system that is also used to memorize cards
• The Memory Palace, used to store memories in a specific order

How it works is that each card is assigned three attributes, as shown in the table below, a Person, an Action and an Object, with the three being connected together, i.e. the person is performing the action on the object.

If you're familiar with the Major System, you'll know that it connects each number with a consonant sound and then uses words and sentences to recall strings of numbers.  If you're not, I recommend reading how to remember numbers with the Major System before returning to this page, alternatively you may want to try a simpler method which instead of using the Major System uses simple rhymes to memorize all 52 cards.

A modification of the Major System also lets you memorize cards in games where the suit isn't important.

This system uses the first consonant as the Major System for the value of the card and the Person, Action, Object method for the card itself, with the following table.  Further instructions for the actual memory techniques are shown underneath the table. 

   

 To download the card mnemonic in Word or PDF, click one of the icons.

 

1st	HEARTS Disney & Romance	CLUBS Star Wars	DIAMONDS Lord of the Rings	SPADES Harry Potter
1 d t	Dash Dates Dog	Yoda Dies on Death star	Treebeard Trips Trolls	Dumbledore Dark marks Dobby
2 n	Nemo Nets Anchor	Anakin Nukes Nightclub	Nazgul Encircles Ancestors	Neville Nuts Nagini
3 m	Mary Poppins Magnetizes Mermaid	Emperor Murders Men	Merry Melts Mithral	McGonagall Mind-reads Myrtle
4 r	Romeo Rehearses Rhyme	Robot Radios Rebels	Aragorn Raises Ring	Ron Reducio's Rat
5 l	Leeloo Laces up Lingerie	Luke Launches Lightsaber	Legolas Lords it over Lothlórien	Luna Lumos Lucky charm
6 sh ch	Shrek Shovels Shit	Chewbacka Chains Chimp	Shelob Shaves Shadowfax	Cho Chases Chocolate frog
7 g	Goldilocks Gifts Giraffe	George Lucas Guns Grubs	Gandalf Goes grey Gate	Grawp Gambles with Giants
8 f v	Violet Volunteers for Valentine	Vader Fights the Force	Frodo Farts Flotsam	Voldemort Vanishes Vampires
9 b p	Beauty Bandages Beast	Princess Parades in Bikini	Boromir Borrows Balrog	Peeves Pours Potion
10 s	Santa Sledges on Snow	Stormtrooper Salutes Star	Sam Stings Sauron	Snape Spellotapes Sorting hat
J w	Juliette Jazzes up Jigsaw	Jabba the hut Jets Jedi	Éowyn Wins Witch	Weasleys Wave Wands
Q h	Queen of Hearts Holds Hood	Han Handcuffs Helmet	Queen Galadriel Quacks at Quicksand	Hermione Has howling Horcrux
K c	Korben Dallas Kisses Kitten	Kenobi Kidnaps C3P0	King Elrond Kayaks Cracks of Doom	Crab Crucio King's Cross

 

The Joker Jokes with Clowns

Remembering the Suits

First, we've connected either a genre or a set of books/movies with each suit as follows.  As far as possible the Person, Action and Object all fit the genre.

Hearts - Disney and Romance (Actions are mostly romantic)
Clubs - Star Wars (Actions are mostly fighting terms)
Diamonds - The Lord of the Ring (Some rings have diamonds, some Actions are financial)
Spades - Harry Potter (Actions are mostly magical)

Remembering the Card Values

Next we've paired one or two consonants with the first consonant in each Person, Action and Object to help remember the playing card value.  This is based on the Major System, so that if you've already learned that, it'll be easier to learn this.

To help remember the Person, Action and Object associated with each card, read through the above table and visualise each scene with as many sensory pereceptions as you can and full movement.  How does it look, sound and feel?  Does it have a taste?  Visualise each card in the deck with the associated person, action and object.

Memorizing 3 cards in the deck

If you've got a deck of cards in front of you then choose 3 cards at random.  If not, just pick 3 cards at random by pointing to the table above.  The clever part of the Person, Action, Object method is that you then visualize a different combination based on the cards chosen, for example:

Legolas

Chains

Rat

For the above combination of cards you visualize Legolas chaining a rat (in your imagination you might want to use Scabbers in particular, as that will help you connect the rat with Spades for Harry Potter).  'Legolas' gives you the 5 of Diamonds (L for 5, Lord of the Rings for Diamonds), 'Chains' gives you the 6 of Clubs (Ch for 6 and a fighting type action for Clubs) and 'Rat' gives you the 4 of Spades (R for 4 and the Rat from Harry Potter for Spades), however there's only one image you need to remember - Legolas wrapping a chain around that cursed rat!

To memorize all the cards in the deck including both Jokers you have to remember 18 images.  Make them as vivid as possible, picture that rat squeeling as Legolas wraps the chain around it - rude and ridiculous images work best!

If you're not already familiar with the Major System you may want to separate all the Aces, 2's, 3's and 4's from the deck and memorize those 16 cards before moving on to the rest.

Putting the playing cards in order

Each set of 3 cards is naturally stored in your mind in a specific order (Person, Action, Object), however you will obviously want to remember more than 3 cards and that's where a Memory Palace comes in.  Choose a location you know well, it can either be indoors or out, I often find a journey that I do regularly works well.  As you're walking on the journey, picture the image associated with the first 3 cards (e.g. Legolas chaining a rat) at the start of the journey.  Ideally integrate the images into the location in a dynamic way, so Legolas might be chaining the rat to a gate at the end of your garden where you start the journey, for example.

Follow the journey in your mind's eye and put the image for the next 3 cards at the next location in the journey and so on.  To memorize a whole set of cards you'll need 18 locations, the first 17 will have the image you've created with 3 cards at them and the 18th will just have the image of the Person.