Hey Guys,
I started fooling with the Tamariz stack about a month ago. I followed Juan's instructions for memorizing the stack and they worked well. I learned the order of the stack with few problems. I do need to drill the stack more until I know it cold though. I downloaded stackview and drilled with it for a while. I also made up a few of my own drills to try and learn the cards better. I can say the cards in order, but putting numbers and cards togather or naming what card comes after a paticular card is still a problem. Does anyone suggest any paticular method of practice to get better at this?

Also, for some of the build in tricks in the stack, a card needs to be moved to a different part of the deck. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get this done? Does the Aronson stack work the same way or is the tricks more easy to get into?

Does Juan talk about his stack at all on his videos? Would they be a helpful resource? I would like to see a series of tricks performed with the stack.

If you have used the visual method taught in the book; you'll find that when a number is called, you can visualize the card and vice versa. That's assuming you've made your personalized set. This method suited me the best.

As far as cutting a card to a cetain part in the deck, I either riffle up the back and cut to it....or, nonchalantly during the course of running through the face up cards, I set it up as I patter. Then do a number of false shuffles to dispell any idea that the deck is stacked.

Did you use all the methods explained to memorise the stack???

I started to, but then realized that we are all individuals. What works for me may not work for you. What I ended up doing is try to associate each card with some weird mental story or image that was personal TO ME.

For example, when I was 13 years old, I fell in love with a girl who broke my heart. Number 13 in the stack is the Queen of Clubs, so when I think of 13, I quickly revert to my memory of being 13 with this girl, and just as fast, the Queen of Clubs gets associated with it. Likewise, number 14 is the 8 of Hearts....which is what happened after I dated the Queen of Clubs.....she "Ate" my Heart. Get it, the Eight of Hearts?

So I have little stories that are personal to me for every card in the deck. For the ones that you cant associate with a personal touch that relates to you, simply relate the card to the one before it.

For example, my best friend is 35 years old. His nickname is King. So ironically, the 35th card in the stack is the King of Hearts. So I associated that mental picture of the K of H with the number 35. That was easy for me, but the next card in the stack, the 36th card, was tough. That was the Jack of Clubs. For the life of me, I couldn't think of how to tie in the number 36 with this card.....so I just burned it in my memory that this card, the Jack of Clubs will come after the King of Hearts. You just tie them together mentally and link them in your mind.

Anyway, like I said in the beginning, what works for one person may not work for another. Just practice at it and keep it up. You'll get it in no time. The whole process took me around 3 weeks of carrying the deck with me at all times before I finally committed it to memory.

I used the method from Simon Aronsons book, which worked fine but now that I've learnt the deck I don't need to remeber any of the key works, I see a card and the number just pops into my head. This is all just repartion. I always have a deck in my pocket and I'll take it out and run though it when ever I'm walking around, looking at the card and thinking of the number. A lot of people like to write the number on the back and I did that too and it really helped.

I found a good thing that helped me learn the stack was just putting it in order. See Expert Card Tech page 195 for a good method of this.

I have to say I know the stack pretty well but it's still not good enough. A lot of the tricks like Lie Sluth involve the spectator giving the deck a riffle shuffle and hense you have to running though the deck and examining two chains of the memerized stack. I find it quiet hard to do this and making it not look like I'm adding up number or doing some hard mental activity. Any hints on how to practise this or any coments from people who do these kinds of tricks?

Hello,

A-1 All Star Video Vol.3. This is 20 minute Mnemonica deck act.

A-1 Tamariz video Vol.2 of the 3 volume set. In it, you can see one memorised deck effect called All Of Kind.

To answer your first question, I have found that making up a set of flash cards using a deck of cards and writing the corresponding stack number on the back has been an essential learning tool.

As for effects built into the stack, Aronson's material gives good methods for getting the effects set-up and getting the deck back into its stacked order.

I don't know if Juan Tamariz has any performance videos of Memorized deck work (probably). My only suggestion would be to try and catch a Michael Close lecture or pick up his e-book, Closely Guarded Secrets.

Hope this helps,

Jered S.

Jeff,
What happens next year when your friend turns 36?
Nick

Jeff, when he turns 36, just make him change his name to Jack and then try to make friends with another 35 year old named King. Do I have practical solutions, or what?

I find that the best way for me is just plain brute force memorizing. Put the deck into 1 through 52 order. Take a sharpie and put 1 through 52 on the back of the cards. Then seperate into suits and memorize 1 group of suits at a time. mix, backwards, fowards, everything, than put another suit on that and keep going. NEVER start by learning number 1... than number 2.... that is a waste of time. It's like the ABCs. Do you know what the 16th letter is? You do, but you have to do a "abcdefghijklm...." song to get to it. I never like making "nicknames" with the cards. If the goal is to have Number=card and card=number, than why have card=nickname=number. Just a extra step.

But than again, this is the way I did it and it worked. goodluck

P.S The key is to live with the deck. EVERYWHERE you go, take this marked deck and keep going. If anyone asks why you have Numbers on the back you can tell them either "I only did it so you can ask that question" and put the cards away or say "I'm trying to mark the deck very subtly... can you tell?"

After you get somewhat comfortable with the deck, you don't even need to take it with you to practice. You can just think of random positions between 1 and 52 and translate them to the card at that position in your mind, or every time you see a number between 1 and 52 (on a highway sign or on an address sign, for example) translate that in your mind to the card at that position, or every time you dial a phone number translate the numbers into the cards at those positions, etc.

That's what I did too for learning the Mnemonica stack, while doing everyday things when I saw numbers I'd test myself. As already mentioned - road signs, phone numbers, time on clock, addresses etc.

Another thing I did was to shuffle a deck and then go through the cards one by one and lay them out into the stack order and then practice a few of the effects.

Thanks guys,
LiquidSn- I thought of writing numbers on the backs of the cards also. I try it both ways. Naming cards for numbers and numbers for cards. It helps, it just takes a while.

Camador- I used the all the techniques that Juan suggested, I change them a little bit though. I stopped using the auditory method because it was very distracting while I was using the other methods. I also did 26 cards one day, practiced and got good with them and then tried the next 26 cards a few weeks later.

Stacking the deck from a random order. Using flash cards with one through fifty two written on them works. Saying the stack over and over again works. Working on ten cards at a time. Having my friends drill me. Doing the cutting drill Michael Close recommended in his Workers Series. Screaming out the stack while making love to my girlfriend got an interesting response. It just takes a long time. And after you learn the stack you have to learn the tables for the poker demonstrations and the table for the spelling tricks. It's so much to remember.

Hi.

Tamariz include (at least when I bought the mine) a DVD (homemade) in his Sinfonia Nmemonica with performances at his daughter magic school of a few tricks with his stack. But its only about performances, not include explanation or advices. And its in spanish.

Sorry for my bad english. (feel free to pm any correction)

Emilio Suarez.

For practicing when you don't have cards with you, here's a few excercises you can do:

Practice the numbers by drilling 1, then 11, then 21, then 31, then 41, and 51. Next, do 2, 12, 22, 32, 42, 52, etc.

As Larry points out, we're surrounded by numbers all the time. While driving, you'll see them on License Plates, bill boards, street signs, etc. When I see a two digit number larger than 52, I mentally subtract 52 from it and then recall the card at that position. Or, you can reverse the order of the digits.

If you are familiar with the phonetic alphabet, you can turn words into numbers. While driving, I may pass a Sign which says: "Danville" Phonetically, this translates into 1285. So, I recall the cards at 12, and 28. Using the subtraction trick, I recall the 33rd card. Then I might reverse the 12 and recall the 21st card. Reversing and subtracting with 85, I recall the 6th card.

It's important to work from numbers to cards AND from cards to numbers. And, it's also important to recall the cards before and after a specific card. (Without using the stack numbers) All of this leads to mastery with the memdeck. It's fun, and helps to pass the time when you're driving or waiting in line, etc.

If you make this a regular part of your life, you'll find that your memdeck work will improve dramatically. Your cards and numbers will come to mind much faster, and the confidence this brings will help to relieve the tension that causes blocks to occur in the first place.

I've got a longer article on this on my website at:
http://www.loomismagic.com/mm14.html

Dennis Loomis