Memorizing your Hole Cards in Live Hold'em (Can Also Be Used For Seven Card Stud) Games
By Andrew Lacey

How many times have you had to go back to look at your hole cards again to check which suits you have? This article is applicable to live action play and not online (where you can see your hole cards at all times on your screen). The situation often occurs when 3 cards of the same suit flop or a 3rd card of the same suit appears on the turn.

You know, for example, you have an offsuit Ace and King but cannot remember their suits. When I see a typical player checking his hole cards again and calling a bet on the flop or turn when 3 cards of the same suit are on board, it's a big tell (usually) that he is flush drawing. (Some players, including my good self sometimes, with a completed flush will do so for deception purposes). So how can you prevent giving away this information to your opponents and how can you reliably memorize the suits of your hole cards? By being sure which cards you are holding allows you to play more confidently and assuredly in certain situations.

If you are 100% alert it is not difficult to memorize that you have, for example, the Ace of Hearts and the King of Clubs in the hole. But most typical players, when dealt a hand such as AK offsuit, don't take the time to memorize the suits. They simply remember that they have AK and often have to recheck the suits when the board brings flush draw opportunities. Also, even if you are pretty good at memorizing the suits you can sometimes get confused and get it wrong. This typically occurs over long playing sessions and it can be a very costly error. I'd like to share with you a system I developed myself to help overcome this problem. It is not 100% failsafe but I found it a much better way of memorizing the suits of my hole cards.

There are two possible types hands you can be dealt for your first 2 cards. You'll either be dealt a pocket pair (e.g. 8c 8h) or 2 cards of different ranks (e.g. Ac Js). Let me deal with cards of different ranks first. It is important to initially sort the cards by rank in your mind, putting the highest card first. So if your first card is the Jack of Spades and your second card is the Ace of Clubs, change it in your mind to AJ. That's step one.

Now the second step is to assign an easily memorized suit term. The key is to take the first letter of the suit (i.e. C for Clubs, D for Diamonds, H for Hearts and S for Spades) and assign a 2 (or 1) word term that begins with (or uses) those letters. So, in our example with the Ace of Clubs and Jack of Spades (we are dealing with the letters C and S in this case), I think Ace Jack 'Chop Suey'. Here are all the 2 word terms I use for all the different suit combinations for cards of different ranks and suits. Obviously if you get the Ace of Clubs and the Jack of Clubs you will easily memorize it as AJ of Clubs. You may use these or develop your own terms. Remember to put the highest card first in your mind.

Club and Spade: Chop Suey (e.g. AcKs = Ace King Chop Suey)
Club and Diamond: Compact Disk
Club and Heart: CHeese

Spade and Club: Santa Claus
Spade and Diamond: San Diego
Spade and Heart: Steak House

Heart and Club: Hot Chocolate
Heart and Diamond: Harley Davidson
Heart and Spade: Heavy Snow

Diamond and Club: Washington DC
Diamond and Spade: Dire Straits
Diamond and Heart: Dirty Harry

For pocket pairs the only difference to the above terms is that I just use 'black' and 'red' when my pocket pair cards are the same color. So, for example, when I get 8c 8s I simply remember them as black eights, and the 2h 2d would be red twos. Of course, if you are playing with a 4 color deck then this won't work and you'll have to use the terms system.

Feel free to come up with your own terms. For example, someone living in California may prefer to use Santa Cruz instead of Santa Claus for a Spade and Club hand. Similarly, if you have a friend whose initials could be used you could use that e.g. Debbie Harris for a Diamond and Heart hand, instead of Dirty Harry.

Some people may think that memorizing these terms is more difficult than just memorizing the suits during the play of a hand. It's not. You will find that very quickly your poker mind automatically assigns the terms to your cards within nanoseconds and it is much harder to forget your hole card suits using this system than it is if you were just remembering the suits by themselves. Perhaps this is because I thought up the terms myself.

You may find it easier if you come up with all your own terms for the different letter combinations, if you have difficulty remembering mine. But rest assured that once you have mastered the suit memorizing system you will appear a more formidable and in-control player to your observant opponents. In the right games, certainly the tougher games, this image can help increase your win rate and allow you to semi-bluff more.

For beginners who may not be familiar with the concept of semi-bluffing I'll explain it here. (Advanced players can jump 2 paragraphs ahead) There are two types of bluff in poker. A total bluff is where you know your hand is no good but you bet hoping your opponent(s) will fold if you do. They too may have an equally poor (or worse) hand. They may also fold the winning hand, which is even better for you. Let's say you had 78 suited in hold'em and a player after you raised with pocket Kings and you called. The flop comes A Q 2 of mixed suits.

If you bet into the original raiser he may fold his pocket Kings, fearing you have an Ace and he is drawing thin. This is a total bluff as you are sure your 78 is no good and has only a long-shot chance of beating his Kings (you would need BOTH the turn AND river cards to be either a 7 or an 8 to beat his pocket Kings, assuming the player with Kings didn't fold). I am not suggesting or recommending you make this play; I am just giving it as an example of a total bluff. But I have made this play in the right situations and I have seen other players do it too, primarily in No Limit tournaments.

A semi-bluff is very different. You are bluffing with a hand that may not be winning at the moment but can improve to be a strong hand, perhaps even the nuts. For example, if you started with As Qh, and the flop came 2s 6s Js (all spades) and you bet (or raised the previous bettor) this would be an example of a semi-bluff. Because, if any spade arrives on the turn, you would have the nut flush. In fact, if the turn were an ace or queen you may have the best hand too but you couldn't be as sure, as someone with JQ would now have two pair. The best card to catch of course then is a spade but sometimes overcards can become pot winners too if they hit. So semi-bluffing is betting a hand that may be trailing at the moment but can improve to a winning hand.

Ideally when semi-bluffing you want your opponent(s) to fold to your bet or raise, but if they do call you have outs to win. And even if you do miss your draw completely you may be able to bluff them off their hand at the river, if you read them to have a weak hand or busted draw too. Be warned that this is less likely to succeed the more opponents you are facing. With multiple opponents one of them is highly likely to 'keep you honest', especially in fixed limit games where he/she may be getting good pot odds to snap off your bluff with some sort of hand that can beat your busted draw.

So when you have memorized your hole cards using this system, you can act and bet as a semi-bluff more confidently, knowing you have a big draw while at the same time representing a made/completed hand. If you have to look at your cards during the hand, against typical opponents they will put you on exactly a draw, thereby reducing your chances of bluffing at the end if you miss your draw. If you are betting a 4 flush draw (i.e. you still need another card of the suit to complete your flush) with the Ace of the suit as one of your hole cards you may even get someone with a smaller made flush to fold.

I have seen players fold King high flushes in No Limit games, fearing they are against an Ace high flush. This can be difficult to achieve in fixed limit games, but in Pot Limit and No Limit games you can scare your opponents into submission if the conditions are right. No Limit games are the ultimate games of card representation, meaning that it's not the actual cards that you hold that matter but more the cards you are representing as holding.

One final note, if I am playing against strangers, I will sometimes peek at my hole cards a second time when I know I have a made hand to pretend I am still drawing. (Against the players who play me regularly this is futile, as they know I always memorize my hole cards exactly and that I am trying to give a false tell!)

If, for example I have the AsKs and flop the nut flush against strangers, I will sometimes peek again for deception purposes to pretend I only have one suited card and I am still drawing to a flush. I always randomize such decisions. If the first card on the flop was a 2, 3, 4 or 5, for example, I will peek at my hole cards. If the first card on the flop is 6 or higher I won't. By randomizing your decisions in such a way, players cannot get a read on your actions. I randomize quite a few of my poker decisions using cards on the board so that opponents can't get a read on my play, and I can keep them guessing.

You must always vary your randomization procedures regularly also, particularly against top players who may pick up on what you are doing. This is important in tougher games against observant opponents. I will share some further examples of this randomization with you in a future article. In the meantime I hope the suit memorizing system for your hole cards will prove useful and profitable. Until next time.

Take Care,

Andrew (PokerPagesAL)