NOTE: The following post is copied and pasted from the poker legislation forum thread about Kandu and posted here for all of you who may not see that thread and would like to read a trip report, discussion and first hand thoughts on this game. I want to stress the fact that I am not looking for any type of argument if anyone feels strongly against this game. I found it very interesting and want to add my experience and thoughts to the discussion.
Kind regards,


I am currently in Wichita and played Kandu tonight. I was invited to the restaurant last night to meet a friend and after watching the game for a few minutes and then coming home and reading what I could online I decided to go up and play for a few hours tonight. I first heard about this game earlier this year when I ran into some poker players from Wichita at and Oklahoma cardroom. They described the game to me the same way it's described by many of the posts on 2p2. My first reaction was that the Kandu game stakes were to small for me to be interested, but if I ever did play I felt I would have a definitive advantage due to the fact I am confident I have a better than average memory.

I am not looking to argue with anyone who feels strongly against this game. If you think it is stupid, terrible game, too easy or too hard is really of no importance to me. I may be interested in ideas on how to crush the game, but what I really want to offer to the discussion is a trip report from someone who's played first hand and some initial thoughts about the strategic implications and required skillsets to be a winning player in this game for all of those who are interested.

Tonight I played for the first time and I must admit that it is more difficult then I imagined it would be to use the 'flash' to my advantage. At the same time I am sure there is an element of skill to Kandu that is not there in other poker games, skill that can be developed to get better at the game. I am writing this post after spending the last 5 hours trying to wrap my brain around the nuances of the game and I have to admit that I am much more exhausted than I would be after a similar length session of nlhe. This could be because I am experienced at hold'em and inexperienced at Kandu, but the repetitive rote memorization is taxing regardless. It is akin to using a muscle over and over again that you do not normally use in that way. At times my brain literally felt tired.

Thoughts after the first session:
To answer the question is Kandu a game of skill or a game of chance you might first have to answer: Is understanding, learning and using things like mnemonics, mnemonic link systems, phonetics/the major system, rote memorization etc a skill?
There is major strategic differences between the Kandu Card Game and traditional nlhe or plo card games. Although one could play a basic no limit hold em strategy at a Kandu and potentially be a winning player, I believe if you learn some new skills you will consistently have better results.
You are shown the whole deck, the deck is cut and the hand is dealt. It is now actually possible to know your opponents cards and know what is coming next.
Skills that could possible improve Kandu performance:
Effective use of mnemonics, rote memorization, working / short term memory improvement skils, possible speed reading techniques, others mentioned above and more. Basically my initial thought is memory improvement techniques could be considered a learned skill. (?) Memorization of the flash is a valuable skill when playing Kandu.
I know there are arguments in the scientific community about whether or not one can improve their memory, but I believe the consensus is yes it can be done. This game is reason to work on that. If memorization is a skill then I would say this is one of the top skills required to be a high level Kandu player.

Play of the game:
The dealer in the game spreads the entire deck. The players are given a few seconds to review and memorize one card, several cards or the whole deck, look for patterns etc. While the players are reviewing the deck flash the dealer asks if there are any objections, an objection would (I believe?) be something like 'I cannot see all of the cards' 'that card isn't showing' or something similar. After the flash if there are no objections then players have the option to 'buy in'(?) aka ante. After all the players accept the challenge or whatever its called the deck is cut and the dealer shows the bottom card. There is absolutely skill at this stage of the game. Again it comes down to memorization skills. Each card you have memorized from the cut card on is an opponents holecard that will allow you to literally know what they have. At other times you may have memorized the area of the deck that turns out to be the flop which is obviously extremely valuable. And of course you can see the bottom card on the deck all the time.

Look, the last thing that I want is anything to stop poker from being accepted, legalized, regulated or anything else that is not good for the game we all love so much. I hope that this is not the case with Kandu, I actually hope in some way it leads to a re-evaluation of the skill vs chance debate in poker as we know and love it. I am more looking at this game like, how can I beat it? The restaurant where the game is played is less than a few minutes from my residence, the food is excellent, they take reasonable security precautions, the staff is friendly and on the right night the game plays similar to a loose $5 $10 nlhe. For someone who can't play a legal game of cards in this city without atleast an hour drive I would like to see this business last and grow to the point where they run games at all stakes. Many of you who live in areas without casinos may think of rooting for this game as well so that you could also be a few minutes away from a somewhat modified game of hold em, plo, plo8 etc.

I'm not looking for any arguments, just want to offer trip report and share all of my initial thoughts. I don't want anything to happen that will hinder the growth, negatively affect the legality or in anyway hurt the cause of any form of poker. I would however love to see people have the free choice to go to a nice restaurant and play some cards after dinner or over drinks. BOL!