Dreams

[ifm]

Last night i had a dream i was eating an emormous marshmallow.
When i woke up my pillow was gone

[Royal Flush]

Andrew T refers to the book "Blink", which apparently suggests making insta-decisions, instead of out-thinking yourself.

So Chili & I go to Dublin together, & she is raving about this "Blink" book, & reads me endless slabs of it. Yeah yeah yeah.....

I pick up pocket sixes on the Button in the Main Event, with 3 limpers, plus the blinds & decide to try the "Blink" theory. First thought - move all-in & kill the hand. It worked a treat, I would never have been so decisive unless I had heard the "llink" theory.

A shame Matey Boy had limped with Aces though. I blame Blink. And Chili.

For the last time its the right play!

[Dewi_cool]

Last night i had a dream i was eating an emormous marshmallow.
When i woke up my pillow was gone

Were you in my bedroom Ian, coz mine was gone too!!!

[AndrewT]

I know the book too...it struck a chord with me though....how often, whether it be in poker or in life, should one go with one's first instinct but instead you vacillate and make the wrong choice?

The key is whether you have played enough poker so that your subconscious has seen this particular situation enough in the past to come to the correct decision.

One other powerful aspect of the subconscious is it is very good at isolating the one or two critical pieces of information which are key in any situation. Consciously, we can fall into the trap of 'more information is better information' and get bogged down by irrelevant data.

In Tikay's hand, the power of Blink comes not from going with your first conscious thought ('move all-in & kill the hand'), but rather from going with a decision which you seem to have made before you've given it any conscious though at all. Maybe a first thought is one thought too many?

Maybe Obi Wan Kenobi had it right after all...

[Chili]

Awesome stuff this.  This is the most fascinating book i have read in a while AND the most relevant to me in this "slice" of my life at the moment. 

Where Tikay's first instinct was to stick his chips in and take the pot (correct, i also agree).  It didnt work THAT time due to limping Aces.  My demise on the second day at Dublin interestingly if i had stuck to my unconscious thought, WOULD have won me the pot and kept me in the comp.

I started the day with 36,500 with the average being 40k.  I managed to build to about 60k and then get moved tables to sit to the right of Mickey Wernick.  After losing a little with the blinds and ante's a hand develops with Mickey flat calling under the gun.  The small blind makes it up and i check my big blind with 9 2 off.  The flop comes 883, small blind checks and i insantly pick up my chips to bet the flop.  In that split second i had deduced that would be the only way i could win the tasty 10, 800 that is in the pot.  On the way to those chips going in the middle my conscious brain remembers Mickey previously coming over the top and with his big stack he could call anyway.  I hesitate and check with those chips instead chucking them in.  So the free card arrives (a Jack) and small blind checks and THEN i bet.  Lunacy, again my instinct was the Jack was a very bad card to see but i had to have that proven.  Mickey calls and small blind passes.  The river is another small card and i bet 15k and Mickey calls in an instant with K J.

I had lost half my stack by analising.  All i had to do was bet the flop and it was mine.  Very bizarely in the context of this thread, Micky says "I had to call that bet at the end quick because i may have passed if i had thought about it!"  I have beaten myself up all weekend over this crappy decision.  It left me with 22k and a few hands later i got AK, went all in after a 10k raise, was called for the extra 12k (which only left him with 6k) with 66 and i went out.

The power of "blink".

[matt674]

The power of "blink".

Unfortunately the power affects some of us the wrong way!!

Sometimes i have a thought (a rare occurence so i have to make the most of it while it lasts) but then i "blink" and its gone

Suppose thats beneficial for the rest of you though!!

[AndrewT]

Of course, the usual 'power of blink' which happens when Tikay plays a tournament is that if an observer does blink, they will miss his exit...

*    self*

[matt674]

I would recommend the book Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell - it's all about how we are able to make split-second decisions which are more often correct, when any amount of conscious thinking would actually lead us to an incorrect conclusion - power of the sub-conscious, and all that.

Awesome stuff this.  This is the most fascinating book i have read in a while AND the most relevant to me in this "slice" of my life at the moment. 

The power of "blink".

Sometimes this can be a two way street though - the number of times i've made a quick decision which turns out to be an incorrect one when if had actually stopped to think briefly about the situation i would have made the correct one.

I've always said that you should always go with your instincts and never try to second guess yourself but there is a case sometimes for allowing your subconscience a brief moment to trawl through everything that is contained within to try and piece together the jigsaw before coming to a conclusion.

Its all about finding the happy medium (as in the midway point between the two rather than the jovial fortune teller! )

[londonpokergirl]

I used to have a recurring dream where I was running through the woods being chased by some monster had the same dream until about 5 years ago and suddenly it stopped no idea why.

Now my dreams are pretty basic racy stuff  

[AndrewT]

Sometimes this can be a two way street though - the number of times i've made a quick decision which turns out to be an incorrect one when if had actually stopped to think briefly about the situation i would have made the correct one.

I've always said that you should always go with your instincts and never try to second guess yourself but there is a case sometimes for allowing your subconscience a brief moment to trawl through everything that is contained within to try and piece together the jigsaw before coming to a conclusion.

Its all about finding the happy medium (as in the midway point between the two rather than the jovial fortune teller! )

It's like driving. When you start driving, it's best if you use conscious thought, as trying to drive without thinking may not be the best idea. Once you've been driving a while though, you stop putting conscious thought into it (you don't think 'better change gear here' or 'indicate right' - you just do it before you realise it) and it would actually be slower to concentrate on every single aspect of operating the car.

[tikay]

Am so loving this thread.

Good job Andrew Red-Carded himself though, saved me a job.....

When I look back on my life, I can think of so many "Blink-type" decisions I have made. But I kinda think they balance out.  Some of my worst mistakes in life, I admit, were due to "out-thinking" myself. And other really bad decisions were insta-made. Guess I just made a lot of bad decisions!

[matt674]

But by the same token - how many more accidents are there nowadays because people drive whilst on "automatic pilot". People stop putting conscious thought into decisions such as "turn indicator left" and "better change gear here" is ok but then with some it leads to just becoming lazy and doing things like "not putting indicator on to turn left" and "not looking in side mirror before turning".

Sometimes the conscious thought reminds people to remain alert at all times and keeps the grey matter in an "awake" state.

[Poppet7]

sounds like your pretty screwed up 

my dreams usually involve poppet and a jar of chocolate spread 

 

That really made me laugh

On Topic: I've always been quite interested in the psychology of dreams, I had to have counselling for quite a long period of time due to the constant dreams I was having of Leon dying, or when Leon had died. They were always so horrible and unexplained, I'd wake up sobbing my heart out. The counselling helped and thankfully I haven't had them recently. I've also had dreams about my Mum being murdered, my Dad dying from lung cancer and my sister drowning in a river but I wouldn't jump in to save her because I had my new trousers on! (I know the psychology of that one!! )

I think the reason why I dream about death is because that is my biggest fear. If I get an unexpected phone call or something, I always imagine its because they're going to tell me that someone close to me has died. It's also probably a result of my insecurity, because i'm constantly panicking that I'm going to lose someone in my life.

I'd suggest reading a dream book if you're ever interested in what they mean... not sure they're entirely accurate though.

[RED-DOG]

When I was a little boy, perhaps 8 or 9 years old I used to dream about a wall with a pea sized hole in it. As is the way with dreams, I could squeeze through this tiny hole and into a secret room on the other side.

The room was filled with books, shelf after shelf of dusty volumes, If I chose one at random and wiped the cover with my sleeve, It would always reveal a gold lettered title with a picture below

The stories were always about pirates or explorers, cowboys or secret agents, I can't remember ever 'dream reading' any of them, but I loved to go there.

The other magical thing about the room was the fact that no matter how long I stayed there, time didn't pass outside, so I was never missed.

I found I could have this dream at will, I don't know when I stopped doing it, and I don't think I have ever told anyone about it before now, not even Mrs Red.

[Sark79]

This is a great book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/034537410X/002-3333106-8636008?v=glance&n=283155


I have this and have read it a number of times.  It deals with lucid dreaming. This is dreaming while being completely aware and able to control what you are dreaming about. Alot of atheletes and performers have used these methods to achieve fantastic results. It gives a dress rehearsal of the event you are going to undertake.  Type Lucid dreaming into google.