Sensory Acuity

Check this short video out and notice how you can not notice…

Wayne

August 22nd, 2010

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Sensory Acuity & Lollipop Ladies (Part One)

Are you a lollipop lady or a traffic warden?

Mmm Where do I start is the question?

I guess firstly it’s back to basics because this is an area that totally fascinates and intrigues me so much that I have to admit to being a sensory Acuity Junkie. And it’s not just for the Daniel Negreanus and Texas Dolly’s of the poker world…  More on that shortly…

The ability to read people is an art form for sure but it’s something you are all highly capable of.  After all you’ve been doing it since the day you entered the world and most probably even before (without even knowing it).  Now, obviously no matter how long you’ve been playing poker I’m sure you didn’t enter the world with a pack of playing cards or slansky’s theory of Poker in your hands (unless you were born in Vegas).

So what is sensory acuity?

One way of thinking about it is our awareness of internal/external stimuli and what we tune into on a daily basis via our (basic) 5 x senses (Visual,Auditory,Kinesthetic,Olfactory,Gustatory) that’s the technical term for Seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting.

These are described in NLP as representational systems.  Representation Systems

The way we take in information can influence our perceptions of the world whilst guiding us to make decisions, judgements and form assumptions based on the sensory input coming in via our five senses, our VAKOG.

So how can that be useful?

Well to navigate through the world we need to have an awareness of our surroundings so that we can anticipate the myriad of possible occurrences in day to day life.  There are contexts where sensory acuity is paramount and not quite so but while ever you have a pulse it’s never completely switched off.

The need to be aware of our surroundings is I’m sure you’ll agree very important.  I was thinking traffic wardens when I wrote that but let’s not go there as I don’t believe they have any senses whatsoever, so there are always exceptions I suppose.  What about the old lollipop Lady?  I mean all they do is a mundane job and help people cross the road right?  Well you could say yes on one level if that’s how you perceive them.  However, consider that on the other hand they have to be highly skilled and tuned to the outside world as they have a responsibility to help our children cross the roads.

If you ever watch them sometimes when there’s no traffic about it may seem like they haven’t got a care in the world or wonder how they pacify themselves.  However, when the children come along or something triggers their attention they have to ensure not only the childrens safety but their own.  Now if they were in their own head thinking about what they are going to have for tea or how the England goalie messed up and allowed in a goal they could be described as ‘internal’ or ‘in their own heads’, or in the case of traffic wardens ‘In their own little world’.  The lollipop lady has to switch on to what’s going on and ‘calibrate‘ or ‘measure‘ what needs to be done in the moment to ensure a smooth transition from one side of the road to the other.  Once mission is accomplished they can ‘go back inside’ or stay outside and marvel at what they and you do naturally when required or at will.

Now, this is where I like to use the word ‘Intention‘ and by setting your intention you can direct your ‘attention‘ to what it is you want to achieve.  In doing so you can then let go of the outcome and allow your mind/body system do the work for you.  So before we get to the felt why not try the following experiment.

Think about something that you don’t really care for doing that from time to time you’ve had those feelings of discomfort like boredom or you can hear yourself internally rabbiting on about how boring etc.  It might be in a waiting room, a traffic jam or a queue at you local supermarket.  It could be at the poker table when you’ve just been outdrawn by the table maniac who needed runner runner to win and hit it and you’re frustrating yourself.

Where was you?  Inside or outside? How did it affect you? And how long was you there for as you think about it now?

Simple questions but if you back-track through your experience you’ll find that you can spend a lot of time inside your own head mulling over the mundane and you might say justifiably so.  How about having the ability to switch your attention elsewhere?

Well that’s the easy part because you’ve been doing it all your life and just did it again in the above exercise.

You see, boredom for example is just a state of mind and if you focus your attention on being bored.  Guess what…

Consider that next time you find yourself in one of the above situations or feel free to create your own ideas based on what’s written.

What is it that you can do differently that will allow you to switch your attention elsewhere?

And…

How many different ways can you start to think of that now?

How can you bring yourself ‘outside‘? Make it your ‘intention to do so the next time you find yourself ‘inside’.

My intention is to guide you through a very short focusing/de-focusing drill…

*

Focus your attention on the star above and as you continue reading notice how your attention drifts away from it and although you can still see it your not actually really focused on it are you?

Now focus on it again but the next time finish reading the instructions then stay put with your attention fixed on the star.  Only when you have really really focused on it allow yourself to start widening your vision and notice other things in your surroundings whilst still holding the star in your visual field.

What could you see ‘outside’ that you wasn’t noticing previously when focusing?

What sounds could you hear ‘outside’ that you wasn’t noticing previously?

And that’s it…

Other than it’s time to practice and take it out into the world to experience what it is I’m talking about.  Although to some extents you just have, haven’t you?  And you’ve been doing it all your life, aren’t you already realising this now?

Now the question is do the top players operate from ‘inside their heads’ wondering about the bad beat they got a few days ago or are they there on the table, in the moment, calibrating/measuring and weighing up the situation as the game pans out…?

Are they focusing all their attention on a star or do they widen your vision so that you can see and hear what’s going on around you?

You see in that sense their a bit like lollipop ladies guiding people to cross the road…

So as you think about it now how many lollipop ladies do you recognise you’ve played against in the past?

And how many were traffic wardens…

(Disclaimer) I have nothing against Traffic Wardens…

So… Are you a lollipop lady or a traffic warden… ?

Take care and see you at the tables…

Wayne

June 13th, 2010

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The Empathic Civilisation

June 9th, 2010

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The meaning of your communication

Is the response you elicit…

Mahna Mahna…

May 14th, 2010

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Pay ‘Attention’ to your ‘Intention’

£100 into £100,000 is it possible? (1)

So I went back on the felt Sunday at 3pm at Dusk till dawn poker club Nottingham with my £100 and entered (seperately) the 10k GTD MTT… 4 hrs in and I have 35k in chips… Before we start i’m not going into bankrolling yet and £100 is no bankroll for MTT play… More on that later.. My £100 is still intact and this MTT is a warm up before I bankroll myself for the bigger games.

I get 88 and raise and one caller Flop is dealt 3 Q 8 rainbow some raising and re-raising goes off and we get all our chips in and cards on their backs… Player shows QQ and i’m out set over set job done… That’s it for me now to jump on the cash tables…

Before we start the intention of me writing is not to post hand histories and tell you how hard done to I was or how lucky I got, We’ll leave that to the Bible Bashers of pot odds!  You hear it so often in poker people talking how somebody called with Ace Rag out of position and busted them as if it’s against the law or something.  It’s like they have to play by the book and therefore so should you. In fact if you can frustrate someone by playing against the book you can send them on tilt and have their chips quicker than they can say ‘YOU FXXXXXG FISH’. But that’s beyond the scope of this topic and we can touch on that at a later date as my intention is to stay on the topic of intention.

So let’s talk a little about intention and how to create a framework for how you intend on playing so that you have some rules of thumb you can adhere to before you start. Now, I have created a framework of how I want to write about poker and touch on multiple levels of skill that can be applied in the context of poker.  In order that hopefully people of all skill levels can draw something from what I write.  It’s a working theory and a framework that I will stick to whilst we journey together onto the tables and beyond. Via feedback I can test whether I’m getting my message across and alter the way I organise the frameworks accordingly.

So firstly what do I mean by framework? Well if you have heard people say things such as “what you focus on increases” or “energy goes where attention flows”… you can start getting a tiny bit hypnotic here… Because hypnosis is basically an amplifier of experience.  So if you focus on specific areas where you are going to pay attention via your intention then you can create a set of rules that allow you to focus in that area and keep within the framework or set of rules etc.

An example of a framework in action could be ‘dealers choice’ wherein a table of players on their particular turn call out the game they want to play for that specific round.  One player may announce “let’s play blackjack” and people automatically change the rules/framework for blackjack. The next player may announce “NL Holdem” and automatically the players (assuming they know the rules) would adjust.   It’s a natural process that we do and mostly without thinking because it’s so easy for us to change our minds, change the way we operate, change the way we think. Especially when we’re not thinking about it… As in we don’t start thinking it’s difficult to do because that’s where those pesky things called ‘problems’ sometimes start…

So what about taking this idea and setting the stall out for how we intend to play? What you expect to do… And how you expect to do it… Before we start a lot of this will come to you like “I already do this”, “this is just common sense” and you do, and it is… It’s definately not rocket science or magic but it can seem like so at times when you start utilising the ideas in a variety of different ways… Consciously…

Intention is a bit like goal setting or making a decision… And I repeat it’s not difficult and it’s extremely scale-able.  As an example if you want a cup of tea and its your intention to make one you’ll put the kettle on get yourself a cup and place a teabag in it and maybe add sugar and milk in whatever order you do such a task.  Now, when you decided you was going to make a cup of tea i’ll guarantee you didn’t (consciously) order your micro muscles in your body to start adjusting your physiology and your body to adjust millions of different aspects of itself in order for you to achieve your goal did you? NO because once you have set your intention and when you set about your task the rest follows.  You are not a head on a stick because the mind/body is connected, you are a system that works together as a whole…

So how can you set your intention for playing poker at your best…

Firstly it depends on your level of skill and where you want to focus your attention.  If you’re in text book mode and want to play text book poker then you can place your attention in a different spot to me but it all works for whatever your purpose is… If you are creating a framework via your intention on what you are going to be paying attention then ask yourself… For what purpose am I doing this?… And it’s useful to think, In order to do what?

Poker Authors write so much about poker and how to play and I have read some brilliant books on the subject.  My game always suffered as I applied different theories whilst I integrated the learnings but that to me is what poker is all about… Learning… One of the concepts I incorporated into my game that seems a common denominator across the field is ‘Great poker players utilise PATIENCE, DISCIPLINE & SELECTIVE AGGRESSION’.  I liked that as I could be described as an aggressive player and it can serve you well dependent what those words mean to you…

I have tweaked it slightly and it serves me even better and I don’t think anyone has built much on the statement above.  But in my mind why limit yourself to aggression.  What fits more for my style is PATIENCE, DISCIPLINE & SELECTIVE STATES OF AWARENESS.  I know, I know, not much of a change to the framework put in place by the poker best sellers but I’m sure you’ll agree it certainly widens the scope for what you can take to a table in the form of thinking and behaving…

So what was my intention Sunday afternoon before I played…

I decided that I was going to forget about the cards and focus my senses on my enemies and the information ‘out there’. Play with Patience, Discipline, and utilise my abilities to unconsciously select the appropriate states of awareness according to the situations that arose.  I added that if I started feeling tired, getting bored or any other states that did not serve me then I would automatically re-adjust my focus/attention and ensure that I selected more optimal ones at my disposal.  Play my optimal game throughout and take pride after the event in my progress.

In order to gauge just how much information I can gather, utilise, and mould to shape my game more effectively.  Because at the end of the day to reflect, and feedback on where I did really well and where I could improve in the future is my window off opportunity to fine tune my game and fine tune my senses for the coming months ahead… Then I entered the realm and played my game and calibrated my results… Perfect, hell no but spot on the mark? A resounding YES.

So my intention was to give an insight into intention when entering the game… Writing… Making things happen…

The intention of the next blog is to write about ‘sensory acuity‘ and how you can read people in a variety of different ways… What can you do to be the sponge that soaks every last drop of relevant information for you to be the best player on the table?

Well the player who sat opposite me at the opening is a nice advocate for what not to do…

Came home after 5hrs on the cash tables with £318 so + £218 on the night.  Time to make myself a nice cup of Tea !

Wayne

April 13th, 2010

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Perspectives.

How many different ways do you think the following video could be interpreted before the final glimpse of what is actually occurring at the end?

Pause at 15 seconds and have a think… what’s going through your mind?

How would you Describe, Interpret, Evaluate?

Look at it through the old lady in the streets eyes, and consider what could be going through her head.

How about the person with the briefcase as the man heads towards him at speed.

How quickly would they have changed their minds once they’d noticed the process at its climax…

People can change their minds in an instant, alter their beliefs in a moment and transform your life in a second…

All you need is to be willing and open to the possibilities that Every experience brings…

It’s as simple as the video really… It really doesn’t have to be difficult…

Wayne

March 22nd, 2010

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Bullet Tooth Tony & The Power of Metaphor…

This scene from Snatch demonstrates the power of metaphor…

Bullet tooth Tony:
So, you are obviously the big dick and the men on the side of ya are your balls. There are two types of balls: there are big brave balls, and there are little mincey faggot balls.

Vinny:
These are your last words, so make them a prayer.

Bullet tooth Tony:
Now, dicks have drive, and clarity of vision, but they are not clever. They smell pussy and they want a piece of the action. And, you thought you smelled some good ol’ pussy. And, have brought your two little mincey faggot balls along for a good ol’ time. But, you’ve got your parties muddled up. There’s no pussy here, just a dose that’ll make you wish you were born a woman. Like a prick, you are having second thoughts. You’re shrinking . . . and your two little balls are shrinking with ya. And, the fact that you’ve got “replica” written down the side of your guns. And, the fact that I’ve got “Desert Eagle point 5 0″ written on the side of mine, should precipitate your balls into shrinking, along with your presence. Now . . . fu** off.

How many different ways can you relate this to NLP?

Wayne

January 9th, 2010

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Red or Blue?… Self or other?… Vat is the question…

Consider the following thought experiment that used to be a favorite of philosophers (it was also the basis for the Hollywood blockbuster The Matrix)

Let’s advance to a point of time where we know everything there is to know about the intricate circuitry and functioning of the human brain. With this knowledge, it would be possible for a neuroscientist to isolate your brain in a vat of nutrients and keep it alive and healthy indefinitely.
Utilizing thousands of electrodes and appropriate patterns of electrical stimulation, the scientist makes your brain think and feel that it’s experiencing actual life events. The simulation is perfect and includes a sense of time and planning for the future. The brain doesn’t know that its experiences, its entire life, are not real.

Further assume that the scientist can make your brain “think” and experience being a combination of Einstein, Mark Spitz, Bill Gates, Hugh Heffner, and Gandhi, while at the same time preserving your own deeply personal memories and identity (there’s nothing in contemporary brain science that forbids such a scenario). The mad neuroscientist then gives you a choice. You can either be this incredible, deliriously happy being floating forever in the vat or be your real self, more or less like you are now (for the sake of argument we will further assume that you are basically a happy and contended person, not a starving pheasant).

Which of the two would you pick?

Now For the full article if you wish to read further…
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/ramachandran06/ramachandran06_index.html

Which of the two would you pick?

Wayne

December 20th, 2009

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