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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Jul 14, 2007

I Believe I Heard What Can't Be Heard

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. -- Will Rogers

Anyone who reads the words in this space from time to time has some insight into my persona. They know I prefer the high definition TV channels that focus on home improvement, animals, nature and music. They know I've grown a bit bored with the theatrics of today's "media-ized" poker, and that I am a believer in meditation, hypnosis and subliminal messaging.

The last one usually stirs up trouble.

Maybe it's the words that turn people off.

Or maybe it's the fact that the U.S. government tells us there in no validity to subliminal messaging.

But I do get more feedback about my stance on the subject than I get on anything else, including typos and skewed poker advice.

For most people the jury is still in deep debate about the legitimacy of subliminal messaging.

Let me state flat out that I believe we can influence our subconscious mind by bypassing the conscious state, that part of our mind that knows (or should know) what's happening all around us. I am not sure if subliminal messaging works with words that are so deeply hidden beneath layers of music or the sound of ocean waves, rain, birds, or beat box rhythms that even the most powerful speakers won't detect them, but I'm sure there has to be some validity to the concept that a state of relaxation accompanied by repetitive phrases can have an effect on us.

(Subliminal advertising was banned in the UK and Australia and by the National Association of Broadcasters in 1958.)

Just this year, researchers at University College London did some experimentation which concluded that invisible subliminal images do attract the brain's attention on a subconscious level. What our study doesn't address is whether this would then influence you to go out and buy a product. I believe that it's likely that subliminal advertising may affect our decisions -- but that is just speculation at this point (www.ucl.ac.uk/media/library/notaware)

(Earlier this year, the Province of Ontario pulled 87 video slots from play after an investigation found what appear to be subliminal messages flashing at players.)

I'm not going far out on that proverbial limb and saying musicians put backwards lyrics on their records to influence unsuspecting teens. But I think that if we believe we can improve our minds and actions by positive affirmations through subdued repetitive messages, we can improve our minds and actions.

(In 1982, Phil Wyman, a California assemblyman, introduced a bill to outlaw the practice of including subliminal messages in rock records.)

So, when you watch TV and you see that king of burgers enticing you to hop on over to your nearest corner kiosk and grab a quarter pounder, and you see it time after time, so you ever respond? When you drive by the joint, do you think of the ad?

I'll repeat my take. Yes, you can influence yourself to change by using repetitive subliminal messaging, not necessarily hidden messaging, but the same kind of repetition that helped you learn your times tables and your alphabet, and the periodical chart of chemical (or whatever that thing was in chemistry class that I didn't get because I didn't want to.)

So try it with poker. Do a google for subliminal poker or hypnosis and poker. You'll be surprised at what you'll find.

And if you get to YouTube.com and find this link -- www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2iWCidpsrc -- after you finish, give yourself a great belly laugh. Scroll down a bit and check out Marcel Luske's Pokersong.

(Yes, that's Marcel Luske, the pro with the upside-down sunglasses.)