Dead Stroke - Playing "In the Zone"

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
I think playing dead stroke pool is like driving a car from point A to point B for the millionth time, not really trying to drive, but just doing it automatically, only to realize upon arrival that you can't remember any of the drive. During this drive your conscious was simply overseeing the work area of the mind, that place where present sensory information consciously gets compared to info being pulled from longterm storage subconsciously.

Usually, conscious thought is actively at work in the working area (our short term memory), where it is analyzing, comparing, making judgments/assessments, before any boby action/reaction takes place. And other times the conscious doesn't have to do much other than approve actions with a slight head nod, no hands-on interference needed pertaining to the info our subconscious is pulling from storage.

When things are running smoothly like this, the conscious (realizing everything is going fine) may even indulge itself with thoughts that have nothing to do with the sensory inputs coming in or the action our body is performing. This doesn't mean it quits paying attention to what the senses are picking up. It is always in the loop, but when the storage data is so thoroughly and accurately matched to present conditions, the conscious simply nods at the subconscious, as if saying, "You're doing a fine job...I'll just sit over here and monitor things a while, maybe sip on a coffee or a rum-n-coke. Don't worry, if something doesn't look right or feel right, I'll let you know."

Come to think of it, while you're reading these words on the screen your eyes are picking up numerous shapes -- lines, slashes, circles, curves. You aren't consciously building words from these shapes or images. The subconscious is doing all the work, taking this sensory input, this streaming collection of shapes, and doing something absolutely amazing at lightning speed. Take a straight vertical line (I) and a short overlapping horizontal line (-). The collective image these two shapes make is quickly compared to images in storage and the letter "t" is recalled.

Each letter is a puzzle comprised of various shapes, and subconsciously we match these shapes to the letters we've learned, and at the same time we match the formation/order of these letters to the words we've learned. All of this info gets pulled into the working area of the mind where we can consciously use it.

When first learning how to read, we have to consciously think about/analyze what a "v" shape on top of a "I" shape means. Eventually this collection of shapes gets stored as the letter "Y" and is automatically recalled when we see it. What happens when you see a collection of shapes that your subconscious easily recognizes as individual letters, such as "kakorrhaphiophobia", but there's no data in storage that matches this particular formation of letters?

The letters sit there in the working area of the brain while your conscious thought tries to make sense of it. Everything was moving smoothly, effortlessly. You were in the zone and now the subconscious is stuck and you have to consciously get to work. You can choose to ignore the word and your subconscious goes right back into action and you're reading again. Or you can look this particular grouping of letters up in a dictionary and discover that it means "fear of failure". You then decide whether or not you want to try and remember the word, but since you know you might not come across it again you decide to move on. And you're reading again, fully in the zone of subconscious work with very little conscious effort other than directing the eyes on where to look.
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
I think playing dead stroke pool is like driving a car from point A to point B for the millionth time,

I don't. We drive ours cars every day and multiple times during the day but dead stroke happens infrequently. It's not something always there or can be summoned up by command, self hypnosis, or feel good about yourself thoughts. It comes when it comes. For some players not at all because of their skill level to begin with.

not really trying to drive, but just doing it automatically, only to realize upon arrival that you can't remember any of the drive. During this drive your conscious was simply overseeing the work area of the mind, that place where present sensory information consciously gets compared to info being pulled from longterm storage subconsciously.
.

I use my conscious mind quite a bit. Not about how I'm driving so much but how other people are driving. The heavier the traffic, the space between cars, watching some other person yapping on the phone or texting, another car zigzagging from one lane to another, the speed limit, and cops holding speed traps are some of the things I'm very conscious about.

Watching them and what they might do does make a person think about their own driving at the conscious level. Like maybe I should speed up to get away from this car, maybe I should slow down and just let them go, my speed is a too high and I better watch I don't get a ticket, that light just turned yellow on me and I can't slam on the brakes now so I better gun it to get through, and the list goes on.

You say drives aren't memorable. I've certainly had some. Trucks or cars pulling out to pass while I'm right along side of them in the other lane. Me pulling out to pass without seeing them and almost causing the wreck. You grab the steering wheel in a death grip with two hands and think about everything!

Driving on an incredibly steep winding narrow road either uphill or downhill where two cars can barely fit with no guardrail and a 1,000 foot or more fall off.

I've been there and done that a few times and you have to be thinking about all of it constantly or it could be the end of life. And I still remember those incidents very vividly. They are indelibly etched in my brain. They were steering wheel squeezing white knuckle drives with two hands, the foot ready to slam the brakes, and every nerve in the body feeling like they would jump right out of the skin.

All of this feel good psychological mumbo jumbo sounds great but driving a car and playing pool are NOT the same in many respects. Where you drive in your town and the trips you take certainly don't sound like mine nor the number of times in dead stroke and how it happens.
 
Last edited:

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member


I don't. We drive ours cars every day and multiple times during the day but dead stroke happens infrequently. It's not something always there or can be summoned up by command, self hypnosis, or feel good about yourself thoughts. It comes when it comes. For some players not at all because of their skill level to begin with.

I use my conscious mind quite a bit. Not about how I'm driving so much but how other people are driving. The heavier the traffic, the space between cars, watching some other person yapping on the phone or texting, another car zigzagging from one lane to another, the speed limit, and cops holding speed traps are some of the things I'm very conscious about.

Watching them and what they might do does make a person think about their own driving at the conscious level. Like maybe I should speed up to get away from this car, maybe I should slow down and just let them go, my speed is a too high and I better watch I don't get a ticket, that light just turned yellow on me and I can't slam on the brakes now so I better gun it to get through, and the list goes on.

You say drives aren't memorable. I've certainly had some. Trucks or cars pulling out to pass while I'm right along side of them in the other lane. Me pulling out to pass without seeing them and almost causing the wreck. You grab the steering wheel in a death grip with two hands and think about everything!

Driving on an incredibly steep winding narrow road either uphill or downhill where two cars can barely fit with no guardrail and a 1,000 foot or more fall off.

I've been there and done that a few times and you have to be thinking about all of it constantly or it could be the end of life. And I still remember those incidents very vividly. They are indelibly etched in my brain.

All of this feel good psychological mumbo jumbo sounds great but driving a car and playing pool are NOT the same in many respects. Where you drive in your town and the trips you take certainly don't sound like mine nor the number of times in dead stroke and how it happens.

Of course. We all drive consciously giving way to changing conditions, braking and swerving to avoid idiots when needed, observing speed limits, traffic signs and signals and all that. When something extraordinary happens we sure don't have a problem remembering it.
Many tags/handles are embeded with that incident when it occurs. We record it visually, audibly, emotionally, and physically with our body's reaction to the situation.

I never said drives weren't memorable. I was specific, referring to those rare times when you get home and don't recall any of the trip.

This was because your conscious thought was not working hands-on with every aspect of that drive home. Having done it so many times, your subconscious was streaming every sense involved in the process, what you were seeing, what your body was anticipating with each turn, the physical feeling in your muscles, etc... It was matching this sensory info to stored data in memory and quickly bringing the data into the working area of your mind. Your conscious thoughts were not directing anything involved with the drive, and were probably deeply involved with issues completely unrelated to driving. But if the current stream of info suddenly doesn't match the typical experience of the drive, your subconscious says, "Hey!! Pay attention! Something is different! This isn't the same as always!" And you find yourself consciously taking control of the situation.

Pool players store tons of shots in their heads, each shot embedded with specific pattern/position play, muscle memory, body alignment, etc... I can see this being the same as storing/programming into memory a certain drive from point A to B, a drive performed so often that every turn becomes automatic, like playing pool. This doesn't mean everytime you travel this road you're going to go into this mysterious zone where you get home and don't recall the drive. Just as knowing how to play pool and being familiar with thousands of shots and patterns doesn't mean you're going to be playing in "the zone" every time you approach the table.

It's the collaboration of a nearly passive conscious thought process working with a well-stocked streaming subconscious that puts us in the zone, in dead stroke.

Now, if someone could invent a pill that does this, we'd all be junkies.:smile:
 
Last edited:

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
Brian, did anybody ever call you Tinkerbell or The Little Engine That Could?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx9xO98kcBU

You are stuck on thinking in terms of positive affirmations, feel-good happy stuff, which is not even remotely what I'm talking about here.

However, studies have shown that positive thinking increases the likelihood of positive outcomes, as long as it's in the realm of possible reality and not make-believe or wishful thinking.
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
Not that I recall. I consciously tried to remember being called anything close to that, but no familiar tags/handles presented themselves to my subconscious, so no recollection of these names was found. ;)

Aaaaha! You probably shouldn't have used your conscious mind at all. Just let it flooow from the subconscious. Or give more time because it's locked in the unconscious mind and needs to be released up a couple flights of stairs to the subconscious and then the conscious. :thumbup:
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
You are stuck on thinking in terms of positive affirmations, feel-good happy stuff, which is not even remotely what I'm talking about here.

However, studies have shown that positive thinking increases the likelihood of positive outcomes, as long as it's in the realm of possible reality and not make-believe or wishful thinking.

OK. Maybe you've been called Norman Vincent Peale or Earl Nightingale.

I don't think your true powers and potential have yet been produced. At that point you'll be exactly like Benny Hinn. Just lay your hand on foreheads and they can all go straight into a dead stroke while playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXhCLputFzc
 
Last edited:

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
OK. Maybe you've been called Norman Vincent Peale or Earl Nightingale.

I don't think your true powers and potential have yet been produced. At that point you'll be exactly like Benny Hinn. Just lay your hand on foreheads and they can all go straight into a dead stroke while playing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXhCLputFzc

Uh.....no. You're still obsessing over the mumbo jumbo of positive thinking and feel good stuff. Not sure why you're so hung up on it.

This thread is about dead stroke, playing in the zone, which involves acquired knowledge and a certain frame of mind working in streaming like fashion.
 

SpiderWebComm

HelpImBeingOppressed
Silver Member
Uh.....no. You're still obsessing over the mumbo jumbo of positive thinking and feel good stuff. Not sure why you're so hung up on it.

This thread is about dead stroke, playing in the zone, which involves acquired knowledge and a certain frame of mind working in streaming like fashion.

I think you're blowing it by posting all of this expert psychological compartments of the brain stuff in here for free. And look what you said in another thread, you weren't an expert. Too bad it got vaporized and no longer here. I still don't know what happened or who posted what to make it go into outer space.

You should be writing another book about it to make money.

Besides, I'd be completely surprised if anybody else is reading this thread other than us. Actually I'm not reading much at all because it's making me want to nod off and take a nap.

I can't imagine them taking it to heart and trying to understand it let alone apply it.

But go ahead, the stage is yours. I'll be exiting Stage left.
 

BC21

https://www.playpoolbetter.com
Gold Member
Silver Member
I think you're blowing it by posting all of this expert psychological compartments of the brain stuff in here for free. And look what you said in another thread, you weren't an expert. Too bad it got vaporized and no longer here. I still don't know what happened or who posted what to make it go into outer space.

You should be writing another book about it to make money.

Besides, I'd be completely surprised if anybody else is reading this thread other than us. Actually I'm not reading much at all because it's making me want to nod off and take a nap.

I can't imagine them taking it to heart and trying to understand it let alone apply it.

But go ahead, the stage is yours. I'll be exiting Stage left.

Of course I'm no expert. I'm not a neurologist. And you might be right about no one reading this thread other than you, for whatever reason. But I'd say there are many people out there that are like me -- curious about things and willing to discuss and share interesting information. If you don't find it interesting then please "exit stage left" and find a thread that suits your thought process.
 
Top