What are your Mental weaknesses in the game of poker??

Woa, those are big sessions... I have a hard time staying more than 1, 1.5 hours in a row online on cash games and after playing a tourney ( hopefully deep... ) I jus can t play another one. I don t have this problem live because the mental gring is not as intense and it is easy to take a break if necessary.

I think I try to focus so much on every hand that I m using all my energy fairly quick, however, this is the only way i found to not loose most of a session winning in few bad plays because of bad focus.

I agree, that 12 + hours in a session is enormous!! Very difficult to stay focused for that long, if not impossible. But if you are aware of the difficulty focusing for that long, then you can make sure you are not using up focus on unnecesary hands. Making sure if you do get a chance to take a break, to switch the left side of the brain off, so it is fresher when you return.
Akamma, focusing on every hand will surely deplete your energy levels, so try to lower the intensity of focus when your not involved in a hand.

As long as a poker player good play fun.
As long as you know patience to win.
Avarice will always lose.
You might want to calm down a bit to drink

I Agree

My biggest challenge is focus and getting over horrible bad beats (esp. when they happen in a row).

I'm a tournament/ S&G player and when I play, I only do one tournament at a time to stay focused. I tend to make hasty, ill-informed decisions when I multi-table because I can't focus and take notes on my table mates.

When I play in big tournaments I often have to listen to music (which is great) or watch tv to carry me through the slow parts of tournament play. It helps with my patience & focus.

With bad beats...everyone admits they suck. Some have learned to let them roll off their back, but most of us just get down right pissed. Which I think gets to our head and starts breaking us down mentally (consequently...this seems to effect future play). But, as they say, "that's poker".

I still struggle a bit with bad beats, but I try hard not to let them get to me because I realize it can have very negative consequences in your overall play and mental approach to the game. Speaking of which, a very recent article was published on Poker News about the mental approach and is a good read:

http://www.pokernews.com/news/2009/08/pokernews-op-ed-recognizing-when-you-need-to-change-your-pat-7115.htm

Cheers!

What type of music do you listen to. I have tried listening to all type and for some odd reason, I do bad when I have music on. I am weird so who knows.

Chemical brothers!!!!!

it has to be something that will be background noise. if it is something that brings itself to the front of your mind you will lose concentration. at that point it becomes just another distraction.

i can't listen to anything with lyrics because i focus too much on them.

I have tried lyrical and instrumental...classical...hard rock...maybe the fact that I am deaf in one ear my have something to do with it! LOL

mrdick2u wrote:

I have tried lyrical and instrumental...classical...hard rock...maybe the fact that I am mentally challenged may have something to do with it! LOL

fyp.

mrdick2u wrote:

I have tried lyrical and instrumental...classical...hard rock...maybe the fact that I am deaf in one ear my have something to do with it! LOL

lol....actually I tend to listen to Reggae because I love that style of music (but definitely not everybody's cup of tea). It tends to keep me calm and steady.

Conversely, when I listen to say, heavy metal, I think it tends affect my play because I become more aggressive and tilt easier

But I have to have some sort of background noise when I play online. When I play live it's not really necessary because my focus is mostly on reading other players. Plus I get entertained easily by my fellow table mates . With online play...even waiting those dreaded 30 seconds for decisions ( or 90 second disconnects!!) seems like they take forever. Sometimes, I even get some reading done LOL

I'm really new around here, but i definitely need some advices

I'm a too close player, especially when the blind is low.
i tend to fold most of the hand, and to fall in many bluffs.
and above all i almost don't ever bluff, because in my history i always get screwed when i do...
what would you suggest guys?

Well, Bluff are very important in order to get some chips and bluff should work a majority of the time. If your bluffs don t work it is probably because they are badly designed. On top of that, if you are tight, Bluff should work even better.

I would recommend a couple things to start with, this might be eye opening. I m not saying you should play this way but try it at least to see what happens and you may start to understand thing. Read the poker tournament formula for Schneider. Don t need to read it all but at least the basic position strategy and basic flop strategy.

Do it just to see what happens, it might help you understand a few things.

An important thing would be to know what type of games ( level ) you are playing. your bluff might not work simply because you play at "calling station" tables do Bluff are unlikely to succeed. Make sure to not bluff agressive players but tight players mainly taking in account not your cards but the board. Try semi-bluff first, if it s not working you ll still have outs.

As far as what to play it is hard to say but focus on when to play and that is in late position, everything is not playable but you ll have a huge advantage there.

A usual mistake for players thinking they don t play enough hand is to look at what would happened if they played it and get pissed of because you would have a straight if you had played you A5o from EP... Don t get mad, never play A5 from EP, it is not playable.

Also, if you get in the pot be careful to not limp too much, every hand shoudln t be raise but nice holding in position usually should.

Just random thoughts looking back at a player who was like you few years ago .

As far as music goes guys, it is not for everyone. But if you do listen to music, make sure it resembles what type of state your in when you play your best poker.
Think about when you have played your best Poker in nthe past, what type of state are you in?
Calm, psyched whatever state it is, make sure you choose music that will help you create that state.
And make sure you create that state before you play, this way it will give you the best possible chance of bringing your A Game from the very first hand

mrdick2u wrote:

I have tried lyrical and instrumental...classical...hard rock...maybe the fact that I am deaf in one ear my have something to do with it! LOL

I actually discovered something that I think does me good. The group is called "Bond". They do uptempo instrumental. Doesn't put me to sleep like classical and doesn't distract me like something with words! You should all check out their music too...is pretty good!

Good Call and Im not sure if you have seen the people that make up the band Bond, but Im pretty sure they are a bunch of Hot Woman
Music can have a massive impact on your brains functioning, you just need to find what works best for you, but when you do-LOOKOUT!!

easy: hot women --> testosterone --> competitive spirit --> winning --> ??? --> PROFIT!!!

Jamie,

I think I may be taking a serious look at your program around the new year. However, I have currently been reading psychology writings on the topics of attention, focus, discipline, etc. Specifically, I just picked up the book Rapt by Winifred Gallagher.

I guess my question is... do you read this type of material? And, does it work its way into your program?

Viticus, I havent actually heard of this book. My program has discussions on most of these topics, especially focus and discipline.
Discipline we have placed into specific routines to help the player focus on doing the correct things in preparing for a session.
Focus we have given players a specific exercise to help enhance focus and the same exercise is used for eliminating tilt.
We will have an intro video on the Home Page going up within the next week or so, but I will keep you all posted.