How do you stay focused on a 5 or 6 hour tournament?

fullclock · Jan 1, 2021

tell me your secret!

BigCountryAA · Jan 1, 2021

I have to prepare myself well in advance if I'm playing one that could go that long. Get in that "long grind" mindset.

eetenor · Jan 1, 2021

fullclock said:
tell me your secret!

Thank U 4 Posting

Some people are great at focusing others like me have to refocus ourselves while grinding for 10hrs a day.

I use a checklist to refocus myself whenever I have a break or down time in game. You can set timers to remind you to use your checklist the key is to know to refocus yourself.

Hope this helps

Sbrzz · Jan 1, 2021

I think I can because I have no other distractions. I stay in my room and here there is no TV, I don’t get into social media, chats, anything ... only the tables I’m playing.

When I enter a tournament, there is no way to lose focus, because as long as I do not fall it is only what matters.

Alizona · Jan 1, 2021

For live poker I bring my little mp3 player and listen to music, which helps me pass the boring hours of folding.

For online poker, I also play music, but I also have other options too. Usually, I am playing a "solitaire" kind of game along with my poker, such as Sudoku, or Minesweeper (one of the Windows games) or my personal favorite hidden gem, Hexcells Infinite (which I bought via Steam). Or, sometimes I just surf the internet and read stuff for hours while I play.

I realize it would help my game much more if I focused solely on the poker and made more notes on what different players are doing at the table... but my win rate is positive so I honestly think my approach works best for me and my own attention span. We all have to figure out what works best for us. By distracting myself via games or the internet or music, it prevents me from making unwise poker plays that I'm likely to try out of sheer boredom. When I distract myself, I seem to be better able to play my solid tight-aggressive game and make deep runs pretty consistently. On the flip side, since I'm not taking any notes on players, when I do make a deep run, I rarely go on to win the tournament, and I think that's part of the reason why... but I'm okay with it my results.

lcid86 · Jan 1, 2021

Live table, I talk to other players and listen to what they are talking about. Online, I surf the net a lot during the game.

karl coakley · Jan 1, 2021

I watch tv usually, you really don't want to be glued to a monitor.

Nel1523 · Jan 2, 2021

Very good question! Interesting to read the answers

KidCarter93 · Jan 2, 2021

A lot of it is simply down to experience really. When I first started playing poker, for a long time, I didn't have the patience for long tournaments as I got bored so even if I was doing well I'd either lose focus and play terribly or simply go all-in every hand to lose on purpose. Obviously this isn't a good way to make money [emoji14]

I then only played hyper MTTs but mainly cash so I could get up and leave whenever I felt like it.

Have just built up much more patience over the years so a long tournament grind doesn't bother me and I don't struggle to keep the attention focused on the game.
When I still had my laptop working, I would normally have twitch streams up on the side to watch them and chat away, which didn't affect my play but certainly made the time feel like it was passing quicker.
Now that I'm limited to playing on mobile only for the time being, if I feel myself starting to lose focus then I'll simply open up another table so there's a little bit more action happening.

The 5min break every hour can also be a massive help though as you can use that to refocus, get a drink, go toilet etc and feel much more ready for the next hour of play

fundiver199 · Jan 2, 2021

To be honest I am not always 100% focused. Right now for instance I am playing 4 MTTs, and I am also writing this post. Maybe thats not ideal, but as long as its the early phase, it is ok to run a little bit on a auto pilot a lot of the time. For instance I just got AK all in preflop for around 30BB far from the bubble, which is not something, that requires a lot of thoughts. And neither does folding 63 offsuit preflop.

Its more important to focus 100%, when you are on a final table. And for me this is more or less automatic, because now I have the big money in sight, and I know, that each decision needs to be perfect. I also know, that there is an end to it, say maximum one hour more to play. And this also makes it easier to regain focus and motivation.

angelamsmith05 · Jan 2, 2021

I just enjoy watching the game whether I am playing or not.

Shay · Jan 2, 2021

Alizona said:
For live poker I bring my little mp3 player and listen to music, which helps me pass the boring hours of folding.

For online poker, I also play music, but I also have other options too. Usually, I am playing a "solitaire" kind of game along with my poker, such as Sudoku, or Minesweeper (one of the Windows games) or my personal favorite hidden gem, Hexcells Infinite (which I bought via Steam). Or, sometimes I just surf the internet and read stuff for hours while I play.

I realize it would help my game much more if I focused solely on the poker and made more notes on what different players are doing at the table... but my win rate is positive so I honestly think my approach works best for me and my own attention span. We all have to figure out what works best for us. By distracting myself via games or the internet or music, it prevents me from making unwise poker plays that I'm likely to try out of sheer boredom. When I distract myself, I seem to be better able to play my solid tight-aggressive game and make deep runs pretty consistently. On the flip side, since I'm not taking any notes on players, when I do make a deep run, I rarely go on to win the tournament, and I think that's part of the reason why... but I'm okay with it my results.

Me too. Chatting with other players also helps

Nuketti · Jan 2, 2021

Focus

I just focus the game or play some simple backround music low volume. Sometimes my wife wants to watch me playing and i explean why i do this or that while shes learning. :smile:

5KINGLEO5 · Jan 2, 2021

I play very calmly, I try not to be distracted by other things,

valetgll · Jan 2, 2021

When you have a goal and you are single-minded towards this goal, in this case you are striving to win the tournament, will this activity be boring and you will lose your guard?

rdwr33 · Jan 2, 2021

I take a good shower to relax, after 1 hour I start listening to music, then good fast food, sometimes I read parts of a book to relax, other times I just focus on the table. sometimes I win.

gryphon3005 · Jan 2, 2021

Not a problem. I put on headphones and turn the sound up a bit so when the bet alarm rings I'll wake up from my poker nap. Every break I pee, wash hands and splash cold water on my face. I grab some water and a small snack. I do this moving quickly. After 15-20 mins of play I stand up and do some small exercise movements at my chair. But if I'm not getting anywhere I don't let the blinds grind me to dust with another hour of play...I start playing loose and looking for any chance to shove.

Alizona · Jan 2, 2021

A "five or six hour" tournament is not even a very long time.

For example, there are tournaments on ACR where the late registration period is 5 hours... so it is almost like the tournament doesn't even really begin until the 6th hour. I think the longest I ever played in one tournament is 12 hours long, but just recently i made a final table and exited the tournament in the 11th hour of play.

It might sound like a long time, but when you make a final table, the time just seems to fly by... as the saying goes, time flies when you're having fun.

ogloccness · Jan 2, 2021

Always have water and food ready. Listen to music if you're into that (most music distracts me, so I listen to ambient). Sometimes I'll play a video game that I can pause anytime, just so my brain can focus between different things and to stay engaged. You should always expect to spend at least 4 hours in a tournament, even more in the multiple rebuy and late registration ones which are so popular nowadays.

infonazar · Jan 2, 2021

fullclock said:
tell me your secret!

Usually I play 4-5 tables at a time and stay focused. My secret is simple and based on 10 years of experience.

LFC_yllnwa · Jan 3, 2021

I think the main rule is to have a great desire to have a good time), when you are tired or definitely not ready to spend a long time playing poker, it is better not to play at all and skip a couple of days.. if you want to eat it's not a problem, prepare a meal and sit down to play, you should not be distracted from the game by extraneous matters in the house. You must understand that you will spend this time at the computer and will carefully study the game.

When you have a game plan and you follow it, you go through each stage gradually and time goes by unnoticed. A good option when you are exploring the world on the Internet, or playing 2 large tournaments at the same time. I like to play sports when I play, it allows me to spend a lot of time standing up and warm up well) I can go to the kitchen to have a snack, during the break I always go outside to get some fresh air

But to be honest, tournaments longer than 5 hours I play not often.. 80-90% of the time is 3-4 hours maximum.. Online poker and luck is not very easy, so every tournament play 6 hours it means to be high in prizes and this I think is not easy at all

fullclock · Jan 7, 2021

BigCountryAA said:
I have to prepare myself well in advance if I'm playing one that could go that long. Get in that "long grind" mindset.

good shape mentality

fullclock · Jan 7, 2021

eetenor said:
Thank U 4 Posting

Some people are great at focusing others like me have to refocus ourselves while grinding for 10hrs a day.

I use a checklist to refocus myself whenever I have a break or down time in game. You can set timers to remind you to use your checklist the key is to know to refocus yourself.

Hope this helps

thanks for the reply

fullclock · Jan 7, 2021

Sbrzz said:
I think I can because I have no other distractions. I stay in my room and here there is no TV, I don’t get into social media, chats, anything ... only the tables I’m playing.

When I enter a tournament, there is no way to lose focus, because as long as I do not fall it is only what matters.

Thanks for sharing thoughts

fullclock · Jan 7, 2021

Alizona said:
For live poker I bring my little mp3 player and listen to music, which helps me pass the boring hours of folding.

For online poker, I also play music, but I also have other options too. Usually, I am playing a "solitaire" kind of game along with my poker, such as Sudoku, or Minesweeper (one of the Windows games) or my personal favorite hidden gem, Hexcells Infinite (which I bought via Steam). Or, sometimes I just surf the internet and read stuff for hours while I play.

I realize it would help my game much more if I focused solely on the poker and made more notes on what different players are doing at the table... but my win rate is positive so I honestly think my approach works best for me and my own attention span. We all have to figure out what works best for us. By distracting myself via games or the internet or music, it prevents me from making unwise poker plays that I'm likely to try out of sheer boredom. When I distract myself, I seem to be better able to play my solid tight-aggressive game and make deep runs pretty consistently. On the flip side, since I'm not taking any notes on players, when I do make a deep run, I rarely go on to win the tournament, and I think that's part of the reason why... but I'm okay with it my results.

I'm glad that it works for you and you have good results

How do you stay focused on a 5 or 6 hour tournament?

fullclock

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