Help me focus....

[ddollevoet]

I've recently started playing face to face multi table tourneys. I've been trying to play decent poker. I play a pretty tight aggressive game. I wait for my opportunities and I capitalize of them.

I've discovered a leak in my game. When we get down to the last 10-15 people I find myself getting a little too loose. I play hands that I wouldn't have an hour earlier and I pay for it (usually by losing all of my chips [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]).

Can anyone give my some tips to help stay focused on my game after several hours of play? I'll change my style from time time throughout the night, but why am I inadvertantly changing my style?

[37offsuit]

Well, knowing about it should help. In online play, I keep a sticky note next to my monitor in thick black magic marker which reads "IS THAT THE BEST PLAY?"

The trick is to keep a balance between switching it up, trusting your instincts and recognizing the tournament situations you find yourself in with regards to stack size, position, payout, your table image and the table's structure. So making a hard and fast rule not to loosen up at points can't work.

I'd suggest developing a mantra to play in your head during the whole tournament in order to stay in a focused control throughout. Whether it's something like what I use or not doesn't make a difference. You just need a little reminder that stays with you to always keep your "A" game going.