Poker and attention deficit disorder

gonores · #1 09-11-2003, 10:48 PM

I was diagnosed with this a year ago. Does anyone on here play with ADD or have some other serious problem with distractions? I play a lot of 3 table 3/6, and I think my ABC game is pretty well developed, but as soon as I step up and play a 1 table 10/20 game, where I need to start paying attention to my opponents, I just can't do it. Playing three LL games is cool with me, but I really want to believe I have the ability to move up. I just don't have the confidence in my ability. Please, someone give me a trick, some way to keep focus on my opponents.

BTW, I am not posting this because I "took my shot" at higher limits and missed. I'm actually up after 7000 hands of 5/10 and up, but in my heart of hearts, I know the reason I made some cash was because I caught some good starting hands and hit a couple extra draws. So don't tell me I'm just overestimating my opponents. My conclusion that my ability to play 10/20 or 15/30 more profitably than my 3 table LL game comes after careful post-game analysis of my play, and realizations that my reads have been more than a little off in quite a few cases.

MrGo · #2 09-12-2003, 03:49 AM

Being able to concentrate playing 3 tables at once and not being able to playing 1 table is beyond me.

Only thing I can suggest is make up some rituals that will make you concentrate. For example, watch each player look at their hold cards, when out of the hand, watch each player play, etc...

brad · #3 09-12-2003, 06:54 AM

t u on drugs, pot?

gonores · #4 09-12-2003, 07:28 AM

MrGo,

It's not that I concentrate better on 3 tables, it's that the quality of my decisions does not improve when I move to one table. My inability to read opponents is just as low when I am playing three tables as it is when I am playing one. If I played at one 3/6 table, I'm sure I would be quite profitable, but that is because the quality of my opponents is lower than one 10/20 game. As the stakes go up, my ABC game (which I depend on to make me money in the LL) becomes more and more useless, while player reads (which I can't concentrate on regardless of the number of tables I play) becomes more important.

As far as your advice goes, rituals haven't worked and usually don't work on people with ADD, to the best of my knowledge. The problem occurs when the ritual is broken (ie when someone takes a while to make a decision or when a new hand is being dealt). During these times, my brain sees no reason to watch the game and it essentially wanders away from the table.

gonores · #5 09-12-2003, 07:46 AM

Bokonon · #6 09-12-2003, 12:19 PM

Haven't been officially diagnosed . . . yet. But got a strong suspicion. All the signs are there.

My solution has been to play shorthanded games. I *do* have the patience to try and read opponents, though -- a quality that is enormously important in those games. And bcs they are shorthanded I'm playing more pots and the games are more intense.

You also might want to try NL -- definitely more stimulation there [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. But more player-reading as well.

Bozeman · #7 09-12-2003, 02:59 PM

Perhaps coming up with poker related things to distract yourself with could help, though I know nothing about ADD. For example, think about what hands you could play in this position, or imagine what hands would make this slow guy think or hollywood, calculate the odds your hand will have against various hands. And play live, instead of online, there are lots more things to look at that could have bearing on the play.

I conquer my impatience issues by playing tourneys,
Craig

ZeeJustin · #8 09-12-2003, 09:09 PM

I play poker and I have a relatively bad case of ADD. Most people don't understand what ADD is. The problem isn't that you can't concentrate. The problem is that it's much harder to control when you do concentrate. Often times people with ADD have the ability to concentrate far more than someone without ADD provided that they are interested in the action at hand.

As for me, I actually have deeper total concentration on poker when I'm playing multiple tables. If I play only one table I get bored very quickly, and start playing NES roms while I'm waiting for playable hands. The only thing that really prevents this when playing one table is having a lot of money on the line, i.e the last table of a multi-table tournament or something. When I play 3 tables at once, I usually put my AIM afk message on and concentrate solely on poker.

I'm not sure if this applies to you or not, but this is certainly how it works for me. Hope this is helpful for ya. If you have any ques... Woohoo! Flopped top two!