I have a Focusing Problem

[imported_bingobazza]

Drugs are the answer. Try focusin...if you still lose money, the psychological effects can be treated with repressitol. Snowball is right too...and maybe your attention span isnt long enough. When the drugs dont work, they make you worse...

Bingo

[four eight suited]

I know paul phillips would suggest adderall, and Ive always been a fan of taking the internet billionaire's advice, especially when it comes to drugs and gambling.

[Rasputin]

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I want to be able to sit down for three or four hours a couple times a week and play solid poker. I don't think that's all that much to ask of myself.

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it kind of is considering that you cant do it. focussing in poker is kind of a "just do it" type of thing. noone is going to teach you how to focus.

i also find it rude how you responded to snowball's post. i feel that his post is not only witty, but helpful as it indirectly gets an important point across.

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Well, I found his response rather rude. I ask if anyone has any tips on helping to focus and he says focusing is important.

Some folks have tried to be helpful, and I appreciate their responses.

[SNOWBALL138]

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Generally you have to lose a lot of money before you realize how important it is to focus.


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Did I somehow give you the impression that I thought focus was unimportant? Do people normally come here asking for help on things that are irrelevant?

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Knowing and KNOWING are two different things. I just mean to say that intellectually comprehending that focusing is important is different from feeling that it is important. In the short run, your feelings are more important than your knowledge.
You can know that lack of focus will hurt your winrate, but are more likely to feel the need to focus after you experience the repercussions of losing focus.

Here's the best analogy I can think of. If you are being attacked by a mean dog, you will know and feel how important it is to your safety to run away from/fight with the dog. However, if you are smoking crack you will probably know, but not feel that it is important to your health to not smoke crack.

[SNOWBALL138]

Sorry you didn't find my post helpful. I didn't mean any offense.

The best advice I can think of for you is to painstakingly monitor yourself. Try to find out what your approximate cutoff point is. You said its an hour. Is it always an hour?

Is there anything that happens after an hour that causes you to lose focus?

If you find that you can only focus for an hour, take a break every hour. There's nothing wrong with giving yourself a small break. Some posters always play like this. This one SNG player always plays one set of 4, takes a break, and then fires up a new set when he feels fresh.

If you want to try to improve your ability to focus longer, I recommend trying to make incremental improvements. No one goes from running 1 mile a day to running five miles a day overnight. When you reach 60 minutes, try and play for an extra 30 minutes or so. During this thirty minutes concentrate intensely on playing correctly. When your thirty minutes is up, take a break.

When you feel fresh again, play another 90 minute session. This time, make sure to monitor your play during the final 1/3 of the session just like before.

After you feel comfortable playing in 90 minute stints, try to play for 2 hours. After you can play for 2 hours, try 2 and a half hours, and so on. Don't move up too fast though, because you may strain your ability to monitor yourself. Its important to progress, but equally important to protect yourself while you are progressing. You don't want to pull a muscle so to speak.

Best regards,
Snowball

[Rasputin]

See, now, that was excellent advice, thank you.

[intheflatfield]

I have to combat this problem as well. What works for me is to try and guess other's hands around the table even when I'm not involved as little side game. Hopefully, it will eventually improve my reading skills.

Also I find it helpful to simply keep track of raises from other people. What did they raise w/ and from what position. Are the betting as if they know they are doing? etc. I think keeping a mental dialogue going w/ myself keeps me from lapsing..

[intheflatfield]

Also, I take ritalin my Adult ADD. I've had it since I was a kid, and ritalin helps me focus. ADD is made fun of and ridiculed as being a cure-all for hyper kids. But I can assure you that it is a very real problem for lots of people. But one that can be helped w/ med's

[johnc]

Taking breaks helps me tremendously. I'm a little ADD at the table and multitabling online helps keep my mind constantly active but I've got to take some time out. Get a soda, have a snack or what ever. I force myself to take a five minute break every hour, whether I want to or not and it helps. When I play live, same thing. Get up walk around the casino for a few minutes, stretch my legs. I find when I get back I play more alert, refreshed, and better for longer stretches. I also don't deprive myself of meal breaks (good meals, not crappy snacks at the table) -if your blood sugar dips because you haven't eaten then you'll lose your mental sharpness.
And if all that doesn't help me play my A game - quit for that day.