Loss of Focus

[Jorge V]

I have been playing 20-40 to 50-100 limit for the past 3.5 years. I have done very well, but the past couple of months I have not made any money. I seem to be bored with the stakes and just gamble too much. Do others have similar problems? Its kind of hard because there aren't any bigger games around here and I don't really want to move to LA or Vegas as I am very comfortable with my life right now. I just need to get my focus and right mentality back. I am really concerned as this is the first time this has ever happened to me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Sigurd]

Spend some more time doing non-gambling stuff. If you seem unable to focus on your game, then stop trying and do something else for a while.

Have you considered taking up running, or some other kind of exercise?

[swingdoc]

If all the world's problems could be solved by exercise, then this forum would be 100% right all the time [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Seriously, I frequently find the exact same problem, OP. You cruise along, beating whatever stakes you're at and then suddenly you're doing stupid [censored] just to gamble and throwing money away like there's no tomorrow. Let's face it, solid, disciplined play is downright boring at times. It's tedious and uninteresting, but we do like having money. The bad thing is that poker breeds this exact sort of behavior. Look at legends like Stu Ungar or "Nick the Greek" Dandolos. Winning and losing huge sums of money is what these guys lived for. It's exciting to gamble. It is not exciting to grind out hands.

The only way I've found to successfully deal with this is to have specific goals for each poker session. I'll set a monetary goal for each session I play and any money over that amount I can use to play craps or roulette or whatever satisfies my inner gambler. This way hitting my pre-determined goal becomes a matter of pride and gives me something to focus on whenever I get bored. Don't know if any of this helps you, but I hope it does.

Oh yeah, and exercise [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[99Machine]

This is pretty funny. I read your thread on your black jack problem, and I was in the exact same situation. And now this thread, again, exact same situation I was in.

I started playing 10-20 and 20-40 for a living and I find that I loose focus sometimes too, for long periods of time. It usually happens when I’m playing 5 days in a row with no breaks in between. When you play every day with no breaks, you just get too used to sitting at the table and you forget all the fundamentals and you’ll start doing things you’d never do if you were focused. I remember for a whole week, I was raising with junk in early position and it didn’t seem like I was doing anything wrong. But I couldn’t really stop ‘cause I never took a break to clear my head and get my focus back.

Taking a break works best for me. If you’re having a month of two without focus, you might need to take a longer break. You play professionally, so if you have the money and can afford to take a 2-3 week break, do it. You don’t have to do anything in the 2-3 weeks, just don’t play poker. When you go back, you’ll probably be focused the way you were when you started playing.

[jfk]

You might consider branching out a little if LHE is your only game. Take up O8B, stud or NL. When you get too familiar and comfortable with a game, disinterest can eat your edge. Mid-limit hold 'em is relatively boring when played in a winning TAG style. This is especially true live. When you play a game with which you have limited familiarity it you see (and appreciate) your abilities in your primary game in a new context.

I find that I rediscover my appreciation for LHE after spending a little time playing something like O8B. There are times in O8B when I really have no idea what the correct play or consideration is at given stages of a hand. I'm going on card sense and a skeleton's frame of book and internet learning. I find that online forays into HOSE, Stud 8B games or sit 'n gos keep my mind fresher and more receptive to exploiting the edge I hold over live limit hold 'em games.

When playing live, I also like to work on spotting tells. Yes, tells can be of somewhat limited use in LHE, but looking for them really keeps your mind in the game as you'll need to spot behavioral patterns in several different contexts to get a sense of your ability to read a player.

Also, if you only play live, open an online account. I was very late in playing online and now know what a mistake that was.

[omaha]

When was the last time you had a holiday, or a holiday from poker for a whole week?

Hope you are well

Paul